In this article we are going to talk about the Which is the best learning strategy? All the creations in the world are unique. The way any two people responds to the same situation can be contrasting as night and day too. It is therefore not so shocking that the way people can effectively learn is also different. Based on a popular theory there are seven different learning styles that a person can adopt: Visual learners, Kinesthetic i.e., learning through touch, Aural which includes learning through sound and music, Social learners, Solitary learners, Verbal learners and finally Logical learners.
10 Best Learning Strategies
Finding the type of learner, you are makes choosing learning strategies a lot easier. This article will help you to develop best strategy for a happy learning experience.
1. Be your own dream teacher
As students we could have come across many teachers whose enthusiasm, teaching techniques that we absolutely loved and worked for us. The best technique for learning is being a teacher to yourself. Pretend as though that you are the person who is sharing knowledge to others. This learning strategy not only makes the learner go through in depth on a topic but also thorough with what he is learning. The person becomes the student as well as the tutor. Every individual has different perceptions of what an ideal teacher should be. They could try to mimic that when studying any concepts. Talking aloud holding the folded text and looking at the imaginary class of your students or maybe your pet or even the wall really does give a person a level of responsibility to learn authentically. Once you have learned through this method you would never forget because you have learned the concept as a teacher first and then applied it to yourself as a student. This strategy is especially for all the solitary learners.
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2. Learn why you should learn it first
You can read any number of text books and reference materials but still not get an idea of what the topic is actually about. By learning ‘why’ you learn it, the student can comprehend the subject matter way better. A tip to practice this method is by reading through the contents of the chapter to study. Try to find out how each of those sub topics can influence you or your environment. Write down the key benefits one can get by learning that particular chapter. This will encourage you to probe more on the topic. The greater the benefits you can identify the more motivated you will be to study further. When you study with interest you never forget the concepts. This small exercise can create a liking for subjects that you once loathed. For example, Knowing the significance of learning differentiation such as its use in finding the minimum or maximum values of any function can create an interest for the same.
3. Timing is everything
The best time of the day to study is a controversial topic. The early hours of morning with fresh wind blowing to your study table through the open windows gives enough energy to focus and retain more of what is being learnt. But another person can give a counter argument that at night when the rest of the world is asleep there is much more tranquility and that they could have better concentration. The debate between the early birds and night owls is still an ongoing one. The fact is that there is no universal perfect time for learning. Every individual has specific time period during which they are most active, and this hardwired into their DNAs. Three hours of time spend in the morning by a night owl to study is as useless as three hours spend by an early bird in the night. The student must themselves identify which time period works best for them. Once you identify your most cognitively active period arrange the rest of your schedule accordingly, i.e., making sure you leave out time for home works, sleep and food. The important must have tool for following time strategy is a dairy, keeping track of time spend on each activity. The Time strategy of learning is efficient as it accelerates the learning process.
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4. Learning Partner
Do you find spending time alone with books boring? Chances are you are a social learner. Then this learning strategy is for you. Make a study group with your friends who are also keen on learning. Each of your friend in the study group should be given a topic to study in depth and they should teach it to the rest of you. This way everyone learns. To make this strategy effective a smaller study circle of 2 to 5 is the best. All the participants will also have a sense of accountability since they are tutoring the others. At least one among the group must strictly follow time schedules, conduct weekly tests and reviews etcetera. Through more lively discussions and friendly debates, the topic becomes clear and thorough. You guys can share the study materials, teach other and have a memorable study time together.
5. Diffused learning
Close your eyes, let your mind wander off with the difficult quant problem you have been struggling to finish. Most of often due to tiredness or stress of performing difficult questions our brain simply stops functioning. We then find it difficult to find answers to even the basic problems whose answers you could give any other day. Just as important it is to keep learning and stick by tight learning schedule it is equally important to give your brain a breather. Being relaxed makes you function and hence study 100 times more efficiently than before. When do you use this method? Well, the next time you are taking way more than average time on a problem or a particular concept practice diffused learning. Don’t worry about falling asleep, because your brain would subconsciously be solving the previous question. After about 5 minutes open your eyes. You will find that your brain is more alert than before and you could grasp the concept as well as decode the problem much easily.
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6. Color coded notes
Are you a visual learner? Do bright colors in textbooks attract you? Then this strategy is for you. Use a highlighter to mark the important points you have read. Prepare color coded notes, with each color showing the scale of importance the sentence has. It will be a fun and rewarding little exercise to learn. Using sticky notes with relevant topics written on it is also something that you can try. The best part of this learning strategy is that you learn once you note down the main points and many times more each time you revise the prepared notebooks. Using colorful flash cards are also helpful for learning to quickly retrieve information.
7. Reading right before sleep
It does not matter what time of the day you studied. At the end of the day right before you go to bed revise what you have learned by superficial reading of the points or even just the sub headings of each topic. Cursory reading is especially useful the night before an exam, after you have had a thorough read on the subject go back and read just the deadlines before sleep.
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8. Personal question bank
Answering questions can verify the level of understanding you have on each topic. After every class or reading session make as many possible questions you can from the topic. Then try answering them by writing it down in the same notebook. During the exam time you can use this notebook to study. It will be your personal Question Bank with solutions. While writing answers make sure that you write down everything in legible handwriting as the book is to be used again. The quality of answer matters. Therefore, always use supplementary texts and reference materials while reading on a topic. The better the quality of your answers the more useful it will be for revision.
9. VR live simulation / videos
Does Learning from a textbook bore you? Are you too lazy to prepare notes? Don’t worry, technology has got your back. With the advent of time all our day-to-day jobs and activities are becoming more easier, and one of them is learning. The internet has a plethora of tools and videos to create a fun learning environment for you. Be it a complicated math problem or taxing economics problems you can practice with real life examples and through simple videos to get an in depth understanding. VR simulations are especially useful to medical and engineering students.
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10. Reverse engineering
We all have heard the age-old story of how Isaac Newton discovered gravity. He was wondering why the apple from a tree was falling down, and not up. You might also know the tale of Archimedes suddenly enlightened about buoyancy later forming the Archimedes principles too. What does both of them have in common other than their brilliant knowledge? They both saw and knew the result and reworked backwards to find out why it happened. The reverse engineering strategy to learn promotes just that. Take out the portion you have to study, google for all the possible real-life examples you can find on the topic and then reverse engineer to find why it works like that. This method makes theory learning more fun to students. Many of us have used WIFI before. Have you ever wondered how does two independent devices connect with each other through thin air? What moves across these devices? What type of signal is it? its properties etc. Studying by analyzing the real-life application by reverse engineering process makes you remember even the toughest concept for a really long time.