The best optimal learning strategies for students
With the news that handwriting may boost brain connections more than typing, we look at the best optimal learning strategies.
A recent study suggests that handwriting can enhance connectivity across various brain regions, some of which play crucial roles in learning and memory.
In a study published in Frontiers in Psychology, researchers observed that when students were tasked with writing words, their brains exhibited heightened connectivity, particularly in regions associated with memory formation, compared to when they typed the same words.
Numerous prior studies have indicated that handwriting correlates with improved spelling accuracy, memory retention, and conceptual comprehension. It's believed that tracing letters and words allows individuals more time to process information and facilitate learning.
When you write notes in your own words, you force yourself to put someone else's ideas into a form you understand. This mental effort increases the chance of transferring this information to your long-term memory with better retention.
Writing, therefore is critical when it comes to optimal learning techniques hand; here's what else will help with memory and retention.
Spaced Repetition
Spaced repetition is a learning technique that involves reviewing information at increasing intervals over time. The key idea behind spaced repetition is to strategically space out study sessions so that you revisit material just as you're about to forget it, thus reinforcing memory and improving long-term retention.
Reviewing material at intervals helps reinforce memory and retention. When you first learn new information, it's stored in your short-term memory. Through spaced repetition, you review the material at strategically timed intervals.
Each review strengthens the memory trace and facilitates the transfer of information from short-term to long-term memory, where it's more likely to be retained. Spacing out study sessions reinforces memory over time, leading to a more durable and long-lasting knowledge retention.
What's more, Each time you recall information during a spaced repetition session, you engage in active retrieval, strengthening memory recall pathways and making it easier to retrieve the information in the future.
Elaborative Interrogation
Elaborative interrogation is a powerful learning strategy that involves generating explanations for why facts or concepts are valid. It's essentially about asking yourself "why" and "how" questions to deepen your understanding of the material. It requires active engagement with the material, which stimulates deeper processing of the material, enhancing comprehension and retention.
What's more, by asking "why" and "how" questions, you need to think critically about the information you're learning. You're prompted to analyse the underlying principles and implications of the concepts, which fosters higher-order thinking skills and a deeper understanding of the material.
This strengthens memory retrieval pathways by creating meaningful associations between pieces of information. It helps you understand what you're learning, why it's essential, and how it relates to everything you study. What's more, because this strategy promotes deeper understanding and meaningful learning, it leads to more durable and long-lasting retention of information.
Mnemonic devices
Mnemonic devices are memory aids that help you remember information more effectively by associating it with easier-to-remember material. These devices can take various forms, such as acronyms, rhymes, visualisation techniques, and chunking strategies.
By creating more meaningful and memorable formats and vivid mental images, mnemonic devices make the material easier to encode and store in memory. Work on creating associations and linking the information you want to remember with familiar concepts, words, or images.
These will then serve as retrieval cues that trigger memory recall when you need to retrieve the information. What's more, developing mnemonic devices requires you to have active engagement with the material. As you create associations, visualise images, or construct rhymes, you actively process the information, which enhances comprehension and retention and reduces the likelihood of forgetting over time.
This strategy can be applied to various content and subjects, including vocabulary, historical dates, scientific concepts, mathematical formulas, and procedural steps. It's beneficial in reducing dense information to help reduce the cognitive load associated with revision and studying.