Tip 1 - active study techniques

Tip 1 Review material using active study techniques The most common study tool used by students is to reread and highlight their class notes. Neither of these strategies guarantees the student will think about what the material means. Even worse, reading the text several times gives the ‘illusion of knowing’ as it seems increasingly familiar, but does not give it much sticking power in memory.

What should students do instead?

Whilst reading notes may provide a starting point for revisiting information, students should be encouraged to use active learning strategies that consolidate learning in long-term memory.

1. The Cornell Method of Notetaking Rather than passively re-reading or simply re-writing notes, you could write questions in the margin based on the material. You can also write a summary of key points at the bottom of the page. Summarising information into our own words helps us to understand it.

When you come to review a topic, look at the questions you have written, cover up your notes and try to answer them in your head/written down/out loud.

Having to engage in the effort of retrieving information from our brains strengthens connections between information.

Tip for parents – Ensure your child is covering up their notes and tests themselves using the key word of question. If you have time, could you test them?

2. Flashcards Writing your own study questions on flashcards is an excellent way of understanding the course content and also provides an invaluable way to test yourself!

They can be used in the format of a question, definition or problem on one side and the answer on the other.  

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Write a question on one side and the answer on the other.

Make sure you test yourself regularly using the cards. If you correctly recall an answer, pull the card from the stack and place it in a separate stack; if you do not recall it correctly, then place it at the back of the stack and practice until mastered.

Once mastered, revisit periodically, perhaps after a few days, then weekly.

You can buy card flashcards off Amazon or in any supermarket. If you prefer to store them on your phone use the Quizlet app.

Tip for parents – Ensure your child is actually testing themselves with the flashcards and not just flipping the card over to look at the answer! A great way to do this is to write down the answer first or have someone else test you!

Transform information using graphic organisers Because brains remember information that forms a meaningful pattern, visual organisers are extremely useful. Use a visual organiser to reshape content into a meaningful pattern on a 1-sided summary.

There are many types of visual organiser, which will depend on the subject you study and type of content.

Flow charts Flow charts are useful for remembering a series of steps or events. Make sure you practice writing out the steps from memory to help you remember it.

Mind maps Mind-maps are a useful way of getting information into and out of your brain. They enable you to reduce something (a topic or question) into key points.

Steps i. ii. iii. iv.

v.

Start in the centre of a blank page turned sideways. Why? Because starting in the centre gives your brain freedom to spread out in all directions Use images - Why? Because an image is worth a thousand words!

Use colours throughout. Why? Because colours are as exciting to your brain as are images.

Connect your main branches to the central image and connect your second- and third-level branches to the first and second levels, etc. Why? Because your brain works by association. It likes to link two (or three, or four) things together.

Try to use one/two key words per line. Why? because single key words stand out more and are easier to remember

Example

To check whether you have remembered what you have stored in long term memory, test yourself by trying to draw the mind map from memory.

Tip for parents – Make sure your child actually tests themselves using the mind map. All they need to do is recreate the mind map from memory on a blank sheet of paper a few days and then a week or so later or have someone else test them by asking them questions based on the content.

3. Concept maps A concept map is useful for showing relationships between ideas and are good for visualising processes and sequences.

Steps 1. They are drawn in a hierarchy, begin with the main idea at the top, and then branch out to show how the concept can be broken down into specific ideas.

2. The boxes represent the key ideas and the arrows represent the relationship between the key ideas. An explanation is always written on the arrow to show how the ideas are connected.

3. It is helpful to summarise the key ideas first and then create the concept map to show how they relate to each other.

Example

To check whether you have remembered what you have stored in long term memory, test yourself by trying to draw the concept map from memory.

Tip for parents – Make sure your child actually tests themselves using the concept map. All they need to do is recreate the mind map from memory on a blank sheet of paper a few days and then a week or so later or have someone else test them by asking them questions based on the content.

4. Mnemonics Mnemonics are useful for learning core concepts or facts such as lists or items, a sequence of events or steps in a process. They work by linking easyto-remember clues with the items you are trying to learn. The funnier and sillier the better! You use the first letter of the key words to create a word that you will remember. If you can remember the acronym, you have a good cue for each item.

Example In Geography, the tectonic plates that float on the earth’s mantle can be recorded as ANASPIE. You just need to remember the 7 letters to be able to access the information you wish to remember. Using a word is meaningful, and therefore easier to remember than a random set of letters would be.

Africa North America Antarctica South America Pacific Indo-Australia Eurasia

Tip for parents – Make sure your child can actually retrieve the information they need and not just the mnemonic! For example, it would be no use to just remember ANASPIE, they need to be able to access the tectonic plates! Could you help them by checking they still remember it over time?