Neuroscience and Learning at Home Learning at home provides a unique opportunity to apply many of the strategies and concepts that are listed below – you get to design your own learning! Consider the following examples; Spaced Practice It can be tempting when working at home to rush through all allocated work as quickly as possible leaving the rest of your day ‘free’. This is a mistake. Cramming your learning into a short period does not help long term retention of information. It is far more effective to space each day’s learning out into short periods of work interspersed with rest and exercise breaks. Then revisit and review your work at increasingly long periods over the coming weeks. Elaboration Working at home alone doesn’t mean you need to forgo the opportunity to discuss concepts and ideas. -
Form an online study group and assign roles for each member including:
Taskmaster (your role is to keep our conversation on topic and redirect us as needed) Questioner (your role is to pose 2-3 key discussion questions that will help the group to expand on their current knowledge by linking ideas and concepts) Summariser (your role is to summarise the key ideas from each session) -
Explain concepts to a parent. Dictate your explanations into the voice memo app on your phone and listen back – where are the gaps in your understanding?
Retrieval Practice Retrieval practice is key to consolidating learning. -
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Before you begin a task, spend 5 - 10 minutes ‘downloading’ everything you already know about that topic. Remember to check your class notes and add anything you may have missed. Do practice exams and write your own practice quiz for the next day. Make a set of Quizlet cards for you and classmates Tim Connell Australia
Dual Coding Working at home means you have more freedom to access material in a variety of formats. -
Watch the film version of a text (make sure it’s a good adaptation) Look for YouTube clips about your topic. Draw your own pictures and timelines to consolidate your learning – and share them with friends.
Study Area Make sure your study area is; -
Quiet and well-lit with plenty of fresh air. Free from all potential distractors (phone especially) Tidy and well organised with all material within easy reach – getting up to find equipment is distracting (and a classic procrastination behaviour)
Selective Attention Selective attention is your ability to tune out distraction and focus your attention with laser like accuracy. Working at home in your own study area means you have much more control over the environmental and other factors that support selective attention; -
Spend 5 min doing some quiet breathing/meditation before you begin work. Use the Pomodoro Technique beginning with short (10-15 min) sessions of very focussed work then extend this to 25 minutes. Notice how your ability to focus for longer periods (sustained attention) improves with practice, like going to the gym and training your muscles.
Focussed and Default Mode As described above, you need to focus as part of any learning session, but you also need to ‘unfocus’ to give that package of ideas and information a chance to ‘float around’ and link with prior knowledge. After focussing for a while; -
Relax and let your mind wander Schedule mind wandering breaks after each period of focussed learning Don’t try to control your thoughts during these sessions – just notice how the ideas you’ve been working on permeate your thinking.
Motivation Working at home requires an additional level of self-direction and motivation, this can helped by; -
Eating and drinking before beginning work – motivation is cognitively taxing and requires regular fuel (glycogen) Reward yourself after each work session – rewards activate your brain’s dopamine network which makes it easier to repeat the behaviour. Give yourself positive feedback – be your own coach, speak to yourself just like your favourite teacher ‘you did a great job’, ‘you’ve got this’ ‘great work!’
Tim Connell Australia
Routines and Procedural Memory When you break down and task analyse a typical study and learning session, much of the process is easy to train to the point of automaticity. These elements include; -
Getting up at the same time each day. Walking to your study room. Setting up your study area. Opening books and beginning work.
Decision Fatigue Most of the decisions about your work or study session can be made well in advance. This is even more likely when working at home because your teacher may have set you several tasks for the week rather than daily lessons. Plan the next day’s lessons the night before including; -
How you’re going to work/study What you’re going to work on When you’re going to start and finish Where you’ll work
Add all this detail in your Outlook calendar – you can set reminders for each session with a 15-minute advance warning. Remember to be equally specific about programming breaks and exercise. Sleep Working at home means you have a chance to confirm what researchers have known for years – sleep helps to consolidate learning. -
Take a short nap after a completing a few work tasks. Stick to your regular sleep schedule. Maintain you regular sleep hygiene routine, especially - NO screens at least 60 min before bedtime.
Exercise Working at home means you have more independence about how and when you can schedule your exercise sessions; -
Do some aerobic exercise before beginning work – notice how much more effectively your brain takes in information. Vary the type of exercise you do each day. Do some short exercise between work sessions e.g. 20 pushups after 25 min work.
Tim Connell Australia
Screen Time It may seem counterintuitive when discussing online learning, but this is a period when monitoring your screen time is even more critical; -
Consider other options for learning including reading a book, writing notes and discussing ideas. Minimise non-essential screen time. Take regular screen breaks.
More resources; Working at home provides an opportunity to do some deeper research into each of the above-mentioned strategies; Do this free online course - Learning How to Learn Read this book - The New Science of Learning And finally, feel free to email me directly with any questions about study and learning at home. Tim Connell www.timconnellaustralia.com tconnellspeced@gmail.com info@timconnellaustralia.com
Tim Connell Australia