31 January 2013
The article that I selected was Homework Help: Some Strategies are More Effective than Others, published on January 31, 2013 by Debbie Glasser, Ph. D. The article refers to different studying techniques that are both effective and ineffective. Glasser analysis a new study published in Psychological Science in the Public Interest, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science that looked at the outcome of student test scores to ten different learning techniques. The techniques include: highlighting and underlining potentially important parts of the material, re-reading material that was read earlier, creating helpful “key words” and memory strategies to remember words and concepts, taking practice test, and studying classroom material over a period of time rather than in one sitting. This study found that that highlighting and re-reading are popular techniques, but are quite ineffective. The top two study techniques happen to be practice testing and studying over time.
When the study refers to practice testing, it means when a student were to make flash cards and test themselves of have a parent test them over the information. And studying over time is defines as creating a specific study schedule that starts long before the material needs to be master.
I feel like this study is a no brainer when it comes to the top two study techniques. Of course these are the techniques that students say that they will do, however procrastination flows over them and they decide to either “wing it” on the test or study the night before.
When it comes to the least effective techniques (highlighting and re-reading), it makes sense. Because when you are re-reading all you are doing is saying in your head “yah, I do know this”. Of course you do! It’s right in front of your face! But once you take that book away from them all the knowledge that they though that they had absorb, just whisks away.
And when it comes to...