STUDY HABITS: WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THEM?

Currently, I teach 1st and 2nd year university students, and according to the Ministry of Education and Science regulations of Kazakhstan, 2nd year students have more credits than 1st year students. I’ve noticed that in most cases, academic performance of 2nd year students decline and at least 3 or 4 students each year drop out of university without completing their sophomore years. The problem is that they can’t cope with the learning overload and feel overwhelmed about their studies. Eventually, they lose their drive and enthusiasm to continue studying. 

This year I organized two sessions with my sophomore students who were at risk level of dropping out or who had low GPA to help them to manage their stress and anxiety. Nobody asked me to do that. However, seeing my bright students in their first year and now looking at them in their second year I saw something went wrong. Moreover, I wanted to understand what was that. When I interviewed them it turned out they lost their interest to study because now they have many disciplines and they feel frustrated about it. They perceived themselves as “victims” of education system and wanted to give up studying at that level. For sure, I was angry with them, but I did not show it. I knew they felt themselves as victims just because they knew nothing about the learning habits. I tried to motivate them, explained how they can effectively plan their days and set goals. However, I am sure it’s effect did not last long, because motivation is like taking a shower. Therefore, they needed strict discipline to get out of that miserable state and start doing something.    

So, after two sessions they asked me organize this kind of meetings more often than twice a month. But, I did not do that, because I realized that if I really want to help them I should do something else. In those two previous sessions I used to lecture in front of them and tell them they are all unique and blessed, they have true calling and mission in this life.   

  

Sure, they were happy; taking their portion of motivation and praise, they thought they could move mountains now. However, after few days encountering another challenge they came back to their miserable state again. 

Now thinking about that situation I realize that I need to come up with a solution that will last longer and make students involved in it. Thus, I decided to create a website and include the book “10 Steps to Earning Awesome Grades” by Thomas Frank into this website. This book is inspired by his personal experiments in learning and productivity. He is the founder of a website (http://collegeinfogeek.com/) dedicated to defeating procrastination, building an excellent time/task management system, taking better notes, reading textbooks efficiently and other interesting topics (Frank T., 2015). 

But before moving to my action plan and project description I would like to point out the habit features and what learning habits will help students to do their best. 

First, in 1990s Brain and Cognitive Sciences department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology started working on habits (Duhigg Ch., 2014). They conducted different experiments and came to conclusion that brain wants to turn each routine into a habit. In one experiment, they inserted specific wires into rats’ heads to analyze their brain and actions. Each time scientists give them chocolates they used to open a partition with a loud “click” and put chocolate in one corner of the maze. At first the rats used to go right or left, sniff the walls, scratch them, but then scientists repeated that experiment for hundred times. After that, when there was a “click” and partition was opened rats ran towards the chocolate without even thinking. 

They stopped sniffing corners and making wrong turns. Instead, they zipped through the maze faster and faster. And within their brains, something unexpected occurred: As each rat learned how to navigate the maze, its mental activity decreased. As the route became more and more automatic, each rat started thinking less and less (Duhigg Ch., 2014).

Moreover, their brain activity associated with scratching and smelling ceased because they did not scratch the walls and smell the air. They didn’t need to choose which direction to turn, and so their decision-making centers of the brain went quiet. All they had to do was recall the quickest path to the chocolate. Within a week, even the brain structures related to memory had quieted. Eventually, the rats had internalized how to sprint through the maze to such a degree that it hardly needed to think at all (Duhigg Ch., 2014).

Habits, scientists say, emerge because the brain is constantly looking for ways to save effort. Left to its own devices, the brain will try to make almost any routine into a habit, because habits allow our minds to ramp down more often (Duhigg Ch., 2014). 

This process within our brains is a three-step loop. First, there is a cue, a trigger that tells your brain to go into automatic mode and which habit to use. Then there is the routine, which can be physical or mental or emotional. Finally, there is a reward, which helps your brain figure out if this particular loop is worth remembering for the future:

        

The discovery of the habit loop is very important because it reveals a basic truth: When a habit emerges, the brain stops fully participating in decision making. It stops working so hard, or diverts focus to other tasks. So, unless you deliberately fight a habit—unless you find new routines—the pattern will unfold automatically (Duhigg Ch., 2014).

Analyzing this experiment with rats, now I understand that my students have already built up their habits. They just do not realize that these habits are inefficient and their habit loops should be changed. All of them want to get the best grades, find a prestigious workplace after graduation and they think they are working to their full potential. However, their academic performance and mental state tell me the opposite. 

References: 

1. Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, 2014. Random House Trade Paperback Edition

2. Thomas Frank, 10 Steps to Earning Awesome Grades (While Studying Less), 2015. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform