The Last Three Requirements for Learning – Recitation, Repetition and Timing

In the last blog we looked at different ways to add variety to your learning through various senses (visual, auditory and touch/movement).  There are three more things to consider that are vitally important:

 Repetition
Learning does not happen after just one exposure to the material – it takes many!  You already know this – before auto dial on our cell phones, how often did you have to dial someone’s number before you could remember it?  And now, because you do not have to repeatedly dial the number you probably don’t know anyone’s from memory!  Adding repetition is easy:

·         Review your notes after every class. 
·         Periodically review all the notes that will be on the test. 
·         Use different strategies as you study.
·         Make study cards for the most difficult information and review them 20 minutes almost every day. 
·         Go to tutoring.
·         Go to all of your classes. 

Timing – It takes repetition spaced out over time for the information to get firmly in your long- term memory.  Again:

·         Review your notes after every class. 
·         Start to actively study about a week before an exam.
·         Take advantage of any review opportunity offered by your professor.
·         Go to tutoring or Supplemental Instruction sessions.

Recitation – this is “restating the information in your own words from memory.”  You must practice getting the information out of your long-term memory just like you will have to do on the exam.  So rereading is not enough – you have to actively test yourself.  How? 

·         Study cards (look at front, think about the information on the back, check yourself, keep going over the ones you missed, tomorrow do it again). 
·         When you are reviewing your notes, cover the page you just read and see what you can remember.  Check yourself and do it again if nor correct or complete. 
·         Join a study group and quiz each other. 
·         Make practice tests and share with friends. 
·         Make a study guide and then cover the information and recall.

These strategies really are quite easy and logical.  All you need is to manage your time and your priorities so that you do them!  Sounds easy, but sometimes it is hard.  Next week we will look at how to make sure you are doing the important things that will lead you to success!

*****

First Semester Success: Learning Strategies and Motivation for Your First Semester (or Any Semester) of College, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available at amazon.com, wordassociation.com and barnesandnoble.com.  Click on the upper right link.

Adding Variety to Your Study Routine

Last week’s blog discussed the uses and benefits of study cards as an effective study strategy.  One key to learning is to do a variety of things with the information you want to learn so that you know it in a variety of settings and circumstances.  One of those is study cards, but there are many others.  In my classes I have students brainstorm and think about various ways to study that involve sight, sound and movement.  The more senses you involve the better you will know the material.  Here are some of their favorite ideas:

Sight

·         Add color – use different color pens, highlight you notes

·         Pictures/movies - watch movies about the subject, watch Kahn Academy so see a different person explaining a concept, draw or look at pictures

·         Diagram or chart out the information in a different format

Sound

·         Go to Supplemental Instruction or tutoring and hear someone else explain a concept

·         Form a study group and explain the information to each other

·         Read your book/notes out loud

·         Sing your notes to a rap beat (I had a student who did this and she was very successful!)

·         Talk through something you are struggling with to someone who knows nothing about the subject.

Movement (this can be large or small muscle)

·         Study cards because you can manipulate them

·         Drawing charts and graphs – small muscle

·         Record your notes and listen to them while exercising

·         Study notes in a different location than normal

·         Find a spare classroom and diagram the information on the white or chalk board

The idea is to interact with the information in a variety of ways in order to get it firmly implanted in your memory.   An added benefit is that the variety helps break up the studying and can be fun!  Next week we will look at the importance of repetition and studying over time.

*****
First Semester Success: Learning Strategies and Motivation for Your First Semester (or Any Semester) of College, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available at amazon.com, wordassociation.com and barnesandnoble.com.  Click on the upper right link.

One Effective Study Strategy - Study Cards

Students in my classes are preparing for mid-term exams.  I asked them exactly what they did when they sat down to study and all I saw were blank stares.  A few students volunteered that they read the textbook and reread their notes, but that was it. 

When you study you need to use a variety of active strategies.  Just reading and rereading is not enough!  One strategy that is perfect is flash cards or study cards.  There are multiple reasons why they are so effective:

·         You rethink the material as you are making them.

·         They involve actually writing the material again.

·         If you like color you can color-code the cards.

·         You can be creative.  One student in an Art History class pasted pictures of the artwork on the front of the card and the information she needed to know on the back.

·         You can mix them up to be sure you are learning the information in different orders.  This is important as the exam questions may not be in the same order as the lecture notes.

·         You use movement by manipulating them, shuffling them, reordering them, etc.

·         They are portable, you can study them when you have a few extra minutes where ever you are.

·         You use the cards to test yourself and practice remembering the information.   This is critical – this is when the actual learning happens.  

When studying from the cards, don’t just read the front and read the back.  Use them as a self-test. Read the front, think about the answer and then check yourself.  Put the ones you know in one pile and the ones you do not know in another.  Keep going through the ones you don’t know until you can get them all.  Then, tomorrow, do it again.

You can also try Quizlet, an app that lets you make cards on your smart phone.  The program will shuffle the cards for you to vary the order and make various quizzes to test your learning.

The next two blogs will have more information about studying and learning.  Next week will be other strategies you can use when studying and the following one will be about the importance of repetition and spacing your studying over time.

*****

First Semester Success: Learning Strategies and Motivation for Your First Semester (or Any Semester) of College, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available at amazon.com, wordassociation.com and barnesandnoble.com.  Click on the upper right link.