To get the most pleasure out of life, we need to keep learning. Many of us are expanding our skills and knowledge -- whether it is tennis lessons, how to deal with arthritis, or academic courses in college. Much of our information comes from books, magazines or more recently, online articles. If we want to learn, how can we get the most out of our learning?
For about 50 years, psychologists had a method for learning called SQ3R -- Survey, Question, Read, Recite and Review. Survey means that we get a brief overview of what we are reading. To identify the most critical concepts, we can skim the chapter outline or summary. While doing this, we can Question ourselves about the concepts to focus our attention and arouse our curiosity. For this article, they might be -- "What does ACE stand for?" "How does it relate to SQ3R?" and "What are the similarities and differences between them?"
Then we have to Read the material carefully to answer our questions, but we need to do more than just read the material. After we have read the material, we need to Recite what we have read in our own words. Rather than just thinking about it, we need to write what we remember from our reading. When we compare our notes to what the book says, we can check how much we have actually learned.
Too many of us think we understand what we have read, but we cannot express what we have learned to others. ("I understand it, but I can't tell you what I understand.") Writing what we have read in our own words helps us to communicate our knowledge to ourselves and others. (Don't we have to write our answers on exams?)
To keep this information, we have to Review it. Physical activities are easy to review, because we usually repeat the movements again and again. This reviewing helps the skills to stand the test of time -- like riding a bicycle. In contrast, once information is learned, most of us shift to something else without reviewing, so the information may just slip away. For this reason, "cramming" for exams is not effective. Discouraged students often complain, "But I knew the answers last night when I was cramming!"
Most good learners use more than some variation of the SQ3R method. They are more likely to constantly monitor their knowledge. They keep asking themselves, "Do I know what the author is saying? What can I do if I don't?"
This monitoring can be summarized by ACE, which stands for three processes -- Anticipating, Comparing and Enriching. Anticipating is an elaboration of the Survey and Question portions of the SQ3R. Glancing through the outline or summary, the headings give some clues about the organization, the main ideas and the supporting ideas. From this information and what we already know, we can anticipate what the author might say about the topic. How will the author analyze the topic?
More questions lead easily to Comparing. Does the author's view match ours? What things are expressed differently? How are the ideas supported? Does it have clear and convincing arguments? What evidence supports these arguments? Have significant points been omitted?
In comparing, it helps to be aware of signal phrases. "In contrast" and "on the other hand" should make us look for differences. "However" can be a signal for some limitation of a previous idea. As we develop our own mental picture, we need to continue to compare it with what the author is saying.
After we have finished, we need to discuss what we have read with others. How does their interpretation compare with ours? Rather than assuming that different interpretations are wrong, we need to ask others how they formed their conclusions. In the same way, it helps if we understand our reasons for our own conclusions, so we can explain them to others.
Enriching
involves summarizing what we have learned for our own use. Since we are writing only for ourselves, we can use our own abbreviations and symbols rather than words and sentences. For example -- assuming that we can remember what the symbols mean -- we can summarize this article with "ACE>SQ3R." When we review the material later, we can test ourselves to see if we still can understand what our abbreviations mean. If we have trouble remembering all the important information, we could elaborate our symbols. For example, it might help if "ACE" became "AntiComEn" (pronounced "Auntie Comin'") to more effectively remind us of the major ideas. However, our memory will be better if we develop our own abbreviations. If we relate information to our own life, meaningful symbols are easier to find. Then we don't need to make elaborate outlines -- we can remember the meaning with a well-chosen word or phrase.The more skill you have,
the less luck you need.
* Adapted from Stephen Worchel and Wayne Shebilske's Psychology: Principles and Applications, Prentice Hall Publishers, 1992, pages 6-7.
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