Tag: college

Posted on

Dual Coding for Learning new Language

By Will Godinez

The use of Dual Coding in essence is using imagery and labeling it with a word which in turn helps you remember the word or the image one sees for the first time, and it should turn into a long-term memory. But how can we use dual coding in our freshman year in college, well depending where you go you may end up taking a class of learning a new language for extracurricular, something fun you may have a trip in mind to go to and you want to learn the language before you head out to that specific country in case the locals or the signs don’t have the language you speak. Would be awful if you get stranded in a country without knowing the language, and what would you do if your phone dies google translate won’t be translating nothing if you can’t speak at least a broken version of the country’s native language. But how does this correlate with learning a language in class or even on your own time.  

Continue reading “Dual Coding for Learning new Language”
Posted on

Taking breaks while studying? Who knew studying could be this easy

By Kloe Norris

Introduction 

When people first get to college, most kids do not know how to study. Some kids come into college homeschooled, some did not go to a public school while others went to a school where they did not have to study for hard tests/exams. Incoming freshmen wanting to go to college are blindsided when it comes to how much studying really affects how well someone does in college. Coming to college has made me realize how much studying you have to do. Knowing how to study the right way is something that has helped tremendously while being in college. College is a scary thing but knowing how to study the right way and pass your classes will make college so much easier in the future. 

The Spacing Effect and how it works

Just hearing the word Spacing effect when it comes to studying may scare some students off and they will probably look past it like it is nothing, but it is very important. The Spacing Effect, when it comes to studying, is one of the earliest discoveries in human learning (1). It is proven that if a student spaces out their studying and processes what they are learning, they will remember and learn the information and memorize it better (1). For example, if you have a big exam coming up, it is better for you to take breaks throughout the time you are studying to help understand the information more. 

Continue reading “Taking breaks while studying? Who knew studying could be this easy”
Posted on

Study Like a Rockstar: Mastering Maintenance Rehearsal for Academic Success

By Ellory Wahlfeld

Are you cramming for exams? Do you drown in flashcards? There’s a science-backed lifeline that could change the way you hit the books. It’s called maintenance rehearsal, not your average study hack. It’s a brain-tuning, memory-maxing method that could turn your study woes into wins.

Continue reading “Study Like a Rockstar: Mastering Maintenance Rehearsal for Academic Success”
Posted on

SQUIRREL! (Understanding Selective Attention)

By Lydia Clark

Introduction

Have you ever sat down to do homework, study, or to focus on a topic and realized that it is difficult to ignore distractions around you? Have you ever wondered why it is so difficult to filter out distractions, even though you desire to be productive? At several points in a student’s academic career, most people often struggle with truly remaining focused while doing schoolwork and other important tasks. There can be many aspects of why a student cannot stay focused, especially if they are preoccupied with other events in their life. 

What is Selective Attention?

One main reason that students can become so easily distracted is that selective attention is an obstacle that every student faces. Selective Attention is the process of having an ability to focus on a particular subject in their direct environment for a specific amount of time. For a student to be truly productive with their work, they must put in effort with this process and actively ignore all other distractions around their working environment. For this process to be a success, a person must be selective in their own attention and realize what they must drown out in the background. For a lot of young people, it can be a challenging task to drown out distractions such as their phones or other technology that is not helpful to be used in the moment.  

Continue reading “SQUIRREL! (Understanding Selective Attention)”
Posted on

One at a Time: The Hidden Power of Singular Focus

By Gabrielle Penberthy

Running Away Balloon Meme | MULTITASKING: LISTENING TO MUSIC WHILE STUDYING; YOU; MULTITASKING: LISTENING TO MUSIC WHILE STUDYING; ME: YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO STUDY EFFICIENTLY; YOU | image tagged in memes,running away balloon | made w/ Imgflip meme maker

While studying, everyone has experienced the need to snap back others, listen to music, and browse Instagram. We laugh when we communicate with others, we groove to music, and we stay connected when we browse Instagram. We run the risk of drifting from our study goals when we engage in these activities while studying. It is all fun and games until we get a bad grade on that important test or the homework assignment that is half of the final grade. I understand how difficult it might be to resist temptation when your phone is so close. I find myself picking up my phone to put on music or snap others back. But when I do this, I find that I start singing along to the music, which diverts my attention from my studies. Why is this a task so hard to complete? Divided attention, or multitasking, is the term used to describe this. When this occurs, I typically end up with a low grade or find it difficult to respond to an important quiz question. This causes an excessive amount of worry and self-doubt.  

Continue reading “One at a Time: The Hidden Power of Singular Focus”
Posted on

Studying is a Waste of Time: There’s a Better Way to Get the Grade You Want

By Brody Forsythe

The transformation of becoming a college freshman from a high school senior is a different transition for everyone. Depending on the individual’s experience, goals and interests, it can either be a seamless transition or one with many holes and lots of exposed seams. When it comes to academics, it can be an extremely difficult transition if one is trying to incorporate old study habits that were previously effective in high school. There are numerous students out there that will tell you about their humbling experience with their very first college exam, and I can include myself in that category. I can remember studying for my first chemistry exam thinking about how easy it was going to be to get an “A” on it, and when it came down to taking the test, not a single concept could be retrieved from my mind to help me pass the test. All I could remember was how confident I felt looking over the notes I previously written down, and looking at the practice problems we did in class months prior to the exam and thinking, “Yeah, I’ve got this!”. I was just following my old high school studying procedure and little did I know my whole world about studying was in for a rude awakening.

Continue reading “Studying is a Waste of Time: There’s a Better Way to Get the Grade You Want”
Posted on

Unlock the Secret Clue: Narrative Rehearsal Hypothesis

By Makayla Behm

Starting College

Starting college is extremely hard. There are many things that you have to worry about but most importantly how to study and learn the information effectively. When starting out in college there are so many things that you have to worry about but learning how to rehearse the information you are getting should not be on one of your worry lists. 

Continue reading “Unlock the Secret Clue: Narrative Rehearsal Hypothesis”
Posted on

Survival of the Studious: How Adaptive Behaviors Can Improve Your Learning

By Daizjah Shannon

Active learning techniques like summarizing, note-taking, and quizzing help you engage with the material and remember it better. These techniques are adaptive because they help you retain important information for future use. Active learning techniques can be used in a variety of ways to help improve your learning and retention of information, such as.

Continue reading “Survival of the Studious: How Adaptive Behaviors Can Improve Your Learning”
Posted on

Interleaving: Improving Memory and Recall

By Hunter Hall

Learning and retaining information for many people within today’s school system is a struggle. Information can become skewed, easy to forget, mixed around and confused with other topics learned along with the information you’re trying to retain. There are many techniques or tips and tricks one can use to become more efficient in storing information in their mind and keeping it there. One of these techniques is interleaving. Interleaving is a technique used for retaining information at a higher rate in both short term and long term memory. The process of interleaving involves mixing around questions or terms from different topics while studying or learning new material. However, there is an argument against the effectiveness of interleaving. As Doug Rohrer, a professor of psychology at the University of South Florida, states in his article about interleaving, the argument is that some believe it can lead to an individual confusing certain information with one another (1). The example given was the words “illusion” and “allusion” (1). Despite this, research held on interleaving has shown that it does indeed improve recall. 

Buff Doge vs. Cheems Meme | Students Who Use The; Students Who Use The; Interleave Method; Block Method | image tagged in memes,buff doge vs cheems | made w/ Imgflip meme maker
Continue reading “Interleaving: Improving Memory and Recall”
Posted on

To Cram, or Not to Cram

By Jenna Kinney

Have you ever found yourself the night before a huge exam cramming in hours of studying when you could have started days ago? Or have you spread your studying out when preparing for a huge exam? I would guess that most people would agree with the first question even myself would agree with ending up in that situation before a huge exam. But which method is more effective to receive the greatest outcome from the exam that you are preparing for? First is to know these are both cognitive processes the first one being massed practice and the second one being distributed practice. Distributed practice is establishing a time to practice and engage with the material you are studying, and you do this over many different times not just once. Massed practice is when the material you are studying is done repeatedly within a short period of time, and is only done once (6). Now the big question is which one is better?

Continue reading “To Cram, or Not to Cram”