Welcome back from summer vacation! There is a provocative article in the NY Times today about study habits that throws some common assumptions under the train; for example, one place to study, studying by cramming instead of studying with practice tests, etc:

Every September, millions of parents in the United States try a kind of psychological witchcraft, to transform their summer-glazed campers into fall students, their video-bugs into bookworms. Advice is cheap and all too familiar: Clear a quiet work space. Stick to a homework schedule. Set goals. Set boundaries. Do not bribe (except in emergencies). For instance, instead of sticking to one study location, simply alternating the room where a person studies improves retention. So does studying distinct but related skills or concepts in one sitting, rather than focusing intensely on a single thing. “We have known these principles for some time, and it's intriguing that schools don't pick them up, or that people don't learn them by trial and error,” said Dr. Robert A. Bjork, a psychologist at UCLA. “Instead, we walk around with all sorts of unexamined beliefs about what works that are mistaken.”

So it would seem that cognitive scientists quoted in this story don't agree with these time honored ways to help children sail out of the summer doldrums and into the fall winds of success. What do you think? What would educational specialist say?