Summary Revision to "what Works, What Doesn't"

How Do You Study?

        In “What Works, What Doesn’t” John Dunlosky and other researchers describe the results of their studies of several learning techniques that are effective and ineffective to students and teachers.

The authors of this article found strategies that surprisingly did and did not work for educators and students.  Apparently, information about how to learn was not making it to the students and teachers. In fact, strategies that students praise on are not all effective. In this case, the authors reviewed more than seven hundred articles on ten commonly used learning techniques to establish the most functional and beneficial ways to learn. Their criteria was that effective techniques functioned better if students worked independently or in a team. Also, students must demonstrate levels of knowledge, skills, and abilities that are required to be tested. The authors of the article found two findings that construct strong results that were appropriate in numerous settings.

        For instance, Dunlosky et al. explain the top five techniques, that are the most effective. First, is self-testing, which are tests done by students on their own. Examples of self-testing include using flash cards or answering sample questions from a textbook. Second, is distributed practice, the opposite of  “massed” practice. It is effective for learners who study in short sessions over a long period of time. Third, is elaborative interrogation, learners produced explanations for facts such as, “Why is this true?” or “ Why does it make sense that…?”.  It’s mainly used when students are learning factual information. Fourth, in self-explanation, students can come up with accurate answers to questions such as, “What new information does the sentence provide for you?”, from what they have learned.  Self-explanation may help combine new information with existing knowledge. Finally, is interleaved practice, in which students alternate a variety of types of information or problems. Interleaved practice also improves learning and boosts other cognitive skills.

        In addition, Dunlosky and his fellow researchers found these two learning styles inefficient and only beneficial for certain types of learning. Underlining or highlighting was first on the authors’ list of ineffective learning strategies. It is straightforward but it does little to enhance students performance. Learners should use flash cards or self-tests instead. Next, another technique that doesn't work as well is rereading.  Ironically, this strategy is the one most commonly reported by students. In fact, it is much less effective than underlining or highlighting. Elaborative interrogation, self-explanations and practice tests are other alternatives you can use as well. Also, imagery for text learning, summarization, and keyword mnemonic are suspect techniques that are inefficient and laborious.