Day 31: Learning Technique 17: Generation

Today we discuss our learning technique #17, generation, which  the idea of creating something new which allows you to remember things better by actively engaging with the information and creating your own version of it.  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 the Generation Effect?

The Generation Effect is the idea of creating something new which allows you to remember things better by actively engaging with the information and creating your own version of it.

• Scientists described [1] it as the phenomenon where information is better remembered if it is actively created from one's own mind, rather than simply reading it in a passive way.

Why it matters: The real masters of any skill are not only able to understand and apply that skill, but also able to generate entirely new ways of using a skill.

What does the science say?

To this day, researchers are still not quite sure how the generation effect actually works.

Some think creating your own material based on what you want to learn may activate your semantic memory, which is the general world knowledge such as facts, ideas, and concepts.

• The learning benefits of actively constructing knowledge has been noted [5] in several areas, including mathematics, reading comprehension and trivia questions.

Others think that the process of generating content may initiate some particular encoding processes that do not happen when simply reading.

• Generating answers increases the likelihood [3] that you will recall or recognize information later when compared to passive activities, such as reading .
• Generative activities encourage learners [4] to use methods during learning or encoding that can be invoked during retrieval of the learned information.

Another theory is that actively manipulating new information may create relationships between each item, facilitating the retrieval of information when it’s needed.

• Learners are more likely [2] to retain information when asked to produce or generate an answer compared to having that same information provided to them.

Whatever the origin of the Generation Effect, it has been shown [6] to help a lot when it comes to learning and remembering information..

Why should you use it?

You will build your muscle of actually applying the skills that you're learning by recalling it from memory and generating new things in the real world.

Every great inventor, thinker, or entrepreneur, has the ability to create new things from all the material that they know.

How do you use it?

Trying solving problems before looking over the material that you learned.

• To take this a step further, approach problems you've never seen before and try to solve them based on the different concepts and information that are in your memory.
• The act of engaging in the problem solving process, hugely enhances our understanding of recall. This is even true. If we don't manage to get the correct answer.

Other ways you can apply the generation technique is by:

• Reading half a chapter and start asking yourself questions about what you're reading, trying to develop a concept and generate the idea before you finish reading the text.
• Watching a video a quarter or halfway through and generate what you think will happen next.
• After you're done reading a blog post, go to another tab or open your notebook and try and write out a few bullet points about the content from your memory.
• If you're doing something like learning how to code, try to read a tutorial in a focused way and then apply what you learned without looking at the tutorial.
• Or when you're trying to memorize anything, ask someone to quiz you so you can start generating your own answers on those concepts.
• Teach the material to someone else.

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Activity

After listening to this lesson, write down in your own words what the generation effect is and how someone else could use.

Or go through some of the different studies about the generation effect, read about halfway through the document, and then try and develop your own ideas about the generation effect and continue reading the document and see if they match.

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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.