A bit of Meta Learning

This is an episode that explores some tips that can be used by students and professionals who need to study more effectively. It covers both the psychological and hands-on aspects of getting the most out of a study session.

Hi, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls.

You’re listening to Voice of Sayar Henry podcast.

Welcome to the show!

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In one of my previous episodes in Burmese, I talked about how many young people today are becoming more and more impatient with reading long text and consuming long form content. I also talked about how this behavior is going to affect their performance in academic reading, memory formation and learning skill in general. While this may not be a big problem for some of the young people from Myanmar who are fortunate enough to go abroad and study overseas as they will get to do a lot of academic reading there, it is a really bad sign for those who are stuck in our country and don’t have the luxury to focus on learning skill and personal development because of all the difficulties they have to face on multiple fronts.

So in this episode, I’m going to talk about some learning tips that can be very useful if you have a plan to study something on your own whether it is for academic purpose or for career improvement. And you don’t have to worry about noting everything down and trying to remember all these tips because I made it simple enough for you. There are just two primary parts in what I’m going to tell you.

The first part is about how to condition your mind and brain so that you start to view the process of studying with less resistance, which I believe is super important. And the second part is the hands-on details about actually sitting down and studying something, like going through an academic textbook. Some of you may have already come across with these tips but it’s always a good idea to refresh our knowledge from time to time, isn’t it?  

So, let’s jump right in to the first part.

Now, I’m going to ask you an interesting question.

If you can have all the time in the world, how many study hours do you want to have every day to achieve your learning goals?

I’m asking you this because I’ve heard so many people talk about how they don’t have enough time to study whether it is for their academic goals, or something related to their jobs.

So I’m giving you this hypothetical opportunity in which you can get as many hours as you want each day exclusively for your study. How about that?

Would it be nice if you have 2 hours for your learning goals?

Or would it be better if you have 4 to 6 hours? Or maybe your crazy ambitious goals demand you to study for 10 hours a day.

I don’t know. But let’s just say 6 hours gives you ample opportunity to hit your study goals. Now you have 6 hours of continuous study time and let’s assume you are physically capable of doing that in one sitting, and you will study 6 hours every night for, may be 3 months. With that abundant time resource, do you think you will achieve your learning goals much better than before?

If you think you would improve your skill or your grades by studying 6 hours continuously every night, I’m sorry, my friend. You couldn’t be more wrong! This might sound shocking to some of the listeners but there is a logical explanation for it.

One reason is that for the majority of people who are studying something, they are doing it just because they have to, not because they want to. Let’s face it, guys. Nobody wants to study, right? If you ask every person you meet if he or she likes to study, 9 out of 10 people will tell you how they hate to study. So in another word, if an average person must do the activity of studying for 6 hours every night, it is equivalent to doing a job that he or she hates for 6 hours every night.

Although the result of the study could be beneficial, these 6 hours, for the person who has to go through, is a form of punishment. And as psychologists might point out, punishment is one of the ways that can push one’s behavior toward a specific way. In this case, the person who has to study will find the experience so unpleasant that he/she begins to hate it even more and will push it further away. It means even though you may be studying for long hours just because you have to and you have time, your mind and your brain would be looking for ways to get out of this as soon as possible, and your long study session wouldn’t be as effective as you think it would be.   

Another reason is that research done by psychologists and neuroscientists has shown again and again that when it comes to studying, most learners can effectively focus on something only for about 25 minutes. Once we hit that mark, our concentration dips significantly and it becomes counterproductive. So the standard recommendation is to study for 25 to 30 minutes and then recharge our brain and concentration power by taking a break for 5 minutes. It is important that students don’t check their social media during that 5-minute break because doing so can drain their mental energy further down rather than recharge it back to optimum level. They can listen to their favorite song or talk briefly to a friend or have a quick snack in that little break. After that, they can get back to their studies with proper focus just like the first time.

So the big picture here is that it is good to have the plan of studying for 6 hours straight, if you can, but it is unwise to do that in one sitting. Learners should always take small breaks in between half-an-hour-sessions and then repeat the study cycle until they hit 6 hours or whatever their goal is at the end. And here is the fun part. You get to plan something nice for yourself so that you have some kind of reward waiting for you at the end of the full session. This way, you have a healthy balance between effort and reward. And according to the psychologists’ studies, this balance will reinforce the behavior of the student toward a desired manner, which in this case means finding the study session as an enjoyable experience.

And I think that’s probably the most important part of learning how to learn — to see learning and studying as an enjoyable activity rather than as a burden to carry.

When you find something enjoyable, you are naturally inclined to do it more often. Isn’t it what you want, my friend?

Hmmm. I thought so.

Now let me give you some practical tips that might come in handy in your study sessions, especially when you try to read an academic textbook on your own. In any field of study, the information included in a textbook can be broken down into three parts: concepts, facts, and questions. The idea behind this is that if a student knows how the concepts work, can remember facts, and can answer some thoughtful questions, it can be assumed that the student ‘gets’ this subject. But in my point of view, questions are just a form of device that is designed to test and improve how well students can understand the concepts and how much important facts they can remember. So in short, a textbook is made of just concepts and facts. Knowing how to handle these two would be beneficial for most students.

Based on what I can recall from my far away past experiences as a student and my years as a teacher, my first recommendation to deal with concepts is to use diagrams and visualization. If you can visually represent an abstract idea in terms of blocks, circles, arrows, clouds, waves, and illustrations, you are several steps closer to understanding the concept compared to what you can do by just reading the letters.

Once you have the diagrams, the next step is to explain the concept in your own words. The better you can paraphrase, the clearer you understand how the concept works. If you have a chance to teach it to another person, it would be even better because that will help you consolidate your memory.

Now you and I both know how concepts are much more important than facts, but for people who are preparing for an academic or a professional exam, remembering facts also plays a big role. And because facts are usually in the form of names, numbers, and letters, it is best to associate these with meaningful interpretations that are personalized for your own reference. For example, in language learning, knowing that nouns must be either masculine or feminine in Spanish is the understanding of a grammatical concept of that language. But remembering that ‘el perro’ means ‘the dog’ in Spanish is more about remembering facts. To better remember ‘el perro’ as ‘the dog’, the learner must associate ‘el perro’ in a meaningful way that is also personal to him. So instead of looking at random pictures of dogs to memorize ‘el perro’, the learner should associate ‘el perro’ with a dog he knows in his personal life. That way, the brain is able to consolidate old memories and new memories together. That makes sense, doesn’t it?

So, in a nutshell, if you have been giving excuses not to study by saying you don’t have enough hours to do it, remember that your brain has been eagerly waiting to get just 25 minutes to get you started. And if you can afford more time, like several hours, don’t forget to split your time into 25-30 minutes sessions with small breaks in between and a big reward at the end of the main session. And then if you keep struggling with a textbook, it’s always a good idea to first look at concepts in terms of diagrams and visualization before reading any text. And if you feel like you are bad at remembering facts, try to be a bit more creative and associate these facts in meaningful ways that are connected to your real life.

But remember, my friend, learning must result in behavior change. So if you have been just listening to this episode passively and not planning to change a damn thing in your study life, you’re doing it wrong. And in that case, I hope you get up and do something about it, and I’ll see you again in my next episode. Perhaps by then, you are a slightly better version of yourself. And I’m looking forward to it. Goodbye for now!