And Do All That You Read There in Then Shall

The way about students report makes no sense.

That'due south the determination of Washington University in St. Louis psychologists Henry Roediger andMark McDaniel — who've spent a combined 80 years studying learning and memory, and recently distilled their findings with novelist Peter Brown in the bookMake It Stick: The Scientific discipline of Successful Learning.

The bulk of students written report past re-reading notes and textbooks — but the psychologists' enquiry, both in lab experiments and of actual students in classes, shows this is a terrible way to acquire cloth. Using active learning strategies — like flashcards, diagramming, and quizzing yourself — is much more than constructive, as is spacing out studying over time and mixing different topics together.

McDaniel spoke with me about the viii key tips he'd share with students and teachers from his trunk of inquiry.

ane) Don't but re-read your notes and readings

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"We know from surveys that a bulk of students, when they written report, they typically re-read assignments and notes. About students say this is their number one go-to strategy.

"We know, however, from a lot of research, that this kind of repetitive recycling of information is not an peculiarly practiced way to larn or create more permanent memories.Our studies of Washington University students, for instance, show that when they re-read a textbook chapter, they have admittedly no comeback in learning over those who just read it one time.

"On your kickoff reading of something, you extract a lot of understanding. But when you do the 2d reading, you read with a sense of 'I know this, I know this.' So basically, you're not processing it deeply, or picking more than out of it. Frequently, the re-reading is cursory — and it's insidious, because this gives you the illusion that you know the material very well, when in fact there are gaps."

2) Enquire yourself lots of questions

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"One skilful technique to utilise instead is to read once, and then quiz yourself, either using questions at the back of a textbook chapter, or making up your own questions. Retrieving that information is what actually produces more robust learning and memory.

"And even when you lot tin't retrieve it — when you get the questions wrong — it gives you an accurate diagnostic on what you don't know, and this tells you what you should go back and report. This helps guide your studying more effectively.

"Asking questions besides helps yous understand more deeply.Say you're learning well-nigh globe history, and how ancient Rome and Greece were trading partners. Terminate and enquire yourself why they became trading partners. Why did they become shipbuilders, and learn to navigate the seas? It doesn't ever have to be why — y'all tin inquire how, or what.

"In asking these questions, you're trying to explain, and in doing this, you create a better understanding, which leads to better memory and learning. So instead of just reading and skimming, stop and ask yourself things to make yourself understand the cloth."

3) Connect new information to something y'all already know

"Another strategy is, during a 2nd reading,to try relating the principles in the text to something you already know about. Chronicle new data to prior information for better learning.

"I instance is if you were learning about how the neuron transmits electricity. 1 of the things we know if that if yous take a fatty sheath surround the neuron, called a myelin sheath, it helps the neuron transmit electricity more quickly.

"So you lot could liken this, say, to water running through a hose. The water runs quickly through it, merely if you lot puncture the hose, information technology'due south going to leak, and you won't become the same period. And that'southward essentially what happens when we age — the myelin sheaths suspension downwardly, and transmissions become slower."

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four) Draw out the information in a visual form

"A great strategy is making diagrams, or visual models, or flowcharts. In a start psychology grade, you lot could diagram the period of classical conditioning. Sure, you can read about classical conditioning, merely to truly sympathize it and be able to write down and describe the unlike aspects of it on a test later on — condition, stimulus, and so on — it's a good idea to meet if you can put it in a flowchart.

"Annihilation that creates active learning — generating understanding on your ain — is very effective in retention. It basically ways the learner needs to become more involved and more engaged, and less passive."

5) Use flashcards

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"Flashcards are another good way of doing this. And one primal to using them is actually re-testing yourself on the ones you got right.

"A lot of students will respond the question on a flashcard, and accept it out of the deck if they get information technology right. But it turns out this isn't a good idea — repeating the deed of memory retrieval is important. Studies show that keeping the right detail in the deck and encountering it again is useful. You might want to practice the incorrect items a little more, only repeated exposure to the ones y'all go right is important too.

"It'southward non that repetition every bit a whole is bad. Information technology's that mindless repetition is bad."

vi) Don't cram — space out your studying

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"A lot of students cram — they wait until the last minute, then in one evening, they echo the information once again and over again. Only research shows this isn't expert for long term retentiveness. Information technology may allow you to practise okay on that test the next day, but then on the final, yous won't retain equally much information, and and so the next twelvemonth, when you need the data for the side by side level course, information technology won't be there.

"This often happens in statistics. Students come back for the next year, and it seems like they've forgotten everything, because they crammed for their tests.

"The better idea is to space repetition. Practise a little bit i day, then put your flashcards away, then take them out the adjacent day, so ii days later. Written report afterwards study shows that spacing is really of import."

7) Teachers should space out and mix up their lessons as well

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"Our book as well has information for teachers. And our educational system tends to promote massed presentation of information besides.

"In a typical college course, y'all cover one topic one day, then on the second day, another topic, and so on the third twenty-four hours, another topic. This is massed presentation. You never go dorsum and recycle or reconsider the material.

"Merely the key, for teachers, is to put the textile back in front of a student days or weeks after. There are several ways they can do this. Here at Washington University, there are some instructors who requite weekly quizzes, and used to just put material from that week's classes on the quiz. Now, they're bringing dorsum more material from ii to three weeks ago. One psychology lecturer explicitly takes time, during each lecture, to bring back material from days or weeks beforehand.

"This can be done in homework too. Information technology's typical, in statistics courses, to give homework in which all of the issues are all in the same category. Subsequently correlations are taught, apupil's homework, say, is problem subsequently trouble on correlation. Then the next week, T tests are taught, and all the issues are on T tests. Only we've found that sprinkling in questions on stuff that was covered two or three weeks ago is really good for retention.

"And this tin be built into the content of lessons themselves. Let's say yous're taking an art history class. When I took information technology, I learned nearly Gauguin, then I saw lots of his paintings, then I moved on to Matisse, and saw lots of paintings by him. Students and instructors both think that this is a skilful way of learning the painting styles of these dissimilar artists.

"But experimental studies bear witness that's not the instance at all. Information technology's better to give students an example of one artist, and so move to another, and then another, then recycle back effectually. That interspersing, or mixing, produces much better learning that can be transferred to paintings you oasis't seen — letting students accurately identify the creators of paintings, say, on a test.

"And this works for all sorts of issues. Let's get dorsum to statistics. In upper level classes, and the existent world, y'all're not going to be told what sort of statistical problem you're encountering — you're going to have to figure out the method you need to employ. And you lot tin't learn how to exercise that unless yous take experience dealing with a mix of different types of problems, and diagnosing which requires which blazon of approach."

8) At that place's no such thing as a "math person"

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"There's some actually interesting work by Carol Dweck, at Stanford. She's shown that students tend to take one of two mindsets near learning.

"I is a fixed learning model. It says, 'I have a sure amount of talent for this topic — say, chemistry or physics — and I'll do well until I striking that limit. By that, it'due south too difficult for me, and I'm not going to practice well.'The other mindset is a growth mindset. Information technology says that learning involves using effective strategies, putting aside time to practise the work, and engaging in the process, all of which help you gradually increase your capacity for a topic.

"Information technology turns out that the mindsets predict how well students end up doing. Students with growth mindsets tend to stick with it, tend to persevere in the confront of difficulty, and tend to be successful in challenging classes. Students with the stock-still mindset tend non to.

"So for teachers, the lesson is that if yous tin talk to students and propose that a growth mindset really is the more than accurate model — and it is — then students tend to be more open to trying new strategies, and sticking with the course, and working in ways that are going to promote learning. Ability, intelligence, and learning have to exercise with how yous approach it — working smarter, we like to say."

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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Source: https://www.vox.com/2014/6/24/5824192/study-smarter-learn-better-8-tips-from-memory-researchers

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