How younger students study is somewhat in the hands of their parents. Last week’s post, Homework Help and Advice From the Experts, was all about this topic. This post expands on the homework theme, beginning where we left off, with the younger student, and moving on to high school and college students.
For the older student, homework is different, becoming a far more difficult task than ever before. Now, homework is about long hours of study to prep for difficult exams or for researching and writing lengthy papers. At this point, parents aren’t much help. Students are on their own with this sort of homework. Parents can, however, still gently suggest helpful study methods to their older children. And of course, encourage them.
While some of the advice you will find here applies to the younger student (parents of younger children—don’t stop reading—this is for you, too!), this post is mostly about tried and true homework advice for the older student, from the experts. And if your older child doesn’t want to hear the advice from you, you can always leave a copy of this article on his desk with a no-pressure note: “This is interesting!”
Study by Teaching the Parent
Our first piece of advice comes from Murray Suid, who has served as a teacher to middle school, high school, and college level students. Suid, who has co-authored a number of educational books including, 10 Minute Grammar Grabbers, and How to Teach Writing Without Going Crazy, likes to quote Joseph Joubert: “To teach is to learn twice.”
What does this mean? It means, says Suid, that the best way to learn is to teach. Suid offers the following advice:
“Have the child teach the homework lesson to the parent. If it’s learning to capitalize nouns, the student could tell the parent the rule and then make up a short worksheet for the parent. Same thing if it’s solving an algebraic word problem or analyzing why Napoleon lost the Battle of Waterloo.
“When students teach what they’re learning, they are forced to really think about the lesson and come up with creative strategies for making it clear.
“This method not only reinforces the lesson at hand, but also gives [the student] important practice in communication.”
If the student wants to switch things up, Suid suggests that rather than teach the parent the lesson, the student can summarize the lesson and its purpose, for instance: “We’re learning how pronouns relate to their antecedents. This is important because if the connection isn’t clear, readers may be confused.”
“By putting a homework assignment into his or her own words, students are compelled to think about a task and why it matters. This can make doing homework more meaningful,” says Suid.
Study as if you Expect to Teach the Material
Troy Dvorak agrees with Suid that teaching is a valuable method of learning, or at least studying the material as if preparing to teach it to others. Dvorak, a psychology professor at Minneapolis Community & Technical College, has made a study of the factors associated with student success. He has, in fact, authored a book called, Psychological Keys to Student Success, and is finishing up his second book, Studying vs Learning. “One of the most influential quotations I’ve come across,” says Dvorak, “is ‘Learning how to learn cannot be left to students. It must be taught.’ That has really shaped my approach to teaching.”
Dvorak offers two strategies that students of all ages can use to be more successful. These strategies, he says, are empirically validated. That means it has been demonstrated that these strategies work, whether or not we understand why.
“The first strategy is self-testing. The testing effect is a very well-known aspect of learning and is the subject of a ton of psychological research. In order to find out what you know, you must test yourself. There is also robust research on the metacognitive feeling of knowing (the “ya ya ya, I know that” feeling you have as you review something multiple times) – it can mislead students because recognition is not the same as free recall,” says Dvorak, who recommends this pdf file as a valuable resource on self-testing.
“The second strategy is to have students study as if they will have to teach the information to someone else. Studying in anticipation of having to explain the material results in higher test scores than simply studying for a test,” says Dvorak, citing a study that demonstrates the power of this particular strategy:
Nestojko, J. F., Bui, D. C., Kornell, N., & Bjork, E. L. (2014). Expecting to teach enhances learning and organization of knowledge in free recall of text passages. Memory & cognition, 42(7), 1038-1048.
7 TNT Study Strategies and Tips
Our final series of tips comes from Janet Ruth Heller, Ph.D., president of the Michigan College English Association. Dr. Heller has taught English and American literature, creative writing, linguistics, composition, and women’s studies courses for 35 years at 8 colleges and universities. She has also tutored many students in her office to help them understand concepts, improve their writing, and apply to graduate schools. Dr. Heller has also advised students on how to handle various academic problems. Here is Dr. Heller’s advice for students and their parents about homework:
1) Avoid procrastination. Read your assigned chapters and do your assigned writing and other projects on time. If you procrastinate, you will have to cram too much information into your brain too quickly to process everything. Also, procrastination leads to poorly executed papers, tests, and research projects.
2) Some students benefit from having a study group, a supportive group of students who are in the same class and study together. Study group members can ask one another questions, discuss the most important aspects of a reading assignment, compare class notes to make sure that everyone understands the material, prepare for tests, give one another advice on improving research papers and projects, etc. However, make sure that your study group does not disintegrate into a purely social conversation.
3) Find college students, especially graduate students, who major in your most difficult subject areas to tutor and/or mentor you. Such tutors/mentors can help you to prepare for tests, understand difficult material, give you advice on research, etc. You or your parents can e-mail or phone the chairs of different departments at a local college to recommend the best graduate students as tutors.
4) Feel free to make an appointment to meet with your teacher or professor if you have questions or want feedback. Your teacher can answer your questions about difficult material, look over your rough draft of a paper and give you comments, advise you on the best way to handle a research project, etc. When I was teaching, I respected students who took the time to meet with me because they tended to be more motivated and they often improved their work dramatically due to their extra effort.
5) If your teacher or professor offers extra-credit assignments, try to complete these. Such work will improve your competence and impress faculty members. They will remember this when you come to them later asking for a letter of recommendation.
6) As you work on your assignments, underline or highlight key sentences and paragraphs. This will help you to focus on the most important material and to review for tests. Also, write down questions that you have. Feel free to ask your teachers to answer these questions in class or at a meeting that you have scheduled.
7) For research projects, librarians can be very helpful. Find reference librarians and other knowledgeable staff members at your school library to help you find the best articles and books about your topic.
If your younger or older child is struggling with studies, why not try have the student try at least one tip from this piece to see if it helps? Assuming it works, build on that success by taking on another strategy. The bottom line? We hope these expert tips will send your child to the top of the class!
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About Varda Epstein
Varda Meyers Epstein serves as editor in chief of Kars4Kids Parenting. A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Varda is the mother of 12 children and is also a grandmother of 12. Her work has been published in The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, The Learning Site, The eLearning Site, and Internet4Classrooms.
These are some great suggestions and would help many to make learning fun for kids. Thanks for sharing these ideas!