Study skills used by Gateway students - Thesis Example

?Study skills used by Gateway INTRODUCTION Background to the Study Education seems to be the single most important element in our society today. Without it, life is almost incomplete. Education is however not embarked for the beauty of it but for students to come out of the educational system with successes and becoming transformers of society’s numerous challenges. A major contributing factor to the success of students in various examinations rests with the kind of study skills adopted by students (Koduah, 2010). The Education Atlas (2011) explains that a study skill involves a whole lot of concepts including “developing effective study skills, improving reading comprehension, discovering your own personal study style, learning to manage your time more efficiently and learning the best way to prepare for exams.” This is to say that the study skills adopted by a student envelope the entire study or learning program of the student. Indeed, there cannot be any successful educational program without a study skill in place. Study skills are commonly adopted by students. However, it is very important that educators of the student, most especially teachers of the student play a role in selecting the most appropriate and workable study skill that would work best for a student. This is because not all strategies work best for all teachers. With the professional knowhow of teachers however, they are in a better position to discovering the study skills that work best for each students. The selection of study skills should therefore be a collaborative activity between students and educators. Problem statement The Gateway to College “serves youth, 16 to 21 years old, who have dropped out of school or are significantly behind in credits and unlikely to graduate” (Gateway to College Organization, 2011). The researcher embarked on this course project to find out the various study skills adopted by students in the Gateway Course; the factors that influence the selection of the various study skills and how the study skills are impacting on the academic success of the students. Research Questions The following questions were designed to be delimitation in guiding the researcher in the course of the research. This is to say that data and information collection shall be based on the research questions and not outside the research questions. Again, the research aims and objectives shall be crafted around the achievement of the research questions. The research questions are: 1. What are the factors that account for the selection of particular study skills by Gateway students? 2. What role do educators play in the selection of study skills by Gateway students? 3. What are the commonest study skills used by Gateway students? 4. What are the principles necessary in the selection of a study skill for an individual? 5. How does the study skill used by a student affect his or her learning outcome? Objectives The research is being embarked on to achieve the following objectives: 1. To identify the factors necessary in the selection of study skills by students. 2. Identify the role educators (most importantly teachers) can play in the selection of study skills for students. 3. To be abreast with the commonest study skills adopted and used by Gateway students. 4. To scrutinize principles necessary in the selection of study skills for and by students. 5. To identify the role study skills play in the general success of students. Justification This course project is an assignment for a class I am taking in the Gateway to College class. Indeed there were a lot of topical areas that I could have decided to write on. I however decided to write on the study skills adopted by students for a number of justifiable reasons. In the first place, the researcher acknowledges the important role that study skills play in the success of students’ examinations. With the objective of the Gateway to College program being to help students with low academic standings to advance to the higher level, it is extremely important that all steps that are necessary for these students to pass their examinations are put in place. Indeed, there cannot be success in any examination when studying or learning is absent. To study too, one needs to go through certain laid down procedures known as study skills. This is the first reason why the research is justifiable. Secondly, this research is justifiable because it will bring out the key roles that the educators need to play in the study skills of students. By the close of this research or project, teachers and educators in general will come to appreciate the fact that their business is not just to teach students but also to help students pick up workable learning skills for the concepts that they are taught. LITERATURE REVIEW Background Literature The review of related literature shall focus on three major areas. The first is the factors that have to be considered in the selection of a particular study skill, the second has to do with the principles that should guide the implementation of study of learning skills and the last area has to do with the review of some selected study skills. Factors to consider in the Selection of Study Skills Study Cram (2010) identifies four major factors to consider in the selection of study skill by students. The first factor has to do with the type of subject being studied. It is very important for every student to appreciate the fact that not all subjects can be learnt with the same study skills. In choosing a study skill, one has to factor in whether the subject to be learnt is a reading subject, an experimental subject or a calculation subject. These are the three major criteria under which subjects are normally grouped. Psychologists have it that attaching the wrong study skill to the wrong subject is like treating headache with an eye drop (Koduah, 2010). The next factor has to do with the expected learning achievement. Clearly, a study skill that will work best for homework will certainly not well for a promotion examination. For instance with a homework, the student has a lot of time to undertake personal research and enquiry. Promotion examination are however learnt in rush and hurry. The study skill must therefore be influenced by the expected learning achievement. Thirdly, the availability of learning resources plays vital role when selecting study skill. This is because in the presence of a lot of learning materials or resources, the study skill or style must involve as many practicality and activities as possible. Finally, a student must factor in his or her competence for a particular subject when selecting study skills for them. Subjects that students do not perform well in must entail detailed discussions, analysis and research. Principles that Guide the Implementation of Study of Learning Skills After all factors observed and the right study skill selected for the right subject and at the right time, the learner has to observe the following principle when implementing the study skills. The first principle outlined by Strachar (2008) has to do with identifying one’s self. Here, it is important for the learner to appreciate the fact that no two people are the same and that conditions that will work for one student should not necessarily work for him or her. Most often than not, students make their colleagues who top their class their role models. For this reason, they try to study in the exact manner that these people study. It is totally wrong. A person who understands him or herself will consider personal principles like the best time to learn, the best subject to learn with, the best pace to read and so on. Secondly, there is the principle of environment. “Environment is everything. Good music helps, usually instrumental music works better as the words can sometimes distract” (Strachar, 2008). Apart from music, is an environment that is generally free from all forms of distractions will work. Saying this, it is right to emphasize the need to identify one’s self. The fact that an instrumental music will work for one person does not mean it should work for everybody. Know the right environment for your studies and create it for yourself. Finally, there is the principle of state of mind. On this, Strachar (2008) states that “concentration and focus are key. If your mind is on other things while you pretend to be looking at a book, you are only fooling yourself.” The mind should be a fertile ground, ready to accommodate the seed of learning. Examples of Study Skills The table below summarizes four major study skills. Audio recording Visual/Spatial Skill Active Skill Action Skill Make a recording to the lecturer’s class Play it over and over again Listen to the tape instead of radio Find time to make notes of the tape Highlight major areas of the lecture Set out questions for yourself from the notes Take a self assessment of your performance Be good at seeing the bigger picture before adopting this. Have a sense of balance and completeness Study under natural lighting Focus on course objectives Seek means to work with learning materials or resources Use technology when available Do a lot of mental picturing of concepts Have enough room to experiment. Be an active listener Be a critical observer Rely a lot on demonstrations and fieldwork Play an active rather than a passive role in class Do not be limited by the fact that others may think you are all-knowing Take advantage of opportunities to solve problems Learn through influential situations. Be a group learner or group worker If possible offer to teach others. This will turn out to be learning for you Have a team of learners Do a lot of questioning and be an insightful listener Have a coach to determine your progress in learning. Source: Study Guides and Strategies (2010) METHODOLOGY Research Design There are six major research designs that could be adopted for this project. These are experiment; survey; grounded theory; ethnography; action research and case study (Saunders et al., 2003). Considering the research objectives and what the researcher wants to achieve from this project, survey was selected as a suitable research design for the completion of this research work. Trochim (2008) explains that a survey “encompasses any measurement procedures that involve asking questions of respondents.” The respondents to be used here will be students of the Gateway program while questions bordering on their study skills will be asked through the use of various data collection procedures. Population, Sample and Sampling Procedure The population of the research refers to all people in the catchment area of the field where the research will be conducted. All these people have a chance of belonging to the actual participants of the research. In this case, students of the Gateway Program are the population. The sample however diminishes the number of people to include only those who will play direct roles in the research work. They are people from whom the researcher will solicit information from. In other words, the sample refers to the participants in the research work. The researcher used fifty (50) students in the Gateway program for this research. The fifty (50) people were selected by the use of random sampling procedure. In random sampling procedure, all the people in the population have an equal chance of belonging to the sample size of being part of the sample. Again, random sampling procedure is free from all forms of bias and favoritism. In using the random sampling procedure, the researcher selected a specific date and time. He then chose one entrance gate to the school. At the said date and time, the first fifty students who came through that gate (and expressed willingness to be part of the research) were selected as part of the sample size. Research Instrument The research instrument refers to the materials with which the researcher collects data from members in the sample size. In this case, the researcher adopted the use of questionnaire. A questionnaire is a piece of paper that contains questions to be answered by writing (Twumasi, 2003). The researcher selected questionnaire for this project for a number of reasons. In the first place, the respondents were all students who could read and write. Secondly, the researcher felt that the sample size was too large for him to conduct one-on-one interview. Thirdly, the use of questionnaire offered the respondents the opportunity to attend to the questions at their own free will time when they were free from all forms of stress and pressure. Finally, the use of questionnaire in research work makes data analysis easier and simpler because the researcher deals with the same set of questions and pattern of answers. Sample Collection Procedure Two major data collection procedures were used by the researcher. These were primary and secondary data collection procedures. Whereas primary data collection allows the researcher to personally collect data from the field of research (Op Papers, 2011), secondary data collection gives the researcher the opportunity to collect ready-made data from sources such as books, internet websites and journals. Primary data collection was however the major data collection procedure used. This was done mainly via the use of the questionnaire, which was the major research instrument used. Among data collected from respondents were demographics of students, learning styles used by students, factors student consider in the selection of a particular study skill, support students receive from their teachers in the selection of study skills, how the study skills adopted by students impart on their studies and how they hoped to improve their studies in general. Results of all data collected have been analyzed in the next section. Secondary data was collected in the form of literature review and have been discussed above. Data Analysis Data collected from the sample have briefly been analyzed below: Factors students considered in the selection of study skills Students were asked the various factors they consider when selecting a particular study skill. The table below represents results gathered from students. Factor Number of Students Percentage Type of Subject being Studied Expected Learning Achievement Availability of Learning Materials Competence of Subject being Studied 19 10 11 10 38 20 22 20 Total 50 100 The table shows that a lot of students gave premium to the type of subject they were studying when selecting a particular study skill. The role educators play in the selection of study skills for students Students were asked if their teachers aided them through guidance, counseling, seminars and other forms of orientation to help them select study skills. The figure below represents answers given by students. From the pie chart, it can be seen that a lot of students did not receive any support from their teachers in the selection of study skills or learning strategies. The commonest study skills adopted by Gateway students A list of study skills were categorized for students to select the ones that they used or the ones that worked best for them. The chart below represents answers sampled from students. The chart shows that a lot of students were more comfortable with audio recording and active learning than visual and action learning. Impact of Study Skill on Learning Students were asked whether or not the study skills they were using were helping in the improvement of their academics. Below are responses taken from respondents. Students were peeved that upon all the effort they were putting in to improve their studies, they were still not performing well in their academics. Summary and Conclusion The research shows a very sad situation among Gateway students. Though students are putting in a lot of effort to improve their learning by using study skills such as audio recording, active learning, visual and action learning, their choices of study skills are not working well for them. The research revealed that the developed has come about because students are not guided in the selection of their study skills. It is recommended that teachers act as facilitators in the selection of study skills for students. This is the only way that the purported improvement in students’ academics can be achieved. REFERENCE LIST Education Atlas (2011). Study Skills Guide for Students. Retrieved August 12, 2011 from http://www.educationatlas.com/study-skills.html Gateway to College Organization (2011). Program Overview. Retrieved August 12, 2011 from http://www.gatewaytocollege.org/program_overview.asp Koduah I. E. (2010). The Role of Study Skills in Determining Examination Successes. PrintMark Group Limited: Accra Op Papers (2011). Primary Data Collection, retrieved March 26, 2011 from www.oppapers.com/.../primary-data-collection-page1.html Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. (2003) Research Methods for Business Students. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited. Strachar E. (2008). Study Skills For Students. Retrieved August 12, 2011 from http://www.readinggenius.com/study_skills_for_students.html Study Cram (2010). The Best Study Methods and Study Skills, Period. Retrieved August 12, 2011 from http://www.studycram.com/ Study Guides and Strategies (2010). Learning and studying techniques. Retrieved August 12, 2011 from http://www.studygs.net/shared/studying.htm Trochim W.M.K. (2008). Survey Research. Retrieved August 12, 2011 from http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/survey.php Twumasi G.W. (2003). The Basis of Action Research Design. Macmillan Publication: Washington Read More