Last September, Dobbs Ferry School District joined a small but growing number of schools around the US that have started pushing back their middle and high school start times in an effort to prevent students from being groggy.

Dr. Lisa Brady, the head teacher of the schools, tells Business Insider that in the past 2015-16 school year, middle school started at 8:15 a.m. and high school at 7:30 a.m. Under the new policy, each school now starts and ends 45 minutes later. Both schools have benefited a lot, Brady says.

Following a survey at the end of the school year, Brady says “it was clear from both the parents and the kids, that the mornings were just less stressful.”

Many of the kids reported having more time to eat breakfast and get ready for school, while parents said they didn’t have to drag kids out of bed or yell at them to hurry up. Once students got to school, they felt more active. At night, they tended to go to bed at the same time, even though the new schedule leaves them an extra 45 minutes.

Tony is also a math teacher, and he says, kids seem more relaxed now in the campus and his students already produce better work steadily, even though the schedule just a month old. Around the campus, kids seem more relaxed now that they’re not juggling as much work as early in the day.

Negative responses to later start times are rare, but they do happen.

Brady says some parents at Dobbs Ferry have found it harder to complete the necessary morning routines and get to work on time. Meanwhile, Tony says the problem for school is finding enough buses for kids. And some students say once they finally get home, many say they have less time for all the homework they’ve been assigned.

Studying history provides you with more rounded skills and an improved ability to think critically—something you can take into the rest of your education.【小题1】It requires interpretation and analysis of information around subjects that often have no right or wrong answers. Still, there are plenty of effective methods for studying history, like these three:

Connect events together.

When studying significant changes in a country, it's important to know what key events contributed to this.【小题2】

One popular method for doing this involves making connections to develop the full picture. Note down the important events, facts and people. Then create a mind map with them, using colors and symbols to establish a pattern containing a large amount of easily digestible information.

【小题3】

While history usually focuses on the larger picture rather than just a number of dates or facts, it is worthwhile adopting memory techniques to ensure that you can reach for specific information when necessary.

Flashcards are an excellent way to do this. Find some cards and write down brief facts or statements.【小题4】It allows you to absorb pieces of information every single day. Before long, you'll be able to recite the information on each card.

Soak up (吸收) books and films.

History is packed with real-life stories — many of which are told to a new generation in the form of novels and films. When you have finished studying your textbooks, films and books offer a lighter, but still useful way to learn about history.

【小题5】Many books and films take liberties with their chosen subject. You can speak to your history teacher for a reading and viewing list.

High schools used to teach shop classes, in which students learned skills like woodworking. Nowadays, most schools have traded in shop class in favor of academic subjects. However, the National Science Foundation STEM Guitar Project thinks that academic subjects and carpentry (木匠活) can be combined. This organization aims to get students excited about science, math, and arts all at once, by teaching students how to make a guitar.

Experis forecast that technical skills like this one could be in great demand in the future. Unfortunately, many high schools don’t offer students access to mechanical design skills, due to the fact that they are not on the list of standardized subjects and the schools can’t scientifically assess students’ performance. But, is STEM really needed in order to build a guitar? Actually, it’s impossible to make a guitar without knowing science and math.

Joshua Cruz, a design teacher, said that building a guitar also teaches troubleshooting and problemsolving skills. He thinks the STEM Guitar Project provides opportunities to challenge students to apply their own creativity to STEM problems. “I’m still figuring out how we can apply it,” Cruz explained. “I think we’re going to use a lot of the same theories behind how strings and stringed instruments work and try and get them to make stringed instruments of their own, and thus improve their academic performance.”

Because of its effectiveness and creativity, the guitar initiative was offered the Gerhard Salinger award, which recognizes outstanding STEM school programs. “Through this project, we have become part of this community of businessmen, engineers and artisans,” said Mark French, one of the six people who received the award for his work with STEM guitar. “It’s a great group and I’m pleased to be part of it. I get to combine something I love doing with an activity that really makes the world a little bit better place. It really does help people.”

Thanks to people like Mark French, and to the STEM Guitar Project, the world is a little bit of a better, more educated, and more musical place.