Difficulties with textbook learning? Here are some tips to enhance your learning by writing
Key Tips Around Enhancing Learning Methods Through Writing
Eirini Petratou, Senior User Research Manager at BIC Cello
Pune (Voice News Service): Textbook learning is not easy. It is not easy for even the most dedicated and talented students to read, comprehend and retain information in such a manner. And for some students, it can be an unfathomable challenge. Many students associate school with attempting to separate important information from less-important information, trying to understand tables and diagrams that were sandwiched between text, keeping track of all the new vocabulary words, and doing their best to avoid boredom and waning attention spans.
Some students prefer to deep dive, understand the concept, and make condensed notes because they learn while ‘making’ them. Numerous studies show that kids who learn content through writing retain it longer, develop their critical thinking abilities, and become more nuanced readers and writers.The more writing done in a course, the more the student engages with the material in the course.
A study byProfessor Audrey van der Meerat the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, who examined the brain activity of adults and children alike, states that the brain seems to be more active when writing by hand than when typing on a keyboard. Writing creates more activity in the sensorimotor parts of the brain. A lot of senses are activated by pressing a pen on paper –seeing the written letters and hearing the sounds made on paper while writing. The activation of the senses creates contact between different parts of the brain and opens it up for learning – making it easier for people to gather and retain information.
Eirini Petratou, Senior User Research Manager at BIC Cello shares tips on how to enhance your learning through writing:
1. The art of notetaking and analysis: From an early age, peoples’ brains are inevitably trained to learn through writing and drawing, making it easier for the brain to retain information at a later stage in life through this manner. Writing helps thought flow and structure as well as improving grammar and vocabulary. With the steady rise of digitization, it’s important that we continue to keep our brains active through notetaking,rewriting information into our own words,using colors when taking notes to identify key points andtranslating charts and diagrams into words or creating explanations for them.
2. Creating mind-maps for summarization: Retention of information has become a challenge in today’s age. As students struggle to learn and retain information from across their syllabus, the ‘Mind Mapping’ method has become one of the most effective ways to overcome this challenge. The synergy of pen and paper leads to activating the brain’s photographic memory, which can allow for greater recall during pressure situations like examinations.Summarizing an extensive chapter into a single-page mind map can help students retain content better when revising during exams.
3. Enhancing your focus through physical stimulus: Sitting through a lecture where the teaches touches upon various topics, the first hand of information comes from listening. However, many students find it difficult to maintain focus during long lectures. Writing is a key medium through which students can focus more on the subject matter. Making notes to refer to later or even making graphs, diagrams, or charts to make the matter more comprehensive, students can apply a variety of methods to improve focus. Writing down as we listen creates a better recall value for the student and can even help in understanding the material better than through auditory learning. .
4. Trigger to cognitive development and critical thinking: The relationship between writing and cognitive development is well established. Writing directly impacts and positively influences various cognitive skills such as self-regulation, hand eye coordination and working memory activation. Furthermore, one can also enhance their critical thinking skills though writing as retaining and processing information in such a manner allow further development of critical and analytical thinking.
