“Why are my grades different even though I study the same way?”
The Secret of the "Study-Friendly Brain" Revealed by Neuroscience

* Highly recommended by Harvard University psychology professor Steven Pinker!
* The best learning method chosen by 5 million educators worldwide

The difference in learning ability is not a difference in 'innate intelligence' but a difference in 'how to use the brain'.
Students who study hard but their grades don't improve, students who did well in elementary school but whose grades decline in middle and high school, and students who don't study much but always rank high.
These differences in learning ability stem from differences in how we use our brains, not from our innate intelligence.
According to brain science research, storing new knowledge in the brain's "long-term memory" is key to effective learning.
Three world-renowned scholars, including Barbara Oakley, who went from math dropout to engineering professor, present the optimal learning method based on brain science.

People believe that long-term memory storage capacity is limited, but this is not true.
The brain's information storage capacity is about 1,000 trillion bytes (1,000 trillion is a number with 15 zeros).
(Imagine the combined wealth of one million billionaires.)
This means that the brain can store far more information than all the grains of sand on all the beaches and deserts in the world.
The question is not how much you can store, but how you remember, retrieve, and use the information.
It's similar to having a real-time music streaming app where you can listen to any song.
The key is finding the song you want.
There are a billion seconds in a life, and a hundred trillion synapses in the brain.
If you do the math, that means you have the capacity to use 100,000 synapses per second.
--- From "Chapter 1: Reasons Students Can't Learn Properly"

Students often question how to study.
We often hear advice that we shouldn't listen to music while studying, but some students do get good grades even when they study while enjoying music.
Why do some people achieve good grades while studying while listening to music, while others avoid it altogether? A recent study has solved the mystery.
The effect of music on studying varies depending on working memory capacity.
People with small working memory capacity should avoid listening to music at all while studying.
On the other hand, people with a large working memory capacity can study well even while listening to music.
Because you have a larger working memory capacity, you can concentrate more easily.
However, no student should listen to music while studying math.
This is because the brain areas used in math and music overlap.
By the way, white noise or music seems to be helpful for students with ADHD.
--- From “Chapter 2 Working Memory Determines Learning Speed”

Looking at the relationship between the neocortex and the hippocampus, it is important to take short 'brain breaks' during class to allow for mental rest.
During these quiet mental intermissions, the hippocampus whispers back to the neocortex what it has just learned.
When the hippocampus whispers to the neocortex, it can reinforce the content by repetition, and the hippocampus can also slowly remove the indexical link.
How much brain rest is appropriate? The brain rests for eight hours during sleep at night, and this is when memories are consolidated.
However, most of the preparation takes place during short breaks throughout the day.
One study found that when people closed their eyes and rested for 15 minutes after learning, they remembered what they had just learned much better than when they moved on to the next task without a break.
--- From "Chapter 3: How to Strengthen the Narrative Path"

The most fundamental reason we procrastinate is because thinking about something we don't want to do or don't want to do activates painful emotions in the insular cortex, the part of the brain that processes pain signals.
Procrastinators like Sam deal with this uncomfortable feeling by avoiding it.
It's all about thinking about something else.
Avoidance magically takes away the pain of the moment.
But the work that needs to be done doesn't disappear.
So you end up stressed out all night and pay the price by nodding off during the test.
--- From "Chapter 4: Breaking the Habit of Procrastination"

Babies learn their native language quickly and naturally.
A baby's tiny brain easily absorbs words from its native language without any effort.
Around the age of one, vocabulary learning accelerates through a mapping process that allows children to understand words after hearing them only a few times.
It is estimated that between 20 and 24 months of age, a child's vocabulary triples.
At this time, sentence structure is also learned! Recognizing faces and speaking your native language are called "biological foundational data."
Our brain learns this information naturally.
It's a skill honed by thousands of generations of evolutionary selection, and nerve cells seem to magically connect to each other.
This is because, during the evolutionary process, only babies with nerve cell tissues that could recognize and communicate with people around them survived.
On the other hand, 'biological secondary data' is an ability that was not developed during the evolutionary process.
Skills like reading the news or doing mathematical calculations are essential in modern society, but our brains aren't designed to handle them naturally.
Therefore, acquiring complex skills such as reading, writing, and mathematics, as well as geography, politics, economics, and history, requires a long period of education.
--- From Chapter 5, “Why the Brain’s Evolutionary Process is Important for Studying”

Recent research has shown that procedural systems are important when learning complex concepts and movements, from tying shoelaces to recognizing complex patterns in math to speaking a language quickly and naturally.
We observe and learn about things we encounter on a daily basis through a procedural system.
It's like learning letters in childhood.
The same goes for the mathematical pattern formulas you use when learning how to solve a Rubik's Cube quickly.
When solving a Rubik's Cube, you don't carefully consider each step, but rather move the cube according to a set order.
This information doesn't need to pass through working memory (because this thinking happens unconsciously), allowing you to solve the cube quickly.
However, it may also mean that even if you know how to solve the cube (procedural system), you cannot easily explain it (descriptive system).
--- From "Chapter 6: How to Get Answers Without Thinking"

Students' brains predict what reward they will receive at any given moment.
A reward is something that is perceived positively, whether it is a thing, an action, or an internal feeling.
Students' daily lives are mostly predictable.
So unless something magical like chocolate or a roller coaster appears, the brain just sits idle and carries on as usual.
But when an unexpected reward is given, dopamine is released in several parts of the brain involved in learning.
Not only does this dopamine make you feel good, it also makes it easier for the connections between nerve cells to be strengthened.
--- From "Chapter 7 How to Create a Study Atmosphere"

The reason students concentrate more effectively when they feel nervous while studying for a test than when they study leisurely is because of the neurochemicals released by temporary stress.
The reason why information you studied to present in front of the entire school can remain in your head for years is also due to temporary stress.
Temporary stress causes the brain to release hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol.
When these hormones are secreted in moderation, nerve cells are well connected.
It's similar to how adding oil to a frying pan when baking potatoes prevents the potatoes from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
However, if you are under too much stress, even temporarily, the effect of glucocorticoids, or 'oils', changes.
When stress is excessive, the connections between nerve cells become burned and sticky.
--- From Chapter 8, “The Power of Cooperative Learning to Cultivate a Sense of Unity”

Before getting into the main topic, let's briefly look at multimedia learning theory.
The basic concept is simple.
If you show a picture while explaining it verbally, you can grasp the concept faster than if you only show a picture or explain it verbally.
This is because working memory has both auditory and visual elements (multi-element in multimedia theory).
Using both visual and verbal explanations simultaneously allows students to better utilize their limited working memory.
--- From Chapter 9, "The Secret of Effective Online Classes"

Effective use of pull elements allows teachers to connect what students already know to the core content they are trying to teach.
To get students excited about a math-based physics lesson, focus on space travel, focusing on time, distance, and the challenge of sending astronauts to Mars.
Students are more excited when presented with a compelling challenge they actually have to solve (especially if they dream of becoming astronauts).

--- From "Chapter 10: How to Create a Solid Lesson Plan"