How to Study Effectively
During my nearly 20 years of tutoring, I'm always looking for the best methods to learn. A few years ago, I discovered the work of the Learning Scientists, a group of researchers concerned with understanding how people learn best. Since that discovery, I have started to integrate more and more of their techniques into my tutoring. In this blog, I share 6 powerful learning techniques based on their scientific research, with concrete examples to illustrate them:
1. Spaced Practice: Space out your Learning Moments
Spaced Practice sounds fancy, but it really comes down to two simple principles:
- Don't learn everything at once: Divide the material into manageable pieces with plenty of time in between (at least one good night). This principle is already being applied in schools by spreading lessons over several weeks instead of covering everything at once. For example, you have 1 hour of geography every week for 30 school weeks for a total of 30 hours instead of 6 hours of geography every day to see everything from that year.
- Repetition: After learning the subject matter, it is essential to repeat it at a later time by, for example, reviewing the lesson that preceded it while repeating the most recent lesson.
Example: Switch during the block complete different courses over the days instead of setting out consecutive sets of days for each subject.
2. Retrieval Practice: Actively Recall Information
Retrieval is recalling information that you have learned in the past. It's important to put all your notes away during this step and choose a method where you can check your answers afterwards. This can be done in various ways, for example by making a summary, using flashcards, doing practice tests, making a mind map... Because you want to check what you may have been wrong or have forgotten afterwards, simply canceling the subject matter is not the most effective method.
Example: For history, create a timeline of WWII with the most important events and associated dates.
3. Elaboration: Critically Examine Subject Matter
Elaboration challenges you to think critically about the subject matter. Ask yourself questions like, “Why is this so?” and “How does this relate to my own experiences?” This method is very useful for the exact sciences and mathematics, where critical thinking is key.
Examples:
- Explain the right hand rule in electromagnetism by using the laws of electrostatics.
- Using Newton's 1st Law, explain why you are thrown exactly out into the car at a bend.
- Understand how a car works by combining your knowledge of thermodynamics and mechanics. For example, you can explain why with Newton's 1st law why you are thrown exactly out at a bend.
4. Interleaving: Alternate between Chapters within one Subject
Interleaving or interweaving means that you do not learn the material as one big chunk, but in smaller cubes that you alternate between. It helps to have some common thread between the different chunks so that you can actively seek connections.
Example: In mathematics, you could first learn the whole chapter of limits and then learn everything from derivatives and finally study the subject matter of integrals. Interleaving However, proposes to first learn limits, derivatives and integrals of first-degree functions and only then move on to limits, derivatives, integrals of trigonometric functions, etc.
5. Concrete Examples: Make it Relevant
With this method, as the name suggests, you will find concrete examples from your own life that match the subject matter. This method is very similar to elaboration, but here's the difference that instead of explaining something, you're going to look for earlier or concrete applications of what you've learned.
Examples:
- Derivatives are used to solve extreme problems. Here I spontaneously think of Boer Jan, who has a certain amount of thread and wants to cover as large a field as possible.
- The French word “problème” ends with an “e”, which usually refers to a feminine word, but in this case it is a masculine word. This phenomenon also occurs in other Romance languages such as Italian and Spanish, where “problema” is also a masculine word, although it ends in “a”, which usually denotes a feminine word.
6. Dual Coding: Use Both Sides of the Brain
Dual Coding or dual learning is used by searching for the images in your book or notes and linking them to the corresponding piece of text. After reading this piece of text, try to explain the image in your own words and just looking at the image. Then do the opposite and add only the text, creating your own image. This does not have to be a copy of what is in the book, nor an artistic masterpiece.
Examples:
- Explaining photosynthesis or chemical reactions is perfect for this.
- In computer science, you can iterate steps of a for-draw the loop.
- In history, you can make a short comic book about the fall of the Roman Empire.
Conclusion
These six learning techniques are not stand-alone, but rather reinforce each other. Combine them in creative ways to optimize your learning.
Example: Pass Spaced Practice increasing daily Interleaving to do and you always with Concrete Examples asking what something can be used for.
Are you unsure about the application of these methods? Please don't hesitate to contact me at jan.kunnen@eduvik.com.