Day 15: Learning Technique 3: Chunking

Today we discuss learning technique #3, chunking, states that learning is easier when material is organized into three or four organized units, each of which can contain three or four units. You will learn what this technique is, the science behind it, why you should use it, and finally how you can apply it to accelerate your learning.

Resources for this lesson:

• Transcripts
• Worksheet
• List of Scientific References

Summary

What is Chunking?

The principle of chunking states that learning is easier when material is organized into three or four organized units, each of which can contain three or four units.

• If you can start consolidating learned material into chunks of information, you're gearing to more easily remember that information.
• This works so effectively because we store information in our minds as organized units, not individual isolated bits of information.

Why it matters: Storing consolidated chunks of information into are memory allows us to retrieve larger amounts of information later, bring it into our working memory, and apply it.

What does the science say?

If you recall, your working memory [1] can only hold up to about four pieces of information in the mind at once. If you're trying to hold too many things in your working memory it becomes overwhelmed.

During learning, we move information from our working memory to our long-term memory.  

• The set of links, or chunks of information, that you can create in your long-term memory is virtually limitless.
• Now compare that to our working memory, where we can only hold four concepts in our mind at once.
• So by moving these things to our long-term. These sets of links serve as pre-worked extensions of your working memory. They boost the power of your working memory.

These chunks of information can be easily accessed and used to solve problems and understand concepts in the future.

Why should you use it?

Chunking allows you to store information that you're learning faster, put it into long-term memory, and retrieve more easily later.

When you start working on bigger and more complex problems, you don't have to hold all this information in your working memory. You only recall it when you need it.

How do you use it?

The basic process is:

1. Examine the totality of a subject or skill that you need to learn. What are all the pieces of information that you need to be able to learn to actually use this skill or fully understand it?
2. Breakdown the skill or concept into manageable chunks or organizable units of 3 or 4 concepts.  A good place to start is with the fundamentals of the subject.
3. Spend time mastering each individual chunk to perfection
4. Spend time integrating multiple chunks together until you get the concept just right as a whole.

A good practice: Try and get one chunk down per day. As you start mastering all these chunks, put them together in larger chunks and more complex variations of the skill.

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Activity

To practice this technique, pick a skill or concept that you're learning and begin to break it down into chunks that you could practice or begin studying.

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Skill Lesson Mastered

Demonstrate mastery of the knowledge and skills presented in this lesson by applying it to the above activity. If, and only if, you have a full understanding and have mastered the knowledge and skills presented in this lesson, select the next lesson in the navigation.