Focus on learning in more than one way. Instead of just listening to a podcast, which involves auditory learning, find a way to rehearse the information both verbally and visually. This might involve describing what you learned to a friend, taking notes or drawing a mind map. By learning in more than one way, you’re further cementing the knowledge in your mind. According to Judy Willis, “The more regions of the brain that store data about a subject, the more interconnection there is. This redundancy means students will have more opportunities to pull up all of those related bits of data from their multiple storage areas in response to a single cue. This cross-referencing of data means we have learned, rather than just memorized” (Willis, J. Brain-based teaching strategies for improving students' memory, learning, and test-taking success. Review of Research. Childhood Education, 83(5), 31-316, 2008).
2. Teach What You’ve Learned to Another Person
Educators have long noted that one of the best ways to learn something is to teach it to someone else. Remember your seventh-grade presentation on Costa Rica? By teaching to the rest of the class, your teacher hoped you would gain even more from the assignment. You can apply the same principle today by sharing your newly learned skills and knowledge with others.
Start by translating the information into your own words. This process alone helps solidify new knowledge in your brain. Next, find some way to share what you’ve learned. Some ideas include writing a blog post, creating a podcast or participating in a group discussion.
3. Utilize Previous Learning to Promote New Learning
Another great way to become a more effective learner is to use relational learning, which involves relating new information to things that you already know. For example, if you are learning about Romeo and Juliet, you might associate what you learn about the play with prior knowledge you have about Shakespeare, the historical period in which the author lived and other relevant information.
4. Gain Practical Experience
For many of us, learning typically involves reading textbooks, attending lectures or doing research in the library or on the Web. While seeing information and then writing it down is important, actually putting new knowledge and skills into practice can be one of the best ways to improve learning. If you are trying to acquire a new skill or ability, focus on gaining practical experience. If it is a sport or athletic skill, perform the activity on a regular basis. If you are learning a new language, practice speaking with another person and surround yourself with immersive experiences. If you see a standardized patient, observe a physician examining a patient, hear about a disease, take time to read about it. This helps you learn—by connecting to a real person.
5. Look Up Answers Rather Than Struggle to Remember
Of course, learning isn’t a perfect process. Sometimes, we forget the details of things that we have already learned. If you find yourself struggling to recall some tidbit of information, research suggests that you are better offer simply looking up the correct answer. One study found that the longer you spend trying to remember the answer, the more likely you will be to forget the answer again in the future. Why? Because these attempts to recall previously learned information actually results in learning the "error state" instead of the correct response.
6. Understand How You Learn Best
Another great strategy for improving your learning efficiency is to recognize your learning habits and styles. There are a number of different theories about learning styles, which can all help you gain a better understanding of how you learn best. Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences (see descriptions at the end of this document) describes eight different types of intelligence that can help reveal your individual strengths.
7. Use Testing to Boost Learning
While it may seem that spending more time studying is one of the best ways to maximize learning, research has demonstrated that taking tests actually helps you better remember what you've learned, even if it wasn't covered on the test. The study revealed that students who studied and were then tested had better long-term recall of the materials, even on information that was not covered by the tests. Students who had extra time to study but were not tested had significantly lower recall of the materials.
8. Stop Multitasking
For many years, it was thought that people who multitask, or perform more than one activity at once, had an edge over those who did not. However, research now suggests that multitasking can actually make learning less effective. In the study, participants lost significant amounts of time as they switched between multiple tasks and lost even more time as the tasks became increasingly complex. By switching from one activity to another, you will learn more slowly, become less efficient and make more errors. How can you avoid the dangers of multitasking? Start by focusing your attention on the task at hand and continue working for a predetermined amount of time.
How do you learn best? These are Howard Gardner's multiple intelligencies. Which intelligencse describe the way you function?
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Logical-mathematical |
logical thinking, detecting patterns, scientific reasoning and deduction; analyze problems, perform mathematical calculations, understands relationship between cause and effect towards a tangible outcome or result |
Perform a mental arithmetic calculation; create a process to measure something difficult; analyze how a machine works, create a process; devise a strategy to achieve an aim; assess the value of a business or proposition |
|
Linguistic |
words and language, written and spoken; retention, interpretation and explanation of ideas and information via language, understands relationship between communication and meaning |
write a set of instructions; speak on a subject; edit a written piece or work; write a speech; commentate on an event; apply positive or negative 'spin' to a story |
|
Musical |
musical ability, awareness, appreciation and use of sound; recognition of tonal and rhythmic patterns, understands relationship between sound and feeling |
perform a musical piece; sing a song; review a musical work; coach someone to play a musical instrument; specify mood music for telephone systems and receptions |
|
Visual/Spatial |
visual and spatial perception; interpretation and creation of visual images; pictorial imagination and expression; understands relationship between images and meanings, and between space and effect |
design a costume; interpret a painting; create a room layout; create a corporate logo; design a building; sense of direction; arrange the layout of a document |
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Bodily-kinesthetic |
body movement control, manual dexterity, physical agility and balance; eye and body coordination |
demonstrate a sports technique; create a mime to explain something; assess work-station ergonomics; dance; gardening; build a cabinet |
|
Interpersonal (strong association with emotional intelligence) |
perception of other people's feelings; ability to relate to others; interpretation of behavior and communications; understands the relationships between people and their situations, including other people |
interpret moods from facial expressions; demonstrate feelings through body language; coach or counsel another person; human resources; educator; team person; loves to be with people; good communicator |
|
Intrapersonal |
self-awareness, personal cognizance, personal objectivity, the capability to understand oneself, one's relationship to others and the world, and one's own need for, and reaction to change |
consider and decide one's own aims and personal changes required to achieve them (not necessarily reveal this to others); self-reflective, self-aware; |
|
Naturalist |
more in tune with nature and are often interested in nurturing, exploring the environment and learning about nature. These individuals are said to be highly aware of even subtle changes to their environments. |
Interested in subjects such as botany, biology and zoology; good at categorizing and cataloging information easily; may enjoy camping, gardening, hiking and exploring the outdoors; Doesn’t enjoy learning unfamiliar topics that have no connection to nature |
Resources: //psychology.about.com/od/educationalpsychology/tp/effective-learning.htm; //quizlet.com/; //www.businessballs.com/howardgardnermultipleintelligences.htm
The following 14 psychological principles pertain to all learners and the learning process. They are best understood as an organized set of principles; no principle should be viewed in isolation. This document is adapted from the principles developed by the American Psychological Association.
- The learning of complex subject matter is most effective when it is an intentional process of constructing meaning from information and experience.
Successful learners are active, goal-oriented, self-regulating, and assume personal responsibility for contributing to their own learning.Message for Teachers:
Use techniques that aid students in constructing meaning from information, experiences, and their own thought and beliefs. - The successful learner, over time and with support and instructional guidance, can create meaningful, coherent representations of knowledge.
The strategic nature of learning requires students to be goal directed. Students must generate and pursue personally relevant goals.Message for Teachers:
Create meaningful student learning goals consistent with their personal and educational aspirations and interests. - The successful learner can link new information with existing knowledge in meaningful ways.
Knowledge widens and deepens as student continue to build links between new information and experiences and their existing knowledge base. Unless new knowledge become integrated with the learner’s prior knowledge and understanding, this new knowledge remains isolated, cannot be used most effectively in new tasks, and does not transfer readily to new situations.Message for Teachers:
Assist learners in acquiring and integrating knowledge by using such strategies as concept mapping and thematic organization or categorizing. - The successful learner can create and use a repertoire of thinking and reasoning strategies to achieve complex learning goals.
Successful learners use strategic thinking in their approach to learning, reasoning, problem solving, and concept learning. They understand and can use a variety of strategies to help them reach learning and performance goals, and to apply their knowledge in novel situations.Message for Teachers:
Assist learners in developing, applying, and assessing their strategic learning skills. - Higher order strategies for selecting and monitoring mental operations facilitate creative and critical thinking.
Successful learners can reflect on how they think and learn, set reasonable learning or performance goals. select potentially appropriate learning strategies or methods, and monitor their progress towards these goals.Message for Teachers:
Use instructional methods that focus on helping learners develop these higher order strategies to enhance learning and personal responsibility for learning. - Learning is influenced by environmental factor, including culture, technology, and instructional practices.
Learning does not occur in a vacuum. Cultural or group influences on students impact many educationally relevant variables: motivation, orientation toward learning, and ways of thinking. Technologies and instructional practices must be appropriate for learners’ level of prior knowledge, cognitive abilities, and their learning and thinking strategies.Message for Teachers:
Make the classroom environment nurturing to have significant impacts on student learning. - What and how much is learned is influenced by the learner’s motivation. Motivation to learn, in turn, is influenced by the individual’s emotional states, beliefs, interests and goals, and habits of thinking.
Students’ belief about themselves as learners and the nature of learning have a marked influence on motivation. Positive emotions generally enhance motivation and facilitate learning and performance. Mid anxiety can also enhance learning and performance by focusing the learner’s attention on a particular task.Message for Teachers:
Help students avoid intense negative emotions (e.g., anxiety, panic, rage, insecurity) and related thoughts (e.g., worrying about competence, ruminating about failure, fearing punishment, ridicule, or stigmatizing labels). - The learner’s creativity, higher order thinking, and natural curiosity all contribute to motivation to learn. Intrinsic motivation is stimulated by tasks of optimal novelty and difficulty, relevant to personal interests, and providing for personal choice and control.
Curiosity, flexible and insightful thinking, and creativity are major indicators of the learners’ intrinsic motivation to learn.Message for Teachers:
Encourage and support learners’ natural curiosity and motivation to learn by attending to individual differences in learners’ perceptions of optimal novelty and difficulty, relevance, and personal choice and control. - Acquisition of complex knowledge and skills requires extended learner effort and guided practice. Without learners’ motivation to learn, the willingness to exert this effort is unlikely without coercion.
Acquisition of complex knowledge and skills demands the investment of considerable learner energy and strategic effort, along with persistence over time.Message for Teachers:
Facilitate motivation by using strategies that enhance learner effort and commitment to learning and to achieving high standards of comprehension and understanding. - As individuals develop, there are different opportunities and constraints for learning. Learning is most effective when differential development within and across physical, intellectual, emotional, and social domains is taken into account.
Individuals learn best when material is appropriate to their developmental level and is presented in an enjoyable and interesting way.Message for Teachers:
Be aware of and understand developmental differences among students with and without emotional, physical, or intellectual disabilities, to facilitate the creation of optimal learning contexts. - Learning is influenced by social interactions, interpersonal relations, and communication with others.
Setting that allow for social interactions, and that respect diversity, encourage flexible thinking, and social competence can enhance learning.Message for Teachers:
Allow for interactive and collaborative instructional contexts to provide individuals an opportunity for perspective taking and reflective thinking that may lead to higher levels of cognitive, social and moral development, as well as self-esteem. - Learners have different strategies, approaches, and capabilities for learning that are a function of prior experience and heredity.
Individuals are born with and develop their own capabilities and talents.Message for Teachers:
Help student examine their learning preferences and expand or modify them, if necessary. - Learning is most effective when differences in learners’ linguistic, cultural, and social backgrounds are taken into account.
Language, ethnicity, race, beliefs, and socioeconomic status all influence learning.Message for Teachers:
Paying careful attention to these factors in the instructional setting enhances the possibilities for designing and implementing appropriate learning environments. - Setting appropriately high and challenging standards and assessing the learner as well as learning progress – including diagnostic, process, and outcome assessment – are integral parts of the learning process.
Ongoing assessment of the learner’s understanding of curricular material can provide valuable feedback to both learners and teachers about progress towards the learning goals.Message for Teachers:
Use of varied types of assessment will provide a clearer picture of student learning.
Reference:
APA Work Group of the Board of Educational Affairs (1997, November). Learner-centered psychological principles: A framework for school reform and redesign. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.