The Study Habits of Adult College Students Essay Example for Free

The Study Habits of Adult College Students Essay Abstract: The study habits of adult college students over age 25 were compared to a group of younger students at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay. The younger students were matched with the older groups on four characteristics: sex, major field of study, semester credit load, and class standing. All 56 participants were undergraduate students (sophomores or juniors) who were registered for the fall 1982 term. The participants kept running records of their study habits, patterns, and difficulties for an academic year. In general, older and younger students showed similar patterns in terms of how much they studied, what activities were engaged in while studying, the time distribution, and places for studying. There was some evidence that older students studied slightly more per credit hour than did younger students. While the total numbers of difficulties encountered in studying were about the same for both groups, the character of the difficulties was noticeably different. Both older and younger students reacted very favorably to having a mixture of the age groups in their classes. Recommendations for working with adult students and suggestions for further study are offered. Appendices include interview schedules and a study log form. (Author/SW) INTRODUCTION It is an understatement to say that the standard of education in Nigeria has fallen. However, it has been realized that students who possess adequate mental abilities sometimes do not perform well in their academic work either because they do not know how to study effectively or they do not use the most effective method of studying. Many questions have been raised by teachers, parents and students themselves on why students perform so poorly academically. Even the state government has shown some concern over this in recent times by introducing low costs books for both primary and secondary schools. Although this was meant to create the desire to study by students, it has not helped the situation much because, students do not read these books. Many of the students complained of lack of time and conducive environment for study, others who try to study complained of lack of understanding. There is no doubt that these complains evidently point to one fact. That is, lack of effective study habits. It is this problem, the researcher wishes to investigate as it appears to be one of the root causes of the dwelling standard of our educational system today. Research questions: * What proportion of junior secondary school students possess good study habit than those in senior secondary school? * Will male students in junior secondary schools perform better than female students in senior secondary schools? Hypothesis: The following conjectural statements were postulated for this study: * There is no significant difference in the study habits of junior and senior secondary school students in Egor Local Government Area of Edo State. * There is no significant difference in the study habits of male and female students in junior and senior secondary schools in Egor, Local Government Area of Edo State. * There is no significant difference in the academic performance of male students in the junior secondary schools and female students in Senior Secondary Schools. LITERATURE REVIEW Psychologists as welt as layman have attempted some definitions of the word study. To some of them, study means hard work and is usually associated with school work. To others, study is applicable to other situations in life other than academic work. Mace (2002) pointed out that study is a systematic acquisition of knowledge and an understanding of facts and principles that calls for retention and application. Kelly (1998) stated that study is the application of ones mental capacity to the acquisition, understanding and organization of knowledge; it often involves some form of formal learning. Crow and Crow in Okorodudu (2000) explained that study is a program of subject matter mastery. It involves hard work. However, study involves the individuals thinking, feeling, personality, social interaction, physical activities and health rather than men learning of fact on the thought system for the purpose of recall when asked. For those who belong to the school of thought that study is not only applicable to academic work, Olatubosun in Oladele (2000) explained that a teacher is studying when he examines the results of an experiment, a lawyer when he prepares his case, a salesman when he learns about his product and a citizen when he tries to understand the issues in an upcoming election. Studies require time spent in a deliberate attempt to learn. It should be differentiated from simple leisure to reading. Thomas and Robinson (1990) emphasized that the learner needs to use a systematic discipline and purposive approach to study. Effective study consists of a conscious sequential series of inter-related steps and processes. Okorodudu (1995) asserted that, study involves the total of all behavioral patterns (addition, verbal, psychomotor, emotional) determined purpose and enforced practices that the individual adapts in order to learn and achieve competence.