Naturalistic Study Skills
Having a naturalistic intelligence means you feel at home when you are outside, and enjoy understanding the natural world. You appreciate how the world works, and it encourages your learning through identifying patterns and applying reasoning to problems. Rather than worrying over details, your study techniques reflects in how you see yourself as part of the bigger picture, and your overview techniques help you learn your study topics.
1. Be in the Right Environment for Studying:
People with a strong naturalistic study intelligence often need to be in an appropriate environment in order to focus. The most obvious option for them is to be outside (with nature), and luckily we have plenty of park areas around Leicester for this, including Victoria Park behind the University, where a lot of students will sit during the summer exams for revision.
We also have plenty of other areas on campus with a table to work at outside, such as the memorial square outside the library or the Percy Gee balcony outside of Starbucks.
If the weather is not good enough to sit outside then sit by an open window to breathe in fresh air and relax your mind, or have soundscapes of birds or the sea in your headphones to just promote a peaceful natural environment for you to study in.
Some naturalist studiers find that wide open spaces are more beneficial than the sounds of nature in order for them to relax and focus. Be aware of your needs and what works best for your brain.
2. Contextualise:
People who identify as having naturalistic intelligence will often understand their subject matters a lot better when they are able to apply what they are learning to situations in everyday life, because you’ll probably find you have more interest when nature or people are included.
If you have a business theory for example, relate it to a situation you have experienced before in order to boost your understanding of the theory and improve your recall, see example below
Marketing:
The different consumer values:
Georgraphy:
Conceptualising in order to remember facts in geography such as different types of regions:
3. Observe and Record:
If you succeed a lot more in your field research than you do in other areas of your degree then try and approach them in the same manner of observe and record. This can be done when making notes in seminars or lectures, or during your reading around your course.
If you have a specific format that works for your field research that you connect well with, then you can reuse these formats elsewhere: See example below
| Variable (e.g. theory) |
How many times it is referred to in your reading |
It's relation to your question (e.g. supports or goes against) |
Name of researcher/reference |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
You may find it easier for your brain to adapt and form essays if you have continuity in how you collect research and not such a gap between desk and field research.