9/23/2016

11tipsthatcanhelpyoulearnfasterandactuallyrememberitScienceAlert

11 tips that can help you learn faster - and

actually remember it
You've got this.
CHRIS WELLER, BUSINESS INSIDER
29 AUG 2016

Kids can and should practice theskill of learning if they want a fighting chance at
fulfilling all those lofty goals their parents set for them.But some people keep
studying - and thinking - the same way all their lives without improving their
methods.
Thankfully, cognitive science has taken a look at how people actually learn, and
the results are surprising and super helpful.

Skills are easier to pick up as individual parts.

If you want to learn the guitar, don't think about performing all the parts at
once.Set the smaller, more measurable goal of learning a few easy chords, how
to strum correctly, and how to put those chords together.
Over time, the accumulation of those tinier skills will add up to the whole ability
to play guitar.
It's a technique that applies to mechanical learning as well as fact-based lessons.
Multitasking doesn't work, especially for storing new information.
Most people understand that multitasking is a myth - your brain really can't pay
equal attention to two tasks simultaneously. But few people apply that insight to
learning.
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www.rupaonlinestore.com

In addition to breaking a task down into individual steps, be sure to devote your
full energy to each step on its own. Whenyou get distracted, it takes roughly 25
minutes to return your focus to the original task.
Over time, multitasking could mean you only gain a partial understanding of
various different skills or concepts, without acquiring a full knowledge or
mastery of any.
Writing down what you've learned helps cement it in your mind.
If you want to translate information to knowledge, research suggests you should
be writing down what you learn - by hand.
A 2014 study found that students who took notes on pen and paper learned
more than students who typed notes on their laptops. Over a battery of tests,
the pen-and-paper group were more adept at remembering facts, sorting out
complex ideas, and synthesising information.
Researchers say the physical act of touching pen to paper creates a stronger
cognitive link to the material than merely typing, which happens far too quickly
for retention to take place. Writing forces you to confront ideas head-on, which
leads them to stick with you over time.
Mistakes should be celebrated and studied.
Being perfect is overrated.The entire point of learning is to make attempts, fail,
and find a lesson about where you went wrong.
In 2014, a study of motor learning found the brain has more or less reserved a
space for the mistakes we make. Later, we can recruit those memories to do
better next time.
If parents teach kids never to make mistakes, or shun them when mistakes
happen, kids end up missing a wealth of knowledge.
Being optimistic helps you succeed.
Stressing kids out with negative reinforcement can get them stuck in a mental
rut, filling them with self-doubt and anxiety, both of which are toxic for learning.
"Anxiety precludes you from exploring real solutions and real thought patterns
that will come up with solutions," says Harvard Business School professor Alison
Wood Brooks.
Decades ofpositive psychology research suggest that we will become more
successful in just about anything we try to do if we approach it with an open
mind and see tangible room for improvement.
Parents should teach kids to see learning as exploration. It will help give them a
sense of determination, which they can manufacture into grit when the going
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11tipsthatcanhelpyoulearnfasterandactuallyrememberitScienceAlert

gets tough.
Exciting topics are 'stickier' than boring ones.
Kids naturally drift toward the weird and wacky, but once the experience of rote
education gets them thinking in cold hard facts, that sense of fun can die off.
Parents: don't let that happen.
As early as possible, kids should gain an appreciation for why they remember
Grandma's weird-smelling house and those highlighter-yellow shorts Dad wears
on night-time runs. It's because they're unique.
Author and former US memory champion Joshua Foer memorised a full deck of
playing cards in under two minutes by tying each card to a weird image. Kids can
do the same for their times tables and presidents.
Speed reading can condense learning times.
The premise is simple: If you can read faster,you can learn faster.Though you
might think speed reading takes a lot of effort, programs likeSpreederpick up
the pace gradually to make it feel manageable.
By training your brain to process words more quickly, you get accustomed to
reading entire strings of words, rather than imagining each one individually,
which slows you down.
Practice, practice, practice.

Matthew Ragan/Flickr

A strong work ethic makes a real impact on the brain.

In 2004, a study published in Nature found the act of juggling produced more
grey matter. When people stopped juggling, the grey matter disappeared.There
wasn't anything special in the juggling itself, just the repetition.
Neuroscientists call this process 'pruning'. It refers to the new pathways that are
carved by doing an act over and over again, to the point where it sticks around
for good.
In other words, skills follow the use-it-or-lose-it principle.
Use what you know to learn what you don't.

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11tipsthatcanhelpyoulearnfasterandactuallyrememberitScienceAlert

If kids encounter a topic they have trouble wrapping their heads around,
parents should help them to understand how it relates to something they've
already learned.The practice is calledassociative learning.
A student might like football but struggle with differential calculus. If he can see
the similarities between a spiralling pass and the slope of a curve, he stands a
better chance at understanding the abstract concept.
Looking things up isn't always a bad thing.
Kids should learn how to grapple with tough problems - the act teaches them
discipline.But evidence suggests spending too long on a problem can make it
worse.
In 2008,researchers foundthat unresolved tip-of-the-tongue moments can
gradually slip people into an 'error state', in which their memory of the concept
or fact gets replaced by the memory of the tip-of-the-tongue moment.
The solution: If you know you know it, but just can't remember it, Google it.
Teaching other people helps you, too.

communitiesuk/Flickr

Scientists have dubbed it 'the protg effect'.

When you take something that you've learned and put it into your own words,
you're not only demonstrating mastery of an idea - you're refining your own
understanding of it.
In distilling information into small pieces that someone can easily digest, the
teacher must gain a certain intimacy with the subject matter.
That's why older siblings are generally smarter than younger siblings,one 2007
study suggested- because one of the jobs of the older sibling is passing
knowledge along after having received it.
This article was originally published by Business Insider.
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11tipsthatcanhelpyoulearnfasterandactuallyrememberitScienceAlert

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