Imagine that you had a bucket of water and every time you attempted to fill the bucket, 90 percent of the water would leak out instantly. That means that each time you filled the bucket, all you’d retain was a measly 10 percent. How many times would you keep filling the bucket?
Studies have found that if you do nothing further with newly acquired knowledge, after a few hours you only retain a fraction of what you read, saw or heard. As more time goes on, your retention slides even further.
Learners Retain Approximately:
90% of what they learn when they teach someone else/use immediately.
75% of what they learn when they practice what they learned.
50% of what they learn when engaged in a group discussion.
30% of what they learn when they see a demonstration.
20% of what they learn from audio-visual.
10% of what they learn when they’ve learned from reading.
5% of what they learn when they’ve learned from lecture.
Teach Your Students these Tips to Improve Reading Retention
- Read with a pen in your hand. Underline or circle key words as you read. Put a star in the margin next to key phrases. When you review the book at a later date this will make for quick recall of the points that were most significant to you.
- Develop a code to flag important points in the text. If there is a quote you want to capture and record in your quote file, place a big "Q" in the margin and then underline the quote. If you find something you want to research further, place an "R" on the side.
- Summarize each chapter or even each paragraph in your own words and write a brief summary in the margin. This forces you to grasp the author's key points and helps to lock it in your memory.
- Share your thoughts in a daily journal. This process helps you think through the content and relate it to your everyday life. Plus the process of thinking and writing helps you gain deeper understanding.
- Teach what you learn to someone else. Teaching involves investment, writing, organizing, discussing, sharing and applying. Teaching utilizes all the elements of retention. It is impossible to teach something without deepening your own learning and retention.
- Talk about what you learn with others. Discussion and debate reinforces what you learn. It creates clarity. Join a reading group to discuss the book with others. Getting other people's perspective helps to solidify what you are reading and gives you even greater insight into the content. The interaction also helps to increase your retention.
It's a fairly simple process. The more you help your students apply what they’ve learned, the more they will retain for future use.
Isn't it time for an affordable, research-based reading program that can produce significant results in six weeks or less?
Source: Psychotactics.com