Principle Structures: Building Mental Frameworks

When learning complex subjects, isolated facts quickly become overwhelming. The key to mastery lies in organizing knowledge into powerful mental frameworks called principle structures.

What Are Principle Structures?

A principle structure is a hierarchical organization of principles that connects fundamental concepts to their conditions, definitions, and applications.

They serve as both:

A knowledge map – showing how principles relate and cluster.
A retrieval tool – letting you test recall in a structured, position-anchored format.

Why they work:

Position as a cue – The fixed location of each principle in the structure becomes a retrieval cue, reinforcing both visual and verbal memory.
Clustering – Related principles appear together, helping you categorize and recall them by theme.
Meaningful associations – You link each principle to conditions of use, definitions, and applications—powerful cues during problem solving.

Example: Physics Principle Structure

Here’s an example from introductory mechanics:

Complete hierarchical principle structure for mechanics showing conservation laws, Newton's laws, and kinematics with their conditions and mathematical forms — Example of a hierarchical principle structure for mechanics (Phys111). This format organizes core principles, their conditions, and their mathematical forms into an easy-to-retrieve layout.

This format:

Groups related laws (e.g., Newton’s laws, conservation principles).
Specifies conditions for applying each principle.
Lists mathematical forms alongside names.
Uses a consistent layout so position itself helps recall.

Turning Structures into Retrieval Sheets

A principle structure can be adapted into a retrieval sheet for practice:

Start with the complete structure.
Create a version where key items are blank.
Retrieve the missing elements from memory before checking.

Partially blanked principle structure with missing elements for retrieval practice — Partially blanked retrieval sheet for practicing principle recall. Students can fill in missing elements from memory to strengthen retention.

You can print these or use them on a tablet with a stylus.
This method combines elaborative encoding (by understanding how principles fit together) and retrieval practice (by forcing recall).

Building Your Own Principle Structure

If you don’t have a ready-made structure:

List all essential principles – Start from course notes, textbook summaries, or past exams.
Group by theme – E.g., in mechanics: translational motion, rotational motion, energy, momentum.
Add conditions and key formulas – These make recall more effective than just listing names.
Arrange hierarchically – Place the most general principles at the top, specialized forms below.
Keep refining – Each study cycle can reveal better groupings.

This process itself is an act of learning—it forces you to think about what belongs where and why.

Avoid Rote Mnemonics

Techniques like memory palaces or absurd imagery are designed for meaningless sequences (e.g., card order, random numbers).

For meaningful content like physics principles, these methods can:

Be irrelevant in problem solving.
Fail as cues under exam conditions.
Even interfere with long-term retention.

Principle structures give you the same spatial anchoring advantage, but with meaningful, directly usable cues.

Integrated With Other Learning Strategies

Use principle structures while self-explaining worked examples.
When solving problems, try recalling principles first, only consulting the sheet when you’re stuck.
Drop retrieval practice for a principle once you can consistently solve problems that use it without looking it up.

As a Study Kickstart

Many students find it hard to start a study session.
Doing 10–15 minutes of retrieval on a principle sheet:

Activates domain-specific brain networks.
Suppresses unrelated thoughts.
Makes it easier to enter a flow state.

Continue Learning

Master systematic problem solving: Our guide on the Five-Step Strategy shows you how to apply principle structures within a complete problem-solving framework.

Go deeper: The complete system—including printable retrieval sheets and spaced practice integration—is in Masterful Learning.

Research Basis

This principle structure and retrieval sheet approach was developed and tested in university physics courses, as published in:

Gjerde et al. (2020). Retrieval practice of a hierarchical principle structure in university introductory physics: Making stronger students. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.16.013103
Gjerde et al. (2021). Integrating effective learning strategies in basic physics lectures: A thematic analysis. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.010124
Gjerde et al. (2025). Mandatory retrieval test to incentivize retrieval practice of physics principles. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.21.010119