The Psychology of Learning

Are you a Lark or an Owl? Answer the questions on your sheet according to your own preferences using the 24hour clock (e.g. 1pm =13) This should not be according to what you are forced to do by your parents or the school timetable. So in an ideal world…

Larks (morning people) would score 60 or below Owls (evening people) would score 80 and above Some people may show mixed patterns – they prefer to get up late, but to do concentrated academic work in the morning.

Larks Owls Feel more alert in the morning Get up earlier in the morning Feel less alert in the evening Go to bed earlier Find it difficult to adjust to shift work Are more productive in the morning Feel less alert in the morning Get up later in the morning Feel more alert in the evening Go to bed later Adjust easier to shift work Are more productive in the evening How can you use this to aid your revision??

What is your Learning Style? Answer the following questions A, B or C

Question 1 What do you do when you spell a word? A – Try to see the word in your head and see if it looks right. B – Pick up a pen and try it C – Sound out the word.

Question 2: What do you do when you are trying to remember something? A – See it in pictures B – Think about what you were doing at the time or how you felt C – Remember what was said or the sounds in your head

Question 3: What do you do when you are learning? A – Like to see pictures, videos and demonstrations B – Have a go yourself and get involved in practical activities C – Like to listen and talk

Question 4: When you are relaxing, what do you prefer to do? A - Watch TV or read things through B – Play sport/games/dance C – Listen to music

Question 5: What do you do when trying to remember a telephone number, do you? A – Try to see the numbers in your head B – Think about the order and pattern of the numbers on the keyboard C – Try saying the number over and over again

Which letter did you answer with the most?

A Visual learner prefers to see things so likes diagrams, videos etc. Mostly A: A Visual learner prefers to see things so likes diagrams, videos etc.

Posters around the house Imagery Method of loci Possible techniques: Note cards Mind maps Posters around the house Imagery Method of loci

Mostly B: A Kinaesthetic learner prefers to do things, so will like practical, hands on experience.

Act it out Colour coding Post-it notes Consider the meaning Possible techniques: Act it out Colour coding Post-it notes Consider the meaning Teach someone Make a video!

Mostly c: An Auditory learner prefers to hear things, so will like debates and discussions.

Discuss with friends and family YouTube clips Possible techniques: Record yourself Make a song Discuss with friends and family YouTube clips

Using this knowledge… Knowing your preferred learning style will make you a more efficient and effective learner. Your teachers try to provide a range of teaching styles to accommodate all learning styles, but sometimes a lesson will not suit you preferred style… When this happens it is your responsibility to convert the information into your preferred style to help yourself learn the information.

Retrieval failure Forgetting Tulving (1972) This is when we cannot access the memory until the correct retrieval cue is used. When we encode a new memory we also store information that occurred around it (the way we felt or the place we were in). If we cannot recall it, it could be because we are not in a similar situation to when the memory was originally stored.

How can we apply this knowledge to our revision? There are two types of cue dependent forgetting… Context State How can we apply this knowledge to our revision?

Context-dependent forgetting Context-dependent forgetting can occur when the environment during recall is different from the environment you were in when you were learning.

State-dependent forgetting State-dependent forgetting occurs when your mood or physiological state during recall is different from the mood you were in when you were learning.

“that bit of memory you are USING when you are WORKING on something.” Baddeley and Hitch (1974) Working Memory (STM) is……. “that bit of memory you are USING when you are WORKING on something.”

Which level are you in terms of revision? 3e? Level 1 – I READ through my notes Level 2 – I MAKE NOTES from what I read Level 3 – I TRANSFORM my notes into another format e.g. diagrams, lists, mnemonics, flash cards, tables Level a – I answer past questions but avoid hard ones Level b - I answer hard past questions until I get it right Level c – I use mark schemes to help me improve my answers Level d – I use Examiner reports and mark schemes Level e – I practise AGAIN and AGAIN until I KNOW I have got it right & seek support when I need it. Which level are you in terms of revision? 3e?

Working Memory and active learning We can remember between 4 and 7 chunks of information for up to 18-30 seconds … unless we do something with it! Making connections is key! TED Talk: Peter Doolittle: How your "working memory" makes sense of the world https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWKvpFZJwcE