Examining the Benefits of Teaching Active Study Strategies as a Part of Classroom Instruction
Students often start college expecting to do well; however, some students fail to meet their expectations (e.g., McGrath & Burd, 2012; Tinto, 2017). When entering college some students are better prepared for the academic rigor, unique social situations, and challenges of a college environment than others (Tinto, 2006). Students who are less equipped for the transition to college often have less successful academic careers and are less likely to graduate from college (e.g., Tinto, 2006, 2017). As universities hope to retain students and promote student persistence, they continue exploring and promoting initiatives that support student success. Numerous models of retention have shaped university policies aimed at retaining students (e.g. Spady’s undergraduate dropout model, Tinto’s model of student departure, and Bean’s model of student attrition), and they all highlight the complexity of factors that influence whether students persist (e.g., Aljohani, 2016). Regardless of which model, all recognize the importance of being academically prepared and developing appropriate learning tools (e.g., Aljohani, 2016). A goal of this paper is to highlight the need to help students with one of these necessary tools—effective studying, and to offer an ecologically valid example of how universities could help students cultivate these skills.
Teachers play an important role in encouraging student success. Most teachers put great thought and time into preparing lectures and assignments in hopes of developing courses that optimize student learning. However, educators may give less consideration into whether students know and use effective study strategies. When surveying students about their study habits, researchers report only 20% to 36% of students used a particular study strategy because a teacher taught them to use it (Hartwig & Dunlosky, 2012; Kornell & Bjork, 2007). This may be because few professors spend class time teaching students how to study effectively (McConnell Rogers, Goldman, Jordan, & Steele, 2011). When students prepare for exams, they must decide what to study, how long to study, and how to study (Bjork, Dunlosky, Kornell, 2013; Kornell & Bjork, 2007).
When deciding what to study, students may select the most difficult material (Thiede & Dunloksy, 1999; Undorf & Ackerman, 2017), they may choose the material they believe they have the best chance of mastering (Metcalfe, 2002), or they may select the material that is due the soonest (Hartwig & Dunlosky, 2012; Kornell & Bjork, 2007). When deciding how long to study the material, students must decide how far in advance to begin preparing for the exam as well as decide when they have acquired enough material to meet their learning goal (Kornell & Bjork, 2007). Numerous studies report that students make poor metacognitive decisions in this process. For example, students seldom space their learning (Barzagar Nazari & Ebersbach, 2018; Benjamin & Bird, 2006; Taraban, Maki, & Rynearson, 1999), they often fail to recognize additional time studying would prove beneficial (Koriat, 1997), and they demonstrate poor monitoring by overestimating their comprehension and cease studying too early (e.g., Dunlosky & Rawson, 2011; Peverly, Brobst, Graham, & Shaw, 2003). Although studying correct material for a sufficient amount of time is critical for student success, these studies consistently demonstrate students do not always make the best study choices.