The CHAMPS Way to Learn

INTRODUCTION

The brain has three special parts:

·      The intelligent (thinking) brain, which stores memories, learns, thinks and creates

·      The emotional (middle) brain, which controls emotions, moods, feelings and decides what you will remember

·      Brain stem (primitive brain), which controls heartbeat, breathing, and sleep and reacts to danger and stress

When you are scared, worried or stressed, your mind can go blank and your brain can shut down

The thinking brain has two halves:

·      The right half deals with patterns, art and music, intuition, creativity, melody, and seeing the whole picture

·      The left half deals with facts and details, numbers, symbols, logic, song lyrics, and speech/language/words

The emotional, middle brain (called the limbic system) takes in info from your senses, and sends it to the thinking brain, if it interprets it as something worthwhile. If it is information derived in a pleasurable way, you learn and remember it well.

If information is received when you are stressed, worried or feeling threatened, it can sabotage your ability to think

STEP 1 C=CONFIDENT TO LEARN

Visualize yourself as a successful learner (say it feel it do it)

Use positive self-talk, especially before drifting off to sleep

Relax

Deep breathing, neck rolls, hand squeezes, press temples, drink a glass if water, take a brain break every 30 minutes

Set your goals

Write them down, visualize them, make a plan of action and reward yourself

Get organized

Manage your time, plan your homework, have a learning corner

Be fit

Aerobic exercise, brain food, plenty of water, deep breathing, adequate sleep

STEP 2 H=HOME IN ON THE FACTS

Scan info to get the big picture

Flip through the book, look at index, chapter headings, pictures, captions, summaries, graphs, things that catch your eye etc…

Digest information one piece at a time

Jot down what you know-use keywords and phrases

Ask yourself questions

5 w’s and how

Tip taking chapter headings and turn them into questions

Use your three learning senses

Hearing, seeing, physical action (take notes, act something out etc…)

The more you see it, hear it, say it and do it the faster you learn

People remember:

·      20% of what they read

·      30% of what they hear

·      40% of what they see

·      50% of what they say

·      60% of what they do

·      90% if they do all of the above

Get facts visually (highlight notes, learning maps, mental movies, pictures, diagrams etc…)

auditorially (dramatic reading, tape recording, teaching a friend)

physically (make a model, walk around, act it out, check things off a list, move around, post it notes etc…)

STEP 3 A=ACTION

Use your 8 intelligences to learn:

Linguistic (put it in your own words, make question flash cards)

Mathematical/Logical (put things in order, sort things out, use lists, keywords etc…)

Visual/Spatial (learning maps, posters, diagrams, mental movies)

Musical (use background music, make a rhyme or rap)

Inter-personal (teach it to someone else, have a study buddy)

Intra-personal (feel the subject, imagine what it was like etc…)

Physical (write it down, act it out)

Naturalist (n/a)

STEP 4 M=MEMORIZE IT

Look upward and to the left when you want to memorize something

The short-term memory can hold up to seven bits of information at one time

To transfer information from short-term to long-term memory:

·      Do something physical

·      Picture it vividly

·      Link it to something you already know

·      Repeat it

·      Break the information into smaller chunks

·      Sleep on it

To develop a super memory:

·      Pay close attention

·      Notice details

·      Relax

·      Review with flash cards

·      Do a running commentary, read and talk out loud

·      Number points you want to remember

·      Draw learning maps

STEP 5 P=PROVE YOU KNOW

·      Build a question bank of key word and points of things you learned in class, problems and questions from your textbooks, homework and old tests

·      Double-check your work

·      Do practice quizzes with a study buddy

·      Have review cards with key words and bullet points

·      Make a mental movie

·      Practice in your head

·      Act it out

·      Teach someone else

·      Write an essay

·      Make a learning map

·      Review information close in time to when you first learned it. You can forget up to 75% of it if you don’t!

STEP 6 S=SIT BACK AND THINK

·      Reflect on what you learned

·      Put it to use quickly

·      Keep a learning log

·      Push your comfort zone

LEARNING MAPS:

·      Start in the center with a BOLD title or picture

·      Use only keyword in BOLD CAPITAL letters

·      Put main topics on thick branches, subtopics and details on thinner, smaller branches

·      Use lots of colors, pictures and symbols

·      No crowding, lots of white space

·      Use lots of imagination

·      Put ??? on area you want to go back to or don’t understand

·      Redraw the map if you want to

CHAMPS learning method

http://www.learntolearn.org/