Brain Hacks To Facilitate Learning - Part 2

Featured article for this week's Brief

Read time: 3.5 min

Big Idea

Employ more Brain Hacks to enhance learning (follows Brain Hacks - Part 1).

Top Thoughts

• Understanding and applying brain-friendly learning techniques, like brain hacks, enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of learning processes.

• Using music strategically and aligning it with learning objectives and individual preferences, can enhance cognitive functions and improve focus, mood, and stress levels.

• The concept of "varying conditions of practice," which outlines how people study, learn, and apply new skills in different contexts, leads to stronger adaptability and more sophisticated mental models.

• Set aside time each day to read material that will challenge you, stretch your thinking and challenge your brain.

• Journaling can improve decision-making and communication skills by encouraging reflection, reducing stress and anxiety, and enabling individuals to challenge biases and assumptions.

• Learning through play creates a positive, receptive state that enhances attention, problem-solving, and collaboration.

• Using sentence starters as a reflective learning technique can significantly improve knowledge retention, motivation, and self-efficacy and reduce anxiety.

• Practising mindfulness while learning leads to improved focus, attention, retention, self-control, and performance scores.

• Using simple cues or triggers, core beliefs can be shifted by unlearning and changing ingrained behaviors and reinforcing desired changes through ongoing practice and feedback.

Quick Quotes

• “Brain hacks will help you to either establish or strengthen connections between new and existing knowledge. So each brain hack helps one or more of these processes of intake, encode, retrieve to work more effectively.”

• “Research has shown that listening to music as we learn impacts our language and motor skills, along with our focus and creativity. In addition, music can impact our ability to comprehend material and solve problems. Music impacts our working memory. The impact music has in all of these areas can be positive or negative; it all depends on how we use music, what type of music, and our individual music preferences.”

• "Effective learning requires deliberate practice that happens over time, engages us with the content deeply, and happens under different conditions."

• “Regular reading practice can dramatically improve your memory, your ability to learn and make connections, and strengthen your brain.”

• "Journaling can also be used as a reflective tool to challenge biases, assumptions, and firmly held beliefs. It's a powerful tool for learning because journaling changes the wiring of your brain."

• “Playable learning actually puts us in a playful and receptive state. And this can make learning more durable. It increases our attention and engagement, opens us up to more teachable moments. It can also take more difficult concepts that might be abstract and make them more concrete and give them a context which makes them easier to learn and understand. Learning through play lights up our brain's reward center. This releases dopamine and oxytocin, which make us feel good. And that actually puts us in a positive state that encourages the creation of new neural pathways. It creates a powerful connection between learning and neural activity, which helps solidify and store information and make it easier to recall.

• "Research indicates that when you spend time thinking about what you're learning or reflecting on it, it can increase your ability to retain that new knowledge by as much as 25 percent."

• "Mindfulness isn't a woo-woo thing; it's the ability to bring awareness to the present moment and to take note of your emotions, thoughts, and the environment around you. It is a way to clear your mind so you can be fully present."

• “Unlearning… describes our ability to learn new things as we gradually replace old ways of knowing and doing. But don't think of unlearning as erasing behavior or knowledge... Instead, think of it as rebuilding and restructuring with newer and better materials. In order to do that restructuring, our brain needs to create new neural pathways, and that can only happen with sustained practice over time.”

Actionable Advice

1. Use learning accelerators like nutrition, exercise, stress management, and quality sleep to enhance the ability to learn and perform effectively.

2. Create learning-specific playlists that align with tasks and goals, leveraging music to improve focus, lower stress, and boost positive moods.

3. "Vary the conditions of practice" by engaging in different learning methods or changing the physical environment where you practice your skills to promote adaptability and strengthen the ability to apply skills in different contexts. This leads to more effective problem-solving, better decision-making, and the development of more comprehensive expertise.

4. Receive reading recommendations from friends and colleagues to expand your knowledge range and engage in discussions.

5. Leverage journaling to track long-term learning goals and progress in meeting those goals - Corporate executives can use journaling as a tool to set and monitor their professional development goals, track progress, and stay motivated to achieve their objectives, which can ultimately lead to improved decision-making and communication skills in a corporate environment.

6. Incorporate "playable learning" to enhance engagement, foster collaboration, and promote risk-taking in a positive learning environment.

7. Use the "sentence starters" technique to develop reflective learning and increase learning retention, motivation, and self-efficacy.

8. Check-in with your emotions before, during, and after learning any material to assess and manage your emotional states. This encourages learning with a positive and receptive mindset, leading to improved focus, retention, and performance.

9. Use a simple cue to facilitate behavior change. Pause and evaluate your actions before making decisions or contributions; practice active listening and consider alternative perspectives before speaking.

Source(s)

Koch, D.A. (2021, Nov 19). Brain Hacks - Why Brain Hacks Work. [Youtube Video]. Accenture. (Link)

Gerard, B. (2021, Oct 7). Brain Hacks - Get Musical to Get Learning. [Youtube Video]. Accenture. (Link)

Chandran, R. (2021, Dec 21). Brain Hacks - Power Up Your Practice. [Youtube Video]. Accenture. (Link)

Horn, A. (2021, Dec 23). Brain Hacks - Reading is Learning Magic. [Youtube Video]. Accenture. (Link)

Jones, E. (2022, Jan 21). Brain Hacks - Journaling is Brain Happiness. [Youtube Video]. Accenture. (Link)

Leckman, T. (2021, Nov 8). Brain Hacks - Playable Learning. [Youtube Video]. Accenture. (Link)

Koch, D.A. (2022, Feb 10). Brain Hacks - Sentence Starters. [Youtube Video]. Accenture. (Link)

Wilkes, J. (2022, Feb 10). Brain Hacks - Mindful Learning. [Youtube Video]. Accenture. (Link)

Koch, D.A., & Chandran, R. (2022, Mar 7). Brain Hacks - "Unlearn" to Learn. [Youtube Video]. Accenture. (Link)