Assignment #2 from the Coursera course Learning How to Learn (2014) hosted by UC San Diego.

1. Learning How to Learn

2.  Memory consists of two key portions, the short term (temporary
working) memory, and the long term memory.
 The short term memory has been referred to as “the brain’s post-it
note” 1 as it is used to hold temporary information such as numbers in
an equation you are doing in your head, or remembering a phone
number you saw on TV.
 The long term memory is your storage warehouse. It’s where ideas,
concepts and memories are stored for the long term. If you need to
recall the location of a place you haven’t been to in a while, or you’d like
to revisit a childhood memory, your long term memory is where that
information is stored.
 Whenever you recall a memory, it goes through reconsolidation, which
is a potential change in what is actually remembered. This builds on
your existing memories, either making them stronger, or adding
erroneous recollections, which is especially dangerous when studying
for tests.

3.  So knowing that short term memories are only beneficial for a small
period of time, how do we actually commit information to our long
term memory?
 There are a few ways…

4.  With a cue card:
*2
Write a small reference or image on the front of a cue card,
with more information about the topic on the back. Look at the
image on the front and see if you can recall the information on
the back. Use this technique briefly over a long period of
time until you no longer need to flip the card over.
Using handwriting will also help ingrain into your mind what
you’ve written.

5. With a memorable mnemonic:
With a visual image representation:
Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally
(Parentheses, Exponents, Multiply, Divide, Add, and Subtract)3
Take the first letter of the words you’re trying to remember and form a funny or
memorable phrase with them. In the example here, we’re trying to remember the order
of mathematical operations, so we’d keep the letters in order.
For example, in Chemistry, there are two types of
ions: cations and anions.
One is positively (+) charged, while the other is
negatively (-) charged.
One way of remembering which is which is to
remember a picture of a happy (positive) cat.
*4
Cations are positive!

6. Regardless of which methods you use to help
you remember information, the best way to
help lock it into your long term memory is to
space out your study/learning periods. Go
back to the material once a day, once a week,
or a couple times a month until you’re
confident you know your stuff.
Trying to learn something in one drawn
out study period will leave your brain
overwhelmed, and won’t actually aid in
building the connections your mind
needs to commit information to the
long term memory.
*6
*5

7.  So now that we’ve got some understanding of memory
and some of the things we can do to help commit things
to our long term memory, we actually need to learn
some new things so we can test out our new techniques.
 First and foremost however, we need to tackle
procrastination. With procrastination in the way we
might never get around to learning new things. If we do
manage to squeeze some learning in at the last second,
we won’t be committing it to our long term memory as
best we could.
So how do we deal with
procrastination?
Well…

8.  We look for cues:
When faced with a task you’d rather not do, your brain activates
the pain receptors in your Insular Cortex. This encourages you to
find something else to focus on in order to get rid of that painful
feeling. This is when we procrastinate.
A cue is something that triggers procrastination mode.
It doesn’t only have to be that unpleasant feeling, it
could also be a physical distraction (such as a friend
texting you, or someone playing drums in the same
room) that keeps you from focusing on the task at hand.
Finding out what is triggering us to procrastinate
is the first step to overcoming procrastination.
Once we know what is causing the problem, there
are quite a few things we can do to help ourselves.

9. That last slide was a little
difficult to read, wasn’t it?
We need to get those
distractions out of the way…
Lets try again.

10.  We look for cues:
When faced with a task you’d rather not do, your brain activates
the pain receptors in your Insular Cortex. This encourages you to
find something else to focus on in order to get rid of that painful
feeling. This is when we procrastinate.
A cue is something that triggers procrastination mode.
It doesn’t only have to be that unpleasant feeling, it
could also be a physical distraction (such as a friend
texting you, or someone playing drums in the same
room) that keeps you from focusing on the task at hand.
Procrastination is a habit, so finding out what is
triggering us to procrastinate is the first step to
overcoming procrastination.
Once we know what is causing the problem, there
are quite a few things we can do to help ourselves.

11.  Limiting distractions, and finding a good spot to learn or study in will
be instrumental in letting us focus on the task at hand.
 Keeping a planner of the things you’d like to accomplish, and writing
your goals for the next day the night before will help your brain digest
what you’re looking to accomplish while you sleep.
 Use a pomodoro to commit yourself to 25 minutes of work; after which,
take a small break and reward yourself with a few minutes of enjoyment.
This interspaced working period will give your brain more time to digest
what it’s learning without being overwhelmed.
Overcoming Procrastination

12. So now that we’ve covered procrastination and memory, can you recall
what was said on the cue card of the fourth slide? If not, going back and
revisiting it after a period of time has passed will help strengthen the
memory of what you read there.
This applies to all types of learning. If you’re trying to cram information in
a short period of time, your brain hasn’t had time to process it all and
convert it to your long term memory. Going back over material in spaced
out sessions will give your brain time to make the connections that will
help lock that material into your memory.
In order to make the best use of interspaced learning periods,
procrastination must be overcome. You won’t get much out of your
study/learning sessions if your brain is constantly yelling at you to do
something else.

13. Hopefully you can take some of
these techniques and use them to
make your study and learning
sessions more productive.
Get out there and learn
something new!
Just remember, don’t
procrastinate!

14. 1. Luke Mastin (2010) http://www.human-memory.net/types_short.html
2. http://galleryhip.com/human-memory-clipart.html
3. LoveToKnow, Corp (1996-2014) http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-
mnemonics.html
4. Pushkin, http://www.clipart-box.com/cliparts/EUEAIA81gg4p/
5. http://www.hdwallpapersinn.com/mark-calendar-clip-art-free-wallpapers-2.html
6. Toon Vectors (2015) http://www.toonvectors.com/clip-art/cartoon-brain-overload/11705
All other images used were taken from PowerPoint 2007’s clipart collection.
All credit for the information portrayed in this powerpoint goes to UC San Diego’s Learning How to
Learn Coursera course. (2015) From Dr. Barbara Oakley and Dr. Terrence Sejnowski
References
Thanks for viewing!
//Ali S.