I Finally Have Clean Clothes

The second day of class had a slightly different focus than the first. Yesterday was more of an introduction to the general basics of psychology, such as how the method of measuring constructs should be included in a question and the different types of validity. You can measure a construct like weight, for example, with a scale, but the units and method have to be stated in the question. An example could be using test scores as scales of intelligence or understanding. Today, however, we delved a little deeper into the field, and looked into different methods of practice and how and why they contribute to more effective learning.

We first went over what doesn’t work well, and these were rather surprising; re-reading of text and massed, repetitive practice are actually not the most effective or efficient ways of studying. Re-reading is a very deceptive act. Apparently, when you re-read, you’re simply familiarizing yourself with the text as opposed to actually learning and understanding the material. This can lead to a false sense of knowledge.

Some learning tools/study methods that do work effectively are the processes known as retrieval, spacing, and interleaving. Retrieval is essentially the recall of something. To put it into a school context, it’s like testing yourself on what you read after you read it. It works because when the brain has to work to recall something, it strengthens the memory of what you recalled. Retrieval in a self-testing format also has other positive effects, such as acting as an indicator for how much a student may know. Spacing and interleaving kind of work together. Spacing is the act of allowing some forgetting to happen before the topic is practiced again; the main premise behind this is similar to that of retrieval. It operates on the fact that if your brain has to work to remember something, then your ability to recall whatever it was is enhanced. Interleaving is a form of spacing. Basically, interleaving is the mixing of a variety of related topics in the same study session. It works because as you recognize the differences and connections between each topic, you gain a better understanding of the broader picture. This part of the lesson was really interesting to me; I don’t like re-reading, so I already use strategies such as self-testing, and I think that it’s important to work on a number of skills instead of just one, so I naturally use interleaving in my study sessions. Learning why these strategies worked was a confirmation of my existing beliefs.

We also explored the differences and traits of working memory and long-term memory. Working memory is the information that you are processing in your brain; reading is an activity that engages your working memory. Long-term memory is the storehouse of all the knowledge that you have memorized and can recall. The long-term capacity of a human being is basically limitless. When problem-solving, working memory and long-term memory are used together. Basically, your working memory processes the situation, and your brain searches for possible solutions in your long-term memory. Because recall from long-term memory is much faster than trying to solve a question like it is your first time seeing it, the brain’s first resort is to see if there is any information in the long-term memory that could be used. This part of the lesson was very informative to me; it explained why I could solve some math problems a lot more quickly than others, even if they were of similar difficulty, the reason being that I had a better memory of the procedure.

The exterior of the library.

That kind of leads into the next, and final, major topic that I gleaned from today’s class--knowledge must precede creativity. This part of the lecture was my favorite, because it validated my opinion against all of the people who claim that memorization or acquisition of factual knowledge is unnecessary. I don’t think that creativity is bad or less important than having factual knowledge, but I do think that you must have factual knowledge available to be creative with, if that makes sense. In other words, I think that it’s necessary to have procedures and facts that you can draw on and manipulate to your advantage. Everything that was said in this section of the class was similar to my previous thoughts on the topic. We learned that although our recent academic culture places much emphasis on the ability of students to critically think and analyze, students must have sufficient knowledge in their long-term memory to do so. Basically, the long-term memory tank must have a good amount of gas if the working memory engine is to function well.

After class, I went with Lucy and Jerry to the Joe and Rika Mansueto Library, known among us as the “Silent Library” because of the no-talking signs everywhere. It’s essentially a giant glass dome filled with rows of people studying. The level of silence was surreal. Whenever anyone dropped their pencil, it sounded like a thunderclap.

A stairwell in the library.

Finally getting clean.

From the library, we went to eat dinner, which was fairly standard. I was watching a video of Gordon Ramsay making burgers earlier, so I had a burger, with toasted buns and everything. After dinner, I went to the “late night soccer” activity, hosted by the RA Jude. It was a really casual game, and everyone had fun. We technically weren’t keeping score, but if you were wondering, my team won, 10-8. It was a great time, and I got to meet some people that I haven’t seen before.

Soccer ended at around 9:30 PM, so from there I went back to the dorms and showered. I had agreed earlier with Olivia that we would split laundry machines, so after my shower we went down to the laundry room and put our clothes in the machines. To get to the laundry room, you have to kind of feel your way underground for a while, because all of the halls and turns look really similar. In the room, there was some suspicious-looking underwear on the ground, but it was fairly clean otherwise.

The walk to the laundry room.

The day ended with me finally being able to put on a fresh pair of pajamas for the first time in what feels like forever. Today was exhausting. I learned a lot and got a lot done, and I also did a lot that I haven’t done here before.