Transform Study Spaces to Max Motivation
Study Spaces! They can make or break a student’s willingness to take action.
So now that we’re in a brand new year, it’s a great opportunity to do a study space reset. But how exactly can educators walk students through this reflection + action process and share this powerful study skill?
First, I think it’s helpful for students to understand the difference between a boring and an anti-boring study space.
A boring space is one that sucks us into inaction. We feel sleepy in those spaces, we’d rather do nothing than anything, and it’s hard to force ourselves to get moving and get productive.
An anti-boring study space, on the other hand, is a space that wakes up our curiosity and willingness to take action, at least a little bit. Of course, we’ll likely never crave our school work; but an anti-boring space at least inspires a student to be curious about perhaps taking action sometime soon.
One of the jobs of an academic coach or tutor is to help students notice their nervous system’s response to any given environment, so that they have a better understanding of what kinds of spaces bore their system, and what spaces wake their system up in anti-boring ways. So today, I’m going to walk you through a few different ways that I help students do this reflecting.
I like to tell students that plenty of scientific studies show that the environment we are in can motivate us towards action OR inaction! There are lots of spaces that students have to learn in that they can’t control -- like the 8 different classrooms they have to visit in the course of a school day. Ugh.
However, there are some learning spaces that students CAN control -- their study spaces when they are NOT in school, for example.
Specifically, there are two types of spaces I believe every student should learn how to set up in anti-boring ways:
Their permanent desk space at home, and
Their portable desk space that travels with them.
In the video that complements this post, I take students on a tour of MY at home desk space as well as my backpack, which counts as my portable desk space.
Although these spaces are not technically study spaces, they ARE spaces that I have intentionally worked to make anti-boring, so that they inspire me towards productivity rather than boredom. It’s important to me to model to students that I, too, have to think about what makes me productive. By showing them my own decision-making process, I’m hoping to inspire them to think about theirs. Likewise, I hope YOU as an educator are willing to share with students what works for you in your own processes.
Since it’s way more efficient for you to SEE my work spaces than READ about them, I recommend you watch the tours yourself.
TRY THIS:
In the Anti-Boring Learning Lab, it’s our mission to transform the way educators talk to students. So often we tell students what to do, rather than help them reflect on what is best for them.
If you choose to reflect on study spaces with the students in your life, I recommend you experiment with the following 3 sentence starters:
“Did you know that (insert fun fact from science here)?”
I find that students LOVE to know the science behind what works and doesn’t work for humans. It’s why I based my Anti-Boring Toolkit on the quickest and most effective ways to explain the science of learning to students. In the case of study spaces, I recommend you tell them the science-y fact listed above: “Did you know that many scientific studies show that our environment can affect our motivation?”
“What do you think? To what extent is this true for you?”
Facts alone don’t sway students. If that’s all we tell students, it might sound like we’re lecturing them, or trying to sway them in a particular direction. It’s actually quite surprising how few students actually get asked what their opinion is. That’s why I like to follow up a scienc-y fact with an opportunity to reflect about how true (or untrue) it is to them!
Please note that I didn’t ask, “Is this true for you?” A yes or no question can derail a conversation, especially if the answer is “no.” But a question that starts with “to what extent” requires that a student think about where they are on a spectrum. No matter what their answer is, a curious educator could follow it up with, “Oh? Tell me more? Why do you think it’s mostly not true for you? What part IS true for you?” Can you see how this is a much richer prompt than a yes or no question?
“Would you be willing to (insert action item here)?
Finally, I just love the sentence starter “would you be willing to,” followed by whatever action summarizes either (a) what you think might be a best next step for the student, or (b) an action that they just mentioned might be good for them. This forces the student to think about the degree to which they are motivated to take action and are willing to take ownership of the process. It is a question that acknowledges the student is an autonomous individual and situates them at the center of their own universe. They are not a victim being forced to take action; they are a decider choosing what is best for them.
Warning to educators: it’s one thing to read about how to have these kinds of student-centered conversations. It’s quite another thing to do it well. This is one reason I created the Anti-Boring Learning Lab for educators -- this is a space where we can learn about, practice together, and hold each other accountable for having effective student-centered conversations that truly move the needle on student motivation, learning, and action.
If you haven’t already, I invite you to check out the additional free resources in our library for how to unlock students' learning by changing OUR habits as educators; Or consider joining our community and practicing along with us.
I look forward to learning alongside you!