One of my favorite websites about learning and memorization is www.supermemo.com. This website is filled with useful articles and tools for improving knowledge and learning. This site also includes SuperMemo software which helps you memorize more content in less time using a concept called spaced repetition.
Although many tutors and teachers would agree that, straight memorization is not an effective method for learning, it can't be denied that in many subjects memorization plays an important role in building knowledge and understanding in any subject. Particularly in language learning, where large vocabularies need to be memorized in order to use the language, memorization is very important. Even in non-language subjects, the ability to memorize formulas, definitions, or dates and events is important for fully understanding a subject.
Today I want to discuss an article called Six Steps to Excellent Memory. You can find the full article here: http://www.supermemo.com/archive/2000/power1.htm
This article is for people interested in building knowledge that will stay in their memories and not be forgotten. The article lists these 6 steps for storing knowledge in your mind.
- Get hungry for knowledge - In order to remember information you need to be motivated to learn and remember it. To properly motivate someone to learn you need to link the content that they want to learn to something that they value highly. When a person sees the connection between gaining knowledge and accomplishing a goal or attaining their vision they will have the motivation to put in the effort to learn and learning will become easier.
- Find what you really need – This point states that there is more information available to learn in the world than you can ever possibly have the time to learn. For this reason you must carefully choose what to focus your learning on. As a tutor you likely have a limited amount of time to work with your students, so you must also carefull choose how you will spend your time learning. This decision should relate to the goals of the student and where the student needs the most help.
- Find sources of information – Wozniak lists the internet as an excellent source of information. But other sources such as TV, news magazines and libraries are also useful. The more sources of information you have at your disposal the more likely you will be able to find the information that you are seeking – multiple sources of information can also provide you with a variety of perspectives on different topics.
- Formulate your knowledge in such a way that you can repeat it actively – This point is very important. Wozniak makes two important points related to this step. First, you must repeat to remember. And second, repetition cannot be passive – it's not enough to simply read the content you must ask a question and be able to respond with the original content. This is called active recall. As a tutor this can be put into practice in the way you review with your students. Instead of repeating information, ask questions that encourage your students to recall the information and formulate a response. This will help them reinforce this information in their memory and speed up their recall time when taking tests.
- Repeat the material at proper time – this point relates to the concept of spaced repetition. What to repeat, when to repeat it and how often to repeat. The article suggests using supermemo, but you can also use spaced repetition without software. The chart below shows the forgetting curve and how often you should repeat content in order to add it to your long-term memory with the minimum amount of effort.
- Keep managing your knowledge – over time your knowledge requirements will change. In order to maximize the time you spend learning, you need to check regularly that you are spending your time on information that is important to you or your students goals.
If you want to try using spaced repetition to improve your memory or help your students there are a few free websites that offer software to help you:
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