Schoolchildren's Study Habits: Parents' Influence on the Learning Process

There are many learning methods, some of which are more productive than others. For example, one person may leave exam preparation until the last minute and memorize information in just one night, but such knowledge is unlikely to be retained for long. Meanwhile, another person might organize their time to evenly distribute the learning process, beginning preparation early and gradually mastering each topic, sharing it with family members, or even discussing it with an imaginary interlocutor.

There is scientific evidence that some methods of memorizing information are more effective than others. However, many schoolchildren, college students, and even adults who strive to learn are unaware of which of these approaches promote deeper assimilation of the material and which are actually unproductive. Unfortunately, this issue often goes unnoticed, especially if teachers do not take responsibility for teaching effective self-study skills, which, unfortunately, is not always the case in educational institutions. Therefore, how do students, whether children or adults, determine the most appropriate learning methods for themselves?

The issue of learning strategies has also attracted the attention of educational researchers. They are particularly interested in the reason why some students, although few in number, prefer more complex approaches to learning and achieve high results. What factors influence them, and is it possible to use these elements to encourage more students to use effective learning methods?

A group of scientists from Germany, Japan, and the UK hypothesized that children are able to inherit certain study habits from their parents. The results of their study were published in a scientific article in the journal Learning and Instruction at the end of 2023. We share the main findings of this work.

Reasons for Scientists' Interest in Parents' Opinions

In accordance with the traditions of the scientific approach, the authors of this article analyzed previous studies on the topic under consideration. Here is the information obtained from this work:

Strong interest in learning and passion for a particular topic encourage students to explore the material more deeply, meaning they actively engage in the subject matter.
When students are disinterested and focused on getting the lesson over with, they tend to skim the material, memorize it mechanically, and resort to other superficial approaches.
Time pressure and anxiety also influence decision-making, leading to the use of less productive study methods.
Students' own opinions about the effectiveness of their strategies are very important. Naturally, they prefer those study methods that maximize retention of information with minimal effort.

The difficulty with this last aspect—students' perceptions of the learning process—is that they usually lack an adequate understanding of which study methods actually work most effectively. At first glance, it might seem that repeatedly reading the same paragraph is more productive than trying to recall information without cues from the text, as there's a risk of making mistakes or missing important information. However, in fact, it's precisely these attempts to recall knowledge, known as retrieval practice, that prove more effective.

Previous research has shown that the choice of teaching methods depends on the teacher. If a teacher has a reputation for encouraging students to understand and make their own judgments, rather than simply memorizing, their students are more likely to engage in the topic at hand.

Photo: BalanceFormCreative / Shutterstock

The influence of family on the choice of educational methods has remained understudied. It is known that parents' opinions about their children's abilities, for example, in mathematics, partially shape their self-esteem in this area, which, in turn, affects their actual achievement. A similar situation is observed with beliefs about the importance of education in general and certain subjects in particular. In one study, researchers were able to increase the number of schoolchildren who chose STEM courses simply by informing parents about the importance of these areas and their connection to successful career opportunities, rather than by directly addressing the students themselves.

The new study aimed to understand how parents shape their children's views not so much on the content of studies, but on the methods and techniques that should be used to master it.

Research Methodology

Data collection was conducted in Japan in two stages. The study involved 200 pairs of parents and their children aged 13 to 15 years. Of these, in 161 pairs, mothers played a parental role. Respondents were invited to participate by mail through a private research company, which ensured their geographic diversity throughout Japan.

In both cases, both parents and children answered an identical questionnaire in which participants were asked to rate the effectiveness of various teaching methods on a scale of one to five. However, only 102 out of 200 families responded to the survey the second time around. The math learning questionnaire included descriptions of 21 learning strategies. Children also rated how often they used each of these strategies, also using a five-point scale. The list included, for example, the following strategies:

I review my textbooks and my notes again, paying attention to key concepts and formulas.
I try to overcome problems that previously seemed insurmountable to me.
I study problems in the textbook, but then immediately check the answers without trying to figure them out on my own first.
When studying mathematics, I often return to previously covered topics that are relevant to the new material.
When studying mathematics, I often reflect on how it intersects with our everyday reality.
I avoid discussions that are unclear to me.
I focus on those questions that are most likely to appear on the exam.

In addition to the main questionnaire, all participants completed a short test aimed at measuring general intelligence, while parents completed a questionnaire regarding their parenting practices and the family's financial situation. Children's academic achievement in five key subjects, including mathematics, was also taken into account, as well as information about the time spent studying, as provided by the students themselves. In addition, the respondents' tendency to provide socially desirable answers was analyzed separately, since this could influence their self-assessment of academic integrity.

The findings and their significance for further analysis

The analysis of the collected information demonstrated that parents and their children often agree in their assessment of the effectiveness of certain teaching methods that are becoming the most popular among schoolchildren.

These methods are based on the use of educational material: completing assignments from the textbook, carefully rereading with an emphasis on key concepts and formulas, repeating complex topics and those sections that will be presented on the exam, as well as analyzing explanations for ready-made answers.

The strategy of independently creating mathematical problems was rarely perceived as useful, and students almost never resorted to it. The same is true for habits that are initially considered ineffective - for example, few are willing to admit that they ignore topics they do not understand. The study's authors note that the highest effectiveness ratings were assigned to traditional teaching methods typical of school mathematics, which emphasize intensive problem solving. These approaches were familiar to both parents and current students in their schooling.

The researchers reached their key findings by analyzing the relationship between the methods that parents in each pair considered effective in the first survey and the approaches their children used more actively by the second survey. The analysis revealed a relationship: the higher parents rated the effectiveness of a particular strategy in the first survey, the more frequently their children used that strategy in their learning by the second survey.

When analyzing children's opinions on the effectiveness of various strategies, it was noted that the connection between their behavior and their parents' ratings weakened, but did not completely disappear. This indicates that parents did influence their children's views, although this was only part of the picture. Other aspects of family dynamics, such as parenting style, whether caregiving or autonomous, did not have a significant impact on children's academic approaches.

Why does this matter? Teaching children which learning methods are most effective may play a key role in the fact that children from more educated families tend to achieve higher educational outcomes. This phenomenon can be explained by several more obvious factors: for example, parents with higher levels of education often have higher incomes and are more likely to finance extracurricular activities for their children. Furthermore, parents' views on their children's abilities and the availability of various activities can vary significantly depending on their educational level. Sometimes parents' attitudes have a limiting effect, for example when they say, "We didn't finish college, so you don't need it."

Recent research suggests that parents can directly influence their children's academic behavior. However, the research does not provide details on how this influence is exerted. However, it can be assumed that parents convey their views on the effectiveness of various teaching methods and offer recommendations when helping their children with homework.

Photo: Fabio Principe / Shutterstock

According to According to research by the Higher School of Economics, over 50% of parents of Russian schoolchildren support their children with homework, including helping them find information or solve the most difficult problems. Apparently, in this process, children not only master subjects like math or English but also learn which learning methods are most effective. Based on this, it can be concluded that training in effective learning strategies should involve not only students but also their parents. This will allow parents to pass on to their children the right methods and approaches to learning.

Study Habits of Schoolchildren: Parents' Influence on the Learning Process

Contents:

Reasons for Scientists' Interest in Parents' Opinions

Research Methodology

The findings and their significance for further analysis