Study Habits & Learning Styles
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So by now whether you are a student, individual, teacher, parent, or guardian you understand what learning styles are, how they work, and some tips you may want to implement in your life based on yours/others’ learning styles. But is there anything else we should know? What about study habits, which ones are good, which ones are bad? How about quizzes? Well, there is more than one right answer to this. In fact, it varies on the individual of what’s right or wrong for them in this case.
════╡General Info on Learners/learning╞════
Learning is a process, it can take a long time or a very short time to understand something, it just depends on how something is taught to someone. Most of the time when we are taught something in school we go through the process of classical conditioning or observational learning (two of the three types of learning humans experience).
-> To understand more in-depth of what these terms mean, click here.
Knowing this can help you understand what form of learning you are undergoing so you are aware of which learning form you struggle most with. Although it may be a stretch you could possibly find that changing the way you're being thought of something specifically could significantly help you.
════╡In(effective) Study Habits╞════
Aside from being unaware of your learner type, some of the key factors that contribute to students' success are their study habits–how they choose to study. For example, a lot of the time students will procrastinate for a good amount of time before getting started with homework. What’s even worse is when students try to multitask by texting their friends and doing homework. Of course, this sounds fun and like it could work just as long as the person gets their homework done, right? Wrong, there is no such thing as successful multitasking because according to Neuroscientist Edward Kang, he explains that “[M]uch of the time spent is wasted on context switching, where the brain has to restart and refocus” (1). As it is noted here it has been proven that students who do not multitask end up being more successful in their studies than others. Although multitasking is only one factor that contributes to studying being all for not, there are many other study habits that are ineffective.
Here is a list of many study habits one should drop:
Studying for long periods of time
Studying a single subject for a long period of time and repeating phrases over and over to memorize them (known as massed practice)
Reviewing one topic repeatedly before moving on to another topic (blocked practice)
Reading and rereading a text
Highlighting or underlining important concepts in a text and then reviewing
Here are habits you should adopt:
Pre-Test → Pre-testing improves post-test results more than spending the same amount of time studying.
Spaced Practice → Spacing out study sessions—focusing on a topic for a short period on different days has shown to improve retention and recall more than massed practice. (Flashcards are most effective here).
Self Quizzing → Can help increase one’s memory.
Interleaving Practices → A more effective method of studying is to work on a set of problems that are related but not all of the same kind—for example, a set of math word problems that call for an addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division. The consecutive problems cannot be solved with the same strategy. This is more effective than doing one multiplication problem after another.
Paraphrasing and Reflecting → Helps you understand what you just read better.
Highlight key phrases/words. [1]
Use graphic organizers/outlines (there are a lot). [1]
Write down words/phrases you don't understand. [1]
Paraphrase things in your on words because it helps you better understand. [1]
Reading out loud/rereading might be needed if you read silently. [1]
The list goes on about what’s effective and ineffective and it's important to understand these factors as well your learning style because they all contribute.
-> To learn about what study habits are good take a look at edutopia.org. Most of the credible information is offered by Neuroscientists.
-> [1] © Raab, Julie. PLC Lead History Teacher, M.A., 2022.
════╡Learning a Second Language╞════
So of course depending on the subject one is learning about, your learning style can change. Learning a language doesn’t necessarily depend on one's learning style. This is because if you think about it, learning a language requires all of the seven main learning styles in order to learn and comprehend a language completely. Audio and visuals are two of the main components needed to learn a language and there are so many other factors so the good thing about learning a language is that there isn’t only one way to learn it.
One thing one should keep in mind is a child has a much easier time learning a language than adults because it takes nothing for them to pick up a language without learning grammar. Adults on the other hand have a harder time learning a new language because their minds are so fixated on the rules and grammar in a language. We tend to worry a lot about how we will sound and how to say things the right way. This is also why learning a language can be so difficult.
Key Things about learning a language/finding a learning style:
Don’t stick to what you usually do. [2]
Try new things/ this is all trial and error. [2]
If you have the opportunity to put yourself in an environment that uses the language you are learning, do it. → really helps hands-on learners. [2]
Listening, reading, and writing are very important. Don’t stick to what you usually do. [2]
Flash cards are good to have. [2]
-> [2] © Petri, Andrea. Italian & Spanish Instructor, International Languages Department, Chair of the International Education Committee Advisory, Virtual International Exchanges (VIE) Coordinator, 2022.
════╡Additional Links╞════
© all-learners-express // all photos belong to the owner unless stated. All information presented is credible unless stated. Suggestions are provided from all-learners-express.com as well as credible sources, and the advice of educators.
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