Literally every article you find on any topic related to study habits stresses the importance of creating a study environment that is as free of distractions as possible. The reason for this is that our brain is very easily distracted since learning is really not its purpose. (Survival is the purpose of the brain.) The younger the child/student, the quicker the distraction takes attention away.
For preschool, elementary, and middle school/junior high children, it is important that parents be responsible for creating this distraction-free, supply filled study area. This must NOT be in the child's bedroom for hopefully obvious reasons. The dining room, the basement, the attic, or the den could work. The study area should not face a window and the student should not be able to view the TV or computer. I have other articles dealing with creating study areas in the home that might be good to read if you have a younger child.
This article is aimed at high school and college age students; although, if you have a teen who is immature and/or really struggles with studying, you must still control the study environment. As teens mature and take on the responsibility for their own learning, they earn the right to choose the study environment that works best for them. The study area the student has grown up using will probably always be the best place to study; but with maturity, teens often like to meet friends to study in groups, or maybe just to study alone but in a different location. The three locations I will list here should exist in every community. At the end of the article I will mention a few other good choices that might be a possibilities depending on your community.
The Top 3 Places To Study (other than home):
1. The Public Library. Libraries are the ultimate study environment. That IS what they are designed for. Most libraries have individual cubicles, couches, and tables to meet individual needs. Research can be done immediately. Libraries have computers and have areas for personal computers as well. There are generally small rooms for group work. Libraries have copy machines; and many now are equipped with vending machines for snacking needs.
2. A Bookstore. Over the past few years, bookstores like Barnes and Noble and Borders and even small local stores have transformed themselves into places that encourage people to "come sit and read." With the addition of tables and couches, the message is that they want people to stay, and many students have taken the suggestion. Bookstores have many of the same advantages as libraries.
3. A Local Park or Tourist Area (off-season). Young people often enjoy working in groups while sitting in the shade of a tree at a park. Here in Colorado Springs, many students find the peaceful atmosphere in Garden of the Gods conducive to individual studying in the shade of a huge red rock.
A few other places that would make good study places if your community has them:
(1) College Library
(2) YMCA or a Community Center
(3) WiFi Enhanced Retail Places Like Starbucks or Panera Bread
The important part of finding a study area is to find a place where you feel relaxed, can shut out the rest of the world for a little while, and can put your entire focus into what you need to study.
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Plants are shaped by cultivation and men by education. .. We are born weak, we need strength; we are born totally unprovided, we need aid; we are born stupid, we need judgment. Everything we do not have at our birth and which we need when we are grown is given us by education.
(Jean Jacques Rousseau, Emile, On Philosophy of Education)
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