While teachers may disagree over minor things regarding learning outcomes and strategies, everyone can agree on one fundamental educational tenet: reading is essential.
Reading’s importance as a conduit for learning is so essential that it’s never been called into question. It’s the primary building block of education, and that’s that!
Yet, for all its importance, sometimes educators don’t pay enough attention to the quality of a student’s reading ability – not their fluency or reading pace, but their actual commitment to the text. How a student interacts with a text (i.e. how they process it, sit with it, and retain it) is meaningful to their overall education.
That’s the thinking behind the SQ3R method, a buzzy learning technique currently making waves in secondary and post-secondary education. This article explores the SQ3R method, details how to use it, and explains how it bolsters students’ essential reading skills.
What Is SQ3R, Exactly?
SQ3R is a “reading method.” It’s a way of approaching a text – whether a physics textbook, Shakespeare play, historical essay, etc. – that promotes inquisitiveness and engagement. Further, its techniques have been shown to improve learning retention.
For teachers, it’s a fantastic way to guide in-class reading sessions. For students, whether you attend a conventional school or take the courses you need online, the method can help you get more out of your courses.
What Does It Stand for?
To really sink your teeth into the SQ3R method, you have to break down its acronym. SQ3R (or SQRRR, in its extended form) stands for the following steps in the process:
- Survey: The first step is to survey the text. The student skims the text to get a general sense of its contents, concepts, themes and central preoccupations. (Left to their own devices, this is the only step a student will take in their reading sometimes, which is an incomplete way to read).
- Question: Next, the student formulates questions based on that cursory glance at the text. What do they think it will be about? What questions do they hope the reading will answer?
- Read: The student then reads the text in full, closely and at their standard reading pace.
- Recite/Recall: Next, every section or page, the student pauses to reflect on what they read. They can refer to their questions to determine whether any have been answered satisfactorily.
- Review: Lastly, the student summarizes what they learned from the reading by answering their questions in full, and jotting down any ideas that stuck out.
As you can see, this is a very active approach to reading. Contrast this with passive reading, which might leave students unengaged.
How Does It Help Students Process and Retain Information?
According to experts, the SQ3R method works in several ways. First, it treats students as investigators, which engages their curiosity and develops a sense of agency in the reading process. Next, the question component “gamifies” the process, forcing students to hunt for relevant information. The reading and reciting processes foster a more reflective and thoughtful approach to reading. And the review step allows students to put their findings in their own words, which improves understanding and retention.
Hopefully, this article helps students and teachers read a little more deeply. Consider giving the method a try to see if it works for you.
