Learning: Myths and Illusions (Nursing)

00:00 Now, these are some of the lies we tell ourselves, right? These are learning myths and illusions.

00:06 Sometimes we think that wanting to learn is enough.

00:10 It’s not. You’ve got to be strategic about it.

00:13 It’s great that you want to learn but you’ve got to be strategic about it and put in the right kind of effort.

00:18 Sometimes people think spending a long time of studying will guarantee encoding and retrieval.

00:23 No, it won’t.

00:24 It breaks my heart when I talk with students and they tell me how many hours they spent trying to study and I know that it’s not effective study for their particular brain.

00:34 So that’s what we want to save you from in this video series.

00:37 Some people think that highlighting and underlining is an effective way to remember concepts.

00:42 Oh my goodness! People walk into my office and I always say, “Hey, if you want to talk about studying, please bring your notes with you and your textbook.” They walk into my office. They set down their textbook.

00:52 They open it up. I’m like, “Laaa.” I’m like I need sunglasses for goodness sakes.

00:57 Okay, first of all, that’s not highlighting, that’s coloring.

01:02 Their pages are so bright I’m almost blinded by it.

01:05 That’s not highlighting.

01:08 So you can highlight sparingly when you read but that is just the first tiniest baby step in learning.

01:15 If you stop there and don’t think about how things all work together, It’s not a way for success for you.

01:20 Now, this is called the bubblehead concept.

01:23 Do you know what a bubblehead is? When I’m in class, and I'm lecturing, and I’m talking, and the students are doing this, “Uhmm, uhmm, uhmm,” and I say, “Do you understand?” They say, “Oh yes, yes, we get that.” Then I ask them a question and they say, “Ahhhh.” Yeah, that’s the bubblehead.

01:40 See, the teacher becomes like this bouncing ball in karaoke and you’re just singing along with me because I’m leading you.

01:46 But then when I stop and ask you a question and you can’t answer it, my students know I always say, “Hey, stop bubbleheading me.

01:54 I need you to back up and make sure you really understand that concept.” So just because you can follow a bouncing ball in class, that doesn’t mean you’re going to do well on the test or that you own that information yet.

02:06 You will with that kind of effort that we’re talking about.

02:09 Now, understanding is not mastery.

02:12 Understanding alone is not mastery.

02:17 Understanding alone is just the first step.

02:21 That’s the, “Zzzzzzzz, I know enough to pass the test.” Hey listen, your test score doesn’t really always tell me what kind of nurse you’re going to be.

02:29 I’ve had some students that were 4.0s.

02:31 Now not all like this, but I’m telling you I’ve seen nursing students across the country that have been a 4.0.

02:36 But if I woke up and they're taking care of me, I might pull my own plug.

02:40 They’re really good at testing but making real life decisions might not be their strong suit.

02:46 So don’t misunderstand.

02:48 Just understanding facts and figures doesn’t mean you have mastery of the content.

02:53 Mastery takes understanding plus practice recalling in a variety of settings and ways.

03:00 Looking at a concept from all different kinds of angles, that’s what leads to mastery.