Why are students able to read a novel and answer questions on it correctly but can't do that with their school work?

Answer 1

Interest is a mammoth factor contributing to understanding. It could be defined as being curious and wanting to know. What do people do when they really want to know?

They observe in detail. They ask questions. They read to find out. They look up words that stop them from finding out. They find examples or make up examples of how things are in reality. They try to demonstrate their understanding. They practice what they learn. They persist despite difficulty. They ask for guidance or help as necessary.

An unengaged student can be counted on to do the opposite: to pay little attention, to dismiss information as not important, to avoid as much reading as possible, to skip words that are not understood or guess haphazardly at their meanings, to not consider how to apply any of the information, and to give up unless forced to study (in which case they merely pretend to learn).

So when a novel is interesting, learning happens and students appear relatively intelligent and capable with answers to questions. Compare that to studying something adjudicated to be important only by a teacher, school or school system, and we can see why many students will inevitably fall short on school work. The answer to this situation is to create school work that is truly engaging, and which elicits student interest and participation.

Now this may seem easier said than done. However, it does happen in isolated cases when and where teachers, schools or even entire educational systems rise above the status quo and are themselves interested in creating engaging materials and approaches to learning which include teaching the students how to study correctly (many of the details of which can be derived from the second paragraph above).