SMART STUDYING: TEACHING STUDENTS HOW TO STUDY THROUGH NEUROSCIENCE

Abstract

Students consistently report using primarily ineffective and inefficient study strategies when regulating their own learning. While some interventions have been shown to influence student study behaviors, we do not know what factors make these interventions successful or not. To investigate this question, we recruited seventy-five undergraduates in an introductory chemistry course that were randomly assigned to one of two video-based interventions. Both groups learned about four evidence-based study/test-taking strategies-retrieval practice, distributed practice, creating connections, and managing test anxiety-but only the experimental group received neuroscientific explanations for why these strategies work. To assess the intervention's effects, we examined its impact on exam scores, belief in strategy, and self-reported study behavior. Both interventions significantly changed self-reported study behaviors, but the neuroscience-based intervention did not significantly outperform the other intervention. These results support prior research suggesting that it is possible to design study strategy interventions to help college students regulate their learning more effectively, and serves as a pilot study for this new type of neuroscience-based intervention. These findings suggest that while neuroscience-informed framing has theoretical appeal, it may not offer additional benefit over evidence-based interventions without further refinement.