Highlighting passages, rereading notes, underlining key sentences—these are go-to learning strategies for most students. But the research suggests they’re not very effective. ⁣ ⁣ According to psychology professor Mirjam Ebersbach that’s because these old standby study routines are “passive” strategies that create a superficial “illusion of knowledge” without instilling in students a deeper understanding of the content. In a recent study, Ebersbach found that when students created their own questions during test prep, they scored an average of 14 percentage points higher than students who took the notes and highlighter route. ⁣ ⁣ When students generate their own higher-order questions they move from passive to active engagement with the content, deepening learning and retention. A few ideas to try in your classroom:⁣ ⁣ • Teach students to ask questions that go beyond simple yes/no answers and that focus on tough, important concepts in a lesson. Model formulating questions that begin wit...