Do pupils need to know about ‘working memory’ or ‘procrastination’? Will a ‘study skills curriculum’, or a revision programme, really make a vital difference?
Each year it is common to see annual plans shared for study skills curricula. Whether it is a key stage three programme, more targeted at GCSE revision, or even for new university students, they prove popular and are often shared with enthusiasm. The key aim is typically to help pupils reach the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow: successful study and independent learning.
Of course, this is tricky stuff. So, do these approaches to a planned curriculum work, and under what conditions?
Learning to manage your own learning
What does it take to be truly effective as a learner? Researchers Professor Robert Bjork, Nate Kornell and John Dunlosky offer the following four conditions:
1) Learners understand key aspects of how we learn and our memory e.g. knowing we are unlikely to remember a lot of the content of what we read
2) Knowing effective techniques to enhance their learning and remembering e.g. deploying self-testing and flashcards to remember physics equations.
3) Knowing how to best monitor and control your own learning e.g. understanding how to limit distractions when doing homework.
4) Knowing that our biases can negatively impact our judgement e.g. the initial feeling that we know a topic having done some revision is temporary and flawed.
If we are to help pupils address some of these conditions, we may end up teaching them a host of ideas and strategies. A response to a ‘study skills’ or ‘independent learning’ curriculum typically could include: 1) working memory; the ‘forgetting curve’; attention; multitasking; sleep; stress, etc. 2) Retrieval; self-testing; flashcards; dual coding; mind-maps; interleaving, etc. 3) Technology use; spacing; interleaving; Pomodoro method; habit building, etc. 4) Overconfidence; metacognition; hindsight bias; the ‘feeling of knowing’, etc.
There is potential a lot to learn…and even more to do.
For novice pupils, or even hard-working university students, there is likely to be a problematic ‘knowing and doing gap’. That is to say, they learn about procrastination but still do it anyway… a lot (like most humans). They understand some strategies for long term learning... but are too busy meeting their deadline of tomorrow morning. They know all about flashcards and the Leitner system... but they were on their phone instead of practising it!
Teachers are left in a tricky situation. Just how much is practical to explicitly teach, thereby sustaining practice so that it becomes something like a permanent habit?
Study skills curricula may fail those who need them most
Based on what we know about the limits of memory, the difficulties of independent learning, paltry planning, and more – we should probably expect pupils will really struggle to learn how to learn. Our ‘study skills curriculum’ is likely to fail for many. Plans should reflect that reality, rather than ignore it.
Fewer strategies, revisited routinely, are more likely to be successful than a bumper plan with lots of ideas and approaches for pupils to pick from. Lots of (sometimes frustrating) repetition will be necessary. Fewer, deeper, repeated.
Students’ behaviour change will be hard and slow. It will fall back, and fail, more times than we’d like to consider.
It is also likely that most strategies need to be applied with subject specificity (i.e. flashcard building in physics may look different to English Literature), over and over. You can have top-notch study sessions, but unless teachers are routinely modelling and scaffolding the same approaches, they are unlikely to stick.
And all of our teachers’ best laid plans needs to be viewed through the lens of predictable failure, tech distractions, along with peer norms that pull pupils away from the task at hand. In short, sharing the best of what we know about the vagaries of human memory and powerful study strategies is still unlikely to lead to any meaningful behaviour change.
But don’t give up all hope…
Monitoring study skills (and what students actually ‘do’) matters
We can anticipate an independent learning ‘knowing doing gap’. As such, we need to be specific about what learners know about how to study, what they do, and how we scaffold them to do it. We need to create the space for meaningful monitoring to ensure some ‘doing’ is happening.
A manageable start is a pre- and post-test on the knowledge and strategies we want pupils to know and use. Perhaps we create some scenario-based questions (a quick command on ChatGPT can do the trick) to test pupils’ knowledge first. For example, we could test their knowledge of effective independent study strategies e.g.
Effective independent study skills test questions:
1. Using flashcards effectively
Scenario: Emma is preparing for an upcoming biology test. She made flashcards with terms and definitions. She reviews all her flashcards every night, focusing on the cards she already knows well.
Question: What could Emma do differently to improve her use of flashcards?
Options:
A) Continue reviewing all cards every night.
B) Focus more on the cards she already knows well.
C) Spend more time on the cards she struggles with and gradually reduce time on the ones she knows.
D) Stop using flashcards and rely solely on rereading her textbook.
[Correct answer: C) Spend more time on the cards she struggles with and gradually reduce time on the ones she knows.]
2. Spacing independent study
Scenario: Alex has a math test in two weeks. He decides to study by doing practice problems for several hours on the weekend before the test.
Question: Which study approach would be more effective for Alex?
Options:
A) Study for several hours the weekend before the test.
B) Study a little each day in the two weeks leading up to the test.
C) Review everything the night before the test.
D) Skip practice problems and read through the textbook instead.
[Correct answer: B) Study a little each day in the two weeks leading up to the test.]
3. Actively making notes when reading
Scenario: Jordan is reading a chapter on world history and wants to take notes. He highlights the key points and then copies them word-for-word into his notebook.
Question: How could Jordan improve his note-taking strategy?
Options:
A) Continue highlighting and copying text directly into his notes.
B) Write summaries in his own words after reading each section.
C) Take notes by writing down everything in the chapter.
D) Skip taking notes and focus on memorizing the highlighted sections.
[Correct answer: B) Write summaries in his own words after reading each section.]
4. Reviewing notes and flashcards
Scenario: Priya has been studying for a chemistry exam using both her notes and flashcards. She finds that she’s starting to forget the material she learned earlier in the week.
Question: What should Priya do to better retain the information?
Options:
A) Review her notes and flashcards frequently, spacing out the reviews over several days.
B) Only review her notes the night before the exam.
C) Study for a long session in one sitting the day before the test.
D) Focus on rereading her notes instead of using flashcards.
[Correct answer: A) Review her notes and flashcards frequently, spacing out the reviews over several days.]
These study skills pre-tests can be a handy way to start the academic year, both testing, and re-teaching important strategies. Of course, knowing what to do is not the same as doing it week in, week out. As such, it is also crucial to monitor if students’ are changing their study routines. With a lot on online apps, we can analyse time on task and topic completion. Teachers can retain simple records on homework completion (and the quality and likely time taken to achieve it).
A powerful tool to monitor independent study skills an ‘exam wrapper’. These are short surveys that can be attached to an exam to understand the preparation and revision that went into them. It needn’t only be an exam, of course, any topic, or independent study, can be analysed in this way. See the following common question types:
Typical exam wrapper questions:
Preparation
- How much time did you spend studying for this exam?
A) Less than 2 hours
B) 2-5 hours
C) 5-10 hours
D) More than 10 hours - Which study strategies did you use the most? (Select all that apply)
A) Rereading notes or textbooks
B) Using flashcards or quizzes
C) Practicing past exam questions
D) Researching online for additional information
E) Creating summaries or concept maps - How consistently did you space out your study sessions over the days or weeks before the exam?
A) I crammed the night before
B) I studied mostly in the last few days
C) I spaced out my study sessions over several days
D) I consistently studied throughout the weeks leading up to the exam
Exam Performance
- How confident did you feel going into the exam?
A) Very confident
B) Somewhat confident
C) Not very confident
D) Not confident at all - Which part of the exam did you find most challenging?
A) Multiple choice questions
B) Short answer questions
C) Case study question
D) Q6 essay question - How well do you think your study strategies matched the format of the exam?
A) Very well matched
B) Somewhat matched
C) Poorly matched
D) Not matched at all
Reflection and Future Strategies
- What do you think was your biggest strength in this exam?
A) Understanding key concepts
B) Memorising information
C) Applying knowledge to new situations
D) Managing time effectively - What do you think was your biggest weakness in this exam?
A) Understanding key concepts
B) Memorising information
C) Applying knowledge to new situations
D) Managing time effectively - What will you do differently to prepare for the next exam?
A) Start studying earlier
B) Use more active study strategies (e.g., practice tests, flashcards)
C) Focus on weak areas identified in this exam
D) Improve time management during the exam - Overall, how satisfied are you with your performance on this exam?
A) Very satisfied
B) Somewhat satisfied
C) Neutral
D) Dissatisfied
Who has the time to do this extra monitoring?
You’d be right to question, what teacher has time to do tests, surveys, and to keep records on study habits and skills. And yet, for many of the ambitious study skills curricula I see, there is a lot of effort going into planning lessons, undertaking assemblies, communicating to parents, and more. Not only that, how much curriculum time do we waste reteaching how to study, what strategies to use, when best to do it etc.
With some monitoring data captured with some time-efficient technology, we can, and should, end up saving teacher time, curriculum time, and reduce wasteful practice from students (ok, ok – maybe that is too rosy a picture).
When we consider time and effort, it makes me reflect that we need to keep the scope of the study skills curriculum feasible, and not try and create mini cognitive psychologists. Instead, we should focus in on a small number of high value skills and strategies and do them well over time so they become an unbreakable habit.
If our monitoring is effective, it will highlight the flaws in our study skills curriculum and the gaps in students’ knowledge and their actual independent study. The core tenets of effective independent study are relatively unchanging, so we can wheel out our curriculum for several years, regardless of whether qualifications change or exams or other assessments shift.
Related reading:
- There are lots of excellent books in this area, including ‘Study Like a Champ’, by Dunlosky & Gurung; ‘Outsmart your Brain’, by Dan Willingham’; ‘Strengthening the Student Toolbox in Action’, by Amarbeer Singh Gill; and ‘The Revision Revolution’ by Helen Howell.
- One of my most read blogs is ‘Top 10 Revision Strategies’
- John Dunlosky’s article on ‘Strengthening the Student Toolbox’ is a seminal read based on evidence from cognitive science.
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