10 Effective Learning Techniques Backed by Scientific Data
Can we remember everything we read? Or how much is left of anything we spend hours working on? If you have difficulty retaining what you learn, effective learning techniques will make your job easier.
The 10 most effective learning techniques are listed below. You can start experimenting with the technique that suits you best!
1) Self-Explaining New Information Technique
New information becomes more permanent when it is associated with existing information. By reasoning, the person explains to himself the area where the new knowledge will be used and makes the learning permanent. In addition, the person's ability to convey information and his ability to establish connections between events improves with this technique. The self-explanation technique can be used by anyone.
2) Detailed Interrogation Technique
When you question every new information you learn in detail, you will make connections between the information much more easily. A simple “why?” The question will lead you to the result and help you remember the stops on the way to the result. In this way, when you question every piece of information, you will also investigate its accuracy and meaning for you. This will increase your analytical thinking power and make you feel like you are constantly learning.
3) Technique of Highlighting Information (Underlining)
The underlining technique is among the learning techniques that almost everyone does while studying. So is it really that effective?
Research shows that the more emphasis there is in the text, the more information will not be processed. In fact, the technique mentioned here is the short and concise emphasis that will be the most important and memorable. As a matter of fact, this means: Highlighters should be used sparingly!
4) Summarizing Technique
Of course, it is very difficult to assimilate the entire subject you want to learn as a whole. But if you turn a topic from a large pile of information into meaningful short information, it is much more likely that what you learn will be permanent. So read, understand and summarize the important parts. The summaries you understand will now add to your knowledge.
5) Technique of Using Keywords as Reminders
If you want to make new information permanent, you should not forget to benefit from mental imagery. Information that you pair with another phrase in your mind to make it memorable will be more permanent for you. In this way, that keyword image allows you to recall information and makes it easier for you to learn.
Especially when learning a new language, you can determine a keyword by associating it with the effect the pronunciation of the word has on you. Thus, the word will become more permanent in your mind.
6) Learning Technique by Creating Mental Schemas
If you are one of those who prefer to follow along by reading while working, you are not far from this technique. Visualizing what you read and filtering it through your mind will now personalize it. This means that the information learned goes through a filter that only you can. Since the mental schema you create connects information with each other, the permanence of what you learn increases.
7) Re-reading Technique
It is a technique that is not economical at all in terms of time. However, if you have enough time for this learning technique, its efficiency is very high. You can obtain information in a more conceptually organized manner by re-reading your notes, article or textbook.
8) Measuring Knowledge, Practice Test Technique
If you test yourself immediately after the information you have learned, you increase the chance of permanence of the information. Because the information will not only remain at the data entry stage, but will turn into outputs. You can learn more effectively thanks to the interpretations and recall of information you make during this process.
9) Interval Training Technique I (According to Time and Materials)
Among the learning techniques, their efficiency varies. It is based on the principle that studies are carried out in different sessions with different materials. After intermittent learning sessions, summary information from the previous session is given to each session. In this way, learning is reinforced and information becomes permanent.
10) Interval Training Technique II (Depending on Application)
This learning technique is similar to the previous one. However, the intermittent training technique here is a practical method. In some subjects, knowledge alone is not enough and the ability to interpret and apply it is required. As a matter of fact, this technique aims to do just that. Intermittent practices are in the form of blocks and continue with increasing difficulty.
BONUS: The Effect of Sleep on Learning
All the information you transfer to memory immediately after learning is in its freshest form. But as time goes by, this information becomes dusty and it becomes increasingly difficult to remember. In fact, during this period, other information enters your mind and old information fades away one by one. This is exactly the part that is associated with sleep: the entry of other information into the mind…
Going to sleep while the information is still fresh after it enters the mind allows the learned content to be processed immediately without any intervention. In a study conducted in 2006 on memory, two different groups were studied. One group fell asleep immediately after the information was given (within 3 hours). The other group falls asleep 10 hours after receiving the information. According to the results of the research, the group that slept while the information was fresh remembered what they learned 16% more than the group that slept late!
It's not just limited to that. Regular and healthy sleep It increases the working performance of the human mind. In this way, your perception will be clear and your mind will be hungry for knowledge.