Some students have a natural flair for academics and are easily able to achieve better grades in studies. 80% of the students have to create interest in studies while only 20% have natural flairs for it. Creating interest in studies one of the biggest challenges faced by parents and teachers. Kids are either distracted with the latest technological development, friends, sports, or something else.
It would be wrong to blame them as all the distractions are our own creation and they are just consuming it innocently. And still, these things are very much required now in life. But the most important thing that really matters is for students to have an interest in studies even after all these distractions.
Table of Content
- Motivate students for studies
- Break the study material into chunks
- Study in short bursts
- Categorize subjects as per your preference
- Talk to teachers and ask for help
- Make study groups with friends
- Relate studies to practical life
- Create props
- Sequence the study timetable
- Exercise regularly
Examination fear is the most common form of anxiety among students who are just about to take up their exams. The moment they receive question papers, they forget the answers. This can also be called an emotional blackout that prevents the brain from recollecting the answers. The blackout happens due to competition, higher expectations of parents, raising expectations of teachers, peer pressure, and so on.
These are valuable tips on how to create interest in studies. These insider tips will also tell you how to make a systematic study, just before the onset of an exam.
Let’s look at some of the methods we can use for students to create interest in studies.
Motivate students for studies
A motivated student can achieve anything that he targets. Parents and teachers must find out ways to motivate students towards studies. Explain the long-term benefits of studying and what they could achieve with good scores.
If you score well, you can get into your favorite educational university. You will be recruited by top companies in campus interviews. You will be able to draw higher salaries. You can fly to exotic holiday destinations. These are enough reasons to elevate a student’s motivation levels.
You can ask students to set their long term and short term academic goals on paper. Once the student starts to visualize them every single day, they naturally develop an interest in studies and stay motivated. Their grades and scores automatically improve.
Break the study material in chunks
Looking at the whole book of any subject can give nausea to many students. At least it gave me for History subject.
So I broke the whole book in simple easy modules and read them one at a time. I ensured it didn’t get overwhelmed by the subject itself. Once the module for a subject got over, I would leave it aside for a couple of days and worked on some other subject.
After a few days, I would come back again for the first module for revision and would make a cycle out of the whole process. This ensured that I gave sufficient time to each subject and also could go through the subjects I did not find interesting enough.
Study in short bursts
Don’t study for hours at stretch to burn you out. Instead, study in short bursts followed by a small break. This will keep the stress levels down and you would find your interest in studies.
Some students study all night only to have forgotten everything in the morning. This is absolutely unadvisable and not good for health. Don’t mess with your sleep cycle and instead follow a stringent regime with time allotted for work and studies.
Categorize subjects as per your preference
Categorize the subjects in three lists.
List of easy subjects for which the student does not need any motivation. Subjects in this list should do fine as the student is already motivated to pursue them.
List of subjects for which student has minimal interest. This is the list you need to work most hard on. You will have to build-up extrinsic motivation levels towards harder subjects.
Finally the list of subjects that fall somewhat in between the two lists. It will have subjects that the student does not find a lot of interest but could do well if motivated. This is the list you should start with initially as it will give an immediate result and build up confidence in kids. With a little motivation, the students will start building interest in studying these subjects and the results too will come.
Talk to teachers and ask for help
For harder subjects, you can have a friendly chat with the concerned subject teachers. Say, for instance, if your child finds solving those tough problems in algebra, geometry, or trigonometry arduous, speak to his math teacher. See, if the teacher can agree to take private tuition for your child after school hours. You can even look to hire a tutor online or for home tuition.
Talk to the teacher about the inherent fears you might be having with regard to the disinterest of the child in the specific subject. See if the subject teacher can help you find a reference guide, ancillary book, or an illustrative guide in relation to the same subject. With this, the student can get extra exposure to solving problems.
You can also look for a guide that includes a lot of worked out or solved out example problems. Following the steps as shown in examples or illustrations can help the child understand concepts better. This way, they will be able to can solve problems from the text material easier. You can either get an extra guide from your school or college library. Else you can try buying one from an online store or via a retail establishment.
Make study groups with friends
There may be some more students who are slow learners or they may have the same intrinsic fears just like your kid. Form a study group of such students and make them work with each other out.
Forming study groups helps kids perform better in academics. This is one of the best tips on how to create interest in studies. Rekindle the enthusiasm levels, solve problems, and clarify doubts. This way, you not only help your kid but also help his friends who struggle as much.
The nerds or first rankers may show a lot of attitudes or reveal grumpy faces. So it is better you stick to your own study circle.
Relate studies to practical life
This may be a little out of the blue. But this particular tip can help kids motivate themselves towards academics in a superb manner. Relate the subjects to daily life things.
Learning History can be related to old movies that depict different periods of time. The Game of Thrones depicts the medieval period. War of the Roses depicts the lifestyle of people living in the 15th Century. And Downtown Abbey depicts the life of an English man during the early 20th Century. Fair knowledge of numbers helps calculate your taxes. You can find percentages of a commission to pay out to carpenters, painters, and so on.
Relating the area of study to daily life can keep kids motivated to know more about subjects. And they can improve grades in academics in a stupendous manner. This is how those dry subjects become even more interesting.
Say you want audiotapes done to revise notes, create inspirational podcasts on each theme of study. Say, for example, the drama in Shakespeare can be memorized by playing scenes or enacting dramas than trying to memorize the quotes. Similarly, you can create tunes from your favorite English song and try fitting in algebraic formulae.
For your Biology class, create a giant-sized version of Pancreas, lungs, liver, or mitochondria to know the intricate parts pertaining to the same. This way, kids can add a colorful variety to the area of study. Creating props, therefore, helps you cover academic subjects, the fun way.
Sequence the study timetable
There are several chapters pertaining to each area of study that can be divided into core ones. Have Mathematics, Science, Social Science, English, and Language. English and language can be covered at the last if you find them easier to cope up.
Sequence the study timetable and devote hours in a day for specific areas of study. This is the most meticulous tip to keep the student abreast of most of the subjects.
Exercising keeps you in a positive mood and increases the concentration level. Try aerobics, swimming, jogging which are light for you and do not drain you out. Students overlook exercises in moments of stress whereas they should do the exact opposite of this. Exercise alleviates your mood and spirit thereby bringing a positive outlook to challenges like creating interest in studies.
These are some of the methods that students can use to build create interest in studies. If you think we may have left any method, do write in comments.