• Read a textbook or article about the information presented in class
• Study visuals connected to the vocabulary words mentioned in class
• Mindmap the “disjointed” content that was learned so that you can connect the concepts and labels for better understanding
• Create webs of vocabulary words to see the connections
• Google more information or vocabulary words about the content
• Create questions WHILE you are learning or reading about the content
• Reorganize your notes by adding visuals, color, and rephrased sentences – the more you place the learning in your own words (and making sure your understanding is correct), the stronger the memory will be.
• Elaborate on the topic by creating metaphors/similes, mnemonics, and nonlinguistics (pictures or symbols). Also make sure you can explain it to someone else, rephrase in your own words, and explain how it connects to other known topics and yourself.
• Create a big picture, visual summary and keep adding to it. This powerful visual will stay in your memory as you connect new knowledge and understanding to it.

• After going over notes or while reading about the content, STOP and ask yourself questions or write them in the margin of books/notes. Research these questions or ask the teacher for clarification. Be able to recall the answers without looking in notes/texts the answers. Some questions to ask:

What are the key ideas? Main ideas?

What terms or ideas are new to me?

How would I define these words?

How do these ideas relate or connect with what I already know?

• Create a test that forces you to think about what you learned. Write or verbalize aloud the answers. Go back to notes or books to determine if you are correct. You could create an on-going test after every 2 days of class. Great way to study (see points on Spaced Practice).
• This quizzing helps you to see areas of strength and growth opportunities. After identifying them, spend most of your time learning the growth opportunity content better.
• WEIRD: the harder it is for you to recall new learning from memory, the stronger the memory can be. Making errors on your self-quizzes will not set you back so long as you check your answers and correct misunderstandings.
• Log vocabulary words that you learn. Your background knowledge is made up of vocabulary, labels, terms, concepts, and generalizations.
  LeAnn suggests the Learning Frame Method (3 x 5 card folded in half; one half has word and picture. The other half has bullet points of information about that word (description, examples, facts, synonyms, etc.)On the back of the 3 x 5 card, create a meaningful sentence with the word in it and make it about YOU! Relevance and emotion help you remember content).FYI – If you are still not convinced to self-quiz OFTEN, there was research performed at a middle school in Columbia, IL. The students who self-quizzed often averaged an A-on their quizzes while those that just reviewed often the content averaged C+.
  (McDaniel, Agarwal, Huelser, McDermott & Roediger (2011)Test-enhanced learning in a middle school science classroom: The effects of quiz frequency and placement.
  Journal of Educational Psychology, 103, 399-414).

• Self-quiz every other day (incorporate the new information but keep RETRIEVING the previous learning).
• Create flashcards and continue going over them. Make sure these flashcards FORCE you to retrieve the memory rather than just read over them. Also, ensure that you can EXPLAIN these words to someone else and use them in a meaningful sentence. (Create your own flashcards on Quizlet.com or ask your teachers to make a game out of it for the whole class on Kahoot.com)
• Interleave other types of concepts while studying. In other words, mix up your math problems that have different rules. This will force your brain to have to determine each time you solve a problem, which rule or pattern you will need to use in order to solve the problem. This practice called interleaving strengthens memory.
• Space out your self-quizzing so a little forgetting actually can happen. That way you are working harder to reconstruct your learning. More effort means stronger memory.

• Generation = This strategy is an attempt to answer a question or solve a problem before being shown the answer or solution. Try to solve a math problem that you have never solved before but it’s built upon other concepts that you have learned – you will be amazed at how well you remember that problem because you struggled with it. Great effort toward learning improves memory.
• The more you know about a topic before the formal instruction, the more you can build on those neural networks. Google the topics days or weeks before you actually learned it. Just learn a few facts or view quick video clips about the topic before you learn it in depth.
• Create questions that you have about the topic or the reading beforehand. Predict the answers beforehand too, and then confirm.

• Writing to Learn is powerful! Write about what you learned from your mistakes, from the experiment, from the project, from the lesson, etc. Use the new vocabulary words that you learned too! Research to strength of strategy:

Over 800 college students in several introductory psychology classes listened to lectures throughout the semester. After the lecture, the instructor asked them to write to learn, so they generated their written summaries of key ideas in their own words and created examples of what they learned too. For other key concepts presented, the teacher just summarized the learning for them and showed them via slide. Students were to copy the summary verbatim from the slide. I bet you know the results: Those who wrote their own summaries scored significantly higher (half a letter grade) on those concepts while the other concepts that were summarized FOR them by the professor were not remembered as well for the test. In the follow-up tests 2 months later, the benefits of writing to learn as a form of reflection proved to be worth the time!

Gingerich, Bugg, Doe, Rowland, Richards, Tomkins, & McDaniel, Active processing via write-to-learn assignments: Learning and retention benefits in introductory psychology, Teaching of Psychology, in press.

• What did I learn well today? What strategies did I use to learn it?
• What could have gone better? What didn’t I understand?
• What can I do on my own time to understand it better?
• What other knowledge or experiences does this information remind me of?
• What should I learn better or research more for better understanding?

• Read about the topic before a lecture.
• Anticipated test questions and answers while taking notes or while reading about it.
• Asked self questions at certain “down-time” points within the class (summarized learning right after learning a chunk or module).
• Reviewed study guides and highlighted terms and phrases that didn’t make sense; relearned this information after getting answers to misunderstandings.
• Copied bolded terms and their definitions (yet taking the time to rephrase the definitions into own words) into a notebook or on notecards (Learning Frames).
• Took practice tests that are online or provided by the instructor. Then learned what was not known.
• Reorganized the course information into a study guide created by the student (using color and visuals to reinforce the concepts).
• Rewrote information that is confusing and placed that content in key areas around the living environment (refrigerator, door, mirror, etc.).
• Spaced out practicing or studying of class notes: every other night or every 3 days, etc.

• Few Diversions. Turn off the TV and phone ringer (go as far to place your phone in another room while you are studying). Send loud siblings to another room. Research suggests that with each additional distraction working memory tenacity is reduced, potentially hindering processing ability and retention of new information.
• Focus. Studies show that background audio like Baroque, nature sounds, or smooth jazz can improve cognition and mask other distractions. Set your
  mind to focus on a particular goal for this study session for a certain amount of time. Do not take a break until the goal is achieved. See if you can beat the clock.
• Brighter light. By keeping the study area bright, a child’s mood, alertness, and vision are enhanced. Bright lights decrease the amount of melatonin— chemical that induces sleep—available to the brain.
• Fuel. The brain uses glucose and oxygen to think, learn, and memorize. Fruits are an ideal way to provide glucose to the brain. Some other brain power foods are vegetables, nuts, and water.
• Working materials. Have pencils, highlighters, a ruler, scissors, erasers, a dictionary, computer with powerful, research-based websites about the content being studied, and a comfortable chair readily available.
• Breaks. Because the brain can stay focused for only so long, be sure to build in the break time appropriate. Break time allows the brain to recycle proteins and chemicals needed for learning. You can allot approximately one minute of focus per year of age: A ten-year-old might be able to focus for eight to ten minutes before needing a break. Breaks should be about three to five minutes in length and should get the child out of the chair, moving, and drinking water.
• A realistic schedule. To accomplish all tasks and activities, set goals. A goal is a powerful motivator for the brain. Here is a sample schedule: 4-5 p.m.—soccer practice 5-6 p.m.—free play, supper, chores 6-7:00 p.m.—math homework 7:00-7:10 p.m.—phone break (check texts) 7:10-8 p.m.—write argumentative piece

8:00 – 8:05 p.m. – quick snack break
8:05 – 9:00 p.m.—read Science book chapter 3