How to learn?

Do we judge people who drowned even though they couldn’t swim? Definitely not. Why do people judge students who have poor marks at school then? Why do teachers expect good results from their students even though they cannot learn? Why don’t teachers teach how to learn? The answer is simple. Nobody has taught teachers how they should teach about learning. This is a tough issue associated with curriculum and it is not the time and place to discuss it, however, I would like to describe a couple of learning methods which have been checked by many scientists. These methods come frome a great polish book by Radek Kotarski “Włam się do mózgu”.

A curious child

Yes, we should learn like children. Ask more and more until we get an answer. Use words like “why” and “how” then find it out. Connect new information with your knowledge then everything will be clear.

A king of boxing

For example, if we learn English grammar, we use a grammar book which is divided into different chapters. We do the first chapter then the second etc. Scientists have proved this is a wrong way. We have better results if we mix chapters. One day we can present simple and past continuous then we can do present perfect and future simple. Why does it work? Because we force our brains to think. We need time to wonder which rules we ought to use. Our brains should be tired. Why is it called “A king of boxing”? Muhammad Ali used that method during training. He had been mixing exercises because he felt it was working.

An Apprentice’s method

Change a theory to practice. If you learn kinds of trees, go to the forest and find them. If you learn how to drive, take a car and try it. If you learn new vocabulary, use new words in speech.

Crash test

Check yourself by simple tests. Mind effort is our friend. Check your knowledge instead again and again read passively , and remember, the best test is a simple test. In practice, if you learn conditionals, have a seat and write down ten sentences in the first conditional, second conditional and third conditional. I am sure that gives you better results than reading again the same theory.

Flash cards

If you have paper flash cards, build a box with five drawers. All flash cards are in the first drawer. If your answer is correct, put a flash card to the second drawer, however, if your answer is incorrect, your flash card stays in the first drawer. In this method you have to answer five times correctly, as a result, you strengthen it better. On the other hand, we should remember about a break between next flash cards sessions. We cannot do it every day because we will only support our knowledge, consequently, in one week we will not remember new words. If we have some breaks between sessions, one, two or more days, our brains must work and bring new words out.

Dancer’s method

This method is associated with Marthy Graham. She sacrificed the whole life for female independence in dancing. She taught her students by splitting their schedule in time. Dissipating learning into many days helps forget some dancers’ methods, therefore, dancers eliminate illusion about their experiences. Obviously, dancers practiced different things between sessions.

Changing place

We should change our learning places, as a result, we make a new connection between our knowledge and a new place. For example, if you learn new vocabulary every week, one week you can do this in your room, next time you can go out to your balcony or to a cafe. Our brains create associations with new places or sounds. It is the reason why we connect some places with some experiences.

Masterwork

Make your own notes, don’t copy books. You can compare content to your own experiences, as a consequence, you create new associations. Use mind maps, colorful pens and pictures.

Teacher’s method

Learn everything as well as you can because you have to pass your knowledge on to someone. In this method, you turn into a teacher. If you have to teach someone, your attitude to learning changes. Describe everything what you know, teach as well as you would like to be taught. If you don’t have a person to talk, you can describe everything to yourself out loud.

Immersion method

Adjust your environment to learning, for example, a foreign language. Change the language in your devices, watch films and TV series in a new language (you may use subtitles but also in a new language), read books and even stick yellow cards for tagging things.

To sum up

Ten methods were described. In conclusion, we don’t have to use all of these methods. We don’t have to use any one. However, we can try them and check whether they work. Perhaps, we would stick to one method or more. Maybe we would mix some methods or simply we could pass them on to our children. They deserve to start at school and life in a better way.