In the Digital Age, Some Tried and True Study Practices Still Shine
June 8th, 2009It was a practice that I made great use of over the years, especially the latter years of high school and college.
To determine if I truly knew my material, I would close my book and put away my notes. I would find a quiet place and begin imaging in my mind the text and the notes.
Pen in hand, I would write down what I could recall, section by section using an outline format. To make the task manageable I used abbreviations, summary language, whatever I could to make the time writing things down minimal. The key of course was to be able to determine, upon further review, if I had committed the critical elements to memory.
Lastly, a simple comparison would allow such a determination. Upon consulting my notes and book and contrasting, any aspects that were too thin or omitted were re-reviewed at that juncture.
Later, I would do the same process without the writing, trying to recall the original block that I had written down but adding those new areas that came from the comparison review.
This last time I simply recited it verbally though my sense is that if I had been so motivated as to have written it down once again it might have been even better.
Practice De-Emphasized
That sort of thinking seems to be going by the wayside. Without a doubt, professors today place substantially less emphasis on information recall.
The rationale for the change is that the process I used quite successfully is deemed to focus too much on rote learning and not enough on a process that seeks deeper levels of learning. The primary basis for the assertion is the reliance on Bloom’s Taxonomy as a teaching and learning model. In that context, recall is placed substantially lower on the taxonomy than is the idea of comparing and synthesizing information.
New theories of learning insist that the internet has essentially changed everything. Today’s workers must be able to process new information at lightning speed and in the 21st century we are going to have to reinvent our knowledge base multiple times. That leads some to insist that the memorization of facts and figures is a major waste of time.
While there can be no debate on those general assertions (processing at a greater rate and reinventing our knowledgeable base many times over), there is growing evidence that successful students must first have a strong knowledge base. Without internalizing some critical, fundamental facts, we could never properly synthesize information.
In addition, some educators insist that the process of rote learning, especially in younger learners, is a catalyst to the development of the brain as a whole. In other words, higher thinking skills and connections are possible only if the brain has been exposed first to recall demands.
Rethinking Practices
David Glenn recently took a look at this issue at one of the most respected of higher education publications: The Chronicle. Glenn uses the following slogan to describe the method I found great success with:
Close the Book. Recall. Write It Down.
Glenn then goes on to take an in-depth look as to why professors no longer preach this method of learning. As he does so, Glenn offers strong contradictions to the notion that the internet-based information age demands that this prior practice be summarily tossed aside.
Accordingly, the writer cites two recently published papers from psychology journals that note this age-old practice is in fact extremely effective. In simplest terms, the process of active recall is the most effective method “to inscribe something in long-term memory.”
Reciting or writing down what you recall is also the best method for determining whether you truly grasp the material. According to the folks Glenn references, the mistake that most students make is to simply reread material, either the text or their notes, and think that the familiarity they have gained represents real understanding.
That is simply not so. The only way to determine whether you truly can deconstruct the material, then actually synthesize in a test or quiz setting, is by going through an active recall process. Otherwise, as a learner, you may have a false sense of security that may come undone in the test setting.
And as for knowledge and the idea of rote learning, a simple contrast is to consider the study of biology. While there is no doubt that professors should ask that higher level or critical thinking skills be placed into action, it only stands to reason that the terms and concepts that form an understanding of the subject must first be internalized.
Drawing inferences and analyzing ideas can only take place when fundamental materials are fully grasped. And to be fully grasped, the person must have them mentally in place.
Exemplary Learning Practice
I could not agree more. The advice: Close the Book – Recall – Write It Down – definitely has enormous merit and served me very well over the years.
Students who utilize this approach will demonstrate superior levels of understanding. Not only will they be able answer any fact-related questions more readily, they will in turn find their ability to answer inference-related questions to be vastly improved as well.
While your professors may no longer espouse this practice, I am convinced that every student would perform much better in any test or quiz setting if they were to incorporate this technique into their ongoing study habits.
