The Relationship between the Strategy of Knowledge Folders and Study Skills

2 Introduction Over the past several years, I have had students in my junior classes who were not

performing well on their summative evaluations and did not seem to understand the importance of quality class work and homework. I currently teach juniors and seniors in a high school science academy where they are expected to be prepared for college and beyond. The students’ study skills were not evolved to the point where they could be successful in college or the workplace. I wanted the students to understand that they needed to take on the responsibility for learning and acquiring new skills which is expected in college work and in today’s changing and evolving workplace. Metacognition and motivation by the students for new study skills are important to me as a teacher. I want to enable students to succeed beyond high school by teaching them skills that will transfer to college and to the workplace. My hope is that the students will take on the responsibility for their own learning – that they would realize they have control over their actions. I decided to try to change the students’ concepts of learning and responsibility by implementing a strategy of Knowledge Folder assessments. Literature Review Simpson, Hynd, Nwast, and Burrell (1997), promoted learning study skills in the classroom as part of the daily curriculum, and not as a separate lesson from learning about the content. The study skill of “free writing” involved gathering details about the concepts that would be part of the assessment. Writing-to-learn was the “idea that one can write as a way of learning” which was applicable to any content, including science. “If writing does, indeed, increase understanding, then students who better understand content concepts as a result of writing may experience increases in their