This may be somewhat of a personal question, but I find it fascinating. There are various methods for studyng, or absorving & retaining new information. How about we share it?
And, as I am proposing the share of this kind of information, I will start with mine:
I, personally, believe that learning is an ACTIVE process, not a passive one. In other words, I think we only learn when we do something (going to a class is a passive action, all you do is listen and take notes. This does not makes you think). For example, I write little essays/thesis about the theme studied in the day, every day. This way, despite working during the day and studyng at night, I see good results in the learning proccess.
So, I ask...what are your methods? Care to share with us?
That's such important topic.
When I study, is because I want, if I have to study and I don't want, I prefer not doing it, because I won't learn nothing. So when I want, I read a page, and then I write what I understood on a paper, or the key words. As soon as I finish, I write a summary. That's how I study.
The Learning process is different for everyone .I agree with Doris the first prerequisite for active learning is curiosity. Then depending on your learning style,visual ,kenestic or auditory you will translate the information into either a picture ( mind-mapp),associate it with a pleasant memory ( rebuilding the construct using hands feet movement) or taping the information and playing back to oneself to learn . I have found that understanding how and where the information fits into my life is perhaps one of the greatest tools to remembering the information .
I think this book on learning and memory might be interesting for you:
Carey, Benedict. How We Learn: The Surprising Truth About When, Where and Why It Happens. Pan Macmillan, 2014.
The way you study depends upon the motive.
(1) Study as work
(2) Study as a hobby
I alternate between the two. I'll briefly explain.
Study as work is what mostly practiced by students of academia. They tend to learn motivated by the need to score for their exams. Hence the primary factor behind this situation is Parkinson's Law: "Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion". Hence the more load placed on the syllabus, the more an average student is said to learn (to some threshold, of course).
Study as a hobby may be a more steady and loosely confined activity. As noted by Dr. Elster, it is fueled by curiosity. What the person learns is highly dependent on his/her interests, determination and thirst for knowledge, and moreover -- its need. When learning about one topic, it would lead a connection to another, which in terms require learning of another activity. A sort of depth-first search triggered by a chain reaction.
Both of the above motives are required for effective learning. For instance, my research required me to use a high performance cluster remotely. I had to learn everything from scratch. The need for knowledge made me to study more practical networking than in my days as a undergrad student. Nevertheless, it was those forcefully learned undergrad topics that facilitated me to comprehend the more complex material I had to learn now.
Although study as a hobby is a more robust form of learning that is seldom forgotten, study as work is what required to learn the (sometimes bitter) fundamentals.
I must thank you all for your polite and instructing answers.
If you feel confotable, please share with us you personal method, as Dr. Marcelo Soares and I did above. I found out both of us have similar ways of studing: writing/creating our own content about the topic we want to learn.
It will be nice and profitable to know yours too.
Regards,
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