LEARNING TECHNIQUES for EASY LEARNING

by Sarada Ramani  Ph.D

Prelude

I graduated in 1955. My aim was to enter Social Welfare field. So I underwent training in Social Education, Child welfare and Family Planning. I was working as Women’s Welfare Officer till my marriage. After the birth on my child I chose teaching profession due to personal reasons. There too I had a chance of serving three communities- Teachers, Students and Parents. During this period I added three Masters, Two Diplomas, B.Ed and a Ph.D. All these degrees are connected with teaching in school and later in the University. Even after retirement I am conducting coaching classes for the poor children who are backward in studies especially in Math.

Outside comfortable Zone

Teaching profession broadened my passion to go outside my comfort zone-teaching-to learn something new. My preliminary attempt to go outside my area was when I wanted to do something connected with Computer Science. This desire was actually motivated by the instructor who taught me the basic course in computation. I joined Indira Gandhi Open University to do MCA.I passed MCA when I was 69 years old. In 74th year I finished another Ph.D. in English.  When I came to know about Coursera last year, I thought there will be no end for my learning till I am fit to learn. Last year I completed Introductory Human Physiology and this year Social Psychology. Now I have joined Learning How to Learn.

Procrastination

I underwent training in homoeopathy for four years along with other holistic therapies and yoga as they are useful in my counseling and treating the patients for their simple ailments. Knowledge in Human Physiology is helpful to know the functioning and malfunctioning of human system. Social Psychology is useful in counseling the students and others. But without the knowledge of Biology I thought I cannot cope with physiology. This was a road block for me sometime. To get over that, I started reading the lessons repeatedly besides learning from articles in internet. Yet I felt I was not good for this subject. There Procrastination peeped in. I took a break for some time. This gave me an answer. When I could so MCA without the knowledge in Discrete math and Statistics why can’t I learn this subject in which I had a base earlier in homeopathy training. There after no break in my learning different subjects. The break in between helped me to focus my mind to avoid Procrastination.

Pomodoro

Though I started with confidence I was stuck up with the details in each topic in Physiology. I did not know how to remember the functions of the systems in human body. I split the topics into small units and studied each unit for half an hour and gave a break for some time. If needed, I used to sit for short sessions one or two more times a day after an interval in between. At times I switched between different topics to avoid frustration. Memorization of technical terms and working of the calculations wherever necessary was a great help in making my learning the new subject easy.

Testing

 I wrote notes on each chapter and had spaced repetitions on the topic. Writing is the method to have a deeper and effective learning. After reading each chapter, I tested myself answering the questions at the end of each chapter. This method was very helpful in facing the exam or quiz with much confidence. Also theses were the base for my learning Social Psychology with ease.

Points for becoming good in multiplication:

Anyone can learn math whether they're in higher math at school or just looking to brush up on the basics. Many students feel lazy to memorize multiplication tables which are basics for math courses and which will make them learn easily without frustration. These basics of learning arithmetic will help both kids in elementary school and anyone else who needs to brush up on the fundamentals. The following points must be carefully understood before the demonstration of how to do multiplication up to table 9. To start with children should learn up to10 times of each table. The following are the suggestions to become good in Math:

1. Attend the classes regularly. Never miss the class. Learn the missing portion from friends or teacher. Never use calculator which will not allow you to understand the concept and  to store it in memory.

2. Write down anything that the teacher says that increases your understanding of the concepts. Repeat the tables as many times as possible. Repetition makes you perfect .Practice makes permanent.

3. Do your homework the same day as it is assigned. When doing the homework the same day, the concepts are fresh on your mind. Sometimes finishing your homework avoids anxiety.

4. Join a group which can help you. Avoid joining the group lower than you in studies.

5. Repetition is the basis for math. The concept has not only to be learned, but also to be stored in the long time memory.

6.  If you feel lazy to learn the multiplication tables the following will be helpful in clearing the road block in learning them .Avoid procrastination which will make you frustrated in learning the tables.

7. After the school, play for an hour and eat or drink before you sit down for homework. This will refresh your brain.

8. Never get distracted by video games or face work during your study time.

Learning Pedagogy

Repetition- The teacher says once and the children repeat together.

Memorizing- Each table should be memorized at least once a day.

Testing- Oral and written tests give a strong base.

Attraction: The tables can be set to music which will be of interest to the children.

Easy learning of Multiplication Tables

Here the tables 10, 5, 3, 7 and 9 are demonstrated.

We should start with 10 times table first which is easy to learn

First write   1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ,6, 7 ,8 ,9   

Add 0 on the right of every number

The result is-10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90

5 times -Table up to 9 times

Insert the numbers as shown

0	1	1
2	2	3
3	4	4

Now add 5 and 0 alternately on the right of the numbers in the cells from left  to  right. We can see the complete 5 times table up 9 times

05	10	15
20	25	30
35	40	45

We will now see the tables for 3times table that is more difficult for children.

3 times table - Fill the cells of the columns as shown from bottom to top starting from the first column on the left.

3	6	9
2	5	8
1	4	7

Now add 0 to the entire first row, 1 to the entire second row and 2 to the entire third row on the left of the numbers. 3times table is ready

03	06	09
12	15	18
21	24	27

7th times table

Fill the cells as mentioned from top to bottom beginning from the last column

7	4	1
8	5	2
9	6	3

Add to the left of the numbers in the first row with 0,1,2; second row with 2, 3, 4 and the third row with 4, 5, 6. You got the 7 times table now

07	14	21
28	35	42
49	56	63

9 times table is very easy. Enter 0 to9 from top to bottom . Then reverse and write 1to 9 from bottom to top

09

18

27

36

45

54

63

72

81

Conclusion

Tables in Arithmetic are very important for the betterment in Math. The methods taught in Learning-  How to Learn seem to be very effective in teaching Math to the children. We generally forget about the techniques like Pomodoro, Exercise, and Spaced Repetition that can make the learning effective and powerful without making the children frustrated. All these simplest, most effective and most efficient techniques will create passion for learning Math, Science or other subjects as well as the problems in our daily life.