Thanks Mark, a timely reminder for us to reflect upon how best we can optimise support for our students and embed effective habits and routines - not just for the purpose of exams!
Your second line ("The difficulty is that revision is rarely taught explicitly") is something that resonated as we tend to assume that somebody else has taught them these things. This reminded me of this extract from What Works What Doesn't (Dunlosky et al 2013), "Students are not being taught the best strategies, perhaps because teachers themselves are not schooled in them" - this is why I strongly believe research-informed T&L CPD is KING.
I enjoyed this, thank you. My word of caution would be that teaching students about effective study strategies and helping them block time and stuff is important, but it is in no way close to sufficient for them actually *actioning* effective habits. It's much more important to just "flood the zone" with effective revision, and leave them very little room to make their own decisions. If you do, however much you have trained them they will still default to watching YouTube videos in their room!
Thanks, Adam - Yes, I agree…a good point and one I could have drawn out more clearly. You’re right that knowing and doing are very different things…I like the term ‘flooding the zone’. We try to do some of that institutionally through the carousel sessions and the faculty schedule, but no where near enough and it’s close to impossible to control what happens at home…even with parents on board and asking how they can help.
What complicates it further in our context is that the problem runs in both directions. We are lucky to have many highly motivated students, but that motivation tips into overwork for many. Peer pressure, parental expectation and a tutoring culture that adds hours on top of an already full day means that for some students the issue is not too little revision but too much of the wrong kind, driven by anxiety rather than strategy. That’s probably a whole separate piece!
Thanks Mark, a timely reminder for us to reflect upon how best we can optimise support for our students and embed effective habits and routines - not just for the purpose of exams!
Your second line ("The difficulty is that revision is rarely taught explicitly") is something that resonated as we tend to assume that somebody else has taught them these things. This reminded me of this extract from What Works What Doesn't (Dunlosky et al 2013), "Students are not being taught the best strategies, perhaps because teachers themselves are not schooled in them" - this is why I strongly believe research-informed T&L CPD is KING.
https://wcer.wisc.edu/docs/resources/cesa2017/Dunlosky_SciAmMind.pdf
I enjoyed this, thank you. My word of caution would be that teaching students about effective study strategies and helping them block time and stuff is important, but it is in no way close to sufficient for them actually *actioning* effective habits. It's much more important to just "flood the zone" with effective revision, and leave them very little room to make their own decisions. If you do, however much you have trained them they will still default to watching YouTube videos in their room!
Thanks, Adam - Yes, I agree…a good point and one I could have drawn out more clearly. You’re right that knowing and doing are very different things…I like the term ‘flooding the zone’. We try to do some of that institutionally through the carousel sessions and the faculty schedule, but no where near enough and it’s close to impossible to control what happens at home…even with parents on board and asking how they can help.
What complicates it further in our context is that the problem runs in both directions. We are lucky to have many highly motivated students, but that motivation tips into overwork for many. Peer pressure, parental expectation and a tutoring culture that adds hours on top of an already full day means that for some students the issue is not too little revision but too much of the wrong kind, driven by anxiety rather than strategy. That’s probably a whole separate piece!