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.