Activity

This is an activity that shows how people can improve their learning. The entire task takes about 4-5 minutes. 

In the first of three tasks, participants are given 30 Sec to count as many of the vowels as they can in the list of words.

They are then asked to write down as many WORDS as they can remember. (They can usually remember only 3 - 4).

Next they are told to look at the list of words and asked to memorize them. They can usually remember about half of them after trying to memorize the words.

Finally, they are told that the words are listed in a certain way, with a guiding concept to the arrangements. They readily understand the words are listed according to number.  (critical thinking strategy)
After spending 30 seconds to memorize the words this time, people generally tend to remember 12 or more.



The point of the exercise is that participants are not any smarter when they got 12 correct(80%) instead of 3 (20%), they simply knew the task they would have to perform and the conceptual structure of the material.
Participants then see how, just as in this exercise, they can significantly increase their performance on a learning task if they:

1. Are very clear about what they will be required to do
2. Have a strategy for linking and relating to the information

                                  Dollar Bill

Dice

Tricycle

Four Leaf Clover

Hand

Six-Pack

Seven-Up

Octopus

Cat Lives

Bowling Pins

Football Team

Dozen Eggs

Unlucky Friday

Valentine’s Day

Quarter Hour