Tag Archives: Learning

April 15, 2013 · 1:16 am

Sports People Do It – Why Not Learners?

Quite often students begin the year in a casual stride and who is to blame them? After all they have just come off two months holidays.

AchievementI come from a sports training background and I can tell you that an athlete who wants to perform well will not take two months off their training year. The repercussions are too great as they will lose too much form and have to work too hard to get back to square one.

A dedicated rugby player who takes one month off during the off season will be maintaining their aerobic level of fitness with moderate exercise. When January comes around they are ready to start full swing on improving their strengths, building on fitness and working on skills. That is how you stay ahead of the pack.

I often wonder why students don’t undertake the same planning when it comes to academic performance. Most students and parents of students are willing to let the achievements of the final months of the previous year disappear through resting the brain after the school year. The brain does not need that much time to recover. In fact that length of time for recovery is detrimental. The last month of knowledge learned prior to exams has been lost and has to be relearned in the first month of the new year!

During long Christmas holidays many students maintained their academic conditioning by attending the Tuition Centre at the Hills District Police Citizens Youth Club. Some used their academic coach (their tutor) to work on their weaknesses from last year while others used the time to get a head start on the subject matter they knew was coming this year. These guys were staying ahead of the pack. Is it worthwhile? You bet it is. They will go into the new year confident and stress free. They have locked in with their coach who is helping them to perform at their peak.

We live in a very competitive world and those who rise to the top are those who are willing to go the extra mile to achieve that result. I see all too often time and effort put into young people with their sport but will that effort bring a return on investment for them? Will these skills bring them an income? Most likely not. If the same effort was put into their academic ability, or at least more evenly distributed well……

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April 15, 2013 · 1:02 am

I Almost Forgot To Tell You To Remember

Student 3“I just don’t get this!” is a cry for help from a student of any age. Here is the first thing about the learning process – if you don’t get it you won’t remember it and you won’t learn it. A student must understand a concept, in their own words, to be able to learn it.

So the first step to learning something effectively is to understand it. If you do not understand it ask your teacher or instructor to explain it another way. You will not be the only person not understanding and it is your teacher’s job to see that you do understand.

Once you think you understand it then write it out in your own words, this will help to put it into short-term memory. Now this might require the old-fashioned pen and paper rather than a laptop. This is where most students stop and then wonder why they cannot remember material. Short term is good for a few minutes, hours or days, after that it is gone. You have to take the next step to move it into long-term memory.

Recitation (saying something over and over again) has been proved to be the most effective way of placing information into long-term memory. And by long-term I am talking about a life time. Reading something quietly over and over again to yourself or writing it down a number of times is not as effective as reading the material, in your own words, over and over again ALOUD.

BRAIN FOOD – For the MEMORY

There are five essential nutrients for effective brain function, and this includes memory. Many teenagers are low in iodine, as can be said about the general population. It is readily found in some seafood but if you do not eat seafood then you must obtain it from another source.

Decades ago the government placed iodine in table salt so that inland populations may have a non-seafood source of the nutrient. If your family eats salt then it may be beneficial to purchase iodised salt. Other nutrients are omega-3 (from oily fish), iron (meat), zinc (almonds) and the B vitamins.

Two herbs gaining respect for their ability to aid memory are Ginkgo biloba and gotu kola. Ginkgo increases blood flow and fluidity to the brain. Improved circulation aides brain function.

The quality of food is so important. We do no good for our children when we give into their tantrums for low nutrient junk food. Be parents to your children now and their friends when they grow up.

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