The New Year is often seen as a blank slate. It’s a way to start fresh and maybe accomplish those goals you’ve been putting off for the last 365 days. But how you learn is just as important as what you learn. Our show this week will get you ready to tackle whatever is on your agenda.

First, if you truly want to learn better, put down the highlighter. Author Ulrich Boser says strategies such as memorization and underlining passages in a book are outdated methods of studying. He proposes a six-step method to learning new skills, so that they truly stick.

Next, we take you back to 10th-grade Spanish class. Kind of. A new study pinpoints when language-learning skills start to decline - and what that means for aspiring hyperpolyglots.

Then, if you considered math to be a four-letter word when you were a kid... you’re not alone. But there’s now a program that might be able to engage kids in a new way. Innovation Hub Senior Producer Elizabeth Ross reports on the Russian School of Mathematics, an fast-spreading extracurricular offering that’s helping some students master advanced math.