By Shannon Claxton
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Research shows that many students employ ineffective study strategies (e.g., Dunlowsky et al., 2013). This is especially true for underclassmen, who are new to the college environment and may not have had the opportunity to develop effective study habits. To address this issue, I developed three activities for my introductory statistics course, which is a 100-level class of 30 students at a small, midwestern university. These activities required students to work in small groups to analyze data simulating the results of published studies on effective study methods such as distributed practice and retrieval practice. These activities not only provided students with the opportunity to conduct and interpret different statistical analyses (i.e., apply course content) but also required them to discuss how they could use the study findings to enhance the way they prepared for exams in this class and in other classes. At the end of the course, over 75% of the students reported that they improved their study strategies.