Study hall, known as private study, SAS, structured study or free periods in the United Kingdom, is a term for a place to have a study time during the school day where students are assigned to study when they are not scheduled for an academic class. They are most commonly found in

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

s and some

middle school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...

s, especially in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. In colleges, such a place may be called a student lounge. It is not to be confused with studying in a hallway.

Description

Study halls generally have assigned rooms and are monitored by

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

s or teacher's aides, who often encourage students to use this time to complete homework, catch up on missing assignments, or study for tests or quizzes. Sometimes, students also use study halls to converse, make phone calls, text messages, play video games, or otherwise socialize or pursue non-academic topics, though this is sometimes discouraged or forbidden. Periods in which such things are allowed are occasionally differentiated from study halls by the name "free period". Some students even eat lunch during a study hall due to long lines and short lunch periods at their schools. Study halls are often used by students to visit with teachers, who have a "prep period", in order to discuss work or assignments. A study hall can be a period to utilize school resources or otherwise request teacher assistance in any subject not understood by the student. Academics, such as school principal Jeff Gilbert, feel that study hall is an inefficient allocation of time which is often underutilized, but others say it is a positive addition to a regular schedule because it creates a good environment for completing homework or large projects.

History

In 1835, at

Maynooth College St Patrick's Pontifical University, Maynooth ( ga, Coláiste Naoimh Phádraig, Maigh Nuad), is the "National Seminary for Ireland" (a Roman Catholic college), and a pontifical university, located in the town of Maynooth, from Dublin, Ireland ...

, the corridors were so cold in the winter that Study-hall was preferred by students even with their strict silence policy. In 1910, education psychologist

Charles Hubbard Judd Charles Hubbard Judd (February 20, 1873 – July 18, 1946) was an American educational psychologist who played an influential role in the formation of the discipline. Part of the larger scientific movement of this period, Judd pushed for the us ...

set up a study hall in the school library of the University of Chicago Laboratory High School.Wheeler, Helen. "Characteristics of the successful library‐study hall." Peabody Journal of Education 32, no. 3 (1954): 151-159. A 1938 examination by

Hannah Logasa Hannah Logasa (1878–1967) is considered a pioneer of school libraries. Credited with identifying the necessity of libraries in school, Logasa worked to achieve strong interaction between the library, students, and teachers at the University of ...

on the use of study hall concluded that students did not use the time for studying, and that the primary purpose of the period was to permit school administrators to carry out a more orderly organized school day. A 1966 study reported that students who spent additional time at home working on homework achieved higher grades than students who spent more time in study hall.Warren S. Blumenfeld &H. H. Remmers, "Attitudes toward Study Hall as Related to Grades", ''The Journal of Educational Research'', Volume 59, Issue 9 (1966), p. 406-408.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Study Hall Educational facilities Curricula