Interleaved Learning (Brain Hack)

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.