Study Skills: Approaches, Brain Capabilities, and Mind Mapping

Study skills
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INTRODUCTION
Study skills are those skills which are applied to learning of an individual. Few
of the study skills are effective note making skills, reading skills and time management
skills, research skills and few other academic skills. It is essential for a student to focus
on time management skill also to manage their time for learning of each academic
subjects in their courses (Barrable, Papadatou-Pastou and Tzotzoli, 2018). There are
various approaches of learning like active learning, problem based learning,
collaborative learning, interdisciplinary learning and many others. It is essential for
students to develop the capabilities of their learning so that they will develop those skills
which will help them to start their professional life. The following essay will cover ways
by which people learn and different approaches of learning, capabilities of brain and its
relevance to academic study and how 'mind mapping' is used for storing and retrieving
of information.
There are different ways of learning as an individual like they can learn by visual
manner by seeing the things and remind them for longer period of time, auditory, where
individual will hear and understand the topic and many others. There are various kinds
of benefits for learning such as it will enhance the learning speed, it keeps the mind
engaged and body active, it enhances the adaptability habit and many others. Learning
will also help an individual to prepare them self for their professional life (Howard et al.,
2018). For example, when a student focuses to enhance their communication skill, time
management skill, research skill and other academic skills for achieving their academic
goal than that student is also focusing on enhancing their professional skills because all
these skills also help the student to develop their effective professional career. There
are six approaches of learning and behaviouristic approach is one of them. The main
aim of this approach is change in behaviour where several skills are required for
individual to change their behaviour and learn some new and productive habits (Leon
Ho, 2022). This approach is mostly used in practical learning and it emphasises
reinforcement and repetition. Social learning involves the observation of others
behaviour. For example, a child does what their parents are doing. Hence, it is a social
learning where an individual learns the skills by observing other individual's behaviour
and get to know how they react in specific situation. Another approach is cognitive
approach, it focuses on memorising and remembering concepts. This approach will
help the individual to understand the concept and remind it for longer period of time.
Experiential approach is also one of the most popular approach of learning where an
individual learns by doing it practically. Here, individuals perform the task by themselves
and then get to know the concept and learn various skills.
There are some other approaches of learning for an individual which help them to
enhance new skills and talents (Mason, 2019). Visual learning helps the individual to
learn the concept by seeing the objects and remind the concepts. Here, teachers use
graphs, charts, diagrams and illustrations to make their students more comfortable to
learn the concepts of different subjects. Aural learning is the approach which learners
learn the concept by hearing information (Kendra Cherry, 2019). For example, a lecture
is ongoing in the class and teacher is representing the concept by speaking it well and
students notices the words appropriately getting to know about the main aim of the topic
which is taught by the teacher. Sometimes, individuals who use this approach for
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learning are supposed to create songs to remember information. Reading and writing
learning approach, represent that approach where individual learn the concept which
is words or texts. Here, individuals like to write more than hearing the concept. For
example, a student is reading the books and making notes for their exam preparation
than the student is using reading and writing approach. The individual who likes to make
lists, reads definitions and presentation. Last but not least Kinesthetic learning
approach is also one of the most popular approach of learning where individuals touch
the things and perform the task (Özdemir and Çelik, 2021). One of the most important
aspect of this approach is hand-on experience. Here, individuals learn by touching the
things and this is also one of the best example of performing tasks which involve directly
manipulating objects and material. Those people who are good at painting, cooking,
sports and woodwork are actually learn their skills by kinesthetic learning approach.
Therefore, an individual is supposed to understand their capabilities and make sure that
whichever approach they are using will must help them to enhance their productivity.
Hence, an individual must make a list of learning approaches and compare each
approach by their behaviour and learning habit to identify which approach is best
suitable for them in their learning habits. Once, they analyse the list of advantages and
disadvantages of each approach, then they must eliminate those approaches which are
having more demerits as compared to their merits. Personalise learning is the diverse
variety of learning methods, learning programs and academic support strategies which
help the student to fulfil their needs and wants of learning individually (Tsai, Perrotta
and Gašević, 2020). A student make various learning strategies to enhance their
interest and concentration in studies such as they can make Personal Development
Plan to enhance their weak skills and decide effective methods to convert their weak
skills into strong skills and they must become loyal and honest to measure their
performance in learning new academic skills. CREAM Strategy can also be used by
students to enhance their learning habits. The C in this strategy stands for Creative,
where it mentions that the student must generate idea in early stage of new assignment.
R in CREAM strategy stands for Reflection, this will help to analyse self skills and
practices to analyse how well a student is performing to reach their learning target (Liu
et al., 2022). E stands for effectiveness in CREAM strategy which states that it is not
necessary that student must work hard but it is more necessary that the student must
learn smartly. A stands for Active in this strategy where it is essential for students to
become more active and gain effective knowledge that what skills they can gain in
which lectures. CREAM strategy ends with Motivational element which states that a
student must be motivated to learn their subjects. A good level of motivation will help a
student to gain effective confidence. It is also essential for a student to analyse the
difference between knowing and doing. It is effective to enhance knowledge but
knowledge has no use if it is not implemented to gain positive results. Hence, a student
have to know what he/she want to do as well as perform the activities to achieve their
learning goals.
On the other hand, a student can also manage their time by making priority list in which
they have to mention activities in ascending order which they want to achieve first. This
will help them to recognise again and again that they need to complete the task
according to the list. Secondly, it is also essential for the students to reduce their stress
because stress will not allow them to concentrate properly upon their learning activities.
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