Learning ability is probably the most important skill you can have. Take it from Peter Brown, Henry Roediger, and Mark McDaniel, authors of " Make It Stick: The Science Of Successful Learning." "We need to keep learning and remembering all our lives," they write.
Retrieval is so effective is that it strengthens the neural pathways associated with a given concept.
When you're attempting to recall an idea, method, or technique from memory, you're retrieving. Flash cards are a great example: They force you to recall an idea from memory, unlike a technique like highlighting where you're not burning anything into your brain.
When you try to put a new idea into your own words, you're elaborating.
For example, if you're in physics class and trying to understand heat transfer, try to tie the concept into your real-life experiences, say, by imagining how a warm cup of coffee disperses heat into your hands.
As soon as you notice your mind drifting, stop and consider your needs.
Develop a key/system to note the following in the text: key ideas/major points, unfamiliar words/unclear information, key words and phrases, important information, and connections.
Summarize the main points and two or three key details in your own words.
Science is constantly changing, and although we've come a long way since the days when it was widely believed that older people couldn't learn new things, a number of learning myths have stood the test of time despite having no grounding in scientific research. Tom Bennett-teacher, author, and director of ResearchED-points out that there are...
Both of these study strategies are relatively ineffective. Passively reading the same text over and over again won’t do much for recall unless it’s spaced out over time.
Systematic studies of learning styles have consistently found no evidence or very weak evidence to support the idea that matching the material to a student’s learning style is more effective.
There is no conclusive evidence that people preferentially use the left or right hemisphere.
Certain functions are processed more by one region of the brain than others, and this is known as lateralization. But we all use our entire brain equally.