The Mix-It-Up-Study Drill

Mizz C. learns something new every century. This century she learned that students can boost their test results by copying successful musicians and athletes. They mix it up before performances and games. Musicians run through scales, rhythms, and different exercises. Athletes do strength and speed drills. 

Mizz C’s bottom line:

Practice different skills at the same time when you prep for tests. For example, when you study for your next language arts test, memorize a few spelling words. Throw in some vocabulary examples, then mix in grammar rules. In math, smoosh together word problems, computation, and other skills when you work out problems before math tests. Mix it up so you won't be mixed up at test time.

You may be excused now, Middle Schoolers. 


If you want to stick around, here’s the long version of what brain scientists have learned about why this "mixed up" way of studying works:

In a study recently posted online by the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology, Doug Rohrer and Kelli Taylor of the University of South Florida taught a group of fourth graders four equations, each to calculate a different dimension of a prism. Half of the children learned by studying repeated examples of one equation, say, calculating the number of prism faces when given the number of sides at the base, then moving on to the next type of calculation, studying repeated examples of that. The other half studied mixed problem sets, which included examples of all four types of calculations grouped together. Both groups solved sample problems along the way, as they studied.

A day later, the researchers gave all of the students a test on the material, presenting new problems of the same type. The children who had studied mixed sets did twice as well as the others, outscoring them 77 percent to 38 percent. The researchers have found the same in experiments involving adults and younger children.

“When students see a list of problems, all of the same kind, they know the strategy to use before they even read the problem,” said Dr. Rohrer. “That’s like riding a bike with training wheels.” With mixed practice, he added, “each problem is different from the last one, which means kids must learn how to choose the appropriate procedure — just like they had to do on the test.”

Go to Your Room! Never Mind.

Pop quiz, Middle Schoolers. Is it better to do all your studying in a special study space:

Or mix it up?

Mix it up is the A+ answer! Some people--that would include Mizz C--used to think that disappearing into a tomb-like study space was the best way to memorize and prepare for tests. 


Not so according to this New York Times article which says:

. . . many study skills courses insist that students find a specific place, a study room or a quiet corner of the library, to take their work. The research finds just the opposite. In one classic 1978 experiment, psychologists found that college students who studied a list of 40 vocabulary words in two different rooms — one windowless and cluttered, the other modern, with a view on a courtyard — did far better on a test than students who studied the words twice, in the same room.

It turns out that when students need to memorize information—spelling or vocabulary words, math, science terms, and the number of body sections ants have—they do better changing up scenery.

Got a test? Go to your room! Or the kitchen counter. Or the backyard.

Please excuse Mizz C. She's bringing her laptop to a park bench. 

What a Great Idea!

Hey, Middle Schoolers. Have you ever had a lightbulb moment? You suddenly solved a hard problem, got a great idea, or wrote something so good, and you don't how it happened. Guess what? The Wall Street Journal researched how lightbulb moments happen and shared some tips on how to get them to happen again. 


Mizz C. has boiled down their advice for all you geniuses-in-the-making so you can generate your own brainstorms: 

• Work as hard as you can on your project, music, writing, artwork, building, inventing, or problem solving. 

• Put your work away.

• Relax.

• Waste some time. 

• Let your mind wander, daydream, or get sleepy. 

• Be a little kid again and let your ideas run wild.

Down time is often the very time when that lightbulb inside your head goes on after you've worked hard. 

Mizz C's lesson is over. You may go now. But if you want to stick around, here's a crazy story about someone who connected two ideas and came up with a GREAT idea.

Back in 1974, a paper engineer named Arthur Fry walked into a meeting. He listened to an engineer, Sheldon Silver, talk about a formula he'd invented for a new kind of glue. Boring! This new glue wasn't even strong enough for two pieces of paper to stick together. People left the meeting wondering why on earth anyone would want weak glue. 

Sometime afterward, Arthur Fry went to church to sing in the choir. As usual, he lost his place in his hymn book. The little scraps of paper he used to mark hymns kept fluttering out. As he listened to a dull sermon later on, Arthur’s mind began to wander. In the middle of daydreaming, Arthur had a a lighbulb moment! 

Or more specifically a glue and paper moment! He pictured something that hadn’t existed before—little paper notes that lightly stuck to paper without tearing it. He could use them to keep from losing his place in his hymn book during church services. Other people could use them to attach notes without clips. Middle school students could use them to mark important pages in their textbooks when they studied for tests. Bingo! Arthur Fry’s brainstorm turned into the hugely popular Post-It® Notes. 

Although Sheldon Silver invented the glue, Arthur Fry gets the A+ in the history books. His off-duty brain was the one that connected his hymn book, scraps of paper, with the not-very-sticky glue. Thank you Arthur and Sheldon.

Son of Finders Keepers

Do you have one of these folders, Middle Schoolers? 

It's a traveling folder to carry important papers your parent needs to see, sign, pay for, or write on a family calendar. Mizz C. wishes she could send you one right through your computer so you can keep track of medical forms, permission slips, class trip checks, and school announcements.  Design one for yourself. Then stick it in your backpack so you never miss out on:   

               . . . or a trip to the natural history museum:  

                      . . . or Mizz C's favorite kind of class trip: 

Go! Have a good time!