Think about all the classes you took in school: math, history, biology, or social studies. Now think of all the courses you took in school to learn better. Can you think of one?
We spend decades of our lives in school. After graduation, we spend a few more decades facing a constant barrage of learning challenges at work and in our personal lives. Yet only some of us were taught the most effective methods of learning new things.
Instead, we’ve been left to fend for ourselves. You find ways to keep up with classes by consuming caffeine and studying all night. You develop your style with coloured highlighters and index cards and rewrite your notes.
Sometimes this ad hoc method works. If the course is manageable, and if you are brilliant, you can succeed without questioning your learning methods. However, we all face a challenge that threatens to break us sooner or later. We are faced with a class that seems impossible. A new job in which we feel perpetually behind.
Faced with a more complex challenge, we often feel we have only two options: redo the methods that got us this far and try twice as hard, or give up and walk away, never sure we’ll succeed.
Why are effective learning strategies not well understood?
Listen to this article.
On reflection, it seems crazy that effective learning strategies are not widely taught. It’s not because they don’t exist. Research shows that there are many methods that we know work for learning, and they’re often not the ones students use:
Spacing out revisions works better than cramming.
Interspersing study materials is more effective than studying one unit at a time.
Remembering strengthens memory more than reviewing.
Self-explanations ensure better understanding and transfer of learning.
Conversely, student favourites are often less effective. Highlighting can be a risky strategy if you want to keep your job. Drawing mind maps is less effective than retrieval practice. Nightly study sessions reduce sleep and prevent memory consolidation.
Given the decades we spend studying in school, honing our skills at work, and learning new skills and hobbies, doesn’t it make sense to spend some time first understanding how learning works?
