As students, we all know that there are some topics that
need to be understood – the conceptual kinds, and some just to be memorized.
For some, memorizing is a Herculean task and try as they might, is just not
their, so to say, cup of tea.
Unforgiving that we are, whether as parents, teachers or an
onlooker, in our limited wisdom, we often tend to reprimand them and raise
questions on their cognitive abilities and IQ’s without really having much idea
of the technicality involved here. One also gets to see a increased fondness
for suddenly switching to ‘age-old remedies’ like having ‘badaam’, fish etc.
Everyone in the vicinity of the person in question seems to be automatically
obligated to issue an advisory in such a situation. More often than not, even
after adopting such techniques and measures, the performance metric is not
satisfactory and he/ she slowly slips into a state feeling of inadequate and
‘not normal’. In more extreme cases depression, mental disorder also creeps in.
Each one of us has his/ her own way of memorizing things.
Amongst them, one of the important tricks is visualization. If you were
struggling to memorize words, as an example, you’d realize that it would be a
lot quicker if you weave them into a story. It need not a one that will make
you a contender for the Booker prize, but it will help all the same.
Don’t believe it? Let’s try it out. The following is a list
of 20 words.
(i)
Ant
(ii)
Mobile-phone
(iii)
Elephant
(iv)
Paint-Brush
(v)
Poster
(vi)
Tree
(vii)
Spider-Man
(viii)
Rainbow
(ix)
Mug
(x)
Sugar
Cubes
(xi)
Lake
(xii)
Dragon
(xiii)
Umbrella
(xiv)
Shoes
(xv)
Monkey
(xvi)
Office
(xvii)
Bat-man
(xviii)
Gun
(xix)
Blood
(xx)
Yellow
Try and
memorize these words. When you’re done, if at all, come back and read this.
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.
.
OK, so you are done. Right?
.
.
.
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.
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OK, so you are done. Right?
1.
How
many minutes did you take to learn them?
2.
How
long do you think you’ll be able to keep these words in your memory?
Now, Just try the same words but this time, visualize them.
- 1. Think of a story with these words - in your own style.
- 2. Try to connect 1st word to 2nd word and 2nd word to 3rd word – sequentially.
- 3. In your mind visualize the story.
- 4. Run this twice in your mind.
Let’s start
with a funny story, as it is easier to remember funny story or things.
“There was an Ant that used its Mobile
phone to call the Elephant. The Elephant was using a Paintbrush
to make a Poster while sitting under the Tree. On the tree, there
was Spider-Man who was looking at the Rainbow in the sky and was
holding one Mug in his right hand containing Sugar cubes.
Suddenly, it started raining and the sugar cubes melted in the mug. He emptied
the mug into the Lake. In lake, there lived a Dragon. Mr. Dragon
comes out from the lake with an umbrella and wears his Shoes to
go to meet Mr. Monkey in his Office. In the office, Mr. Monkey
was busy in a meeting with Batman who was wearing a costume with an
emblem that was blood red was yellow. So the dragon waited and
waited in the office.”
If we run this
story in our mind a few times, we would most certainly remember not only the
words, but also the sequence in which they appear. Such is the power of
visualization.
So, lets
not be dis-heartened with someone if he/ she does not follow the conventional
path. There is always a way to make learning easier and more fun.
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