Students may benefit from having their teachers steer them away from inefficient ways of studying and toward practices that will help them learn more effectively.
People have the misconception that putting in lengthy hours of studying is the greatest way to become a model student who gets straight As much too frequently. However, studies have shown that students who achieve a high level of academic performance actually spend less time studying than their classmates do; they merely study in a more efficient manner.
Sharing Research-backed studying techniques that have been shown to be helpful via research is one way in which educators may assist all students in being better stewards of the time they devote to academic pursuits.
STUDY LESS, WITH GREATER INTENSITY
In this day and age of social media and other digital distractions, a significant number of kids and adults engage in a significant amount of multitasking. However, it is impossible to successfully multitask due to the fact that a significant portion of the time invested is lost on context switching, which requires the brain to reset and redirect its attention.
Think about the equation “work performed Equals degree of concentration multiplied by amount of time invested.” A student who is preparing for Advanced Placement Biology but at the same time is checking his messages and scrolling through Instagram has an intensity of attention that is somewhere around a 3. Even though he puts in a total of three hours of “studying,” his overall productivity is only a 9.
On the other hand, a student who makes an effort to concentrate only on AP Biology has a level of attention that is equivalent to a 10 out of 10. She may just devote an hour to her studies, yet despite this, she is more productive than the student who spent all three hours daydreaming.
Students who have achieved a high level of success have often discovered the need of avoiding multitasking. These pupils study for shorter periods at a greater intensity, without any distractions from email, social media, or anything else, as opposed to spending a significant amount of time doing work of a lower level while being subjected to a large number of interruptions. Their increased productivity in the classroom leads to bigger increases in their academic standing.
Here are 5 research-backed studying techniques;
1. Practice exam
It is beneficial for students’ future learning if they are given the opportunity to practice answering questions, even if they do so poorly, before learning the topic. The outcomes of post-testing may be improved by taking a pre-test, according to research, even more than by studying for the same length of time. Therefore practice exam research-backed studying techniques is useful for students.
2. Intervals of practice
It has been shown that dispersing study sessions over a longer length of time, concentrating on a subject for a shorter amount of time on various days, results in greater improvements in retention and memory than does massed practice. According to the information provided in the book How We Learn, spaced practice might seem challenging since it causes an initial losing of knowledge, and it requires work to reacquire that knowledge.
It is beneficial to make flash cards that may be put to use for spaced exercise as well as for self-quizzing. When going through the flash cards, the students need to sort them into many separate piles. The cards that they can answer instantly should be put in a pile to be examined after three days, the cards that they can answer with some difficulty should be reviewed after two days, and the cards that they answered erroneously should be revisited the next day.
3. Self-quizzing
In our day and age of standardized testing, testing has acquired a pejorative connotation; nonetheless, testing is a sort of active retrieval practice. Encourage students to create test questions for themselves when they learn a new idea. As they do so, they should think about the kinds of questions that you could ask them on a quiz or exam. They need to include these Research-backed studying techniques into their studying routines and answer every question, even the ones they are certain they already know the answer to.
4. The technique of interleaving
Students may depend on blocked practice, which involves studying a series of problems together (such as multiplication problems) until they believe that they have mastered the material. Work on a series of questions that are similar but not all of the same sort. For instance research-backed studying techniques, work on a set of arithmetic word problems that ask for addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division.
This is a more productive approach of learning than working on a single problem at a time. It is impossible to find a solution to all of the difficulties using the same approach. Performing one multiplication issue after another in this manner is more efficient.
5. Paraphrasing and reflecting
The vast majority of us have had the frustrating experience of reading a few paragraphs from a textbook, only to find that we have not retained a single idea or important point that was conveyed in those paragraphs. Encourage your pupils to engage in purposeful learning practices so that you can demonstrate how to circumvent this challenge.
A few examples of Research-backed studying techniques include making connections between what is being taught and what the student already knows, imagining how they would teach the material to a child of five years old, and reflecting on and asking questions about the material.
Bottom line
Other than above-mentioned methods, there are other different studying techniques that may help you to learn your academic subjects. An educator or a teacher should explain them to their students and try to implement them within the classroom. In the above article, we have explained in detail how Research-backed studying techniques work as all of them are driven by investing appropriate amount of time in research. We consider that you have found the information useful which you can refer to it in the future.
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