I. WHAT IS STUDYING?
Some students define studying as what students
do to prepare for a test. This is only one small sense of what
the word means. Studying has a much larger definition. It means
learning for a purpose. Whenever students are learning for a purpose,
students are studying. Students might be reading a book, listening
to a friend, watching a movie, doing homework, practicing a sport,
or thinking by themselves. All of these activities are studying.
II. WHAT ARE STUDY SKILLS?
Study is acquiring knowledge and competence.
A skill is a learned or developed ability. Study skills, then,
are learned abilities that one uses for the purpose of acquiring
knowledge and competence.
In this literal sense, study skills involve
specific, observable behaviors that can be described and measured.
For example, can a student attend to a set of directions and follow
them accurately? Can a student plan the use of his or her study
time and follow that schedule? Can a student take useful notes
from an oral presentation? Can a student read a section of text
and identify the main ideas and important details?
There is also a more profound definition of
study skills than this literal one. In this larger sense, study
skills, --- or learning skills --- are processes for learning.
They are processes that help students to organize and direct the
effort they invest in learning, and their use results in students
becoming more effective and efficient learners who are more in
charge of their own learning. When students learn a study skill,
they are learning more than just a technique. They are learning
a way of solving learning problems, a method of approach and follow
through that can be used in any relevant context. They are also
learning more about how to learn effectively. It is this larger
understanding of study skills that reveals their central role
in schooling.
Study skills are skills for learning. They are
methods, ways of doing things, that can help make learning easier
for students. They can also help students to get more work done
and to learn more in a given period of time. There are skills
involved in much of what we do in life, such as playing a musical
instrument, shooting a jump shot, sewing a piece of clothing,
tuning an engine, baking a cake, or dancing. Study skills students
can master that will help students to learn more effectively.
Study skills are not a substitute for the work
that learning requires. However, using these skills will help
students gain more from the effort and time students devote to
learning, particularly to school work.
III. WHAT IS THE VALUE OF STUDY SKILLS?
Many students are probably already using at
least some study skills. We can help students to learn other skills
that will let them use their time and energy even more effectively.
If students are not doing as well in school
as they’d like, students may find this Program very helpful.
Many students who want to learn have difficulty in school. Often
this is because they don’t know how to study. The study
skills that students can learn in this Program can help them to
overcome some of these difficulties. They can help students improve
the effectiveness of their learning. They can also help students
discover that their studying can become more successful and more
enjoyable.
IV. HOW DO STUDENTS LEARN STUDY SKILLS?
When students first try a new study skill, it
may feel uncomfortable or strange to students. Or, students may
feel that the skill doesn’t help students much. Both of
these experiences are common. Whenever students start to learn
a new skill, it’s bound to feel unfamiliar. Students may
feel self conscious and awkward at first. This is quite natural.
Usually it takes at least a few practices to become both comfortable
with the skill and good at it. So when students start to work
with a new study skill, don’t give up after the first time
if students feel uncomfortable or frustrated. Practice the skill
at least a couple of times, and then see how well it works for
students.
