Developing study skills

Success at school is as much to do with natural ability and academic skills as it is to do with knowing how to approach tasks and how to show your understanding in an appropriate way.

Good study skills are vital for all students and allow them to tap their strengths and compensate for their weakness. They can be introduced throughout Primary school and these skills then need to be mastered in Secondary school.

Some students quickly work out what works for them and they are able to apply these skills in different subjects. However, others need to be explicitly taught different strategies and need to practise them frequently before they can use them independently.  Sometimes, a student can be quite dismissive of a particular approach because it didn’t work first time. This is because they do not realise most skills need time and practise to develop. 

While there are some common strategies, each student has to work out what works best for them. This can take time, guidance and practice with the support of both parents and teachers.

There are 4 key areas to consider:

Breaking down tasks into manageable steps.

This is important for tackling the coursework required throughout Secondary school and is needed for higher levels of education. Teachers will often provide checklists, guidelines and rubrics, but some students still need further instruction and support to make proper use of these.

When a student is given a project to complete, for some it can seem overwhelming and this lead can to procrastination.  Procrastination is not laziness but is usually caused by anxiety. This could be anxiety about not being able to complete the task to the correct standard or anxiety about not knowing how to get started.  Task initiation difficulties are often overlooked but is a genuine area of challenge for some. Once the student is helped to get started, they may make quick progress and be able to work independently.  Task initiation is part of our executive functions, which we now know are not fully developed until the age of 25. 

Adult support may be needed to work out how to navigate the task, this is not ‘cheating’ or preventing a student from becoming independent learners but necessary way of aiding learning. This could include modeling and 'thinking out loud' to show how to work out what the steps could be. Then make a list of specific tasks that need to be done with appropriate time limits. Overtime, the student will learn to break tasks up themselves and set sensible deadlines and goals.

Note taking

Note taking is a valuable skill but one that usually requires training and practice. Some students pick up the idea of writing down key words but others with continue to write down every word said or exactly what it says in a text book. Explicitly showing students how to find key words in a  sentence or text is an important stage in teaching note taking. Sharing examples of notes and explaining how to use this information can also help. 

For those who find writing challenging, Sketchnoting can be a good technique for recording ideas through pictures. Again it requires practice and guidance, there are some excellent videos on You tube,   

Improving Memorisation

The more actively involved a student is any material or task the more memorable it is likely to be. Simply listening to the teacher or reading material from a textbook is not normally enough for information to stick long term. When revising many students choose to re-read material from lessons and textbooks but this is not necessarily the best way forward.

Verbalising is a very effective method for making materials memorable. The simple act of saying information in your own voice can make make it easier to remember. Teachers can facilitate verbalising by asking students to tell each other the main points from a lesson introduction. Another method is to give different information in the form of pictures or short texts to small groups. The group discusses the information to make sense of it. Then one person from each group joins a new group to share what they have learnt. At home, students could try to explain to their parents what they have learnt in a particular subject or they could consider recording themselves talking about a topic they need to review.

Retrieval practise is an effective strategy which research shows makes learning more memorable. When we try to remember facts without having the information in front of us and then check what is missing, this activates the brain.  This is where frequent quizzes without a mark and encouraging students to write down anything they recall about a topic are helpful.  Self-checking and peer marking can enhance learning as it helps students more to become aware of what they have missed.  Students need to take ownership of their learning and be honest about what they actually know and understand and then they can to work on filling the specific gaps.

Test techniques

Tests can naturally be a source of anxiety for some students. Unfortunately, anxiety and stress effects our memory.  As our body goes it ‘fight or flight mode’ resources are taken away from the logical part of our brain.  This then means that a student may not be able recall material that they genuinely know.

Positive ‘self-talk’ is vital to work through stressful situations.  It can be very easy to get frustrated when you can’t remember a fact that you know you have practiced many times. But if we tell ourselves, it is ‘too difficult’ or that we are ‘stupid’ for not knowing it, then our brain starts to shut down and we will struggle to answer the question. Alternatively, if we can convince ourselves that is normal to find things tricky and that we can work through it, then we can keep our brain open and we can often surprise ourselves with what we can do. Internally encouraging ourselves with ‘you’ve got this’ or ‘its ok, you can do it’, can really make a difference.

Breathing exercises can help to bring a moment of calm which may allow the brain to switch from ‘panic’ mode to the ‘reasoned thinking’ mode needed to recall prior learning.

There are also test strategies that can easily be taught and mastered but are not necessarily obvious to some students.  These include leaving out trickier questions and coming back to them at the end, paying attention to the number of marks allocated to a question when considering how much detail to give, rereading questions to ensure correct understanding. Highlighting or underlining key words can also help to ensure questions are properly understood and processed.

Overall both parents and teachers can do a lot to support the development and practice of study skills which will lead to school success.

The impact of Executive Functions - Working Memory difficulties in Secondary school

 

Working memory difficulties in Primary school Part 2

Working memory difficulties in Primary school

The impact of Executive Functions - task initiation and emotional regulation

 

Success in school and in life depends as much on our executive functioning as on our academic ability and knowledge of different subjects and skills.

Good executive functions are vital for navigating our daily lives for both children and adults. Executive functions develop slowly throughout childhood and research has shown that they may be not fully in developed until about the age of 25. However, they do not always develop evenly and for people with a learning difference, some areas can be underdeveloped. Students with ADHD in particular may have a lot of difficulty with executive functions. This can be confusing for both parents and teachers when an able student struggles with organisational skills, emotions or just remembering where they left their coat! 

So what are executive functions?  There are 8 key areas: Impulse control, Emotional control, Flexible thinking, Working memory, Self-monitoring, Planning and prioritising, Task initiation and Organisation skills. The importance of these key skills can be underestimated and overlooked, but they can make such a huge difference to everyday life and performance at school.  These are all skills that can be taught and developed over time with the right support.

Task initiation can be challenging for some students. We have the idea that if a task is clearly explained and the students have the prior knowledge, they should be able to complete it independently. However for some students, they simply cannot start a task without further assistance from a parent, teacher or peer.  This is not due to lack of understanding or motivation but quite simply their brain does not know the first step to take.  As adults, we worry that if we help too much that the child will not develop independent skills, but for many this is simply not the case. We also do not always appreciate that task initiation is a genuine difficulty which the student cannot overcome without support. 

The first step in helping is to model how to approach tasks and longer projects. 'Thinking aloud' can give students an insight into what is involved. Through showing students how to break a task into steps and writing a checklist, we model how a task can be tackled. If the student is taught to use a checklist this helps them to see what the first step should be. The student may still need someone to work through the first question or help write the first few sentences. This is not giving too much help and will not be damaging in the long run. We would not take the 'training wheels' off a bicycle before a child has developed balance and confidence. However, well meaning teachers and parents often want students to develop study skills much more rapidly than they are able to. Once the child has started, usually they will successfully work through the task with no further support. This builds up the child's confidence and allows them to experience success. This small piece of assistance in helping a student get started means that class work is completed and learning takes place.

Teachers and parents with good intentions often get too caught up in the idea that students need to do everything for themselves for them to learn anything. They lose sight of the fact that scaffolding enables learning rather than hinders it. For example: giving sentence starters usually triggers a child's thinking and helps them select a relevant idea and then to turn their idea into a coherent sentence. Without a sentence starter the child can feel overwhelmed by the task and be confused about how to use the facts they know. This then leads to negative feelings and a sense of failure, when the child watches their classmates get started and they simply do not know how to begin. They may also resort to task avoidance like going to the toilet or clowning around to hide their inability to get started. The teacher may get frustrated and perceive the reluctance to get started as laziness or lack of ability and so a negative spiral begins. This can often lead to underachievement in students who are capable of learning with the right support.

Independence can be a long term goal but careful consideration needs to be given to how long this may actually take and the smaller steps that need to worked through to get there. The skills needed for each task should be evaluated and smaller steps need to planned for those who may not yet have these skills. Over time we can teach a student how to work out the first step of a task themselves and use the information given to get started. The biggest step forward comes from understanding that task initiation is an area that needs adult support and is not easily learned without specific guidance.

Emotional regulation is another area which teachers are not always comfortable to consider and make allowances for. While some children have a calm temperament which means they can cope with the ups and downs of life, others can find it challenging to keep their emotions in control.  Being open about how we feel as adults and how we manage our emotions can be very helpful for children.  Discussing the range of emotions that can be felt and strategies to regulate them can be a positive way forward. Some students do not understand that having a range of feelings about new learning or new situations is normal. They perceive that everyone finds learning easy and fun. They miss the fact that learning can be challenging and we also learn a lot from making mistakes.

When children engage in problem solving tasks, they are likely to experience ups and downs. There is the initial excitement of trying something new or tackling a challenge. This can be short lived when a student's first idea or attempt does not work. Some students will immediately feel like a failure and want to give up. This is where they need to be taught that first attempts typically do not work and this is just part of the process. Understanding that it is 'ok' to feel uncomfortable for a short time and that when we push through these negative feelings often we can find a solution is important.  

It is also important to create a safe environment for students to learn. Teachers can do this though discussion and thinking about the feedback they give each day. Simply praising someone for persevering or attempting a task again rather rewarding the student who finishes first or gets all the answers right. This will shift the students' view of learning and overtime can change the 'atmosphere' of a class. Students need to understand that making mistakes is part of the learning process. We can actually learn more from making mistakes than when we complete an activity without any errors. This is because our brain is more 'alert' when we make mistake but can almost be in 'autopilot' when we do something routine or easy. Teaching students about how the brain works and learning to learn (metacognition) is hugely beneficial.

Learning to understand and manage stress is also crucial. If we feel stressed for whatever reason, it is very difficult to learn or complete tasks well.  Our body can quickly go into ‘fight or flight’ mode which protects us, but stops us from working through a task logically or learning new facts.  This can have a huge impact of some students' performance in tests and exams.  Again open discussions about the practical steps we can take to manage stress should be part the school life. Breathing techniques and positive self talk can be helpful strategies to teach and explore.