YOU AND YOUR BRAIN

YOUR BRAIN

• Two types of memory:

• Short term (limited)

• Long term (virtually unlimited)

• We can move things from short -> long term memory by various means

• Long term memory is DURABLE because the connections are physical. Every time you learn your brain changes

GROWTH MINDSET

We manage to grow our brain all the time!

SOME MYTHS ABOUT YOUR BRAIN• Learning in a particular

“learning style” has no evidence of success (eg. VAK)

• Reading something over and over again won’t help you learn it – highlighting and underlining included

• “Cramming” has very short term benefits

• You have very little ability to judge how well you know something without testing yourself

INTERESTING BRAIN FACTS

• Learning is more effective when it takes effort – easy learning is like writing in the sand

• We are bad judges of when we are learning well – we tend to choose easier learning

• Re-reading things is not a good way to learn – it is far better to test and quiz yourself.

• We learn best when we try to apply learned knowledge to a new issue or problem even if it feels like we are not learning as well

If a goalkeeper keeps practising the same save over and over they will improve, but only in the short term. It would be better to practise different saves – but this feels less effective.

THE IMPORTANCE OF LONG TERM MEMORY• LT memory is a bank of

knowledge to help you do more complex things – the more history you know – the easier it is to learn more

• Memory is like stocking up a construction site to build a house

• Application of memory is also important – the skills to build the house!

REVIEW 1Write down 6 key things from the first section

we have just explored

TOP TIPS

TOP TIPS FOR LEARNING: TESTING• TESTING HELPS YOU LEARN –

flashcards are a great example

• Testing interrupts forgetting and strengthens the brain-links.

• Don’t check answers until the end

• Mix up your cards so you cover different topics & prioritise your cards

• Keep repeating!!

In a test to identify birds. Those who mixed up learning different types showed the best retention over time

TOP TIPS FOR LEARNING: TESTING• If you don’t test yourself

you tend to OVERESTIMATE how well you are doing

• You don’t know what you don’t know!

• All the time the forgetting curve continues

• If you don’t repeat the testing the links are not strengthened

THE LEITNER BOX

• Split your cards

• Those you get wrong a lot (practise frequently)

• Those you get wrong sometimes (practise half as often)

• Those you general get right (practise half as often again)

Card

s yo

u ge

t wro

ng

TOP TIPS FOR LEARNING: RE-WORKING TEXT• Defining key

terms/events/people is a good way to learn- Makes your brain consider the meaning

• Convert the points of something you read into questions to answer later

• Write things in your own words & make links to other things you know

• MORE EFFORT = BETTER LEARNING

TOP TIPS: PRACTICE LIKE YOU PLAY• Add desirable difficulty to

your learning - the harder you have to work to make sense of things the better

• Forcing yourself to pick up old knowledge more effective

• Writing a short essay about a topic even more so

• Practising exam question more so again as it needs you to put things in a different structure and context

NYPD trained officers to disarm criminals by striking the wrist

and seizing the gun. They would then hand the gun back and practice again and again.

They changed training procedures after one officer

disarmed a criminal then handed the gun back to him as a reflex action. PRACTICE LIKE YOU

PLAY – DO EXAM QUESTIONS!

TOP TIPS: DON’T DELUDE YOURSELF • We tend to trust ourselves

over the research evidence

• If we know someone old who smokes – we are more likely to think smoking is OK even though evidence says it will shorten life

• You need to know the limits of your knowledge & trust the data. If you are scoring badly you need to change something in how you are learning

REVIEW 2Write down 6 further things you have learned

about memory

HOW LEARNING

WORKSMore Advanced Bits for the

Curious

HOW LEARNING WORKS

• Encoding – sensory data turned into sketchy memories like brief notes – quickly forgotten

• Consolidation – memory traces are made stable

• Memory becomes stronger the more it is retrieved from LT memory, re-processed and re-written

Sensory Memory

Short Term Memory

Long Term Memory

Forgetting

Forgetting

Forgetting

Consolidation

Encoding

Retr

ieval

RETRIEVAL IN LEARNING

• To last in LT memory:

• We must keep recoding material

• We must have a set of CUES to help us retrieve things

• Cues for retrieval are linked to revisiting material

• With exams you need to have cues which spark thoughts eg. “are you surprised…” questions or “Galen” sparking memories

• You have to make it important – if you don’t care – it won’t go in! Learning a new way to do something

needs practice – this creates cues – you remember bits of a sequence – see

tie video

RETRIEVAL IN LEARNING

• Getting CUES sorted is key

• Most of our LT memory is only accessible through cues

• When riding a bike you learn the cues that you are falling left or right and what to do

• You also learn cues for stopping (an approaching crowd) and react

Things go wrong if the cues get the wrong information. Eg. If your bike had a pedal brake

not a hand brake

TOP TIPS: DEEPENING LEARNING• Three key ways to deepen

learning:

• Retrieval – recalling information (flashcards etc)

• Elaboration – connecting new knowledge to existing knowledge

• Generation – creating new forms using knowledge eg. Rephrasing, considering alternatives, writing a response to an essay question

• Writing in your own words is SIGNIFICANTLY better than copying

TOP TIPS: GETTING IT WRONG• Exploring an issue is a

good way of learning

• You are better to get it wrong and be corrected than to get it always right – you have to think more

• HOWEVER – you must seek the corrections too

• Need to overcome the fear of failure – remember the GROWTH MINDSET

REVIEW 3Write down 6 key things from the last 2 sections

(without looking) and 6 new things you have

learnt