Reading Textbooks: The College Plague | Effective Teaching Strategies - Faculty Focus

First, let’s acknowledge this universal epidemic. College students despise reading textbooks and e-books that cover content with academic information by Dimple J. Martin, PhD, assistant professor of early childhood education and faculty professional development at Miles College.

Reading Textbooks: The College Plague
Photo: Faculty Focus

Fortunately, I discovered a cure for the reading plague that only requires five teaspoons of ingestion: 1) survey 2) question 3) read 4) retrieve and 5) review. In my class, I have found the SQ3R Method to be a step-by-step approach to learning and studying from textbooks. 

Although it took my students time and practice to master this method, it has been valuable in regards to preparing students for more content-driven class discussions, increased retention and understanding of information, strategic study skills, and test preparation.

At the beginning of each semester, I introduce to my students the SQ3R Method—it was originally devised to read college textbooks in a systematic approach. Students need to understand that this approach is completely different from casual reading; instead, it is a strategy for productive academic reading. In my attempt to get students to be more intentional and actively engaged, I began to embed the SQ3R Method into my instruction...

From my students’ feedback, I can conclude that the SQ3R Strategy has been effective in my classes. In order to generate its effectiveness, I had to guide my students through consistent rehearsals which required repetition. This allowed information to convert from short-term memory to long-term memory. However, to my chagrin, I was surprised that students did not transfer the use of the SQ3R Strategy to other classes.  
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Source: Faculty Focus