Which study skills strategies can improve students’ academic performance?
Page 1: Introduction to Study Skills
Did You Know?
Some textbooks now incorporate strategy instruction by including items such as questions at the beginning of their chapters to tap into prior knowledge and by asking students to create graphic organizers to arrange the presented material.As early as in the fourth grade, teachers begin to present many of their lessons in the form of lectures, something that is different from how their students have previously received classroom instruction. This type of content delivery requires students to quickly process information, to identify important details, to take good notes, and later to retrieve this information for tests. As students move into middle and high school, the demands placed upon them continue to increase. More and more, they are expected to independently read and glean information from content-area textbooks, complete multi-step assignments, and select and use appropriate study strategies. It’s largely due to these increasing expectations and more difficult content, however, that secondary students with learning difficulties—particularly those with learning disabilities (LD) and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)—are more at risk of academic failure than are their peers without disabilities. One reason that these students struggle is because they have deficits in executive functions, the mental processes that control and coordinate activities related to learning, such as:
- Processing information
- Retaining and recalling information
- Organizing materials and time
- Using effective learning and study strategies
As Ms. Flemming pointed out in her classroom reflection, her students Erin and Kyra are struggling in a few of these areas this year. Erin seems to have great difficulty organizing her materials, and Kyra has trouble remembering information. To get a better idea of the challenges these students face, view their profiles below.
- Able to Adequately Process Information
- Some Difficulty Retaining & Recalling Information
- Difficulty Organizing Materials & Managing Time
- Difficulty Selecting, Monitoring & Using Strategies
And ADHD
- Difficulty Processing Information
- Difficulty Retaining & Recalling Information
- Some Difficulty Organizing Materials
- Difficulty Selecting, Monitoring & Using Strategies
Student Profiles
Although the Challenge video to this module was simulated, the three students you met were portraying themselves. Their profiles reflect their actual abilities, just as their interview responses throughout this module capture their own experiences. Additionally, all work samples and questionnaire responses are genuine.
- Strong Processing Skills
- Good at Retaining & Recalling Information
- Good Organizational & Time Management Skills
- Employs Effective Study Skills Strategies
- Adequately Processes Information
- Some Difficulty Retaining & Recalling Information
- Difficulty Organizing Materials
& Managing Time - Difficulty Selecting, Monitoring, & Using Strategies
- Difficulty Processing Information
- Difficulty Retaining & Recalling Information
- Some Difficulty Organizing Materials
- Difficulty Selecting, Monitoring, & Using Strategies
(Close this panel)
If they are to learn how to gain and use information effectively, students with executive function deficits must be explicitly taught how to strategically approach academic tasks. That is, they need to be taught effective study strategies, often referred to as study skills. As can be seen in the table below, individual strategies can be used to address problems students might be experiencing with four critical activities related to learning.
Activities Related to Learning | Study Skills Strategies |
---|---|
Processing information |
|
Retaining and recalling information |
|
Organizing materials and managing time |
|
Selecting, Monitoring, and Using Strategies |
|
To make sure that students learn to use study skills strategies in an automatic or fluent manner, teachers need to use a research-validated strategy instruction model. When teachers do not make use of a validated approach, students often do not learn how, when, or where to use the strategies. Before teaching any of these strategies, it is recommended that you complete the following IRIS Module: