Did you know that we don't learn when we read, we don't learn when we reread, we don't even learn when we highlight the main points or when they are highlighted for us.
We learn when we forget, and then (with difficulty) retrieve the necessary knowledge from our memory. Each time.
Psychologists have found that the easier it is to recall information, the worse it will be memorised.
Conversely, the more difficult it is to recall information, the better it will be deposited in the memory.
This can be compared to going to the gym: the harder it is to do an exercise, the more muscles are pumped up. And it’s also true that it's important not to overdo with difficulty.
So. How can we use it?
Don't avoid difficulties in learning, face them, spend some time on them and overcome them. You can do it, just take your time. It will pay off, cuz the knowledge gained in this way will create stronger connections in the brain, and it will be much easier to recall this information next time.
But remember that as with the gym the difficulty has to be positive, in other words, overcoming.
Here are some learning techniques that you can use to cause positive difficulties:
- Use Spaced Repetition in your learning: You can use Spaced Repetition apps for making digital cards or make physical cards yourself. If you decide to create cards yourself, you can follow these intervals — Learning — 1st repetition in 20 minutes — 2nd repetition in 1 day — 3rd repetition in 2 days — 4th repetition in 1 week — 5th repetition in 2 weeks — 6th repetition in 1 month. And remember, if you failed one of your cards, you need to move it to the previous box (though some specialists recommend moving it to the very first box).
- Try Interleaving. It’s a similar technique, the point of which is to switch between the topics (a) of the subject or between the subjects (b) themselves in the process of the learning. For example, (a) if you learn language, learn words for 20 minutes, then switch to reading for another 20 minutes, and after spend 20 more minutes on grammar exercises. Or (b) you can spend 30 minutes for learning maths, then 30 minutes to biology and finish this study session with 30 minutes of chemistries.
Most likely, you won’t feel that these positive difficulties are effective, and at first you won’t see much improvement, but in the long run they will be many times more effective than standard ways of learning. Such as *rereading* and *cramming*. By the way, there are already a lot of studies proving their absolute inefficiency in the long run study.
- Another technique is Testing. Research proves that the testing process itself can improve the memorisation of the information being tested, even if the student is unable to answer the test questions. The most effective type of testing is open-answer testing, where students need to give an answer in their own words. In second place in terms of effectiveness is a multiple-choice test. And the most ineffective was the test with the true-false answers.
- Also try a technique called Generation. All you need to do is try to solve the problem before getting a solution. For example, a quick test before a lesson on an upcoming topic will be an example of generation. Also, you can try to answer the questions at the end of the chapter before you start studying it. Or try to guess the translation of new foreign words before checking them in the dictionary.
These are the 4 main techniques with which you can use to create Positive Difficulties. Implement at least one of them and over time the quality of your knowledge will improve.
Try harder and you will definitely succeed!
We learn when we forget, and then (with difficulty) retrieve the necessary knowledge from our memory. Each time.
Psychologists have found that the easier it is to recall information, the worse it will be memorised.
Conversely, the more difficult it is to recall information, the better it will be deposited in the memory.
This can be compared to going to the gym: the harder it is to do an exercise, the more muscles are pumped up. And it’s also true that it's important not to overdo with difficulty.
So. How can we use it?
Don't avoid difficulties in learning, face them, spend some time on them and overcome them. You can do it, just take your time. It will pay off, cuz the knowledge gained in this way will create stronger connections in the brain, and it will be much easier to recall this information next time.
But remember that as with the gym the difficulty has to be positive, in other words, overcoming.
Here are some learning techniques that you can use to cause positive difficulties:
- Use Spaced Repetition in your learning: You can use Spaced Repetition apps for making digital cards or make physical cards yourself. If you decide to create cards yourself, you can follow these intervals — Learning — 1st repetition in 20 minutes — 2nd repetition in 1 day — 3rd repetition in 2 days — 4th repetition in 1 week — 5th repetition in 2 weeks — 6th repetition in 1 month. And remember, if you failed one of your cards, you need to move it to the previous box (though some specialists recommend moving it to the very first box).
- Try Interleaving. It’s a similar technique, the point of which is to switch between the topics (a) of the subject or between the subjects (b) themselves in the process of the learning. For example, (a) if you learn language, learn words for 20 minutes, then switch to reading for another 20 minutes, and after spend 20 more minutes on grammar exercises. Or (b) you can spend 30 minutes for learning maths, then 30 minutes to biology and finish this study session with 30 minutes of chemistries.
Most likely, you won’t feel that these positive difficulties are effective, and at first you won’t see much improvement, but in the long run they will be many times more effective than standard ways of learning. Such as *rereading* and *cramming*. By the way, there are already a lot of studies proving their absolute inefficiency in the long run study.
- Another technique is Testing. Research proves that the testing process itself can improve the memorisation of the information being tested, even if the student is unable to answer the test questions. The most effective type of testing is open-answer testing, where students need to give an answer in their own words. In second place in terms of effectiveness is a multiple-choice test. And the most ineffective was the test with the true-false answers.
- Also try a technique called Generation. All you need to do is try to solve the problem before getting a solution. For example, a quick test before a lesson on an upcoming topic will be an example of generation. Also, you can try to answer the questions at the end of the chapter before you start studying it. Or try to guess the translation of new foreign words before checking them in the dictionary.
These are the 4 main techniques with which you can use to create Positive Difficulties. Implement at least one of them and over time the quality of your knowledge will improve.
Try harder and you will definitely succeed!
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Sometimes building a new habit turns out to be not as easy as we would like. So there are a few tips that might help you.
1. Make it easier for you to perform a good habit, and harder to perform a bad one. To make it easier, reduce or better eliminate any outside irritants that may cause you to break the new habit. For example, if you spend all your free time on the Instagram instead of learning a language, place the language app icon in the most noticeable and fastest accessible place on your phone. And the Instagram icon put as far away as you can (or better, delete it at all).
2. Replace your “need” with “want”. This one gonna be a psychological trick. Do not say “I need to do something”, replace it with “I want to do something”. This will help you to change your negative attitude to the task.
3. Start small. Don't set yourself a very big goal right away, for example, to learn 50 new foreign words a day. It can be difficult to keep such a tempo, if you haven't done anything like this before. Failures can demotivate so that then there will be neither the wish nor the confidence to learn at least 10 new words a day. Start small and increase the workload gradually.
4. Set your “habit cheat days” ahead. It may not be easy to follow a new habit non-stop, so set yourself a few days off during the week. You can set as fixed days, for example Wednesday and Sunday, or just allow yourself to take a break from the habit of any 2 days a week. Knowing that, for example, tomorrow you can take a break from building your new habit, it will be easier to keep it up today.
5. Don't blame yourself if you fail one day at forming a habit. Admit this setback and try harder on the next time. Research shows that people who blame themselves for failure are much more likely to suffer it again in the future than those who accept it calmly.
Try all these tips and write in the comments which helped you the most. Good luck! 🙃
1. Make it easier for you to perform a good habit, and harder to perform a bad one. To make it easier, reduce or better eliminate any outside irritants that may cause you to break the new habit. For example, if you spend all your free time on the Instagram instead of learning a language, place the language app icon in the most noticeable and fastest accessible place on your phone. And the Instagram icon put as far away as you can (or better, delete it at all).
2. Replace your “need” with “want”. This one gonna be a psychological trick. Do not say “I need to do something”, replace it with “I want to do something”. This will help you to change your negative attitude to the task.
3. Start small. Don't set yourself a very big goal right away, for example, to learn 50 new foreign words a day. It can be difficult to keep such a tempo, if you haven't done anything like this before. Failures can demotivate so that then there will be neither the wish nor the confidence to learn at least 10 new words a day. Start small and increase the workload gradually.
4. Set your “habit cheat days” ahead. It may not be easy to follow a new habit non-stop, so set yourself a few days off during the week. You can set as fixed days, for example Wednesday and Sunday, or just allow yourself to take a break from the habit of any 2 days a week. Knowing that, for example, tomorrow you can take a break from building your new habit, it will be easier to keep it up today.
5. Don't blame yourself if you fail one day at forming a habit. Admit this setback and try harder on the next time. Research shows that people who blame themselves for failure are much more likely to suffer it again in the future than those who accept it calmly.
Try all these tips and write in the comments which helped you the most. Good luck! 🙃
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