Learning Strategies

Toolkit

Study Like a Brain Scientist:

Tips and Tricks to Make Learning Stick!

ORGANIZATION TIP #1

• Get a Calendar—physical or electronic, make sure it shows the hours of the day. Write out

EVERYTHING—meals, sleep, piano practice, piano lessons, study time, athletic practice…

http://www.wincalendar.com/Printable-Schedule

ORGANIZATION TIP #2

• Make a To-Do list

• Prioritize your To-Do list:

• Unimportant

• Semi-Important,

• Important,

• Crucial!

ORGANIZATION TIP #3

Check calendar

(1) in the morning to preview the day

(2) after school, to keep on track with homework

(3) before bed to make sure you did everything you needed to and preview the next day.

ORGANIZATION TIP #4

If you put your calendar on your phone-customize your ringtones to alert you to chores, homework times, music practice,

bedtime, etc.

TO-DO LIST:

Science Project-Crucial!

Math Homework-Important

History Reading-Semi-

Important

Tennis Practice-Important

Unload Dishwasher-

Important

Clean Room-Semi-Important

Organization Example: Pizza cutter: JUMBO (Great for procrastinators!) Let’s say you have to read a book over the next two weeks for your English class. It has 8 chapters.

Use the Pizza Cutter method to make a plan for reading those chapters a slice at a time, rather than in one big cram session--or

not at all

Organization Example: Pizza cutter: COMBO Take an overwhelming list of tasks and cut it into individual slices. This makes it easier to see what to do when. It makes it

easier to get started.

MONDAY NIGHT TASKS:

READING STRATEGIES:

TIP #1 Sanity Check

After you’ve read a paragraph, stop and ask, “What did I just read?” If you can’t answer that question, don’t keep

reading! Go back and re-read. Once you seem to be tracking, do the Sanity check once per page.

TIP #2 Reading summaries

After reading a chapter in a novel, write a brief paragraph—just a few sentences—VERY brief—summarizing the key

points. If the chapter is super-long, maybe you’ll need a couple of paragraphs. Think of it as making your own Cliff

Notes for the book.

TIP #3 Plot lines

As you begin a chapter, write the chapter number or title in your notes. When something major happens in the plot

(significant action, new character or location appears) write it down. Use a 3-5 word fragment with arrows showing the

chronological order. Keep it BRIEF!

This works with non-fiction: History, science, math: look for boldface terms and key points. Put a ? in a circle at points

you don’t understand.

TIP #4 Enlarge the Margins

If you own the book, write in the margin with a colored pen. Use symbols or colors to mark key terms, ideas, quotes,

and facts.

If you don’t own the book, cut a square block of Post-It notes in half, and place them along the margin.

Use it to track the author’s reasoning:

First, yada yada yada

Second, yada yada yada

Note with a circled 1 and 2 in the margin

TIP #5 Keep highlighting to a minimum!

Highlight less than 10% of the page—any more than that is confusing!

Character’s names when they appear in a novel for the first time

Dates you should remember and what happened on the date

Key terms/Vocabulary

Quotes you want to remember

Themes as they develop, or quotes that support themes

Something you want to ask about—confusing

TIP #6 SQ3R (great for non-fiction like math, history, or science)

Survey—pre-read the chapter’s title, heading, and subheadings. Look at pictures, charts, graphs, maps and read the

captions underneath. Read the introduction and conclusion.

Question—If the chapter has sub-headings, try turning them into questions. Or if there are questions at the end of the

chapter pick out a few of them to try to answer as you read.

Read—Read the material, looking for answers to your questions and take notes to help you remember them. Read

carefully.

Recite—Summarize what you learned by saying it out loud (if possible) or jotting down what you remember (without

looking back at the book) on paper.

Review—Skim back over the chapter and read your notes. Summarize the information in a new way such as a concept

map, flowchart, or other graphic organizer.

Bottom line: Reading is an ACTIVITY so make sure you have something to show for it when you’re done.

MEMORABLE STUDY TRICKS WITH COLOR

COLOR TRICK #1 Rainbow notes

Create your own system using colored pens to color-code your notes. Keep a set of colored pens handy. New words in

red, look them up later. Outline major ideas in purple (or any color you like). Key dates in orange.

You should be able to scan your notes quickly and spot bold terms as they apply to themes or ideas.

COLOR TRICK #2 Entertaining Underlining

A form of highlighting that is color-coded with your own unique key. For instance, red means “I don’t understand this”,

yellow means “this is brilliant”, green means “critical point in story or critical information”.

COLOR TRICK #3 Tinted Tabs

Devise a system where colors represent certain categories and then mark the appropriate color as a check or scribble in

the top right corner of your notes. For example in your lab book mark blue in the corner of the pages that included

dissections, red in the corner of labs that included chemical equations, purple in the corner for notes you took to prepare

for labs.

COLOR TRICK #4 Doodling Diagrams

Doodle with a purpose. Flip to a blank sheet in your notebook and begin to organize what you learned in class into

some type of picture or cartoon. Exaggerate and try to illustrate the concepts and keep the words to a minimum.

COLOR TRICK #5 Constructive Construction Paper

Make some cards out of different bright colors of construction paper—about the size of a 3x5 card. Use different colors

for different subjects. Maybe you have 5 equations to memorize on a green card—tape them on your bedroom wall so

you’ll see them when you wake up and when you go to bed. Put the poem you need to memorize on a yellow card next

to the sink where you brush your teeth so you can look at it while you brush! Put a pink card with your list of Spanish

vocab words in the kitchen near the cookie jar. You get the idea…

MEMORABLE STUDY TRICKS WITH SOUND

SOUND TRICK #1 Foreign Translations

Grab a recorder and a pen and paper and write down a list of sentences you are trying to learn in French. These could

be as easy as “The flower is red.” It doesn’t have to be complicated when you are starting out. The point is for your

brain to hear how the flow of a real conversation sounds in that language, since that’s the ultimate goal of learning a

language—having a conversation!

Find a native French speaker or track down your French teacher—someone who will read the sentence aloud into the

recorder at a normal speed three times, pausing for a moment between each repetition. After she has repeated the

sentence 3 times, speak into the recorder and give the translation of what she said once. Do this for all the sentences

and thank your French speaker! Now put on your earbuds and play back the sentences, over and over. Next try to say

the sentences with the recording.

SOUND TRICK #2 The Price is Cheap

Grab your recorder (your smart phone can record, right?) and make your very own quiz show! Write a list of questions

and answers about whatever you want to study. Read a question into the recorder, “What is Newton’s 1st Law of

Motion?” Pause for 2 or 3 seconds, and give the right answer, “A body at rest stays at rest, a body moving at constant

velocity continues to do so unless acted on by an external force.” Your question list could come from notes you’ve

taken in class, flashcards, flappers, or fans you’ve made. You are just using another way of getting the information into

your head. You may have to hit pause after the question is asked, but you’ll be able to hear the correct answer after

you’ve given yours.

SOUND TRICK #3 Techno Troubadour

If you have to memorize a poem or speech, try recording it in the most enthusiastic way you can on your phone. You

can record it in manageable chunks, and gradually add more to a lengthy passage until the whole piece is memorized.

You can listen to it over and over, play a bit, repeat it yourself, play more, repeat…you get the idea. The key is making

sure you don’t record your monotone voice—make it enthusiastic!

Any of the sound tricks would be great for listening and practicing when you’re waiting around for something else. Don’t listen

while you sleep, however—your brain needs sleep to consolidate your learning from the previous day.

MEMORABLE STUDY TRICKS WITH MOVEMENT

MOVEMENT TRICK #1 Flash Cards

Flashcards are underestimated because they’re just simple index cards, but they are easy to use, inexpensive and very

portable. When you use them you are making a mini-quiz for yourself. You can make them for vocabulary, equations,

quotes (half on one side, half on the other), or put an actual quiz question on one side and the answer on the other. Just

be sure that you shuffle the deck. Keep adding to the deck in a particular subject and your final exams will be a piece of

cake!

MOVEMENT TRICK #2 Paper Flaps

These are related to the flash card. To make one, fold a piece of paper in half lengthwise, with the right half of the paper

falling short of touching the left by an inch or two. On the left-hand side of the fold write the prompt for an equation

you need to memorize, like Newton’s Second Law. Open the paper and on the right-hand side of the fold write the

equation F=ma. Fill both sides with information and give your brain game to play as you flip back and forth. Be sure to

leave enough space between each line so you don’t see the answer to the next question before you’ve asked it.

MOVEMENT TRICK #3 Memory Fan

Fold a paper back and forth multiple times as though you were going to make a fan. The tinier the folds, the more

statistics, definitions and events you can include. On the first flap write a question, word, or date you want to

memorize. Behind that flap, write the answer. Do this for all the flaps until the paper is full. You can use it forward or

backward. Similar to flash cards in some ways.

MOVEMENT TRICK #4 Twister!

Get a pack of colored index cards and pic two different colors for this game, such as green and orange. On all the green

cards write the word, date or date you are trying to learn. On all the orange cards, write the answer. Do this for at least

twenty-four different pieces of information and then spread them out on the floor randomly, but in four even rows. Put

your right foot on a random green card and look for its match, placing your left foot on it. Now place your right hand

on a random orange card and find its match with your left hand. Keep your hands on the ground while you repeat with

your feet.

MOVEMENT TRICK #5 Old Maid

Use the same set of cards as you made for Twister. Play with a friend and deal the card out. Make pairs by matching

definitions and words. You could also play Go Fish or Memory if you’re by yourself. Great for a group if your study

buddies bring their decks of cards, too.

MOVEMENT TRICK #6 Mad Actor

If there is a scene in a piece of literature you need to understand or a historic decision you want to remember, try acting

it out. You could turn this into Charades with a study group

MOVEMENT TRICK #7 LOCI Method

Walk around your kitchen and pick ten “locations” where you will store imaginary information. Example: if you had to

memorize the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Put denial in the microwave,

Anger in the fridge—picture the Incredible hulk picking up your refrigerator and throwing it through the window.

Anger!

In other words—exaggerate to make the memory vivid! Use the same ten locations in the kitchen every time you have a

list to memorize. If the list is longer, move to another room to pick up more locations.

Instead of a room, you can use your body from head to toe and think of the things you want to remember as though you

were putting on pieces of clothing.

What about Mnemonics?

Rhyme Liners puts the main idea at the end of a line and rhymes it with something so it’s easy to remember. (In 1492 Columbus

sailed the ocean blue.)

Learned Letters uses one letter to organize and remember a group of words.

(Roy G Biv to remember colors of rainbow.)

Memorable Melodies rewrites the lyrics to memorable songs so I can “sing” the answers.

MORE STUDY TOOLS

Venn Diagrams

Write the name for the two things you are comparing next to each of the circles below. Write words that describe how these two

things are different in the areas that do not overlap. Write words that describe how these things are similar in the area where the

circles overlap.

Concept Map

Write the main idea in the center bubble. Brainstorm related ideas in the connecting bubbles. Add details to the bubble

connected to each idea.

NIFTY NOTE-TAKING TECHNIQUES

The whole point of taking notes is to use them, and how you intend to use them determines how you should take

them.

TECHNIQUE #1 Outlining

I. Main idea of the lecture or paper.

A. This is a subject. It only needs to be a few words- it

just says that this is the topic the notes under it will be

covering.

1. This is a detail. This is the main part of the

note-taking- the actual information that is

presented.

a. This is a supporting detail. It is

additional information you want to

include to back up the detail.

B. Add more subjects as necessary, using the capital

letters of the alphabet.

1. Add as many details as needed under any

subject.

a. Add as many supporting details as

needed, or none at all if you don't need

more information.

b.

2.

a.

b.

TECHNIQUE #2 Cornell Notes

TECHNIQUE #3 Hash Mash from Study Harder, Study Less by Anne Crossman

Puts the title at the top and hash marks down the left-hand side with notes as I

hear them.

TECHNIQUE #4 Model Model

Take the notes you copied in class and try to build something three dimensional out of them using sponges or toothpicks as

examples of key points.

Best for Last:

TECCHNIQUE #5 The Endgame

Summarize the notes from each class each day onto an index card, and at the end of the week collate them all onto one card. At

the end of the quarter, distill everything onto one card, SAVING ALL THE OLD CARDS.

Topic of Lecture

**Information-sub topic

--detail

--detail

--detail

**More Information-sub topic

--detail

--detail

--detail

--detail

**Even more information!!!

--detail

--detail

--detail

SOURCES:

Brown, Peter C., Henry L. Roediger, and Mark A. McDaniel. Make It Stick: The Science of Successful

Learning. Cambridge, MA: Belknap of Harvard UP, 2014. Print.

Crossman, Anne, and Chris Kalb. Study Smart, Study Less: Earn Better Grades and Higher Test Scores,

Learn Study Habits That Get Fast Results, Discover Your Study Persona. Berkeley: Ten Speed, 2011. Print.

Dweck, Carol S. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. New York: Random House, 2006. Print.

Martin, Lesley Schwartz., and Samantha Moss. Make the Grade: Everything You Need to Study Better,

Stress Less, and Succeed in School. San Francisco, CA: Zest, 2013. Print.

Medina, John. Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School. Seattle,

WA: Pear, 2008. Print.

Shumsky, Ron, Susan M. Islascox, and Rob Bell. The Survival Guide for School Success: Use Your Brain's Built-in

Apps to Sharpen Attention, Battle Boredom, and Build Mental Muscle. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit, 2014. Print.