Improving learning through effective revision

Ashley Tomlin Jon Curtis-Brignell

Please imagine: In this room…

– Your son or daughter •  asleep on a sofa in an empty room

•  under a blanket with ‘I GET IT’ printed on it.

•  This is being filmed by a film crew with pink hair

•  Whilst the director gives them a neck rub and shouts ‘Another take!’

There is no great

secret to revising...

It  is  a  ques*on  of      being  prepared  

before    you    start  and  

using  your  *me  properly  

•  No clutter •  No computer •  No Phone •  No TV

GET RID OF TEMPTATION…

Be Prepared…and Get Organised…

Have your text books and notes with you, in an ordered way so that you can find anything you need quickly.

CREATE A REVISION TIMETABLE (of <40 min slots)

…AND STICK TO IT!

Interleaved  Prac*ce  

When  revising  a  subject,  the  tempta*on  is  to  do  it  in  ‘blocks’  of  topics.    Like  below:    

The  problem  with  this  is,  is  that  it  doesn’t  support  the  importance  of  repe**on  –  which  is  so  important  to  learning.    So  rather  than  revising  in  ‘topic  blocks’  it’s  beGer  to  chunk  topics  up  in  a  revision  programme  and  interleave  them:    

This means that you keep coming back to the topics. So, instead of doing a one hour block of revision on

topic 1, do 15 minutes on topic 1, then 15 minutes on topic 2, then the same for topic 3 and 4.

! memory….what? ! technique…how?

! Effort and preparation

What do exams test?

Speed of forgetting depends on difficulty of the learned material, how it is represented, stress, sleep. Memory is developed

a)  By using better techniques (e.g. mnemonics)

b) Through repetition based on active recall, especially spaced repetition

KEY FINDINGS

•  You must understand the learned material. •  You cannot easily learn or remember something you

don’t understand.

UNDERSTANDING

Stress  •  You must be unstressed for your memory to function

and for you to be able to revise effectively.

By:

–  Not leaving to the last minute. –  Understanding the material before learning –  Having ordered notes. –  Having a quiet place to work. –  Rehearsing assessment as well as content

•  You must be rested. •  People in their late teens need 9 hours sleep a night. •  Most teenagers are chronically sleep-deprived.

“sleep deprivation produces impairments in cognitive and motor performance equivalent to legally prescribed levels of alcohol intoxication.”

(Williamson, 2000):

REST

Effective Revision needs:

Your son or daughter

•  asleep on a sofa in an empty room = Sleep / organised •  under a blanket with ‘I GET IT’ printed on it. = MATERIAL THEY

UNDERSTAND •  This is being filmed by a film crew with pink hair = INTERESTING

VISUAL REPRESENTATIONS •  Whilst the director gives them a neck rub = LACK OF STRESS •  and shouts ‘Another take!’ = REPETITION

How would you learn

this material? •  What  strategies  would  you  use?  

Less  effec5ve  

Highligh5ng  

Re-­‐reading  

Summarising  Texts  

Why?  

•  Low  challenge.  •  LiGle  thinking  required.  •  Makes  the  student  think  that  they  are  ‘doing  something’  

More  effec5ve  

We all learn in different ways but the most

effective ways include the use of a multi-sensory

approach.

• Mindmapping

• Knowledge Flow

• Mnemonics

•  Notes of notes of notes •  Revision Cards / Flash cards •  Acronyms •  Pictures

A Mixed method is the most effective…

Must Overtake Fast Cars

Motivated Organised

Focused Creative

Test yourself

•  Past papers

•  Revision sessions

•  Ask the teachers to set questions

•  Do “Question and Answer” sessions with friends

And: web tools •  All the sites below are free (in their basic

form).

•  www.stixy.com – an online bulletin board •  www.mindmeister.com – an online mindmapping tool •  www.tumblr.com – a blogging tool •  www.weebly.com – a website creation tool •  www.wallwisher.com – an online post-it tool •  www.wordle.net – an online vocabulary poster tool •  www.popplet.com – makes mindmaps

Use the results you get to…

•  Go over weaker areas

•  Check them

•  Have another go!

Remember…the brain builds understanding and remembers through

spaced repetition

Summary  

•  “Memory  is  the  residue  of  thought”.  •  Tes*ng.  •  Space  it  out.  •  Keep  asking  ‘why’?  •  Build  on  what  they  know.  •  Explain  their  steps  in  problem  solving.  

GOOD LUCK.