The Key to Better Learning Is Self-Explanation
If you think about learning conceptually, it’s like learning the material on your own. That’s the whole point, right? But simply memorizing flashcards is probably not the best approach for long-term retention. It turns out there is another important step: self-explanation, the part of learning that comes after you review your notes, texts, and other materials. This concept of self-explanation can help students retain knowledge more effectively instead of just regurgitating facts and figures. Let’s figure out how to put this into practice.
What is self-explanation?
Self-explanation occurs when you take new information you have learned and connect it to information you already know. This means that instead of just reading and absorbing the material, you take part of the study session to think deeply about what it really means and how it applies to real life. Explanation comes when you explain to yourself how new ideas relate to ideas you already understand well, whether in other scientific fields or in the real world.
Ideally, you should do this after you have read and reviewed a chapter or section of the book. After each chapter, spend five to 10 minutes explaining yourself using one of the methods described below.
How to Use Self-Explanation While Studying
Scheduling time to sit and quietly think about how what you’re learning relates to other ideas can seem abstract and a little silly, so here are some concrete ways you can actually engage in self-explanation.
Search practice
First, any retrieval practice in which you actively work to retrieve information from memory will help you get started. The methods you usually use to practice memorization —such as using flashcards, summarizing chapters, or taking a practice test—will be helpful in starting to analyze the material more deeply and making sure it comes to mind easily. While you’re doing this, self-explanation comes into play. For example, you could try discussing new material with a classmate or group, focusing not only on what you learned, but also on its practical applications and associations with other materials or real-world events.
Burning out
If you are alone, try adapting the blurting method to suit your self-explanation needs. As you rehearse, you write down everything you can remember about what you just learned, and then use your notes and text to identify gaps in your memory. Here, you might instead try to blurt out or write a “minute note” about what the material actually means. For example, if you study bonds in an accounting class, you don’t just need to be able to indicate whether bonds are selling at a discount or a premium; you want to understand the implications this has for the person or entity holding the bond. In your speech or minutes, describe what the reason for trading bonds at a discount might be and what the outcome would be for an organization that does so. Don’t just analyze how you would journal this if you were an accountant, but think about why the journal entry would look the way it does and what such an entry would be used for in real life. Understanding why something is done the way it is, not just that it’s done a certain way, will help you learn and remember the material better, even if you just need to pass a test and don’t plan to make a living as an accountant. .
Keep asking “why?”
If you come across something that you cannot easily apply to other concepts you already understand, refer back to the text and notes for more information. Look for more information from external sources such as other publications or even ChatGPT, and keep asking “why?” until it makes sense. At the end of your self-explanation, you should be able to explain why the facts you learned are true and what makes them important. Even if it doesn’t show up on the test, it will help you remember the facts better when you need them and give you an even better basis for self-explanation in other classes.