To Retain Knowledge Explain It To Someone Else

A study (here is a nice Learning Solutions Magazine article about it) by Jeffrey D. Karpicke and Janell R. Blunt suggests that what is often referred to as retrieval practice may be one of the superior ways to retain what you learn.

This validates a technique my father taught me at a very young age when I was trying to learn something. After studying, he would ask me to explain to him clearly exactly what it was I had just learned. The act of trying to communicate clearly to someone else (and this could also be writing out a clear explanation, not necessarily doing it verbally) is the type of retrieval that this study suggests is one of the more effective ways to retain what one learns. It’s nice to see this approach to learning that I’ve used all my life validated by research.

This is one of the self-education techniques I recommend all the time to self-learners. Once you’ve studied something, explain it to someone else. Or even just explain it to yourself in the mirror. As long as you’re attempting to clearly communicate a concise summary of what you’ve learned, it will dramatically improve your retention of that material.

This is also part of the reason I’m a writer. I find that when I learn about something, or attempt to make connections between various bits of knowledge and experience, writing about it brings the entire learning and thinking venture into brighter clarity for me. The more I try to explain things to other people, the better I understand them myself.

Give this a try when you undertake any learning project.