Study+Skills+and+Memory

The brain is not designed to learn 21st Century Knowledge (It’s more interested in sex, emotions and survival) therefore we have to get the brain on side. We can do this by: · Encouraging students to review information within class time and before sleep (otherwise “irrelevant” memories will be destroyed) · Encouraging students to use their planners to schedule three 15 – 20 minute study sessions per subject per week. · Programming so as to allow for ways to revise previously learnt subject content throughout the year · Working out various ways to revise the same information so that multiple memory pathways are constructed and strengthened · Memory making works best when new information is linked with other things such as prior memories, experiences, emotions and senses · Talking up your subject and the potential for success · Making an atmosphere where mistakes are viewed as an opportunity for learning not evidence of failure · Enhancing hope rather than creating fear; if you create fear in your classroom rational thought and learning will shut down (think about your language and the way you talk to students)
 * Study Skills and Memory: A Brief Introduction **
 * Research shows that it is not intellect but rather the knowledge of how to study and learn that determines success. **
 * 1) **Repetition – The more the brain sees information, the more it considers the information important to remember **. This means
 * 1) **Making associations **
 * 1) **Creating a positive emotional environment **. You can do this by:
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Some study skills tips **
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">The last ten minutes (recency effect) and first ten minutes of the lesson are prime learning time
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">The brain can only absorb small amounts of new information so break your lesson up to allow information to be consolidated
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Encourage students to **create** rather than **copy** notes
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Ask students what learning strategies they have for catching up on learning that they have missed
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">The brain is geared to manipulate 4 to 6 bits of information at a time, so reduce (or chunk) information into down into key words to facilitate learning
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Encourage students to use techniques that work best for them, eg. note cards, mnemonics, colours, mind maps, white boarding, roll playing, music
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt;">What we know about the brain, memory and understanding **


 * //<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">The adolescent brain is all tuned up for emotions but not so well tuned for planning, controlling impulses and forward thinking. It is not enough to say ‘get organised’. We must show them how. //**
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">We remember more from the beginning and end of an experience SO study with breaks – to get as many firsts and lasts into your learning
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Unusual, dramatic or exaggerated things are more likely to be remembered
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">We remember anything that has a strong emotion attached to it
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Imagination and association play an important role in memory
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Memory is enhanced when we are relaxed
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Information is best remembered when it is chunked into small pieces
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Taking frequent breaks during study enhances memory
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">We are more likely to remember something if we are in the same state as when we first encountered it
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Something is more likely to be remembered if it is regularly reviewed
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Make notes rather than take notes – it focuses understanding and helps long term memory…Focus on key words
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Mnemonics, colour, stories, visuals, associations, and sound can significantly enhance memory
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Use repetition – Repeat, Revise, Rehearse
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Memory is an integral component of learning
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">There are 4 stages in the memory process
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Taking info in
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Retaining info long enough to remember it
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Encoding info
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Recall
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Memory thrives on organization
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">We remember, over a period of 3 days…
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">20% of what we read
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">30% of what we see
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">40% of what we hear
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">50% of what we say
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">60% of what we do
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">90% of what we see hear say and do
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">The brain can do many things at once. It can take in a range of different stimuli from many different sources. It is a parallel processor, using left and right sides of the brain at the same time
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">The key to successful learning is to develop learning activities which utilise the whole brain – combining activities from the preferred side with those that need developing from the other
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Use all senses to encode information
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">The brain processes parts and wholes at the same time. It likes to be aware of the big picture while focusing on the small steps required to get there
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">The brain automatically searches for what it knows, but at the same time will be searching for things that are new
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Emotions are really important. Students won’t learn much if they are stressed, angry, upset or tired. Their brain will learn best when they are feeling happy and enthusiastic
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Learning involves conscious and unconscious processing. The brain needs ‘down time’ to sort through and make sense of what has been revised
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">The average concentration time is 20 minutes
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Thirst and hunger affect learning. The brain is made mostly of water – uses 25% of oxygen…needs sleep
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">The brain makes sense of information by making patterns and links between things
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">The brain will take on new information better in the morning
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Music can affect brain waves. Certain types of music are especially good for creating a state of alertness. The most effective is that which has 60-80 beats per minutes, which is very much like the beating of a human heart at rest
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">The brain will take in information from all around, even if a person is not concentrating
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">The brain needs to know why you’re asking it to remember things
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">The brain is made up of 3 parts
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Reptilian Brain – likes ritual and habit – so study at set times, study in the same place, set goals, keep to a study plan
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Limbic Brain –controls state and attitude – give learning a positive emotional basis
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Neo-cortex Brain – Thinks – use it or lose it. The brain literally expands through use
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">The brain is not designed to remember large amounts of content. Information, even when it is understood will quickly be forgotten. Up to 40% is forgotten within 10 minutes. Up to 80% is forgotten within 24 hours. Review should occur 10 minutes after the learning experience, 24 hours later, one week later, one month later and finally 3 months later
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">The brain is designed to forget…Emotions are the key to engaging and remembering

**<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt;">So what does this mean in practice? **
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Last 10 minutes (Recency effect) and first 10 minutes (Primacy effect) of the lesson are prime learning time **

<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Optimum state for learning is ‘relaxed-alert’ – this is where the brain slows down and operates within the alpha wave band of 8-12 cycles per seconds. This can be achieved with a relaxation technique //<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">“Imagine you have a balloon in your tummy – blow it up” // <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">The brain is designed to cycle between acquiring new information and processing it, and this must be reflected in the way lessons are organised <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">For example – ask students to write out key words in a different colour – by pausing to change pens conscious attention is paid to important info, this also engages both sides of the brain…number lists and colour them…draw a picture and label it  <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">When the activities that will cement understanding are neglected, lessons are reduced to little more than transfer of information. **The majority of the lesson needs to be spent on tasks that allow learners to interrogate information in order to make sense of it** **<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">How can this be done? **  · <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Use multiple encoding strategies · <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Use left and right brain strategies · <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Mini test · <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Explicitly teach memory strategies · <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Modelling · <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Writing/doing with them · <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Modelling and making cue cards for/with them · <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Modelling noting for them · <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Mindmaps · <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Introduce mnemonics · <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Talk about the learning · <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Reduce the ideas – what is the most significant point in this chapter, the most important section of this diagram. Summarise this material in 150 words…then 100 words · <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Reduce learning to 5 key ideas on 5 cards. Ask class to place their cards on key points that match · <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Transform the info – **“Transfer the information and it will still be information. Transform it and there is every chance that it will become understanding”** · <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Teach it – this means the student needs to make sense of material and process it internally before communicating it, identify the core ideas, simplify it, explain something in their own words, summarise it   · <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Display the key words – much learning is subconscious **<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Note-making ** <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Making notes helps the student concentrate on what they are learning. They must make active notes or they will miss the vital step – making meaning for themselves. Notes also help link new knowledge to existing knowledge. The process of reduction helps identify the essential <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Ensure that note-making strategies are taught explicitly and modeled. Build time into lessons for refining notes. Build note reduction strategies into homework **<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Filling in the study planner ** · <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Set particular memory strategies for homework – cue cards, revision journal, make posters – make revision active not just reading through notes/textbook · <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Break down long term assignments · <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Discuss nutrition, sleep, water, rest · <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Start to overlearn key details early – this means practicing different questions · <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Ask students to write their own questions **<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Last 10 minutes - Review time – not the time for recording homework. ** **<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Good time to use music ** **<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">“Trying to learn without reviewing is like trying to fill the bath without putting the plug in” ** · <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Time to reflect on what has been learned · <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Time to cement learning and understanding · <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Time to make/create notes · <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Underline key words in notes taken <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Ask students the question **<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">“How will you remember this forever?” **
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">First 10 minutes – Have lots of starts to lessons **
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Make clear the key learning point
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Link the lesson to previous learning and future learning
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Provide an overview
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Describe the outcomes
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Visualise the outcomes
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Prime the students
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Stimulate curiosity
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Get them to ask questions
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Set the challenge
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Set individual targets
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">The middle **
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Remember the 20 minute concentration span. Teacher exposition should not go for too long – otherwise it takes time from giving the students opportunities to make sense and meaning out of new material
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Make sure the learning is multisensory – see, hear, visualise, feel, do
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Making sense of meaning – The important part of the middle! **
 * **<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Brain Breaks **<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"> – Learning must be punctuated by regular breaks
 * **<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Active Learning **<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"> – Understanding is active so students must grapple with, manipulate and think about the information
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Rewriting notes interferes with the visual recall of notes. Keep one good set of notes and a series of index cards
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Reduce info to a set of memory triggers – one key word or image
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Highlight Key words These are the ones which are most loaded with meaning and unlock your memory
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Use visuals, colour, arrows, draw a ring around info, use headings for emphasis
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Underline key words
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Don’t just read notes – test yourself
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Every night for homework must reduce notes to key ideas
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Use your own words, own visuals, layout, shorthand – make them personal
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Use columns – one for notes and the other for thoughts and questions
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Make use of space
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Turn notes into a flow chart, diagram etc
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Use subheadings