A Little Method You May Want to Use: Retaining Remembrance
So, digital classes are starting up for many people. Whether you are in college, high school, middle school, or grade school (although, if you are in grade school and are on “Prose.,” I am quite impressed), you are probably trying to adapt to a new form of either complete digital or hybrid learning systems. As if that were not difficult enough, now you have to navigate these new systems and remember what you are learning in class to pass the next test.
I have three younger siblings, and I am going to classes myself, so I have had to work through a fair share of studying strategies over the years. Through trying to find out what works best for me and for other people, I find that picturing an image in my mind works better than anything. And this works for remembering anything, not just for educational work. There are entire studies that show that this does work, and if you are currently enrolled in education, trying to keep dates straight, or even one of those people who just has a habit of forgetting things (like I do), then you may find this helpful.
I’m thinking back to an economics class, now, when I was studying for my first exam. The things we had to keep track of were fairly basic, but it was still quite difficult to keep it all straight. The thing I had the most trouble with were the seven economic and social goals, or, I would have had trouble with them, had I not employed this imaging strategy. So here’s a little example:
The seven economic and social goals in any economy are as follows:
economic efficiency
economic equity
economic security
economic employment
economic stability
economic growth
economic freedom
Ok, at first, this seems kind of confusing. “How could I remember all this, it seems so similar?” Well, actually, we notice that “economic” is the first word in every goal, so we can simply discard that word altogether, since it applies to all of them. Now we are left with:
efficiency
equity
security
employment
stability
growth
freedom
Now, we could try to simply memorize this list, but that would take far longer than simply picturing it, at least for me. Humans are visual learners. If I may interrupt myself, how about a game of chess? “Sure,” you say. “Ok,” I reply. “I’ll be black, you’re white. We’re playing on a standard a-h and 1-8 grid. I move my pawn at 2a to 4a. Your move.” Wait, what? That is hard to imagine. But, if we actually have an image of a chess board, we can play the game a lot simpler.
Now, back to the economic goals at hand. To remember them, we simply need to create a simple picture in our mind, because, as I stated, humans are visual learners. So, let’s begin with the first rule: efficiency. Well, when I think of efficient, I imagine a factory, because factories are good at pumping out goods at a very fast rate. So, I just think of a factory.
What’s next? Equity. Well, equity is money, so instead of plumes of smoke billowing out of smokestacks on the factory, I imagine little dollar signs coming out of them. Next we have security, so I imagine policemen guarding the doors to the factory. Then, there is employment, so I imagine a giant line of unemployed people looking for work entering through the doors to the factory.
Stability. Now this is where things become interesting. After pondering on this for a few seconds, I placed the entire factory, the policemen, and the workers on a giant balance, precariously tilting back and forth, but stable nonetheless. Ok, so now we have growth. Well, now I imagine the balance and the factory as being the flower at the end of a stem of a plant. Freedom? Well, plants are in nature and are not bound by human laws, so are plants not already free?
Perfect. In a matter of thirty seconds, I had managed to create an image in my mind that helped me to remember what the seven economic social goals are. And, I did manage to remember it. So, once again, whether you are in school, or whether you simply need to remember a name or date until you have time to write it down, I find this a pretty quick and effective strategy. Of course, everyone has their own methods of studying and remembering, so if you already have something that works, stick with that.