Increase Performance and Retention: Teach Students How to Study

Abstract

Intervention in the form of changing one's teaching style is beneficial for boosting student grades and retention. However, in spite of the availability of multiple intervention approaches, a key hindrance is reliance on the belief that students know how to study. We dedicated time and resources to not only teach the discipline of Computer Science, but also to teach students how to study using techniques grounded in psychology. We offered a one-credit "booster"course to students taking CS 2: Data Structures. Through direct advisor intervention based on the first exam grade, students were encouraged to take the booster course along with traditional interventions. We then tracked student growth across exams for the course as students were learning and being held accountable to study techniques not often emphasized in Computer Science. The students continued to increase their grades throughout the semester relative to the students who chose to not take the booster class. The students who were targeted for intervention but did not take the booster course continued to have lower grades throughout the semester, and only 41% of them passed the course. Students who participated in the booster course showed a 31% rate of growth across the semester, taking a failing grade to a passing grade, with 100% passing the course with a C or above. These results show a significant influence to help students succeed, which led to higher retention and increased grades. If we want students to truly succeed, we must teach them to study.