I just finished reading the book, “How We Learn” by Benedict Carey.

This book has been on my radar for a while. Ever since I’ve become an online teacher of sorts, I’ve realized that my job isn’t only to share information. It’s also to make it EASY to learn that information.

As a teacher, I’m responsible for leading students towards a goal and helping them retain as much information as possible so that they can transform their life!

I had a few good takeaways from this book. I’ll share some of those below. To help myself (and you), I’ve also put together a few practical ways that you can apply these strategies to your own life.

If you wanna check out the book, I’ll link ya down below!

How We Learn: The Surprising Truth About When, Where, and Why It Happens

I’d love to hear what you thought of the book. Leave a comment down below.

My Major Takeaways

• Testing and quizzes cause anxiety in our current school system. Instead, they should be used to aid comprehension, not as an evaluation tool.
• You should take a test before you learn something to prime your brain. You’ll focus on the questions you got wrong as you learn the material.
• Don’t just passively read or look over information when you’re studying for an exam. This leads to informational fluidity. It leads you to believe you know more than you do.
• When you work harder to remember something, you strengthen the connection.
• Take out a blank sheet of paper and write down everything you remember. Helps to strengthen the connections and shows you what you don’t know.
• Studying with music and in different places can help memory.
• Cues prompt and unlock memories.
• Sleep helps with memory storage, both for physical motor skills and recall. Wake up later for better motor memory.
• Recall and testing over time will strengthen memory vs. all at once .
• Teaching something to someone helps you learn something.
• Mixing up helps you discern differences. Also helps motor coordination rather than just trying one thing over and over again.
• Airplane gauges -> what it means in a situation.

How to Apply These Techniques

There are a lot of techniques that are mentioned in the book. I think when I read psychology books, it’s very easy to get wrapped up in new discoveries or research. I have to remember to stay practical and think of how this information can apply to my own life.

When I’m trying to learn something new, I can do the following to aid with my overall learning speed.

1. Teach about the topic I’m learning to help learn it better.
2. Quiz myself throughout the process using a blank sheet of paper to see what I’m remembering and what I’m fuzzy on.
3. Quizzing myself over time to keep the memory relevant.
4. Setting up cues that I can use to help recall other memories.

There were tons more I learned from this book, so I’d go check it out!

How We Learn: The Surprising Truth About When, Where, and Why It Happens

I’ll probably be sharing more of my findings on my YouTube channel.