14 Chapter Fourteen: Deep Learning and Studying

Learning never exhausts the mind. —Leonardo da Vinci

What is the ultimate formula for learning at the deepest level? Is it raw intelligence, a great teacher, good studying habits, or a perfect study space? Is it critical thinking, creative thinking, a mindset of success or dogged determination?

The formula is probably a combination of all these things and more. Each student, though, will have unique stories to tell about how deep learning has occurred for them. In fact, stories about deep learning are the basis of What the Best College Students Do, a book by historian and educator Dr. Ken Bain. In writing this book, Dr. Bain conducted more than one hundred interviews with notable lifelong learners, like Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report and astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson. Dr. Bain asked each interviewee to talk about how they used their college experience to develop and feed their curiosity about topics that interested them—topics that came to define them in many ways. The deep learning each person experienced helped them go on to lead focused and purposeful lives.

If Dr. Bain were to interview you, what would you tell him about an experience you had in which you learned deeply? What factors account for how you absorbed knowledge during that experience and how you used the knowledge for something that mattered a lot to you? Conversely, which factors were missing when you had the experience of not learning deeply?

Learning deeply, says Dr. Bain, “doesn’t just mean the ability to remember stuff for an examination. It means the ability to create. It means the ability to analyze and synthesize, to solve problems, and to understand what that problem-solving means.” What matters most about the college experience and earning grades, he says, “is learning deeply, thinking about implications and applications, and expanding the powers of one’s mind. If students intend to learn deeply, grades will usually take care of themselves.”

In this section on deep learning, we examine key strategies you can use not only to get good grades but also to truly enjoy your learning experiences in college and to reap the greatest rewards from them in the future. Deep learning is a key to succeeding in college and in life.

Deep Learning vs. Cramming

How can you tell if you are actually engaged in deep learning? Dr. Bain offers the following classification of learners:

• Surface learners: They do as little as possible to get by.
• Strategic learners: They aim for the highest grades rather than for true understanding.
• Deep learners: They gain a real, rich education in college because they pursue their passions more than grades. They are also comfortable with experimenting more than with “getting it right,” and they develop a personal connection to their studies.

Which learner do you feel you are now? Are you drawn to learn more deeply?

To illustrate the process of deep learning, let’s use an example of what deep learning  is not: “cramming” for a test―studying right before an exam without much preparation beforehand. Can you remember a time when you stayed up late to cram for a test the next day? How did it turn out for you? Did you pass the test? Did you learn much while you were cramming? How much do you remember now of the material you studied then?

The problem with cramming is that it doesn’t give the brain ample time to process information or to make the kinds of critical connections necessary for the brain to retrieve the information later on. When you cram, you simply forget what you have learned much faster than when you study diligently and steadily over an extended period of time.

Why would this matter? Why not just cram, take a test, do reasonably well, and move on to the next challenge?

One of the main reasons not to embrace this approach is that without learning deeply, you lose the opportunity to apply what you learn to other pursuits (in college and in life). For example, if you have classes later in college that build on earlier courses, will you retain and be able to apply what you should have learned from the classes in which you crammed? Will you need to learn the material on a deeper level this time?

Another cost of cramming is that you forgo the pleasure and satisfaction of acquiring knowledge at a deep level.

In sum, learning deeply goes beyond just test scores. It connects to skills you will need the rest of your life, like critical thinking, critical analysis, applying principles to solve problems, assessing your effectiveness, revising, and applying what you know.

So, if you are looking ahead to do well on a test or some other kind of assessment, avoid cramming. Start studying now and keep studying as you go along. Use your time-management skills and tools to make the time for it. Recall improves when studying is spread out over time, because every time you retrieve information or knowledge, you’re learning it more deeply. Also, by spreading out your studying, you can avoid mental exhaustion and having to cram before exams. Take study breaks to relax both mentally and physically.

Techniques for Learning and Retaining Knowledge

Sometimes the best way to learn a new idea is to first “unlearn” an old idea that’s hindering the new one. This is certainly the case with principles of learning, because there are many misconceptions about how people best acquire knowledge and retain it. Below, we identify and deconstruct some of these misconceptions and replace them with ideas you can use to help you learn deeply.

Myth 1: Talent Is Everything!

If you believe that your learning abilities are fixed, you’ll put up mental blocks that hinder your learning. For example, if you usually get straight A’s, you may avoid taking intellectual risks that take you out of your comfort zone or jeopardize your perfect record. Similarly, if you believe you are not good at something, like math, you may avoid really trying or lower your expectations.

But students who have a “growth mindset” toward learning, and who believe they can really improve over time and with effort, are the ones who who tend to take more chances, progress faster, and see risk and failure as part of the learning process.[4]

“Research suggests that students who view intelligence as innate focus on their ability and its adequacy/inadequacy, whereas students who view intelligence as malleable use strategy and effort as they work toward mastery.”[5]

Bust the Myth

• Know that your beliefs affect your behaviors. Cognitive psychologist Dr. Stephen Chew calls these “beliefs that make you stupid.”
• Apply what you learn in practice. Practice builds accuracy and fluency. This fluency also builds the confidence and flexibility to apply what you’ve learned in different situations.
• Feed your curiosity. Ask questions, perform experiments, talk to experts, work with others, make mistakes, and explore your questions from many different angles. This helps develop a mindset of growth and will take you farther in your development.

Myth 2: I Only Need One Good Method for Studying

If your tried-and-true study strategies aren’t working, use a different approach. Monitor your learning by measuring your knowledge against what you expect. Before you start studying, think about how it will go. Predict your homework and test results, and see if you’re accurate or not. Notice when your expectations fall short of reality, or overshoot it, and adjust your approach accordingly. This is called “metacognition,” and it’s an important part of deep learning.

Bust the Myth

• Reflect on your studying by asking yourself these three questions: What did you do? Was it effective? What can you change?
• Test your perceptions. After an exam, make a prediction of how many questions/problems you answered correctly. When you get the test back, see how your score matched with your prediction. If you were way off, consider changing your study strategy to incorporate more self-testing, spaced study sessions and varied approaches to practice.

• Use strategies like generating your own questions and creating concept maps.

Myth 3: If It’s Easy, I Must Be Learning

When faced with familiar terms or examples, you might find yourself feeling like you really understand the material. But in fact your brain might really just be responding to the fact that it has seen this exact material before. This is called the familiarity trap—when everything seems familiar and your brain doesn’t have to work so hard and so it feels like you’ve mastered the material, even though you haven’t. Try to mix things up as you’re studying.

More and more evidence suggests that confusion is where deep learning lies. It might even be that some level of confusion actually activates the parts of your brain that regulate learning and motivation, helping you achieve a greater level of understanding. If you’re not confused, you might not be learning.

Try not to let yourself get discouraged if it feels like you aren’t understanding something. Not understanding can be a good sign. For a brief explanation, see Learning Goes Through the Land of Confusion by Rhett Alan, a physics professor at Southern Louisiana University.

Bust the Myth

• Retrieve—don’t regurgitate. Develop your own test questions, ask yourself questions, solve sample problems, and analyze for deeper meanings. Need some good questions to ask yourself? Try this: Why is this answer important? What does it relate to? How does this answer connect with what I already know? Can I elaborate this answer? Can I illustrate it with an example? Retrieving what you’ve learned from your memory helps you strengthen connections and relearn each time you do it, that is, every time you retrieve something from memory, you’re essentially re-learning it and creating different pathways for retrieval. The more paths you create to knowledge, the more likely it is that you’ll find a way there when you need it. You can find some more at the Teaching Professor Blog.
• If you’re confused, don’t give up. Working hard to understand a problem or to figure something out isn’t a bad thing, and it will likely lead to a deeper understanding of the material, which will stay with you for a long time. This is especially important if your other courses build on that concept you are grappling with.

Myth 4: Planning My Learning Is a Waste of Time

Being a self-directed learner requires planning. Answering the five questions from the graphic, above, can help to build a disciplined approach, which will help you tackle your academic work.

Planning can also help you develop a workable schedule for studying. “Research shows spacing study episodes out with breaks in between study sessions or repetitions of the same material is more effective than massing such study episodes. Massing practice is akin to cramming all night before the test.”[6]

Planning reduces stress, helps you avoid cramming, and builds skills in metacognition. Planning is an important part of any career or occupation, so learning to plan well contributes to your overall competency. Even learning to plan takes practice, so start early!

Bust the Myth

• Target your studying: Try to study key themes, and take what you know about the exam structure into account when you’re planning. If you know you’ll have an essay, write outlines! If you have to solve problems, go over homework or make up your own problems.
• Review or practice throughout the term. Without regular review, you may have to relearn a large portion of the course right before the final.

Myth 5: Failure should be avoided at all costs

“Every success is built on the ash heap of failed attempts.” This reminder from Prof. Michael Starbird (University of Texas at Austin) offers a good reason not to fear failure. Failure doesn’t often feel good, but it may be your best teacher in helping you learn deeply. In fact, in the book 5 Elements of Effective Thinking, authors Edward Burger and Michael Starbird say that failure is an important foundation on which to build success.

But seeing failure as an opportunity for learning requires a fresh mindset. Once you make a mistake, you can ask, why is THAT wrong? Failure is an important aspect of much creative work, though it goes by a different name: iteration. Iteration is important in refining, working through problems, starting small, and refining until more can be added. Iteration is a feature of work in design, science, technology, and really any field where innovation is important.

Bust the Myth

• Use failure as an opportunity to rethink and relearn. Ask yourself why you got it wrong and what happened. What is an alternative approach? How might a new approach be more successful?

• Give yourself permission to fail. When working through problems or studying unfamiliar concepts, consider allowing yourself to fail nine times before getting it right. This may free your mind to think creatively about solutions without the pressure to “get it right.” You may find that repeated failures may actually lead you to new insights about the problem that you can take into other contexts.

Additional Study Techniques

The following are additional study techniques you can use to work your brain, raise your grades, perform well on assignments, and, most important, learn deeply.

• Consider real-world applications. Use what you are learning when tackling real world events or problems, or consider real-world applications of what you’re learning. Reflect on how the skills and knowledge you are building can be used beyond college. This creates more pathways in your brain and can help keep you motivated.
• Monitor your learning. Self-monitoring your learning includes evaluating, planning, and reflecting on your learning strategies and approaches. Reflecting on what you’ve done helps you see the value of certain strategies that leverage your strengths and improve on your weaknesses. It also increases your sense of control over outcomes.
• Seek specific and meaningful feedback. Ask for and use feedback from instructors, teaching assistants, and peers to adjust your learning and studying techniques. This can help you avoid studying and working very hard without results.
• Chunk the information you’re studying. With chunking, you break the concept you’re struggling with into smaller pieces, and sort those pieces by theme. Focus on understanding these chunks and they’ll be much easier to digest. Test yourself 5–15 minutes later. Mind maps and visual note taking can help with chunking.
• Set priorities. Set realistic goals and prioritize your studying by surveying your syllabus, reviewing material, and identifying the most important topics covered in the class, or areas you’re struggling with.
• Creating association maps. Mind maps and concept maps can lead to meaningful learning, as they force you to reorganize and make sense of the information. Redo your notes as a diagram or as a concept map.
• Make connections. What you’re learning ideally applies to the real world. Make connections between course concepts, different courses, and real-world situations. If you’re having trouble understanding something, ask yourself how these concepts apply to your life.
• Ask questions to reduce bias. Check your thinking by asking questions about what you’re learning. What’s being said? Who is saying it? Why are they saying it? Who else says this? What do I believe? Why do I believe it? What’s missing? Asking good questions helps us solve problems, make thoughtful decisions, and think creatively.

Activity: Describe a Deep-Learning Experience

Objective

• Identify differences between passing a test and gaining knowledge (cramming versus learning)

Directions

• Review the list below of attributes of experiences that led to deep learning. Which of them remind you of an experience you had in which you learned deeply?
• Write a journal-style reflection (1–2 pages) of the deep-learning experience you remember. When and where did it take place? How old were you? Were you with peers? Was it a classroom experience or did it take place in another environment—perhaps not a formal learning environment? What were your feelings at the time? What did you learn? Were you able to apply your newly gained knowledge to a real-world situation?

Some Attributes of Deep-Learning Experiences

• Be actively involved with your learning.
• Be engaged in real and meaningful learning activities.
• Understand how the learning fits into a bigger picture beyond the structure of a course or class.
• Engage in reflective writing that personalizes your learning.
• Sense or believe that you are in a supportive environment without fear of making mistakes or fear of taking risks.
• Sense a freedom from judgment of others.
• Actively synthesize concepts.
• Actively relate the information to your life and experience.
• Actively integrate new ideas and knowledge with existing knowledge.
• Engage in discussion with peers or others.
• Take deep interest in the subject.
• Reflect on your learning.

Getting the Most out of Peer Groups

Studying with fellow classmates and/or working with them on projects and class assignments can significantly enhance deep learning. Group work can help teams chunk bigger tasks into more manageable parts and steps. It can also help participants manage their time better. In addition, group work often involves discussion and collaboration, which can improve everyone’s understanding of the material. Another benefit is the opportunity for feedback on ideas and performance. And working in groups always helps members develop stronger communication skills—both speaking and listening skills.

Studying to Learn (Not Just for Tests)

Late-night cramming is not an effective studying strategy!

You have truly learned material when you can readily recall it and actually use it—on tests or in real-life situations. Effective studying is your most important tool to combat test anxiety, but more important, effective studying helps you truly master the material and be able to apply it as you need to, in school and beyond.

Effective studying is an ongoing process of reviewing course material. The first and most important thing you should know is that studying is not something you do a few days before an exam. To be effective, studying is something you do as part of an ongoing learning process, throughout the duration of the term.

Studying Every Day

Studying begins after each class or assignment when you review your notes. Each study session should involve three steps:

1. Gather your learning materials. Take time to merge your class notes with your reading notes. How do they complement each other? Stop and think. What do the notes tell you about your material? What aspects of the material are you unsure about? Do you need to reread a part of your text? Write down any questions you have for your instructor and pay a visit during office hours. It is better to clear up any misconceptions and get your questions answered soon after you are exposed to the material, rather than to wait, for two reasons: (1) the question or doubt is fresh in your mind and you won’t forget about it and (2) instructors usually build their lessons on material already presented. If you don’t take these steps now, you are setting yourself up for problems later in the course.
2. Apply or visualize. What does this material mean to you? How will you use this new knowledge? Try to find a way to apply it in your own life or thoughts. If you can’t use the knowledge right away, visualize yourself using the knowledge to solve a problem or visualize yourself teaching the material to other students.
3. Cement your knowledge. If you use the two-column note-taking method, cover up the right side of your notes with a piece of paper, leaving the questions in the left column exposed. Test yourself by trying to answer your questions without referring to your notes. How did you do? If you are unsure about anything, look up the answer and write it down right away. Don’t let a wrong answer be the last thing you wrote on a subject, because you will most likely continue to remember the wrong answer.

Studying in Course Units

At the end of each unit, or at least every two weeks or so, use your notes and textbook to write an outline or summary of the material in your own words. (Remember the paragraphs you wrote to summarize each class or reading? They’ll be very helpful to you here.) After you have written the summary or outline, go back and reread your outline from the prior unit followed by the one you just wrote. Does the new one build on the earlier one? Do you feel confident you understand the material?

Studying before the Exam

At least a week before a major exam, ask yourself these questions: What has the instructor said about what is included on the exam? Has the instructor said anything about what types of questions will be included? If you were the instructor, what questions would you ask on an exam? Challenge yourself to come up with some really tough open-ended questions. Think about how you might answer them. Be sure to go to any review sessions the instructor or your section leader holds.

Now go back and review your outlines. Do they cover what the instructor has suggested might be on the exam? After reviewing your outlines, reread the sections of your notes that are most closely associated with expected exam questions. Pay special attention to those items the instructor emphasized during class. Read key points aloud and write them down on index cards. Make flashcards to review in downtimes, such as when you’re waiting for a bus or for a class to start.

More Tips for Success

• Schedule a consistent study-review time for each course at least once a week, in addition to your class and assignment time. Keep to that schedule as rigorously as you do your class schedule. Use your study time to go through the steps outlined earlier; this is not meant to be a substitute for your assignment time.
• Get yourself in the right space. Choose to study in a quiet, well-lit space. Your chair should be comfortable but provide good support. Remember that libraries were designed for reading and should be your first option.
• Minimize distractions. Turn off your cell phone and get away from Facebook, television, other nearby activities, and chatty friends or roommates. All of these can cut into the effectiveness of your study efforts. Multitasking and studying don’t mix.
• If you will be studying for a long time, take short breaks at least once an hour. Get up, stretch, breathe deeply, and then get back to work. (If you keep up with your daily assignments and schedule weekly review sessions for yourself—and keep them—there should be almost no need for long study sessions.)

LICENSES AND ATTRIBUTIONS

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6.2 Studying to Learn (Not Just for Tests) (Links to an external site.) by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (Links to an external site.), except where otherwise noted.

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Ambrose, S.A, Lovett, M.C. (2014) Prior Knowledge is More Than Content: Skills and Beliefs Also Impact Learning, in Benassi, V. A., Overson, C. E., & Hakala, C. M. (Editors). (2014). Applying science of learning in education: Infusing psychological science into the curriculum. Available at the Teaching of Psychology website: http://teachpsych.org/ebooks/asle2014/index.php. ↵ (Links to an external site.)

Clark, C.M., Bjork, R.A. (2014) When and Why Introducing Difficulties and Errors Can Enhance Instruction, in Benassi, V. A., Overson, C. E., & Hakala, C. M. (Editors). (2014). Applying science of learning in education: Infusing psychological science into the curriculum. Available at the Teaching of Psychology website: http://teachpsych.org/ebooks/asle2014/index.php. ↵ (Links to an external site.)

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