Science of Learning: Tidbits for Students
Most tidbits here are from The New Science of Learning, by Terry Doyle and Todd Zakrajsek
Scientists have learned a great deal about the neurological basis of learning and memory in the last couple decades. If faculty understand and communicate these findings to students, it should help students make smarter decisions and consequently learn better.
Students generally attribute success and failure to four categories: ability, luck, effort and difficulty of the task. “Cognitive psychologists have found that these attributions … affect students’ emotions, persistence … and expectations for success. Effort and ability appear to be the most critical attributions: Students who attribute success and failure to effort are more likely to experience positive emotions, greater task persistence, and higher success expectations, while students who attribute success or failure to ability are less likely to….” Gall, p 31 This demonstrates the importance of understanding mindset.
One consistent finding of how learning works: “anything that required learners to put things into their own words resulted in better learning.” p 93
Multitasking
Younger learners are better at task shifting than older generations. But shifting tasks is not multitasking. The brain must cycle through a number of steps every time you shift tasks and that uses energy. No one can truly multitask on tasks that involve thinking. Try listening to two people talking about different things at the same time or really listening to someone talk while also trying to read. It can’t be done. You can really only do one thinking task at a time and shifting from one to another wastes valuable energy.
“Typically, individuals who shift tasks make 50% more errors and spend at least 50% more time on both tasks.” p 114 Focusing on one thing at a time simply takes less time. Practice good time management to save energy and save time.
How Memory Works
There are three main processes in memory (very simplified):
- Encoding: how information is taken in, understood and altered to aid storage. Inputs can be visual (seeing), auditory (hearing), semantic (with words, thinking), tactile (touching and tasting) and olfactory (smelling). Smells are profound for memory recall; consider what good-smelling things you can use while studying.
- Retention: how it gets stored, whether in short-term (temporary) in the hippocampus region of the brain or long-term in the neocortex. Think of a computer’s RAM (short term, small capacity) vs its harddrive (long term, vast capacity). Retention is aided when you get a good night’s sleep, when the importance you placed on the information determines whether it gets moved to long-term storage, or gets ditched.
- Retrieval: remembering the memories. You actually have to practice remembering things, over time, to reinforce learning. Recalling learned material repeatedly and at intervals improves learning.
Effective studying can be thought of as moving information from short-term to long-term memory. Much recent research in cognition has focused on how this process occurs and how it can be enhanced. They have found that students must act upon information in some way in order to store it in long-term memory. The more deeply information is processed, the better it is stored in long-term memory and the more easily it is retrieved.” (Gall, et al., 1990, p 25) Developing connections among new and prior knowledge is a great way to really embed new learning.
Studies show you need to take a little break after learning something to allow it to become more fixed in memory. That’s why taking courses back to back is discouraged.
Sleep, Memory and Learning
A study found that the brain makes decisions about what to remember while you’re asleep. Stuff that you favored gets more to places where it’s easy to find. The study also found that students who slept right after learning new materials and who knew they were going to be tested on that material had substantially improved memory recall over students who knew they would not be tested on the newly learning materials. p 33
“In a 2011 issue of Time magazine, the Marconi Union’s song ‘Weightless’ (Talbot, Crossley, & Meadows, 2016), which lasts a little over 8 minutes, was listed as a breakthrough in helping people fall asleep. A listener’s body rhythms will sync with the song, slowing heart rate by 35% and reducing anxiety by 65%. Scientists believe that this song works so well that they recommend not listening to it while driving.” p 41
Sensory Overload and Exhaustion
“Whether it is listening to music, texting, phoning, watching TV, or playing video games, you are engaging in activities that can exhaust your brain and impede learning, and you may not even be aware that your brain is tired (Berman, Jonies, & Kaplan, 2008). The problem is that the human brain is not built for constant sensory stimulation.” It wipes you out. p 34
Exercise Improves Learning
“Exercise sparks the master molecule of the learning process: brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF)…. When BDNF is present in your brain in greater amounts, your brain is better able to make the connections among the brain cells … that are the physical representation of what you have learned. … BDNF actually makes learning easier…. BDNF produced by exercise makes learning easier.” p 54, 55
Exercise increases the production of three particularly important neurochemicals involved in learning: serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine. These help your brain to be alert, attentive, motivated. They also enhance our patience and self-control. p 55
Annotation
Annotation is a simple process of making notes in the margin of a textbook that identifies, in your own words, the important concepts. Multiple research studies support the use of annotation to improve learning. By using your pencil or pen you add the sense of touch to the reading process, making it multisensory.
Two additional benefits of annotations:
- “Translating what you read into your own words identifies if you understand it.”
- “Using your own words is one of the best ways to make remembering what you read easier.” p 76