A Vision of Students Today

A short video summarizing some of the most important characteristics of students today - how they learn, what they need to learn, their goals, hopes, dreams, what their lives will be like, and what kinds of changes they will experience in their lifetime. Created by Michael Wesch in collaboration with 200 students at Kansas State University. Click here...

Dynamic Learning - 3

Sub – conscious Learning

It is one of the strange phenomena of the human mind that memory continues to work even when the actual task of learning has ceased and even when we are asleep. It is the same peculiar occurrence which helps us to solve a problem while we are dreaming, especially a problem on which we focused our attention before going to sleep and which proved too tough for solution.

The only explanation that is possible for both phenomena are the fact that our sub-conscious mind continues working and thinking while our conscious mind is asleep. The same mental power which produces dreams must be able to work on problems and to solve them. It is evidently wrong to think of our conscious and our sub-conscious functioning as two mental activities which are eternally divided. It is much better to think of them as two rooms whose separating wall is flexible and easily removable. It is figuratively accurate to speak of the “threshold” between the conscious and the sub-conscious mind, for every thought can easily lapse from the conscious over this threshold into the conscious mind.

I am sure this has been happened to you as it has happened to me – and to everybody else. We try to think of the name of a person and cannot remember it. We have known this person for long time, but at the moment the name does not come to us. It is not in the real of our consciousness. However, if at that moment we hear or read a name which is similar in sound or which has some other association to the name in question, then this similarity will be enough to recall the name to our conscious mind.

What happened in between? We know that no impression whichever meets one of our five senses can be entirely lost. While we are not aware of it, it rests in our sub-conscious, where it may be buried for good or whence we may be able to draw it over the threshold into our conscious mind, usually with the help of some association.

Dreams

It is about the same procedure that takes place in a dream or under hypnosis. When somebody awakes from sleep, he may not recall anything that happened. This, however, does not mean that impressions received under hypnosis are entirely lost. They may lie dormant in his sub-conscious and may be drawn over the threshold voluntarily or involuntarily by proper association.

Hello my students and blog readers

Do not blame external factors for your failure. They may range from lack of basic amenities at home or school, want of support from parents or those close to you, power failure, inclement weather or irritants like the noise around when you sit down to study, apathetic teachers or whatever else you can think of factors which withhold you from putting your best foot forward. In this manner, you'll end up blaming everyone and everything - except yourself - for being able to achieve your goal in life.
Look within. Introspect. Be objective in assessing your weaknesses and strengths. What is within you that prevents you from putting in the best efforts in your studies? Do you get tired easily? Do you suffer from depression or the so-called examination blues? Are lethargy, a laidback attitude, and a blind faith in quera sera sera holding you back? Or do you, on the whole, feel unequal to the task you have undertaken? Is there a need to review, revise and scale down your priorities, given the circumstances and the environment in which you are placed? Assess and analyse all these critically and you'll soon arrive at an answer.
This is the first - and the vital - step that all of us must taked in order to realise our dreams. Once this is done, there should be no looking back and you must move full throttle towards the target you have set for yourself. Only faith in youself and your abilities can see you through. Remember, everyone lands success and failure brooks no excuses.
With best wishes!

My Students

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Mnemonic

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Dynamic Learning-2

Spacing the Study

The interval between learning and repetition is much more important than people usually assume and it is one of the factors regrettably neglected in our school education. Almost every good book on psychology and learning stresses the importance of these intervals, but I have not yet seen a single schoolbook that takes advantage of these findings.

You know as well as I do that it is entirely wrong to assume that any subject matter which we once learned and mastered will remain our mental property for ever. You know that person may have spoken a foreign language rather fluently but not using it for several years may have lost the ability completely and be forced to admit that he can neither speak it nor understand it any more.

Of course that cannot happen if he uses the language constantly. Use is repetition and repetition is necessary for everything, which we wish to keep alive in our minds. So far the facts are known to everyone. What is not so well know is that the spacing of repetition plays a very important role in time-saving.

It is found that a subject which requires 20 repetitions if learned in one day requires only 15 repetitions if they are spread out over three days. A more complex subject which required 50 repetitions in one day could be mastered by repeating it 15 times the first day, 10 times the second day, and 5 times the third day.

Repetitions for all three consecutive days add up to 30, effecting a saving of time amounting to approximately 40 per cent if compared with the 50 repetitions on a single day. Since time is, or should be, of great value to all of us, nobody should fail to make use of such a time saving device, especially if it is so easy to apply as the proper spacing of learning and repetition.

Whenever you have to learn something new, do not try to master it completely on the first day. Be satisfied if you acquire a fair knowledge of it, allow it to sink in to your memory, and then repeat it on the two following days, and you will see that you can master it better with less effort.

Dynamic learning – 1

The Best Time to Study

My students very often ask me what time of the day is best for studying and memorizing. Of course, there is a definite answer but this answer again requires a checking of individual types. “Type”, however, refers here to sleep.

Type I: There are students who fall asleep immediately upon to bed and after the lapse of a very short time sleep reaches its soundest depth. Towards morning it becomes lighter; they wake up instantly and there is no longer drawn out transition between sleep and full awakening. The depth of their sleep is easily tested by the fact that noises do not disturb them.

Type II: At night he needs a long while to fall asleep and during the first hours his sleep is so light that the slightest noise wakes him up. During the morning hours, however, his sleep is deep and the transition from sleep to awakening takes quite some time.

Generally speaking and admitting occasional exceptions, we may say that exceptions, we may say that event sleeper (the first type I mentioned) learns and memories best in the morning. At that time his senses are at the height of their efficiency and his brain cells are wide open for new impressions. The contrast of course holds true for the morning sleeper. He feels more or less drowsy during the morning hours and reaches the height of his capacity towards noon or even during the afternoon. Naturally for the evening hours are the best times for learning difficult material.

Of course, there are other factors which enter into picture. What is your mental capacity and how much mental work must you accomplish during the day? If we think of two students with equal mental capacities the student who has to deal with difficult problems all day long will be less receptive to new impressions in the evening than his counterpart whose daytime work is accomplished in a more or less mechanical way.

SMART MEMORY - 2

Tip 5: Concentration

Concentration is nothing but hard thought fixed upon one thing at a time. Mostly during studies a part of our thinking is not related to the studies. So we need to improve our power of concentration. Do a simple powerful exercise for it.

Example: Take a table clock. Put it on the top of your television and sit at a usual distance to watch television. But this time, instead of watching television, focus your total attention on the second’s hand of the clock. Look at the second’s hand and every thought of yours should be of the second’s hand only.

While doing so, your attention be diverted a number of times towards the television. Whenever this happens, take your attention back to the second’s hand. Do the exercise for 5 minutes a day. You would see improvement on your concentration power in ten days.

Tip 6: Tonic for Memory

You must hear names of medicines for memory plus, Mega mind...etc. To check the claims, you may conduct an experiment. First collect 10 persons of age group of 23 to 27 years and told them that you have a tonic that could double their memory if they take it for three months regularly.

Before commencing the experiment, you give all of them a memory test. You give five of them a popular brand of memory tonic and rest a coloured drink. After three months, another memory test was given to them. The result was that all of them scored more than the previous test. On an average, increase in the percentage of marks of those who took the memory tonic was the same as those who took only plain coloured drink.

After a little analysis, you see that memory improvement in all the ten could be due to psychological reasons. During the three months, all the persons in the sample test gave a message to the brain that they are doing something for their brain so the brain responded by getting better. Thus, it concludes that positive thinking can do wonders to our memory.

Tip 7: Memory Route

To reduce the revision time, we need to condense the whole theory of 5 to 10 pages into one diagram. By doing so, only a glance will be sufficient to make us recall the whole theory. Let us make an attempt to make the memory route for whatever we read in this article.

Tip 8: Acronym

It is a technique used to further condense the theory into just a few words. Let’s say, we want to condense this article into just 2-3 words. The word could be Christmas Day.

Let have the closer look at the word:

? C: concentration

? R: revision plan

? I: interval

? S: senses

? T: tonic for memory

? M: memory route

? A: acronym

? S:

? D: drink water

? A:

? Y:

By just recalling Christmas Day, we will be able to recall all the eight tips. I am sure that all of them will help you in learning and remembering effectively. To make sure that we are following all the tips, just write TIP 8 and paste it on your study table. This will help you remember all these tips.

SMART MEMORY - 1

In this arena of cut-throat competition having a good memory is an asset. A good memory means your ability to learn the things fast, retain it for very long time and recall instantly whenever it is required. In this series we will share some scientific techniques to develop memory power which helps specially to the students preparing for different examinations. To start with let’s test our memory and also first brush up the fundamentals of learning before we go for the hard core memory techniques.

Memory Test

Close your eyes and imagine yourself in your bedroom. Now, starting from the wall on the right try to visualize everything on wall. The result you know exactly where each thing is. Isn’t it incredible? You can do the same for other rooms of your home.

Memory Route

No doubt, we all have a good memory. What makes the difference is the effective use of this marvelous piece of equipment. I will share some tip for effective memory and if you follow them sincerely, I can assure you substantial improvement within few days.

Tip 1: Interval

A lengthy learning session does not enhance memory. A break is needed after every 50 minutes of working session. On an average, the break could be of 7-12 minutes and during the break, one should have a complete rest.

Tip 2: Drink Water

Our body has more than 70 per cent water by weight. A regular glass of water keeps us more alert. Always keep a bottle of water on your study table.

Tip 3: Revision Plan

We all have the same twenty-four hours in a day. The same books, similar sources of guidance and similar circumstances to crack the competition we need to have an edge over other and that can be by optimizing the study time. Since our aim is not to study for longer hours but to study the maximum in a limited period of time, the most effective way is to revise the material (after first reading) within 24 hours, then after 7 days of the first revision. After the first reading, details remain stored for twenty-four hours. Then, the process of forgetting begins.

The second revision is needed within 7 days; the third revision is needed after one-and-a-half months; and the fourth revision could be after 6 months.

Tip 4: Senses

According to Dr. Bruno Frost, on an average we remember:

? 25% of what we read

? 35% of what we hear

? 50% of what we see

? 60% of what we say

? 75% of what we do

? 95% of what we read, hear, see, say and do.

To improve learning tries to use more of your senses.

Exercise Your Brain ( Part - 4)

A Mini - Meditation

This exercise teaches you how to still your mind so that your mental and physical energies will be focused on the clam of the present moment.

Time: 10 to 15 minutes
Materials: A timer or an alarm clock
Body position: Lying down
Step 1:Lie down in a comfortable spot and set the timerfor 10 to 15 minutes.
Step 2: Count slowly from e to 10, then close your eyes.
Step 3: Take 10 deep breaths (inhale slowly through your nose, hold for five seconds, exhale slowly through your mouth). Each time you inhale, think the word "still." Each time you exhale, think "now."
Step 4: Name every sound you hear (a car honking, a clock tricking, etc.). Don't think about how irritating the noises may be. If you don't hear any sounds, go on to the next step.
Step 5: Rest your index and middle fingers gently on your upper lip, so you feel the subtle exhalation of air as you breathe out through your nose. Leave your fingers there for several minutes. Again, when you inhale, think the word "still", when you exhale, think the word "now".
Step 6: Place one or both of your hands across your stomach. Each time you inhale and your stomach rises, think the word "still". Each time you exhale and your stomach falls, think the word "now". Stay in this position for several minutes.
Step 7: Press your index and middle fingers on your wrist or neck and court the pulses up to 100. Don't adjust your breathing to keep up with your pulse.
Step 8: Lay your hands at your sides and allow your mind to rest in the stillness you've created.
Step 9: When the timer goes off, count to 10, get up, stretch and get on with your day.