2. Make it
meaningful.
One way to create meaning is to learn from the general to the specific. Before you
begin your next reading assignment, skin it to locate the main idea. If you’re
ever lost, step back and look at the big picture. The details might make more
sense.
You can organize any
list of items – even random ones – in a meaningful way to make them easier to
remember. In this blog I have proposed five principles for organizing any body
of ideas, facts or objects:
Principal
|
Example
|
Organize
by time
|
Events
in history or in a novel flow in chronological order.
|
Organize
by location
|
Addresses
for a large company’s regional offices are grouped by state and city.
|
Organize
by category
|
Nonfiction
library materials are organized by subject categories
|
Organize
by continuum
|
Products
rates in Consumers Guide are grouped from highest in price to lowest in
proce, or highest in quality to lowest in quality.
|
Organize
by alphabet
|
Entries
in a book index are listed in ABC order.
|
3. Create
association.
The data already encoded in your neural networks is arranged according to a
scheme that makes sense to you. When you introduce new data, you can remember
it more effectively if you associate it with similar or related data.
Think about your
favorite courses. They probably relate to subjects that you already know
something about. If you know a lot about the history of twentieth-century
music, for example, than you’ll find it easier to remember facts about
twenty-first century music.
Even
when you’re tackling a new subject, you can build a mental store of basic
background information – the raw material for creating associations. Preview
reading assignments, and complete those readings before you attend lectures. Before
taking upper-level courses, master the prerequisites.
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