As we have learned in the last video, choosing to pay attention to information
places it in your immediate memory.
Creating interest and variety with lots of small goals and forging links
with other things that you already know helps process information in your working memory.
We now need to learn how to help transfer the things that you are learning
to your long term memory!
G'­day, and welcome to Crystal Clear Mathematics
where it IS easier than you think! I'­m your host, Graeme Henderson.
The third part of your memory is called long term memory.
Now, I'­m sure you'­ve heard of this term before.
Ideally, this is where all of your useful information should be stored,
so that you can recall it whenever you need,
even months or years after you first learned it.
Imagine if you could remember everything that you wished to remember
without significant effort!
Exams requiring only knowledge recall and basic skills would be so easy!
Of course, in reality, no one can remember things without effort.
Your study goal, however, is to store things in your long term memory
as efficiently as possible.
Now, to store things in your long term memory
at least three significant things must be in place.
If you have not satisfied these three conditions
it'­s quite likely that you will forget whatever you have just been doing or learning.
Condition Number One is 'Sense and Meaning.'­
It'­s absolutely vital that you understand the material.
If you simply use a formula and follow the pattern the teacher explained
and especially if you do it in a distracted way
it is likely that you will forget all that you have done and this is a waste.
If you can say after a mathematics lesson or after your homework has been completed,
"I don'­t understand,"
this is a huge warning light to you that this condition has not been met.
How can you increase your understanding?
By participating fully in class (so your time there isn'­t wasted),
asking your teacher or your tutor for help,
asking friends, reading books, watching YouTube videos -
by doing whatever you need in order to understand.
Ideally, you will ask questions in class - the very best place to ask them.
This shouldn'­t cause embarrassment but, unfortunately,
you and I live in a world of bullying and shaming people,
so you may have to ask your teacher for help outside class time.
I remember one brave girl that I had in one of my classes some years ago.
During just one lesson, she answered thirteen of my questions in a row
(yes, I did count them) and she got every single answer wrong!
I had to defend her against some in the class who wanted to laugh at her
and then took the time to explain to her and the class
what the correct answer was, and why.
I'­m delighted to report that, for that topic, she rose from the bottom of the class
to very, very near the top in a matter of two weeks!
I was so impressed!
For this particular topic, because she bravely engaged with the lessons,
she satisfied this condition - she understood!
If only the rest of the class had engaged in the same way
we could have had an amazing time!
The Second Condition for storing things in your long term memory is
'Value and Relevance.'
This question of value and relevance is a difficult one!
Unfortunately, for you to remember work well you must actually WANT to remember it!
It must have some value for you.
I am sure you are familiar with the warning questions:
"Why do we have to study this?" "When will I ever use this?"
If you'­ve asked these questions, then this condition
has not been satisfied for you and it'­s highly likely
that your study will be ineffective and that you will struggle with your mathematics.
I'­m going to make some comments and observations here
but my answers may not satisfy you.
I very much hope that they do help, however.
First of all I want to ask a serious but difficult question of you.
If you found mathematics easier to do and were succeeding at it,
would your attitude be different?
If you think it might be, then satisfying this condition
may be easier for you.
If you think you would still hate mathematics,
you'­ve got some real soul-searching to do if you are to satisfy this condition
and succeed in the subject even if you don'­t like it.
Let'­s examine those two questions more closely.
Will you ever use this mathematics?
I'­ve got my own reasons for studying mathematics
but I'­m aware that they'­re my reasons, and not yours.
In truth, you may never need to recall trigonometry or calculus
or quadratic equations after you leave school.
But there is so much that you now do or know that you may never use again.
Some of you may do gymnastics or skateboard or surf or play a musical instrument -
in fact, you might be doing all kinds of things at the moment
that you may never do after you leave school and other priorities in life have taken over.
If you'­ve invested time in learning something that you may never use again or do again
after you leave school, has it been a waste?
When you see things on television, or on YouTube, or in the news,
or are chatting about them with people, you'­ll have a much wider appreciation of life.
Even though you may not be an artist, for example,
you may be glad that you leaned some art history and appreciation.
After having learned some trigonometry, you may find that you understand
what goes on when someone surveys the land that you buy
or how the ships or planes that you travel on
navigate from place to place, or how mapping and GPS works.
You may never wish to work in those areas, but knowing about them may not be a total waste.
Now, I know what I'­ve just said may not convince you,
but it may help a little.
In either case, the bigger question is probably the other one!
Why do we have to study this?
The answer that many teachers give to this question
is that it will be in the exams.
But, you and I both know this doesn'­t motivate you enough.
In fact, all it may do is add to your stress levels
and raise your anxiety levels but it doesn'­t really make the work
valuable to you!
Now you'­re going to hear something from me that'­s a bit confrontational -
who is it that ultimately has to answer that question?
Your teacher may attempt to answer it, but ultimately YOU are the one
who has to find an answer that you are satisfied with.
If you went to your local sports coach or your music teacher, for example,
and repeatedly asked why you had to practise some skill,
the answers would always be given in the context of succeeding
at what you are doing.
Why do you learn layup shots in basketball?
So that you can increase your score rate in games.
Why do you practise scales in music?
Because you ultimately become a much better musician
if you have that skill deeply embedded in you.
The honest answer to why you are learning different aspects of mathematics at school
is to make you a better mathematician.
And here'­s the problem -
you chose to learn that sport or that instrument
but doing mathematics at school is compulsory!
So, how can you overcome this problem?
The fact is simple really, but not necessarily pleasant for you to hear.
You must learn, somehow, to like or enjoy or want to learn the subject
or forever struggle with it.
And, there it is in all its simplicity.
Now, I need to ask you a deep and very serious question.
Are you prepared to find mathematics interesting
or is your hatred of it so deep-seated by now
that you can'­t even comprehend of that?
The sad fact is that, if you cannot want to study the subject,
you are going to always find it quite difficult to commit material to long term memory.
So, I would like you to take some time during the next few hours or days or weeks
to really think deeply about this and to think it through -
whether you are prepared to find mathematics interesting
or useful or to want to study it.
Now, if you are prepared to have your attitude changed,
then the answer is relatively simple to say but it may be difficult to achieve.
Listen carefully. I have never skateboarded.
Well, I'­ve been on a skateboard two or three times.
But, to be honest, I'­ve no great desire to learn.
If I wanted to learn however, I would seek out a really good
and inspiring skateboarder and ask him or her to teach me.
One of my friends is actually a very talented skateboarder
and has been deeply involved in the local skateboarding scene for years.
In the same way, if you wanted to feel better about your mathematics
you need to find others who are talented and enthusiastic about it
and who can teach you.
For some of you this may be your teacher.
If they are talented, enthusiastic and approachable,
you may need to have a serious chat with them outside class time.
Sadly, some of you will have really dull, boring and unenthusiastic teachers.
This is just a fact of life.
Try to stay on good terms with them. Don'­t aggravate them.
But you won'­t be able to rely on them to inspire you in any way.
You could try other teachers, good tutors, a mathematics club,
some of your peers,
as long as you can have a good laugh and some fun as you learn.
Search YouTube for videos, visit your school or your local library
and look through the mathematics section for something that interests you
(codes, puzzles, patterns and designs in art, mathematics in music and all kinds of things).
Ask your parents or other adults if they know of anyone in the local area
who'­s enthusiastic about mathematics and uses it in some interesting way
(like in electronics or building or radio control for example).
Keep seeking and asking around.
If you were wanting to get good at some sport
I'­m sure you would hunt around for the best coach you could find.
Do the same for your mathematics and, hopefully, the people and the resources
that you find will be able to help and inspire you so that
your school lessons are not all you experience of the subject.
If you can answer this question for yourself and say that you are learning mathematics
because it is interesting or stimulating or challenging or useful
or even because you like it, your chances of storing volumes of material
in your long term memory have just increased massively!
The Third Condition for storing information and skills
in your long term memory is 'Rehearsal and Repetition.'
If the first two conditions have been fulfilled, this one is rather easier to manage.
I'­ve described in a previous video how to use your diary
to effectively study things at regular intervals in order to remember them well.
Please take what I shared to heart and use your diary as an effective study tool.
Use variety.
Remember that revision can be oral (that is, speaking it out aloud),
aural (listening to a recording or someone else speaking),
relational (being quizzed by someone or discussing the topic with them),
mental, done on paper - revision can be done in many, many ways.
In the next video I'll discuss how to use rehearsal and repetition
to learn facts and skills.
This is Graeme Henderson encouraging you to become familiar with your memory
and encouraging you to learn how to learn.
Please subscribe, like or comment on this video.
Thank you.