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Did you know that study in not just completing assignments or homework?
Sometimes students think study is just doing assignments, but study is done to supplement homework. Even if you have no specific homework, you always have study!
We forget what we learn very quickly. A day after a lesson if we have done nothing with the information we learned then and didn't think about it again or read it again we will have lost 50%-80% of what we learned. Seven days later, we remember even less, and by day 30, we retain about 2%-3% of the original! After each lesson we need to revise and practise new material so that we can remember it and so do projects, tests and exams easily with the knowledge we already have.
We remember things much better if we go over concepts very soon after we first learnt them. On the same day we receive the information, if we spend ten minutes reviewing, we will remember almost all we learnt. A week later, if we take 5 minutes to "reactivate" the same material, we can still retain almost 100%. By day 30, our brains will only need 2-4 minutes to give us the feedback, "Yup, I know that. Got it."
However, a better approach than rehearsal (just going over things or re-reading them) is to:
- Add detail to the information to be remembered. Draw pictures or diagrams, read around the topic.
- Re-organise the information.
o draw mindmaps
o make flash or palm cards
o re-write notes with coloured pens
o use mnemonics (memory tricks)
- set ideas in a song,
- use initial letters to make a word (remember the rainbow colours ROYGBIV?)
- restate formulas or laws in rhyme
? draw pictures or models for main concepts
- Actively think about the material. Ask yourself questions. Does it make sense? Do I agree? Can I think of a better way?
- Make it meaningful. How does/How can/How might what I learn apply to me, my parents and my neighbours?
- Relate it to other things you already know or have experienced. How does this fit in with what I already know? Make connections.
Rosemary Horton Teacher Librarian |
