LEARNING - HOW AND WHEN?

`Learning is an achievement, when done by self it becomes an achievement.  Teachers, students and parents wonder about  learning.  The frequent questions asked are

• Is it achievable? 
• How is it achievable?
• Why is it difficult?

  

Learning is not a process to build talent.  Each and every one of us learn some things fast while others slow.  Some have the ability to read and remember words while others have ability to remember incidents better than words.  Some have more practical approach to learning. It is now understood better than ever that individual tastes differ when it comes to learning.  It is scientifically also understood that when learnt concepts’ move back and forth between working memory and long-term storage, the more is the ability to recall and, builds more divergent thought process. 

How can one throw their learning towards this swing to achieve long term learning?

Considering a typical slow learner of a class, it is astonishing sometimes that the learner, who is considered ‘slow’, surprises us now and then with their fast understanding.  It is observed that they learn certain aspects faster than others.  The label ‘slow learner’ does not indicate that they ‘do not learn’.  The very fact learning happens slowly can also be the fault of the instructor or the context of learning. Some other varied reasons that affect learning can be – interest, time, teaching or the abstractness of the curriculum.  Learner’s learning variation is not a constant with time.  The multi-fold variation in the learning curves as studied in researches validate the same.  

Then, what should be the strategy for a long-term learning?

Learning researches may have produced astonishing results.  The learning cycle to remember however follows a simple cyclic process.

Before looking into the details of the cycle we need to reflect on a basic query of 

‘why do we need learning?’

‘Learning is to remember’.  Facts without meaning are difficult to remember.  However, teaching students’ connection of facts may not be possible within set classroom scenarios.  Today, though many other possibilities to look into application of knowledge is available.  Learning happens only when the learner applies and analysis the learnt as required. Spaced learning is an emerging method for learning and remembering.

The site given below provides a step by step approach to remember forever also gives a graphical scenario on spaced learning – www.ncase.me/remember

This website also shows a progressive building of memory with the time required to recall and remember. The use of ‘flash cards’ to recall and recollect is also emphasized here.   The graph clearly shows small gaps between recall for a long-term learning.

Another research work on the spaced time approach which combines various strategies to remember is the ‘ANSWER’ method to recall and remember.  The video gives a clear explanation of the same:

Thus, the key to learning looks as simple as the given points to follow

1. Space learning
2. Maintain key notes
3. Build connections
4. Explain connections to oneself
5. Recall

Though the methods have been proven through long research studies, it is individual’s pace of learning which enable them to work out a schedule and a plan to learn.  The major difference between remembering and forgetting being ‘practice’.  It is the simplest of the terms which make the most difficult to practice. After all, ‘the process of learning is also the process which of habit forming. ‘