GI $
46 CHAPTER 2minerals hierarchy). After one study session, students who had studied
the organized words could remember more than three times as many
words as those who had studied the randomized words. After four study
trials, the students in the organized group remembered all 112, whereas
the students in the random group remembered only 70.
Categories can provide useful retrieval cues in many situations. For
example, if you go to the supermarket with a shopping list, you can
recall the items you need by checking different categories, such as
dairy, meats, vegetables, drinks, and so forth (Loftus, 1980). Think
about courses like biology, astronomy, or anthropology, where learn-
ing classification lists are essential to success in the course. The
research is clear: If you learn ways to organize material, you will be
able to learn and retrieve the information more effectively.
Organizational strategies are as useful in remembering prose pas-
sages as they are in recalling lists. Outlines and representations (or
maps) can be useful organizational strategies. These techniques enable
better understanding of text material by helping the learner analyze
the text structure. Outlining is a strategy where major and minor ideas
are written in abbreviated form using important words and phrases.
Representation is a process of drawing a diagram to picture how ideas
are connected (see Figs. 2.1 and 2.2).EXERCISE 2.4: IDENTIFYING LEARNING STRATEGIESDirections: The following behaviors represent different learning strate-
gies used by students. Identify each type of strategy by placing the
letter (R ) for rehearsal, (E ) for elaboration, and (O ) for organizational
in the space provided. Answers are on p. 49.—1. “In preparing for a chemistry test, I keep writing down major
formulae until I remember them.”
—2. “I write a summary of each chapter in my political science
book.”
—3. “I think of a computer when studying the information pro-
cessing system.”
—4. “I use a chart to compare different theories in my philosophy
class.”
—5. “I ask myself questions after reading my history textbook.”
—6. “After taking notes in class, I write questions that the notes
answer.”
—7. “I underline my textbook while I read.”^
—8. “I outline each chapter in my geology textbook.”^