Inter what now? Don't be put off by the
fancy name. All this really means is that
if you study a couple of things, at once
you'll learn more. Let me explain,
imagine you're learning geography and
you have three topics: rivers, droughts,
and pollution. You might think that it
would be best to study everything in
rivers, making sure you know it really
well before moving on. It just makes
sense. Better to focus on one topic and
get really good at it, then tackle the
next topic. But, it turns out this is
wrong. Remember when we talked about the
pathways in the brain, you want to build
the strongest path possible so that it
lasts as long as possible. It feels like
going over it lots in one go will be
the best way to do this, but actually
research shows that this isn't the case.
In order to build a good path you have
to make the most effort. In the brain,
effort means working hard. If you study
rivers, droughts, and earthquakes all at
the same time, your brain has to jump
between three different topics. That's a
lot harder than just staying with one, so
your brain puts in a lot more effort and
you will learn the three topics much
better.
Fair warning, it will feel more difficult
than studying one topic at a time. But
know that all that effort is growing
your brain and your learning will
jumpstart.