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Evidence-Based Strategies to Better Remember What You Learn

May 3, 2021 by Eva Keiffenheim




Many people waste their time relying on outdated learning techniques. They use ineffective strategies like rereading and highlighting. By following these techniques, learning becomes pointless entertainment.

A research group around neuroscientist Henry Roediger and psychologist Mark McDaniel spent ten years exploring learning strategies. Their goal was to bridge the gap between cognitive science and educational science. The result of their work is ‘Make it stick.’

Reading more than 15 books on learning, I’ve noticed a recurring pattern: 
it’s less important what kind of brain you have — what matters is how you use it.

Or, as the researchers of ‘Make it Stick’ put it:

“Elements that shape your intellectual ability lie to a surprising extent within your own control.”

Howwe learn changes our brain’s neural network. This concept, neuroplasticity, is the enabler for lifelong-learning. Whether you’re a life-long learner, a trainer, teacher, student, or a parent who wants to best help your kids, effective learning strategies can make new knowledge stick.

Here are five evidence-based strategies that help you learn better and store new knowledge in your long-term memory.

1.) Retrieval Practice

With retrieval, you try to recall something you’ve learned in the past from your memory. For example, you might ask yourself what you remembered from the book you finished two weeks ago.

The more time has gone since your information consumption, the more difficult time you’ll have to retrieve it. Naturally, a few days after we learn something, forgetting sets in. And that’s why retrieval is so powerful. In the words of the authors:

“Retrieval strengthens the memory and interrupts forgetting.”

While retrieval practice can take many forms — take a test, write an essay, do a multiple-choice test, practice with flashcards — some forms are better than others:

“While any kind of retrieval practice generally benefits learning, the implication seems to be that where more cognitive effort is required for retrieval, greater retention results.”

2.) Spaced Repetition

With spaced repetition, you repeat the same piece of information across increasing intervals. Again, our natural forgetting curve kicks in. But the harder it feels to recall the information, the stronger the learning effect:

“Spaced practice, which allows some forgetting to occur between sessions, strengthens both the learning and the cues and routes for fast retrieval.”

It might sound counterintuitive, but forgetting is essential for learning. Spacing out practice might feel less productive than rereading a text because you’ll realize what you forgot. To retrieve your knowledge, your brain has to work harder. And it should work hard.

As a rule of thumb: learning works best when it feels hard.

3.) Interleaving

Imagine you had to remember 100 paintings from five different epochs. Would you prefer studying one epoch after another or mixing all five?

While our intuition tells us blocking to be more effective, researchers pointed towards the benefits of interleaving:

“If your intuition tells you to block, you should probably interleave.”

Here’s what interleaving means:

“In interleaving, you don’t move from a complete practice set of one topic to go to another. You switch before each practice is complete.”

Alternate working on different problems feels more difficult as it facilitates forgetting. But as you will know by now, that’s the desired effect you want to achieve.

“If learners spread out their study of a topic, returning to it periodically over time, they remember it better.”

4.) Elaboration

Elaborating means you explain and describe an idea in your own words. You consciously associate material you want to learn with what you’ve previously learned. In the words of the book’s authors:

“Elaboration is the process of giving new material meaning by expressing it in your own words and connecting it with what you already know.”

The more details and the stronger you connect new knowledge to what you already know, the better. By doing so, you’re generating more cues.

Elaborative rehearsal is a method to encode information into your long-term memory more effectively. It can be advantageous to relate the material to a personal experience or to something you already know, explaining the idea to someone else, and explaining how it relates to your life.

5.) Reflection

Reflection is a combination of retrieval practice and elaboration that adds new layers to your learning materials. Here are a few questions the authors suggest to reflect upon:

What went well?

What could have gone better?

What might you need to learn for better mastery, or what strategies might you use the next time to get better results?

By reflecting, you’re retrieving what you learned and connecting it to existing memories. In the words of Roediger and McDaniel:

“Reflection can involve several cognitive activities that lead to stronger learning: retrieving knowledge and earlier training from memory, connecting these new experiences and visualizing and mentally rehearsing what you might do differently next time.”

6.) (Self)-Testing & Calibration

While reading often falsely tricks us into perceived mastery, testing shows us whether we truly mastered the subject at hand. Self-testing helps you identify knowledge gaps and bring weak areas to the light. In their book, the scientists conclude:

“It’s better to solve a problem than to memorize a solution.”

To answer a question or solve a problem before looking at the answer is what learning scientists also call experiential learning. Even if you don’t get the right answer, the process facilitates remembering the correct answer.

Plus, objective instruments, like testing, or self-testing, help you adjust your sense of what you know and don’t know:

“One of the best habits a learner can instill in herself is regular self-quizzing to recalibrate her understanding of what she does and does not know.”


Takeaway

If you only remember one thing, pick the following:

“Learning that’s easy is like writing in sand, here today and gone tomorrow.”

Effective learning strategies include retrieval, elaboration, spaced repetition, interleaving, self-testing, and reflection.

Plus, once you’ve mastered new material, you can use mnemonic devices and build memory places to help you retrieve what you’ve learned.

Filed Under: 🧠 Learning Hacks Tagged With: Evidence-based, Hacks, Learning Strategies

These 3 Practices by Bill Gates Will Change How You Read

May 3, 2021 by Eva Keiffenheim



Reading gives you access to the smartest brains on earth. Learning from the greatest people is the fastest way to become healthy, wealthy, and wise.

Charlie Munger, self-made billionaire, and Warren Buffett’s longtime business partner, once said that he hadn’t known any wise person who didn’t read all the time. None, zero.

Yet, reading per se doesn’t make you a better person. You can read 52 books a year without changing at all.

It’s about what and how you read that will improve your life’s quality and enhance your mind.

I read a book a week for more than two years now and continue to look for ways to improve my reading. Recently, I listened to Bill Gates sharing his free, yet priceless lessons on how he reads books.

Here are his top three reading practices and how to apply them:

1. Take side notes

In our distracting world, it’s tempting to shift focus at light speed. When phones are within a hand reach, it’s easy to switch tasks without even realizing it.

Taking side notes in the margins is a simple yet effective way to stay present. With a pen in your hand, it’s your default option to engage with the book in front of you. You’ll find it easier to focus on the thoughts at hand.

Moreover, scribbling on the pages will make it easier for you to remember what you’ve read. You ensure you link the new knowledge to what you already know. This helps you to think hard about what’s in the book.

Gates always aims to connect new knowledge to what he already knows. If he disagrees with the written word, he will take even more side notes:

“If I disagree with a book it sometimes takes a lot of time to read the book because I am writing so much in the margins. It’s actually kind of frustrating. Please say something I agree with so I can get through with this book.”

How to do it:

Take a pen in your hand before opening your next book. Cross out what you don’t like and write down what to do instead. Jot down a question if lines are unclear. Scribble your thoughts on the margins and connect what you learn with what you already know.

How can you link the words in front of you to your own experiences?

Which example can you add to the page that contradicts this claim?

Do you have any memory that proves the point at hand?

Soon you’ll realize that taking notes not only helps you to concentrate but also to remember what you read. The more you write in the margins, the more you’ll remember.

In learning theory, this way to remember things is called elaborative rehearsal. You make an association between the new information in the book and the information you already know. The more you elaborate, or try to understand something, the more likely you‘ll keep this new information in your long-term memory.

2. Finish every book you read

Gate’s second principle is simple: get to the end.

Read books cover to cover. He says:

“It’s my rule to get to the end.”

Huh? Seriously? It’s tempting to skip this principle since productivity coaches advise you not to complete bad books. We have to be careful here.

Bill doesn’t sayyou should complete a lousy book.

Instead, his rule indicates to decide what you read before you start. Consider whether a book is worth your time before you open it.

By doing so, you’ll become as intentional on reading as Bill Gates. Because it’s his rule always to finish what he starts, he’ll think twice before he starts a book.

Finishing every book you read doesn’t mean you should force yourself through a bad book. Instead, pick carefully and then commit to complete the book. Even if it turns out to be hard, contradicting, or daunting.

How to do it:

The internet allows us to access the libraries of smart minds. For example, Obama’s tweeted his favorite books from 2019, and Bill shares his recommendations once a year.

Start a want-to-read list with every book you intend to read. To do so, you can use listing apps like Google Keep, Wunderlist, or ToDoist, or create a profile on Goodreads.

I love using Goodreads for my want-to-reads as I see the covers and the overall rating. Before bulk-ordering, I’d browse through my list to pick the next books.

3. Read for at least one hour at a time

To get your mind around a book, Bill says, you should block an hour at a time every time you read. Here’s what he says:

“If you read books you want to sit down an hour at a time. Every night I’m reading, I’m reading a little bit over an hour so I can take my current book and make some progress.”

While Bill’s advice is applicable for retired billionaires, I’d recommend adapting his rule to: â€œAim for one uninterrupted reading hour a day and also take every additional minute you get.”

How to do it:

Make it non-negotiable to read before you sleep. To do so, replace your smartphone with an alarm clock and go to bed an hour earlier.

Schedule a smartphone alarm every evening at 9 PM, which reminds you to switch off all your digital devices. Schedule a second alarm for 9:20 PM as a hard deadline and stick to it.

My bedtime ritual is reading. In bed, I can either sleep or read. That’s how I read one book per week for two years. The sooner you shut off your devices in the evening, the more you’ll learn.

Bottom Line

Following Bill’s principles isn’t complex, long, or exhausting.

On the contrary: These principles make reading fun and worthwhile.

  • Take side notes to engage with what you read.
  • Pick intentionally, and finish all the great books you read.
  • Make reading a bedtime ritual to have an undistracted reading hour.

Instead of feeling discouraged by all the ideas about what you could do to improve your reading, enjoy experimenting at your own pace. Keep the principles that work for you and screw the rest.

Choose one or two new reading habits until you find a pattern that helps you on your journey to health, wealth, and wisdom.

Filed Under: 📚 Knowledge Management Tagged With: Books, Hacks, Reading

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