Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments NYT Article: Forget What You Know About Good Study

Here's a NYT article shared by a parent in another forum. I don't think I've seen it posted/discussed here.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/h...mp;st=cse&scp=1&pagewanted=print

A couple of topics in the article especially caught my attention.

One is that a using a variety of study areas was better than the traditional approach of limiting to a specific place.

And another topic covered in the article suggests that providing variety in the study session is better than drilling one concept for an extended period.

At first glance, both of these ideas make sense to me, especially the second, and I'd love to know if others have seen this or similar articles and whether the recommendations seem reasonable... and whether or not anyone has experimented with these approaches in their own in-home educational laboratories.

Dandy

Wow. That long ago... no wonder I missed the thread!

Thx,

Dandy.

Yes, we alter location as a matter of routine. We think it works...

DeeDee

Thanks for reposting this. I saw something I didn't catch on the first reading:

This is another reason why we need to challenge our kids instead of being satisfied with material that doesn't give them "desirable difficulty." The part about testing struck a chord with me since I was a master of study for the test and then brain dump. This was good for my grades but not so good for long term retention. Any advice on applying this part of the research?

I think we stumbled upon this approach a couple years back with piano when I deviated from the teachers proscribed study plan. She recommended longer stretches on one song or concept, switching to a different one each day. Instead, I had our son spend just a few minutes on the handful of assignments (scales, review piece, improvisation, etc.) during each daily practice. By the end of the week, his total time was about the same, but it seemed as though his overall progress increased and that -- more importantly -- his frustration diminished. (And so did mine!)

I made the switch without even considering retention... it was just clear that spending more than 5-10 minutes on a difficult passage (for example) was not worth the frustration. So for us, the "retention" was a bonus.

My D15 will probably use this as an excuse for her last minute studying in the car on the way to school in the morning (new location, you know!).

Kcab, that helps. I was looking how to have kids study differently so they retain more information instead of brain dumping like I did. At DD8's new school they have a daily math and language test which seems to fit with this approach.

For the first few minutes when you start studying a topic, you retain lots. The last bit of studying before you stop, you can also retain lots.

The middle, not so much. So start/stop, change of view, look up, move position, etc, every 20 minutes or so would increase retention.

I read this a long time ago. It works for me but may not work for everyone.

My dh just sent me this article today too, I really loved the part about 'forgetting being the friend of remembering', lol! I agree about it being a LOT like what happens in timez attack. You are moved to think about something else, then you have to come back to something from 3 minutes ago, and quickly! One psychologist that we spoke to about ds said that this helps 'push information into long term memory'.