Learning to Learn 9 th grade: World Geography

Short Term Memory  Most people can remember 3-9 items of information for about 20 seconds.  If that is true, how did I learn 30 names and remember them fifteeen minutes later?

Long Term Memory Our long term memory stores unlimited amounts of information from a few days up to many decades. By making a connection with information in short term memory to information in long term memory, people can remember much more information in a much shorter time.

Work Smarter not Harder Using a strategy is working smarter, not harder. Some learning strategies include: REPETITIONASSOCIATIONchunkingvisualizationmneumonics RHYME & RHYTHM Mental Network The more connections to an idea, The better you will remember it.

Repetition Repetition takes longer but the more something is repeated the stronger the connection becomes. That which we persist in doing becomes easier; not because the nature of the thing has changed but because our ability to do it has increased Ralph Waldo Emerson

Association Chunking is putting numbers or words together in a way that means something to you. Example: If the last four numbers of a phone number was 8818, I would think of Marvin Harrison (#88) catching a pass from Peyton Manning (#18). chunking

Association Mneumonics are taking a new word and using the way it sounds to connect to a word that you already know that sounds similar. Example: the Japanese word saiko (great, awesome) sounds just like the English word psycho (crazy). Mneumonics Geico sounds like gekko

Association Visualization is connecting the thing you want to learn with a picture or image. pictures logo maps charts graphs diagrams Learning increases at least four times faster when there is some kind of visual visualization

Rhyme & Rhythm Rhyme is connecting the thing you want to remember with another word that sounds the same. Rhythm is putting the thing you want to remember to some beat.

Knowledge network

Motivation All this talk of strategies sound great but there is one thing that you must have before you will take the time to use a strategy. MOTIVATION

What Motivates? Fear Duty Duty Love Love

Fear Fear can be a strong motivator but it only lasts as long as the threat of harm or punishment lasts. As soon as the threat is gone so is the motivation. If you are only motivated to learn so you won’t get punished, you probably won’t use strategies and will only do the minimum required to get by

Duty Duty is a stronger motivator than fear. Many people have given up their lives our of loyalty to their family, friends, relgion or country.

Love Love is the strongest motivation. It is doing something because you want to. DO YOU LOVE TO LEARN? Everyone loves to learn, it just depends on what they want to learn about.

A Bowl With No Holes Learning for either duty or love is like having a bowl with no holes in it. The bowl is like your brain and the water is like information. If you plug the holes, less information will leak out.

What motivates you? 82% of U.S. prison inmates are high school dropouts. 70% of prison inmates are functionally illiterate. 75% of those claiming welfare are functionally illiterate. Does this scare you?

What motivates you? 80/20 Rule Lifetime Earnings High school dropout $608,000 High school graduate $802,000 Some college $922, 890 Associate degree $1,062,130 Bachelor’s degree $1,420,850 Master’s degree $2,142,440 Ph.D. $3,012,300

What Motivates You? What would your life be like if it were as small and dark as a closet? Knowledge is light Knowledge is power Your world is only as big as the knowledge that you possess. Quality of Life

Assignment: Response #1 A response is a one page written assignment that has two parts. 1. Write a ½ page summary that includes the main ideas and supporting details of the lesson. 2. Write a ½ page explanation of how this lesson relates to you and your life. Please include experiences, examples and opinions