Studying may not be the most fun thing about school, but it doesn’t have to be the hardest thing about it either! Students of all levels can explore brain hacks for effective study sessions to reduce the stress of reviewing for exams, presentations, projects, and more. There are tried-and-tested learning hacks for better outcomes that parents can guide younger children with and that older students can easily practice on their own. Below, we discuss some of the best strategies for effective studying designed to help students perform better academically and enjoy the overall learning experience even more.
Neuroscience of Effective Learning
The neuroscience of effective learning has provided valuable insights into which strategies help students better retain information and which ones fall short. For instance, research has shown that certain widely used methods, such as reading and re-reading notes, are not particularly effective for long-term retention. Additionally, while cramming before an exam might lead to short-term success, the information is often quickly forgotten. This approach is especially problematic in educational systems like the Singapore MOE curriculum, where students are expected to retain knowledge over several years.
Understanding how the brain processes and stores information can guide us toward more effective learning techniques. Here are a few neuroscience-backed strategies that have been shown to improve learning outcomes.
Space Repetition
Spaced repetition is a top learning technique that involves spreading out study sessions over time rather than cramming all the material in a single session. This approach leverages the spacing effect, a phenomenon where information is more easily recalled if learning sessions are spaced out over longer periods. Revisiting material at increasing intervals helps consolidate memory and significantly enhances long-term retention.
When you first learn new information, it is initially stored in your short-term memory. Without reinforcement, this information is likely to fade quickly. By revisiting the material at strategically spaced intervals, you reinforce the neural pathways associated with the information. Each review session helps transfer the knowledge from short-term to long-term memory.
Distributed Practice
Students might feel pressured to study and understand material right away and in one sitting. Assure them that this isn’t the case, and it’s way better for them to come up with a schedule that has mandatory breaks in between study time. Learning overload is real and just causes fatigue at the end of the day—the complete opposite of what they’re trying to accomplish.
It’s recommended that students allot about two weeks for major study sessions. Across these two weeks, they can try studying for each class or subject for one to two hours (or less!) at a time with the necessary rest between. Experts in top brain-based study methods explain that this helps students remember material more effectively, and retrieve stored information more easily. Additionally, by keeping study sessions brief, students can better identify what parts of their lessons they have difficulty in. This lets them return to study areas that need more attention (2).
Self-explanation
Activities like reading, memorising, and note-taking are great for tackling material the first few times. However, these techniques don’t help students in terms of deepening their understanding. These are not considered the best strategies for effective studying, and instead, students should practice something called self-explanation.
Self-explanation starts with the same basics—reading, memorising, etc.—but takes things one step further by encouraging students to paraphrase lessons using their own words, give their own examples, and find connections between previous and current lessons. It’s almost like transforming a study session into storytelling. When students can talk about material in their own terms, it indicates that they are indeed understanding and appreciating material, and not just repeating it.
Dual coding
According to research on brain hacks for effective study sessions, dual coding can be helpful for students learning new content for the first time. The technique involves verbal or written material (like reading books or listening to recorded lessons) that are complemented by meaningful diagrams, charts, or concept maps. Both should work in unison to communicate an idea and the relationships between different ones. They give students two ways to recall information.
The keyword here is meaningful. Dual coding isn’t just about making up random drawings for the sake of adding images. It has to have a clear reason for being used. For instance, a timeline with arrows and creative markers is great for learning about history and dates, a Venn Diagram works for subjects that require critical thinking, while a flow chart or mind map could help with recalling science lessons in chemistry and biology.
Interleaving Practice
The best strategies for effective studying also talk about interleaving practice.
Interleaved practice involves mixing different topics or types of problems within a single study session, rather than focusing on just one subject or problem type at a time. This approach contrasts with the more traditional method of “blocked” practice, where a student would spend a prolonged period on a single topic before moving on to the next.
The primary benefit of interleaved practice is that it helps the brain to better distinguish between different concepts and apply them more flexibly. When topics are mixed together, the brain is forced to continuously retrieve and apply different pieces of information, which strengthens the learning process.
Now that you know a little more about the best strategies for effective studying parents can share with their children, you’re better equipped to mold them into successful learners in and out of the classroom.
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References
- Children have different learning styles, http://www.educationalneuroscience.org.uk/resources/neuromyth-or-neurofact/children-have-different-learning-styles/, Accessed February 20, 2024
- Six Effective Learning Strategies, https://www.torontomu.ca/content/dam/tedrogersschool/success/resources/TRSM-ASC_Tip-Sheet_Six-Effective-Learning-Strategies.pdf , Accessed February 20, 2024
- Dual Coding and Learning Styles, https://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2019/6/6-1 , Accessed February 20, 2024
- Learn How to Study Using Dual Coding, https://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2016/9/1-1 , Accessed February 20, 2024
- Interleaving, https://academicaffairs.arizona.edu/l2l-strategy-interleaving#:~:text=Interleaving%20is%20a%20process%20where,before%20moving%20to%20another%20topic, Accessed February 20, 2024
- How to use interleaved practice to study, https://schoolhabits.com/study-techniques-how-to-use-interleaved-practice-to-study/, Accessed February 20, 2024