I am an avid reader of the New Scientist and have a continuous thirst for learning new things. Last week the New Scientist combined the two with an article on learning strategies.

So, as highlighted in the New Scientist (2015, p.32), the “most common methods to boost learning [which] are surprisingly useless”, include:

1. Highlighting and underlining;
2. Re-reading important texts;
3. Keyword mnemonics;
4. Copying your notes (oops, my favourite method);
5. Elaborate mental imagery;
6. Personalised learning styles; and
7. Summarising the material.

Reference

Young, E. (2015) Know It All. New Scientist. 28 March 2015, pp.30-35.