Tool #9: Use Your Body

[Reading time, including videos: 30 minutes]

Research has demonstrated that we learn better when we use as much of our body as possible. Do you remember "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes"? Yes, it is a children's song, but it is intended to be a memorization strategy for babies and toddlers to learn part of the bodies. There is even a language teaching method created after that theory: it is called Total Physical Response (TPR) and it really works, although someone might think it looks a bit clownish. 

"But I am not learning any language now, I thought this post was about memorization strategies for my classes!", you may say. The key is that you can use this approach for memorizing any piece of information you need or even understand some challenging ideas. How? Well, don't just read your notes (eyes only): talk about the material with classmates or out loud to yourself (ears); make study notes (hands); and even act out some concepts (whole body). You might feel a little silly pretending to be John A. Macdonald standing in your bathroom and delivering an important speech about confederation to your mirror, but you won't forget the experience!

If you want to learn another way to memorize information by using your body, take a look on this Ted Talk. Can you think of some course content for what you could use this technique?