Highlighters Are Pretty Much Good for Nothing
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iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Ah, the highlighter. It was one of the many tools we used in class or home to help us better understanding our studies.
However, New York Times science reporter Benedict Carey contends that we were probably just fooling ourselves when we highlighted passages in yellow, pink or green because it didn’t really make us learn any better.
In his new book, How We Learn, Carey says the real key to absorbing our studies is by showing our brain what’s important and then repeatedly using and testing the information at hand.
Highlighting, however, is useless because it requires no mental effort, according to Carey, and the brain isn’t taught that the information is important.
A much better method of learning are the flashcards because they force the memory to recall something, which necessitates a form of mental straining. It’s not pleasant but it is effective.
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