Jim - 

Thanks for sharing the article.  Here are some thoughts that might trigger
some further discussion:

 

1.      Most of this is not news to people who know about memory research.

2.      I suspect a lot of what's in the article would be found by just
asking students what works for them to help them learn.  They probably know
quite well when they are paying attention, and when they are beginning to
drift, when their studying is helping them learn, and when they are just
doing mechanical things that are teaching them very little.  For example, I
think many students would say that when they study ten examples of the same
rule in a row, their eyes glaze over after the first few and they really
aren't paying much attention to the remaining ones.  This would support what
the article says, that shifting back and forth between different kinds of
problems is better than studying all of the same kind in a session.

3.      I also note that the article fails to point out a major reason for
this effect, which is that a big part of solving for something in math or
geometry [such as their example of calculating the number of prism faces for
a particular shape] is not knowing the formula or how to execute the
formula, but knowing which formula to use.  That is something that would be
learned only when a variety of different problem types are intermingled.
I'd make a bet that the following would work best: put problems of the same
type together until the student knows well how to solve that particular type
of problem, and after that begin to intermingle problem types so the student
learns to recognize which type requires which solution.

4.      Despite what I said in #2 about students often knowing what works
best for them, there are some cases where students do not know what is
working best.  An example would probably be the "practice test," which
students might say doesn't help them learn just because they don't like it
and they have not been led to believe a test can be a good learning
instrument.  Testing can (a) provide helpful diagnostic information that
helps us and the student know what has been learned and what still needs to
be learned; (b) help learning, as the article describes; and/or (c) be used
for evaluation and judgment, "success" or "failure."  Unfortunately students
often associate it only with the third (unpleasant) use.  This is partly our
fault as teachers, and partly the fault of the system.  

5.      This leads to a comment that goes well beyond the article.  I've
often thought it would be wonderful if the teacher role and the evaluator
role could be separated.  If the teacher did the teaching and the evaluation
took place later on by someone else across the hall, the teacher might be
seen more as an ally and less as an enemy.  The students might be willing to
tell the teacher what they didn't know, rather than trying to hide it and
trick the teacher into thinking they know it.  Then the teacher and student
could work collaboratively to help each student learn what he/she needs to
learn.  I experienced a bit of this when our department (Psychology)
established a department-wide minimum competency exam for our research
methods course that all students had to pass.  It was wonderful to have
students asking me to help them learn something!

 

Walter vom Saal

Psychology Professor Emeritus

 

From: Teaching Breakfast List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Greenberg, James ([log in to unmask])
Sent: Friday, October 01, 2010 8:20 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Perhaps Something to Share with Our Students? - Posted to TB List
by Jim Greenberg

 

TBers, 

With a wee bit of nervousness I post the attached about what we know of good
study habits (I'm not an educational psychologist - so be kind with your
responses).  If this seems to ring true to those that know more about this
subject than I, perhaps we should be sharing these ideas with our students? 

Mr. James B. Greenberg 
Director Teaching, Learning and Technology Center 
Milne Library 
SUNY College at Oneonta 
Oneonta, New York 13820 

blog: The 32nd Square at http://32ndsquare.blogspot.com
wiki: The 32nd Square at http://32ndsquare.wikidot.com
email: [log in to unmask] 
phone: 607-436-2701 
fax:   607-436-3677
IM:  oneontatltc
Twitter: greenbjb


"Ignorance is curable, stupidity lasts forever" 
P Think before you print! Please consider the environment before printing
this email