College 101 – Blog 4 of 8: How Does Learning Happen

Many college students (and the rest of us) do not understand how learning happens.  When students sit down with their lecture notes and textbook and start to “study,” they often do not know exactly what to do besides reading and rereading their notes.   This does not get the information effectively from your working memory to your long-term memory.   There are four important ingredients to learning that will ensure the information is stored properly and available when you need it (like on the exam!):

Repetition – Learning does not happen with only one exposure to the material.  You have to work with the information multiple times.

Variety – In order to truly know the material, you have to study it in a variety of ways.   Think about doing something visual (add color, make a review chart, rewrite your notes, add some pictures), using sound (read the information out loud, get someone to quiz you, go to tutoring and talk about the material), and adding movement (rewriting, constructing a chart, review notes while at the gym) that will help you learn what you need to know.

Self-testing – This is crucial!  What you are actually doing it practicing recalling the information like you will on an exam.  You can read your notes or textbook passage and then cover the information and restate it in your own words, make study cards and go through them testing yourself, take practice quizzes if available online, make a quiz and take it a few days later, or form a study group and take turns quizzing each other.

And last – Spread all of these strategies out over time!  It takes time for information to be solidly stored in your long-term memory.  In addition to reviewing your notes after every class using the above strategies, weekly go over everything and then kick it all into high gear when actively preparing for an exam.

The above suggestions are far from a complete list of strategies.  Use your creativity and combine the ideas to create strategies that work for you and also with the particular information you need to learn.

The future blogs are:

#5 How to take and study lecture notes

#6 How to study for an exam

#7 Test-taking strategies

#8 How to stay motivated

*****

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, barnesandnoble.com and wordassociation.com.  Click on the upper right link.