Prepare your brain for active learning in college
Professor Aidan Moran on the biggest challenges students face during their first year
GOING to college is a daunting experience because you’re confronted with many challenges for which you’ve had little or no formal training in school or at work.
For example, you have to learn how to study effectively, how to take good notes in lectures, and how to think critically about what you hear and read. But the biggest challenge you face is how to manage your own learning, a task that involves planning, conducting and evaluating your academic work — thinking for yourself.
To overcome this challenge, you have to become a driver (active learner) rather than a passenger. So, here are some ‘driving lessons’ in active learning.
1
Be curious: Ask questions before you read
‘Studying’ is not the same as reading — it’s reading with a purpose: to get specific answers to specific questions. Asking questions has two big benefits. Firstly, it forces you to think critically about what you’re reading because you have to distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information.
It’s relevant if it helps to answer your question but irrelevant otherwise. Secondly, questioning improves your concentration because it gives your mind a specific target to focus on.
Lesson: If you don’t have a question, you’re not studying.
2
Develop a learning routine: Study at the same time in the same place daily
Routines prepare your brain for active learning. So, try to study at the same time and in the same place every day. Study routines are valuable in two ways. Firstly, they train your mind to associate studying with a particular place and time. Secondly, they help you to overcome inertia. As the psychologist William James observed, it’s easier to act your way into a feeling than to feel your way into action!
Lesson: Start studying whether you’re in the mood or not.
3
Study regularly but briefly — don’t tax your concentration system
Study in blocks of time which don’t exceed your concentration span: say, three blocks of 50 minutes each followed by a fiveminute review period at the end. During this review, ask yourself: “What have I learned?” Summarising what you’ve learned in a few key points is a good test of how well you’ve understood what you’ve been reading.
Lesson: It pays to study regularly but briefly.
4
Keep your desk as tidy as possible — it’s less distracting that way
We all prefer to work in tidy rather than cluttered environments. Therefore, try to keep your desk as a workplace not as a storage place. Otherwise, you’ll end up distracting yourself.
Lesson: A neat environment will encourage you to return to your place of study, whereas an untidy mess will put you off studying.
5 Dump your highlighter pens! Use summary sheets instead
As you read your textbook or notes, make brief summaries on a sheet of paper of any information which seems relevant to your specific study questions. Avoid underlining and/or highlighting information in your books because these techniques don’t condense what you’re trying to learn. Also, as soon as you close your books, the underlined and highlighted text disappears.
Lesson: Summarising makes you distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information.
6 Reward yourself for study done — not for work avoided
If you find it difficult to get down to study, give yourself a reward (e.g. watching a favourite TV programme) for successful completion of a study session. Unfortunately, many students reward themselves for avoiding studying (“I’d like to study but I’ll take a break first”).
Lesson: Reward work done — not work avoided.
7
Study in silence — because you’ll be examined in silence
If you’re like most students, you often listen to music while you’re working. But that’s a bad idea because although studying with music in the background doesn’t affect what goes into your mind, it does affect what comes out of it. Research shows that people remember things best when they recreate the conditions under which the information was originally learned.
Lesson: It’s best to study in silent conditions because you’ll be examined in silence.
8
Ask your lecturers/ professors for help
The biggest mistake that new students make in college is to try to sort out their problems on their own. Every department or school appoints a lecturer or professor to look after first year students. If you have any academic or personal problems, ask that person for help.
Lesson: If you need help with your coursework, approach your lecturers/professors with questions during their office hours.