How your life in college can be easier

learnLearning to

Read, underline, make summaries, prepare mind mapsIf you read your textbook at least 7 times, you’ll be fine.

Read again and againIs it the answer? .

Read, underline, make summaries prepare mind mapsI you read your textbook at least 7 times, you’ll be fine.

Read again and again

Is it the answer? NO!

Overlearning

• When we read the same notes again and again, they become familiar

Illusion of competence

• As the material becomes familiar, we gain fluency• There is a feeling we already know the

material

• In fact, we don’t

Use focused mode during lectures

Review your notes later that day

Practice and test

Go for a walk or otherwise use the diffused mode

There is a better way

Focused mode

• Allows the mind to recognize familiar patterns

• Problems related to these patterns are easily solved

• Works in a sequencial way – step by step reasoning

Allow no distractionsKeep your mobile turned off. Do not sit next to your best friend

Try to follow the lecture. Take notes of the key points

Try to connect what’s being said to otherthings you already know

At the end of the lecture, write a brief summary of the main points covered

Focused mode

Revision allows the information to find a place in the large store of the long term memory

Start chunk formation

Review your notes later that day

Chunk formation

• Use focused attention• Understand the problem• Practice

New chunks will be placed in your hanger (long term memory)

Understand the problem

Top down learningUnderstanding the big picture

Chunk formation

However, simple understanding how a problem is solved does not necessarily create a chunk that can be used later

Close the book and try to solve the problem by yourself

The chunk (creation of neural patterns) will only be created by doing it yourself

Bottom up learningHow the chunk fits in the big picture

Practice

As the saying goes, Practice makes permanent

Interleave

But do not keep working on the same kind of problems for too long

Change type of problems or change subjects

Deliberate PracticeFocus on the most difficult part

Spaced repetitionReview frequently

Bottom up learningPractice .

We can also look at chunks as if they were a puzzle.

In the beginning, it is difficult to place the pieces.

We can also look at chunks as if they were a puzzle.

We then get some pieces together – they can be seen as a chunk.

The more chunks we have, the easiest it gets to place the next piece

We can also look at chunks as if they were a puzzle.Even if we did not know how the puzzle would look like, we start to see the big picture after having done some chunks.

If you think it is difficult to find the will to do the Practice…

Use a pomodoro

No, it is not for throwing at the teacher!

It is an “anti-procrastination” technique

• Find a place where you can be concentrated• Shut out all interruptions• Work for 25 minutes

Use flashcardsTest yourself

• Do it consistently for short periods of time• Recall will allow the information to be stored in the long term memory• Use manual or computarized flash cards• In any case, make your own – you are the only person to know what you need to learn!

Do it every day (ok, you can take Sunday off)

Eventually all the new concepts will be safely kept in the long term memory. New concepts will be easier to grasp, because you have now more chunks, more hangers to help connect thenew material.

Revisions

• Recall and think about the material in different places than the one where you first learned it

• It increases the neural connections

Go for a walk or otherwise use the diffused mode

There is a better way

Diffused mode

• Now it is time for your brain to work on the material at his own pace• You can take a nap, go for a walk, go

clean your room , and your brain will be working on the material

What we talked aboutDo you recall all the topics?

Diffused mode Chunks

Pomodoro

Deliberate practice

Spaced repetition

OverlearningIllusion of competency

Focused mode

Happy learning!.

Don’t forget your diffused time!

Credits• Content is based on the materials

covered in the course “Learning how to learn”, Dr. Barbara Oakley and Dr. Terrence Sejnowski• PowerPoint presentation

template:Presenter Media• Cliparts – Presenter Media and

Office.com• Photographs – my own

Thanks to:

• Nicole Charest, for a very helpful review and the idea of throwing tomatoes

• Cristian Artoni, for the link to the Pomodoro Timer