Scientific study skills training
World of competition
In the competitive world today, students face a great deal of stress with regard to academics and their scholastic accomplishments. Today students are adjudged on every capability by their scholastic and college performance. They are required to put in tremendous effort and are expected to perform better than their best, push themselves harder and further; to come out stronger and actualized. Truly, the brightest diamond has always gone through blood. However the sad the truth remains that children are repeatedly and incessantly told to study, but are not given clear cut guidance on how to study, so they do not have the right direction.
Back then and now
Times have changed and so have academic expectations. Students now have open doors and accessible pathways to project their competencies. Creativity is accepted, encouraged and also well acknowledged. Out of the box thinking is cherished. With this change in time, children need to build the ability to grab the opportunities to find an apposite success path.
Extracurricular activities
Children are expected to excel in all spheres of life, why not! They need to not only put their time and effort in enhancing academic learning, but also exploring methods to do the very same thing efficiently, in order to save time for other tasks that are today quintessential to their development. Dramatics, sport, music, art, these are not only entertainment; they also help children de-stress and become physically and psychologically accomplished human beings. Managing time well for instance, is the basic pre requisite for anyone: be it a toddler who must have time to play, eat, sleep, television; a school going child who needs to do homework, eat, sleep and play or an adolescent who must take time out to be with friends and grow in social networks besides excelling in curricular and extra curricular tasks.
Time management
When the clock takes the reins in its hands, children have to start dancing to its tune. They look at the clock or calendar and panic. The hearts of children and parents beat faster. Oh my God project submission tomorrow! Oh lord exam next week! Oh gracious, homework has not been done yet! If children have it all done on time they would smile and have a relaxed sleep before the exam or project presentation but instead, due to the lack of planning and organization, they are stressed because they did not manage time, it managed them.
No cramming: only learning
There’s no ‘right’ way to study. In fact if children study and gain knowledge in any which way it cannot be wrong. However appropriate techniques focused on deep learning not merely memorizing; will take children forward and make them retain information better. Appropriate note-making techniques like flow charts, mind maps, graphics organizers and matrices help retain information better. It is essential to make our children cook up a careful blend of their perceived dull and interesting subjects so they do not get bored and fed up in the middle of the study plan. If it’s difficult to get started, we motivate them to do something easy first and go forward step by step.
Improving performance
We believe that much can be done to improve and sharpen academic performance. Study skills, like most other acquired skills, can be learned, inculcated and put to practice. These skills are dynamic, ever changing and alter with the system and syllabus demands. They focus on the form, and not the content; hence can be put to practice for any subject, any class, any child. Once inculcated, these will benefit them in every walk of life.
MINDFRAMES: Reframing studies
Our six-course module on Scientific Study Methods uses time tested techniques to make studies simple, more interesting, understandable, retainable, easy, and reproducible. The course includes interactive group work sessions with parents and also provides take-home booklets and worksheets for the students to imbibe and internalize these techniques. This enables them to continually put into practice, the proficiencies that have been acquired by them throughout the different workshop sessions. Learning is a basic need. Empowering children the right learning skills is the best gift the school could ever offer their children.