The LIBF’s Gordon Reid explains why ‘practice makes perfect’ and the importance of consolidation to the learning process.
Nearly everyone has stood in front of some flatpack furniture and felt their mind go blank. You’re confronted with a collection of apparently random bits and pieces that are supposed to fit together to make a set of bunk beds, or a desk, or maybe both. The instructions require you to concentrate on things that your mind just slithers over.
The problems that people have with assembling flatpacks are like the problems they have with learning. You have to work out how things fit together to be able to create the large complex model that’s your end goal. And, to do that, you need to remember and apply what you’ve already learnt along the way.
That ‘remembering what you learnt’ part is called ‘consolidation’ because it helps you hold onto skills and knowledge and use them in practical situations. This article looks at why it’s such a vital cog in the learning cycle.
How memory works
When you learn something new, your brain doesn’t immediately retain it. First, it goes into your short-term memory, which is a bit like a pad where you jot some quick notes. For retention, your brain has to do some additional work and move things into your long-term memory where the new knowledge or skills can become part of your way of working. This is consolidation, and without it you are likely to forget things quickly – much like losing a note you didn’t file properly.
Connecting new information to what you already know
Imagine you are going to assemble a flatpack desk. If you already know what a desk looks like and understand how to use an allen key, the task is easier because you can connect the process to something you already know. Consolidation helps you do this by linking new information to your existing knowledge. In the flatpack desk analogy, if you already know how a basic wooden frame fits together, additional knowledge about more complex structures is easier to acquire and retain.
What about skills
Remembering isn’t just about facts. It’s also about practicing skills, like riding a bike or playing a musical instrument. When you first start, it feels incredibly difficult and you feel you will never succeed. But, as you practice, your memory of how to do it gets a little better each time. This remembering and getting better over time is consolidation in action. It enables you to learn to do things more easily and with fewer mistakes.
Avoiding brain overload
Sometimes, learning new information or skills can feel overwhelming. When your brain consolidates new learning, it organises everything into bite size chunks. This is one of the reasons why bite-sized learning can be more effective than a full-day workshop. Organising the learning into smaller pieces and filing it in the appropriate part of the brain makes it easier to find and use when needed again.
Putting learning into practice
One of the most important aspects of consolidation is that it ensures that learning can be applied in very different situations. Practical application requires the ability to transfer knowledge and skills from one situation to another. Consolidation strengthens this transferability by embedding knowledge deep within the brain, allowing learners to adapt and apply their learning in various scenarios. If you have already built several pieces of Swedish-made flatpack furniture, the next one will be much less daunting.
How to enhance consolidation
Although consolidation of learning is a cerebral process, there are lots of things we can do to facilitate or enhance this:
- Practice often and over time. Repeating what you are trying to learn helps your brain remember it. Like practicing a chord on musical instrument, the more you do it, the better you get. Similarly, when studying, spreading out study sessions over time forces the brain to retrieve and reinforce information.
- Try to stay engaged. When you actively think about what you’re learning, it is easier to retain. Asking questions of, or explaining what you’ve learnt to someone else, is a great way to do this. Applying new knowledge also promotes deeper understanding of your learning.
- Ask for feedback. Getting immediate feedback to check if you’ve understood something correctly helps ensure that the learning you are consolidating is accurate and reliable. This is similar to having a coach who tells you what you can do even better next time.
- Rest properly. Interestingly, sleeping after you have learnt something helps your brain remember it. This is because, whilst sleeping, your brain organises the new information it has taken in and stores it in your long-term memory.
Conclusion
The consolidation of learning is vital in ensuring that people can apply what they have learnt in practice. By enhancing the ability to retain knowledge, integrating it with existing skills and knowledge, developing additional skills, managing brain capacity, and enabling application in different situations, consolidation transforms superficial ‘skimming’ into deep and meaningful learning. Employing effective strategies to promote consolidation can significantly improve the learning experience, ultimately preparing learners to excel in real-world situations.
The next time you look at a flatpack, remember that there are many things you already know about how to put it together and that you can, if you really want to, build on that to develop real skill.
