In this module, we will examine factors that support learning and how they can enhance your learning.
When you have completed this module, you will be able to:
There are six main strategies which assist learning:
People learn best when they are both physically and mentally ready to learn. Some factors that can affect readiness include worries, illness, medication, unclear or misunderstood learning objectives, and a poor learning environment.
People tend to recall the beginning of events more than the middle, and recall a first event more than continued repetitions of that event. People also tend to recall recent events more vividly.
The knowledge that the brain recalls first and last things best is useful in any learning situation, because it helps organise time and increases recall.
For example, studying for four hours without a break gives only one primacy and one recency situation, allowing recall to sag in the middle.
Breaking the four hours into more reasonable units has more 'first and last' situations. This increases recall.
The time units have to be long enough to enable the mind to build up a rhythm, and short enough to prevent a too-large sag in the middle. A study time of 10 to 45 minutes (depending on difficulty and interest) with breaks of 2 to 5 minutes seems ideal.
This not only helps recall but also aids assimilation of the learning because, during breaks, your mind has had a chance to both rest and sort out the information it has been taking in during the learning period.
People recall anything strange, unusual or out of context. Really outstanding events, whether good or bad, usually remain indelibly marked in the mind. Learning is improved when it becomes a live, vivid experience.
The effective use of visual aids such as slides, pictures, whiteboards and colour mock-ups for reinforcement can enhance the learning experience. The frequent use of examples or related 'games' can conjure up mental images and help recall.
Knowing that the brain recalls outstanding things, you can assist learning by emphasising, mentally or physically, those areas which are particularly important. This means making things larger than life, giving them extra-bright or contrasting colours, and placing them in situations that make them 'stand out'. These techniques can also be applied to note-taking.
People recall connections rather than something which is disconnected. Often, a memory 'pops up' when the right connection is made.
Learning is strengthened when accompanied by satisfying experiences and emotions. The senses of hearing, smell and movement can be particularly evocative of events. This is used in 'accelerated learning' where the learning experience is accompanied by music, perfumes and movement.
Part of the ability to recall depends on the 'strength of the brain pattern' laid down biologically and electrically. This strength is increased by repeating the memory pattern. In practical terms, this means that anything which is reviewed will tend to be more firmly lodged in the brain than something which is simply skimmed over once and left to recede.
Proper revision does not mean blind repetition of information, but is an organised series of special times for looking at information already understood. Normally, after only four or five reviews, the information being reviewed enters the 'long-term memory'.
Revision should be sensibly spaced out. This normally means that after a period of learning, your mind should be given a short period for rest and integration — say ten minutes — followed by a first review. The second, third, fourth and fifth reviews can take place at increasing intervals, e.g. the next day for the second, a week later for the third, a month later for the fourth, and four months later for the fifth.
It is important to revise only that information you really wish to remember, and not all the information you might have taken in while reading the book or listening to the lecture. This ability to select the specific information needed for review can be usefully combined with the ability to extract keywords and key areas of meaning.
The other advantage of proper revision is that the more the information your brain already contains is reviewed, the more easily you will be able to latch on to new, incoming information.
The brain, which has forgotten most of what it has learned, will find new learning far more difficult than the brain that is completely up to date and ready to compare, contrast, and connect the incoming information with the information already stored.
List the six learning strategies. Don’t worry if you can’t remember them; use the same strategies to remember them.
Think of a personal or organisational learning situation and consider how you can apply these strategies to that situation.
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