Thinking hard is the key to effective learning (and studying), whether at school, at home or when being tutored. But why? And what does thinking hard actually involve?
Why Think Hard?
Because of the role memory plays in learning.
When you think about something, you leave a memory trace. A memory trace is like a pathway that you can follow to find a particular memory later.
But not all pathways are equal. Imagine a field of long grass. A mouse makes its way through it, leaving a trace or pathway – but a very subtle one.
Later, an elephant walks through the field, leaving a clearer, easier-to-follow trace or pathway.
When you think hard about something, you leave a clearer memory trace.
In turn, this memory trace provides an easy-to-follow pathway back to the memory when you need to recall it.
What Thinking Hard Involves
You can think hard when you are:
- Taking in new information
- Remembering old information
Taking In New Information
Thinking hard when taking in new information starts with making sense of the new information or, put another way, focusing on what it means. Psychologists refer to this as deep processing.
Continuing the analogy to walking through a field of long grass, thinking hard while taking in new information is like stomping your feet as you walk. It leaves a deeper memory trace.
But you develop that understanding by connecting new information to what you already know and believe. If you just read about the woolly mammoths, the information makes more sense when you connect it to what you know about elephants. Mammoths:
- Have fur, while elephants do not
- Have longer tusks than elephants
- About the same size as African elephants
- Look like Asian elephants
Remembering Old Information
Remember thinking hard when taking in new information is akin to stomping your feet while walking through a field of long grass.
Thinking hard by actively recalling that information is like repeatedly walking the same path through the grass (each time you bring it to mind).
Both leave a clearer pathway. In turn, this makes the pathway easier to follow when needed.
Psychologists originally referred to this as the testing effect. That is, testing that forces you to recall things helps you do so again in the future.
This is likely quite different to your understanding of testing, which is typically an assessment of your learning. The testing effect refers to using assessment as learning.
But it is not just about the effect of typical tests. Rather, it refers to any activity that makes you strive to bring previously learned information to mind.
You could use words such as remembering, recalling or retrieving (fetching) rather than testing. So, these days, psychologists frequently call the testing effect the retrieval practice effect.
How to Think Hard (and what not to do)
So, what specific things should you do to think hard? And what common strategies should you avoid?
First, always judge a strategy by the amount of thinking it involves. But, that said, research reveals some study strategies that:
- Work well because they do this
- Don’t work well because they typically don’t involve thinking hard
4 Strategies That Involve Thinking Hard When Taking In Information
- Connect it to your existing understanding: How does it add to what you already know? How does it change an existing understanding?
- Organise your learning: How do different things you learn fit together? For example, note categorical, cause-effect, comparative and sequential relationships.
- Dual coding: When noting new information, make use of both words, visuals and graphic organisers (e.g., mind maps, concept maps, Venn diagrams)
- How & why questions? Ask yourself how and why questions. Why may this be the case? Why is this the case? How does this work?
2 Strategies That Typically Don’t Involve Thinking Hard
Two of the more common strategies students use don’t involve much thinking, so they don’t help you learn. Many students choose them because they are easy (not much thinking) or don’t know better.
- Rereading: Reading notes or material from a textbook seldom involves thinking hard, so is usually ineffective.
- Highlighting: Highlighting while rereading also doesn’t take much mental effort, so it is not a great help to you.
2 Strategies for Thinking Hard When Pulling Things Out of Memory
Pulling things out of memory (practice) takes more mental effort than taking information in. As a result, these strategies tend to be even more effective than the 4 I listed above.
- Retrieval Practice: Find ways to test yourself, such as practice questions, textbook quizzes, practice tests, flashcards, and similar activities. Recreate things you created when taking in information, such as notes, mind maps, and Venn diagrams. But do so from memory, then check how you went.
- Spaced Practice: Space out your retrieval practice over time rather than cramming it all in at the end. But this doesn’t just mean doing some practice each week. It means practising some of the same stuff multiple times and adding new stuff each time.
1 Strategy That Doesn’t Work Well
- Crammed Practice: Cramming your practice into the night, or event, the week before a test does not work well because it doesn’t leave a clearer pathway for your mind to follow.
Thinking Hard in a Nutshell
Thinking hard creates a mental pathway that your mind follows when trying to remember stuff later on. The harder you think, the clearer that pathway is and the easier it will be to follow in the future.
You should find ways to think harder:
- When taking in new information
- By retrieving information or testing yourself
