1. Studying, Understanding, and Remembering
This class, we’ll explore different strategies to improve your studying, understanding of material, and how well you remember information. Does anyone have any questions about last class before we begin?

2. How Memory Works Short-term memory Long-term memory
Stores information for seconds
Holds 5-9 things at one time
Information either forgotten or moved to long-term memory
Long-term memory
Stores information for hours to years
Three categories:
Procedural: remembering how to do something
Semantic: remembering facts
Episodic: remembering events
There are two different processes involved in memory.
Short-term memory acts as an immediate holding tank for information. It retains information for seconds, and can handle 5-9 chunks of information. Information in your short-term memory is either forgotten, or moved to your long-term memory.
Long-term memory stores information for hours to years. It has three categories:
Procedural memory deals with knowing how to do something, such as driving a car or riding a bicycle.
Semantic memory involves facts and meanings without regard to when and where you learned them. You use your semantic memory when you remember word meanings or important dates.
Episodic memory deals with particular events, their time, and their place. When you remember events in your life – a vacation, or your first day of school – you are using episodic memory.
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3. How Memory Works: Deep Learning
Understanding the “why” and “how” behind the details
Myths about memory
Some people have bad memories
Some people have photographic memories
Memory benefits from long hours of practice
People use only 10% of their brain power
College is the time to develop deep learning – understanding the why and how behind the details. Names and dates are important, but deep learning will help you understand concepts. For example, if you know the date the Civil War began, but not why it was fought, you are missing the point of a college education. Deep learning helps you understand major themes and ideas.
There are a number of myths about your memory, but these are untrue:
Some people have bad memories: everyone is born with different memory abilities, but nearly everyone can improve his or her memory.
Some people have photographic memories: some people do have exceptional memories, but these abilities are normally from learned strategies, interest, and practice, not from natural ability.
Memory benefits form long hours of practice: practice improves memory, but how you practice is more important than for how long.
People use only 10% of their brain power: no one knows how much of our brain we actually use, but most researchers believe we have more mental capacity than we actively use.
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4. Improving Your Memory Learning styles influence memory
Use review sheets, mind maps, flash cards, and summaries
Mnemonics: methods and tricks to aid memory
Acronyms
Acrostics
Rhymes or songs
Visualization
There is a connection between your learning style and how you remember information. Your interest, motivation, and purpose for retaining information can also affect how you store and remember information.
As you review your notes and course material, ask yourself:
What is the basic idea?
Why does the idea make sense? What is the logic behind it?
How does this idea connect to other ideas?
What are some possible arguments against the idea?
While preparing for an exam, use study tools such as:
Review sheets – lists of key terms and ideas
Mind maps – visual review sheets that show connections between ideas
Flash cards – portable memory aids that have a question, term, or piece of information on one side and the answer, definition, or explanation on the other
Summaries – paragraphs that connect the main ideas and major and minor details. Summaries can help you answer short-answer and essay questions.
Mnemonics are different methods or tricks to help with remembering information:
Acronyms: new words created from the first letters of a list or group of words. For example, an acronym for the Great Lakes is HOMES, which stands for Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior
Acrostics: a verse in which certain letters of each word form a message. For example, My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nachos helps students remember the order of the planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
Rhymes or songs: rhyming or rhythmic verses that help students remember. For example, the rhyme “Thirty days hath September,/April, June, and November,/All the rest have 31,/Excepting February alone./It has 28 days time,/but in leap years 29.”
Visualization. You can use visualization to connect a word or concept to a visual image. The more ridiculous the image, the more likely you are to remember the word or concept.
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5. Studying to Understand and Remember
Pay attention
“Overlearn” the material
Check the Internet
Find the big picture
Look for connections
Get organized
Reduce stressors
Collaborate
Studying will help you accomplish two goals: understanding and remembering. As you’re trying to remember detailed information, use these methods:
Pay attention and avoid distractions. This is basic, but also important. Force yourself to focus. Make the changes that are necessary to allow you to concentrate.
Be confident that you can improve your memory. Recall past successes and choose strategies that play to your strengths as a learner.
Overlearn the material. Once you think you understand the material, go over it again.
Make studying a part of your daily routine. Don’t allow days to go by without opening a book.
Check the Internet. Google a key word and find interesting details that will engage you in the subject.
Go beyond memorizing words. Focus on understanding and remembering the big concepts and ideas.
Look for connections between your life and what’s going on in the content of your courses.
Get organized. Know where your files and notes are, so you don’t waste time looking for them.
Reduce the stress in your life.
Collaborate. Join a study group.
Get a tutor. Tutoring is not just for students who are struggling. Often the best students ask for help to make sure they understand the material.
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6. Tech Tip: Use the Cloud
Save files to the cloud to access them from any Internet-connected device
Dropbox
Google Drive
MediaFire
Save your files to a cloud storage site and have access to them from any Internet-connected electronic device. The cloud is basically the Internet, which is simply a network of servers. You can access data you have stored in the cloud anytime, anywhere, from any device, so long as you have Internet access.
Sign up for a free account form a could storage site. You’ll have your own private storage space that can only be accessed with a password. Cloud storage is great for collaboration, because you can easily share files with classmates and colleagues.
Some storage options include Dropbox, Google Drive, and MediaFire.
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