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! 

Highlighting Gone Wild!

Do you highlighters a little too much, Middle Schoolers? Do your class notes, teacher handouts, and textbook pages look as if they were attacked by an out-of control highlighter? Here's how to highlight the super important stuff--about 20-30 percent of what you read: 

Before you highlight:

• Skim all the material first to get a sense of it.

• Read all the boldface headings. (Headings give you a head's up to main ideas.)

• Read any summaries in your notes, handouts, or textbook. (Some phrases that clue you in:  “In summary,” “In the end,” “The most important.")

• Read end-of-chapter questions in textbooks. (Mizz C. knows this sounds backwards, but she wouldn't steer you wrong. End-of-chapter questions tell you what main ideas to look for when you do your closer reading with your highlighter.)

Now get out your bright and shiny highlighters:*

• Go back to the beginning of the material and start reading slowly. 

• Highlight only information that backs up the headings or answers end-of-chapter questions.

• Highlight need-to-know words that are not boldfaced. 

(*If you're not allowed to highlight in your textbooks, take chapter notes instead. Then highlight those.) 

You may pack up your highlighters and go fly a kite now.

Finders Keepers

Mizz C’s pop quiz for today:

Q: How many minutes do you think most people spend looking for lost things every day, Middle Schoolers?

A: If you said, 16 minutes, you get an A+. Sez who? Sez James Gleick in his book, Faster. Would you like your 16 minutes back? Here’s how:

• Get rid of stuff you don’t use anymore. Less stuff=less to lose.

• Put things you really, really need in the same place every time.

• Line up school clothes where you can hop into them without opening your eyes in the morning. 

• Ditto sports gear, musical instruments, and other equipment you need at school the next day.

• Always check under and around bus and car seats when you leave a vehicle.

• Label your stuff.

• Check your school planner to see if you've packed the stuff you need the next day.

Warning: You may now leave this blog posting before Mizz C blabs on about her true lost and found story:

Once upon a time, while she was hiking, Mizz C. bent down to look at moss patterns on a rock or tie her boot--it doesn't matter which. Because she didn't close the zipper on her hiking jacket, EVEN THOUGH SHE KNEW BETTER!!!! her house keys fell out, unbeknownst to her. 


So Mizz C. went home, happy and smiling after her day in the woods until she discovered she had no keys. She immediately went into one of her little panic modes, tried to retrace her many steps, searching way, way longer than 16 minutes, but still NO KEYS!!! With a heavy heart, she broke into her own house. "Boo hoo," cried Mizz C. because those lost keys were attached to a pretty piece of jewelry she liked. Now that was lost forever, too.

Fast forward to six months later. A fat little envelope arrived from a supermarket. Inside were her lost keys! Some nice hiker had found Mizz C's keys, saw the supermarket tag, went to the store, the store traced the bar code back to Mizz C, and mailed them to her. 


Thank you nice hiker whose name she doesn't know. Thank you Stop & Shop. Henceforth Mizz C. put her keys into the SAME right-hand zippered pocket EVERY TIME just like she's telling all you middle schoolers to do right now!  

Now if she could only find her old Leki hiking poles. She knows they're up there somewhere in the Hudson Highlands! If only she'd thought ahead and put a supermarket tag on them. Lesson learned.

Decisions, Decisions, the Sequel: Do Hard or Easy Homework First?

            Which comes first? The chicken or the hard homework?

 

The chicken!!!!!!

Which comes next: hard or easy homework first?

The envelope, please. Hard homework first wins! Here's why:

• Hard homework is worth more than easy homework. A book report is worth a gazillion more points than a page of vocabulary homework.

• Hard homework takes more brain power than the easier work. Take it from Mizz C. Tackle the tough stuff when you have the most energy.

• Doing hard homework first helps prevent a dreaded middle school disease: procrastination. Pushing off hard homework is like inviting a slacker friend to come into your homework space and whisper: “Do it later.”

Do hard homework later when you’re tired, cranky, and out of steam? Mizz C. thinks not.

If you read Mizz C's posting on decision making, she was all about putting many decisions on auto pilot. Figure out: “When do I have the most energy for hard homework?” and stick with that decision. 

But wait! Mizz C. has found a homework decision loophole. She hearby grants you permission to alternate hard and easy homework until you’re all done:

Big, monster homework first, mini-break, followed by easy homework. Then back to: hard homework-mini-break-easy homework.

Meanwhile, to help you plan out hard and easy homework, use the chicken and Mizz C’s A+ 20/10 Study Method.