May 6, 2008
Summer study skills course may be just what college-bound kids need
Is your son or daughter going off to college in the fall? Did they have good study habits in high school, or did they get by by doing their assignments at the last minute?
Many students get through high school without knowing how to study, but that's not going to work for them in college where they're going to be compteting with the best of the best.
According to Sara Jane Coffman, who has taught study skills at Purdue for 30 years, students need to hit the ground running when they start their freshman year.
"There are so many study tips and techniques students can use once they're shown how to use them, like learning tricks for memorizing material," she says. "For some students, learning is like putting sticky notes on their foreheads, but the sticky notes fall off because they don't have enough glue on them."
In Coffman's study skills course, students will learn to put more glue on their sticky notes. They'll also learn how to draw inferences, how to survey textbooks, how to answer multiple choice questions, and how to get excited about learning.
The course is entitled GS290X: College Study Skills. It will be offered this summer from 6 to 8:50 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday evenings beginning June 10.
For more information, contact Coffman at sjcoffman@purdue.edu or by phone at 494-5110.