By John Markham
February 28, 2024

 

 

Introduction

Learning styles like auditory or visual are lies. This may sound quite strange to you, given that you’ve probably had to fill out a form helping you determine your learning style at least a dozen times. This probably gave you the idea that learning styles must be important, or at minimum, a little helpful. However, studies (Morrow, 2011) (Fauziah & Cahyono, 2021) have reached the conclusion that they don’t make much of an impact on learning at all, not really assisting in retention or application of knowledge.

But we’re not here to just stomp on the idea of learning styles and then flee. We’re going to look at some alternative methods that might work for you for really retaining information. The first may be familiar.

 

A Storied Approach

Simply inserting information into a story can increase information retention (Willis, 2017). There are a whole bunch of theories about why this is the case. Some say that it’s because we think in story format or because of positive emotions associated with them. Regardless of the reason, putting the information you need to learn into a story can be effective. For example, if you need remember all the uses for brackets (these things, []) in writing, you could think of it as detectives listing off the reasons for arrest.

“We’ve got him for one count of each: inserting author comments, showing a definition, as well as indicating that the quote’s error is preserved.”

“What a monster.”

“That’s not all. This animal also added emphasis and something even more terrible.”

“Ponzi scheme? Extortion? Murder?”

“Nah, this deviant acted as parentheses inside of parentheses.”

“What a sick individual.”

It should also be noted that some pieces of information already have stories associated with them that you don’t have to come up with. There are often many narratives associated with historical events and even scientific theories that you can draw from. You likely remember some elements of genetics because your teacher explained how Mendel observed them in his pea plants.

 

MIND PALACES?

You may have heard about mind palaces from one of the many tv shows that featured them. It’s often portrayed as a genius-level strategy that normal people can’t hope to use. The sheer fanciness it’s portrayed with may have given you the idea that it’s fake.

But it’s not, and anyone can use this technique!

Mind palaces are proven and are sometimes called a spatial memory technique (Maguire, 2003). In much less fancy terms, it means that you use a place or route you’re familiar with, like a room at home or your commute to work and lay the stuff you want to know on top of it.

For example, let’s say you want to memorize a presentation for work or school. So, you’d note down the key things you want to remember and then select something to associate it with. In this instance, let’s say that you’re going to use your commute to work and the topic for your presentation is social media. Your hook is discussing how Facebook isn’t as good for attracting attention as other platforms. You might remember this by Mark Zuckerburg looking sick in the back of your car when you get in. This may feel a little strange at first, but it draws on more of your senses to get the information locked into your brain, so the more unusual or stronger the image, the better it’ll be. You’d go through this process for each point, adding the key points in order. Also of note, while this technique is helpful, it’s definitely more time-consuming than other approaches, so it may be best for something that doesn’t have to be learned right now.

A Self-Centered Approach

This one is a little less research-based and a little more freeform. Here are some steps to using it. Here are some steps:

  1. Think of something you know a lot about. This doesn’t have to be academic in nature. It could be your favorite tv show or hobby, maybe even a favorite place.
  2. Now ask yourself some questions.
    1. Why do you know so much about that topic?
    2. Is there something you did to learn all about it?
    3. Did you enjoy learning about that topic?
  3. Given your answers, there are several different ways you could approach your learning. From here, you can figure out what helped you learn the most. For example, you may have learned a second language because you lived abroad. That would suggest that exposure works well for you.
  4. Then we cross-apply it. Let’s say you’re studying to become a nurse. To use the exposure method, you might listen to nursing podcasts when you’re commuting to school and work. If you really wanted to go all in, you might also read stories of successful nurses applying the strategies you’re struggling to remember.
  5. Be sure that, regardless of method, you relate the concept to yourself. That increases the odds of something sticking with you (Grilli & McFarland, 2011) .

Ideally, this can show you what makes things stick in your brain the most. Don’t be surprised if it’s something unusual. Many people find that things like rhymes or songs make things easier to remember. I only remember all the parts of a cell because of an exceptionally cringe-inducing rap. If you’re curious, don’t say I didn’t warn you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zafJKbMPA8&pp=ygUIY2VsbCByYXA%3D.

Conclusion

So, as a final takeaway, I’d recommend that you select one of these methods and see if it works for you. If it does, go ahead and start applying it not just to your writing, but other subject areas. And as always, if you have any writing or communication questions, reach out to us by phone, (386) 506-3297 , email, CWC@DaytonaState.edu or the chat found here: https://www.daytonastate.edu/library-and-tutoring/writing-center/index.html! Check out our socials too: Facebook/Twitter (X)/Instagram!

Also, thank you for reading! Have a great day!

References

Fauziah, H., & Cahyono, B. Y. (2022). Prevalent beliefs in learning styles myths: Indonesian research trends on learning styles. Issues in Educational Research, 32(4), 1384-1402. https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/prevalent-beliefs-learning-styles-myths/docview/2821325358/se-2

Grilli, M. D., & McFarland, C. P. (2011). Imagine that: self-imagination improves prospective memory in memory-impaired individuals with neurological damage. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 21(6), 847–859. https://doi.org/10.1080/09602011.2011.627263

Maguire, E. A., Valentine, E. R., Wilding, J. M., & Kapur, N. (2003). Routes to remembering: the brains behind superior memory. Nature neuroscience, 6(1), 90–95. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn988

Morrow, V. M. (2011). The relationship between the learning styles of middle school students and the teaching and learning styles of middle school teachers and the effects on student achievement of students' learning styles and teachers' learning and teaching styles. https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/relationship-between-learning-styles-middle/docview/894768901/se-2

Willis, J. (2017, September 12). The neuroscience of narrative and memory. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/neuroscience-narrative-and-memory#:~:text=The%20experiences%20we%20have%20with%20narratives%20starting%20as,the%20narrative%20pattern%20becomes%20a%20strong%20memory-holding%20template