Study Skills: Approaches to Learning and the Importance of Mind-Mapping

This document discusses study skills, including different approaches to learning and the importance of educational learning. It explores the capabilities of the brain and its relevance to academic study. The document also highlights how mind-mapping can be used as an aid to storing and retrieving information. The case study focuses on the University of Oxford.

Study Skills
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Table Of Contents
INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………3
TASK 1
Discuss about the people how do they learn and different approaches towards learning and
explain about the importance to educational learning and abilities of the brain and at the end
show how mind-mapping can be used as an aid to stockpile and recover the information…3
CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………………..6
REFERENCES………………………………………………………………………………8
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INTRODUCTION
Study skills are the skills that gives the ability to study and learn efficiently. These are
those kind of skills which can be transferred in terms of the life who act as an important role
in terms of skills. Study skills are an array of skills which tackles with organizing and taking
in new information, retaining information or dealing with assessments. Study skills which
are necessary for the guidance of students. It includes active listening, reading
comprehension, note taking, stress management, time management, test taking and
memorization. (Wan Yusoff, W. M., 2018). In this report, the analysis has been done on how
people learn and different approaches to learning. Also the research has been done on the
capabilities of the brain and the relevance to academic study. Analysis also needs to be done
on how mind-mapping can be used as an aid to storing and retrieving of information. The
chosen organisation is University of Oxford. The world’s second-oldest university and one of
the most prestigious academic institution in the world. Oxford is one of the world’s top
research universities and boasts world class facilities for study and research. The university is
famous for the research excellence and innovation and home to some of the most talented
researchers in the world.
TASK 1
Discuss about the people how do they learn and different approaches towards learning and
explain about the importance to educational learning and abilities of the brain and at the end
show how mind-mapping can be used as an aid to stockpile and recover the information
Learning can be possible in that case when the capability has been developed to gain
a mental or physical grasp of the subject. It is important to make sense of a subject, event or
feeling by interpreting it into the own words or actions. It is necessary to use newly acquired
ability or knowledge in conjunction with skills and understanding we already possess. There
are many approaches towards learning. (Shahriari-Rad, and et.al., 2017). There are five main
approaches towards learning. It includes thinking skills, communication skills, social skills,
self-management skills and research skills.
Thinking Skills: Thinking Skills are those kind of skills which depicts that by thinking about
some particular topic in the repeated process. Then it is also captured by the sub-conscious
mind due to which it permanently captures and retain in the mind for longer period of time or
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on a permanent basis. In this way, thinking skills plays a very important role in the process of
learning.
Communication Skills: Communication skills are those kind of skills through which by
discussing a topic or something particularly important in a group or to a individual then it will
retains in the mind because the mind has captured the lines spoken by the other person and
makes a picture in their mind. (Lukitasari, and et.al., 2019). So it becomes easier for anyone
to learn and proceed accordingly.
Social Skills: Social skills are those kind of skills these skills help in improving the positive
behaviour of an individual and reduces negative behaviour. These skills help in setting goals
for themselves. (Lancaster, N. K., 2016). This exercise help students in developing the self-
awareness and emotional management skills. With the help of these kind of skills learning
has been done with respect to self awareness.
Self-Management Skills: Self-management skills are those kind of skills where it needs to
be consider that what are the strengths and weaknesses of an individual. In this manner they
can work on themselves and manage their career and focus on those targets which matches
according to their strength and in this way learning become more effective and fruitful for the
individual.
Research Skills: Research skills help the students in such a manner that where gathering of
information and analysis of information has been done to build knowledge and think in a
critical manner with their exercise of mind. (Loukatari, and et.al., 2019). In this way, it helps
in learning through research skills.
In the learning process, the capability of brain depends on the individual, that on which level
the individual can use their mind. (Londoño, A. M. M. and Schulz, P. J., 2015).It is the way
through which it can be find out that what is the last extent to which an individual has used
their mind for learning purpose. It is the capability of the brain that it can achieve any bigger
target. In the learning process, within the mind cerebrum plays a very important role in
learning, this is where higher-ordered functions like memory and reasoning occur. For
finding out the natural capability of brain it is important that to keep the mind always healthy
and active. Oxford University also plays a very important role in terms of learning and
understanding their students. That’s why the University has conducted different kinds of
activities and focus on practical learning so that it becomes easier to analyse the capability of
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each student. Because every student has their own capacity and capability to give their best
and has tried to give their best performance. The capability of brain has the direct relationship
with the relevance of academic study. (Hatfield, and et.al., 2016).
In the academics part there are different fields and different subjects and every student has
their own interest area. So it is necessary to understand that every student has their own
capability for performing in terms of academic area. Some students are average, some are
very good in giving the best results. So everyone has their own power and criteria to give
their performance in a positive manner. Capability can be improved by practicing more and
more on particular topic or on some field. Capabilities of a brain can be improved by adding
new skills in your personality, enhancing the knowledge and make changes in the way of
communication. (Widodo, S.A. and Ikhwanudin, T., 2018).Due to all these reasons and lots
of efforts and practices an individual can grow themselves and refresh the personality in a
positive manner. Every student is not so good in terms of academics some have their own
qualities.
Some students are good in sports, music and other fields then their capabilities can be judged
accordingly so that they can be analysed in a fair and proper manner. In the practical manner
capabilities can’t be judged on the basis of marks scored in the academics area. It can be
analysed on the basis of that what an individual has done in their life and what he or she has
achieved in their life with different kinds of experiences and knowledge. Capability also
varies with the period of time and new experiences so it can’t be fixed in particular age that
an individual can only this much in particular area. Capability doesn’t define the academic
relevance because some individual has potential to improve it but some has not because of
their own natural powers which has been given by the god. (Chen, and et.al., 2016). So its
really important to exercise the brain with different kinds of activities and with the help of
sports. In this manner, the capability has been increased in a natural manner.
Mind-mapping can be done through the brainstorm of thoughts organically without worrying
about order and structure. It allows to visually structure the ideas to help with analysis and
recall.
The mind map can be understood in such a manner that it is a diagram for representing tasks,
work, concepts and theories which are linked to the central concept and using non-linear
layout that allows the user to create a framework around the central concept. Mind-mapping
is the way through which information can be stored and retrieved in a particular manner.
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Mind-mapping can help in improving the memory because it involves with association and
imagination as part of the process of creating a map. (Hwang, and et.al., 2016).By including
words, images, colors and branches are there which helps in storing the information and
retrieving it also.
An individual can remember only those information for longer period of time who depicts
lots of images, colors because a human brain have the tendency to attract the attention where
lots of vibrant and different things have been captured by the eyes. At the end, in a result-
oriented manner information have been stored in the human mind for a longer period of time.
(Tsuburaya, and et.al., 2016). If the brain has captured some particular information in its sub-
conscious mind then it can be saved in a permanent mode and it can be retrieved in a
particular period of time. The information is of that kind which cannot be deleted and it is
remembered by the individual for the life time and it can be retrieved in any period of time.
Mind-mapping has the power to strengthen the thoughts and convert it into positive and
negative manner.
The overall effort has been depend on that on which level the individual has taken its
decision. (Nikolov, and et.al., 2018). The mind-set of a person should be in positive manner
so that they can take the best decision of their life. Mind- mapping also helps in developing
the maturity level of a person because the person has worked according to their information,
knowledge and experiences they have available in their mind. It also helps in refining the
information which is not necessary for their potential growth. Some information and
memories have been deleted from the mind because of the reason that they are available only
in their conscious mind and do not transfer to sub-conscious mind. (Raeissi, and et.al., 2021).
Oxford University also have taken some steps regarding the healthy working of minds of
students. Different kinds of courses and efforts have been taken to understand the psychology
of different individual. Every student or any individual do not have power to retrieve lots of
information because everybody has different experiences in their life and some have less
exposure as compared to other people due to which everybody has their own potential. So its
really need to understand that mind-mapping can be done in a structured manner but it is
important that only particular information can be stored for longer period of time and can be
retrieved over a period of time.
CONCLUSION
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Study skills plays a very important role in a student life. Study skills not only make
the study smarter but also gives an opportunity to an individual for giving their best
performance. Study skills have their own methods, planning for doing the study. For
achieving a bigger goal it is important that to have a proper plan for giving their execution.
Without proper planning, an individual cannot achieve its task.
It is the guidance of how to learn the things, retain it and assessed it into effective manner. It
is important to note that how to learn the things for longer period of time and what kind of
approaches can be used for doing the learning(Burns, R. W. and Badiali, B., 2016). Learning
also somewhere define the capability of a person and it has the relationship with academic
studies also. Up to some extent through academic study, capability can also be defined. But in
practical nature and in real life its not important that only academics can define the capability
of an individual. Capability can also be analysed by the mind-mapping because it supports in
finding out that how much a mind can store and retrieve the information by different
individual. So study skills is a major key for understanding any deeper topic or converting
any information into knowledge.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Wan Yusoff, W. M., 2018. The Impact of Philosophical Inquiry Method on Classroom
Engagement and Reasoning Skills of Low Achievers. Journal of Curriculum and
Teaching, 7(1), pp.135-146.
Shahriari-Rad, and et.al., 2017. Clinical skills acquisition: rethinking assessment using a
virtual haptic simulator. Technology, Knowledge and Learning, 22(2), pp.185-197.
Lukitasari, and et.al., 2019. Using critical analysis to develop metacognitive ability and
critical thinking skills in biology. JPBI (Jurnal Pendidikan Biologi Indonesia), 5(1), pp.151-
158.
Lancaster, N. K., 2016. The effects of Content and Language Integrated Learning on the oral
skills of Compulsory Secondary Education students: A longitudinal study. Universidad de
Jaén, Jaén.
Londoño, A. M. M. and Schulz, P. J., 2015. Influences of health literacy, judgment skills, and
empowerment on asthma self-management practices. Patient education and counseling, 98(7),
pp.908-917.
Widodo, S.A. and Ikhwanudin, T., 2018. Improving mathematical problem solving skills
through visual media. In Journal of Physics: Conference Series (Vol. 948, No. 1, p. 012004).
IOP Publishing.
Hatfield, and et.al., 2016. Thresholds in the association between quality of teacher–child
interactions and preschool children’s school readiness skills. Early Childhood Research
Quarterly, 36, pp.561-571.
Chen, and et.al., 2016. An interview study of how clinical teachers develop skills to attend to
different level learners. Medical teacher, 38(6), pp.578-584.
Hwang, and et.al., 2016. Evaluating listening and speaking skills in a mobile game-based
learning environment with situational contexts. Computer Assisted Language
Learning, 29(4), pp.639-657.
Tsuburaya, and et.al., 2016. Introduction of the non-technical skills for surgeons (NOTSS)
system in a japanese Cancer center. Surgery today, 46(12), pp.1451-1455.
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Nikolov, and et.al., 2018. Skills Mismatches. An Impediment to the Competitiveness of EU
Businesses. Brussels: European Economic and Social Committee.
Burns, R. W. and Badiali, B., 2016. Unearthing the complexities of clinical pedagogy in
supervision: Identifying the pedagogical skills of supervisors. Action in Teacher
Education, 38(2), pp.156-174.
Loukatari, and et.al., 2019. The Effect of a Structured Playfulness Program on Social Skills in
Kindergarten Children. International Journal of Instruction, 12(3), pp.237-252.
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