LEARNING AND STUDY STRAGIES for STEM STUDENTS

1. LEARNING AND STUDY STRAGIESfor STEM STUDENTS Thanks to Joe Landsberger Study Guides and Strategies http://www.studygs.net/ And Penn Sate University Learning Centers

2. BEFORE CLASS • Before class: • Do your homework! • Reading • Problem solving • Review your notes • Communicate immediately with professors • Focus on the task at hand • Write any objectivesthat come to mind: • preparing for an up-coming test, • understanding a particular concept, • gaining a good foundation on a topic • understanding or reviewing the readings

3. DURING CLASS • Arrive on time for class.Position yourself in the classroom • Avoid distractions • Evaluate as you listen:Listen long enough to be sure you understand what was said before writing. • Take Notes • Ask clarifying questions (but wait for "breaks" in the instructor's stream). • Review your objective(s) • Make a to do list including

4. TO DO LIST • Edit/Summarize/Review your notes • Assignments • Include references to reading assignments • reviewing difficult concepts • joining study groups • making appointments • with a study pal • Tutor • instructor

5. Why Should You Take Notes? • Maximize your learning • Don’t take notes: Forget 60% in 14 days • Take some notes: Remember 60% • Take organized note and then do something with them: Remember 90-100% indefinitely Dr. Walter Pauk, Cornell University Reading Center

6. What’s the advantage of Cornell notes? • Helps me take organized notes. • Helps me identify key words and concepts from lecture or reading. • Helps me scan my notes to locate important information. • Improved study skills. • Improved grades.

7. Problems with taking notes • I can’t write everything down the teacher says because he/she talks TOO fast! • I can’t read my notes. • The notes I take when I read don’t help. • I don’t know which parts of my notes are most important. • I don’t see how the notes from lecture match the readings from the book.

8. Don’t be like this guy…

9. ….or her

10. Cornell Notes • CUES • Main Ideas • Questions that connect points • Diagrams • Prompts to help you study • Reference pages in text • Notes to myself about actions to take • Key Terms • Steps in a solution process • WHEN: After class/during review • NOTES • Record lecture/reading here • Concise • Abbreviations • Lists • Skip space between points • WHEN: During class/reading Summary

11. Set up your paper Address your paper like you normally would any other paper. -Include name, date, and course info -It doesn’t need to be perfect, just as close as you can get.

12. This is for all the perfectionists out there!

13. Helpful hint! • Make sure that you have several pages already set up before your instructor begins their lecture to prevent you missing notes that might help you succeed on your tests.

14. Now what? -Take notes like you normally would on the right side of the vertical line. -Continue to take notes on as many pages as you need until the lecture is complete. Alwaystake notes here. After the lecture, go back and give headings to your notes to make it easier to find when you study. Summarize each section of your notes into only a few words

15. Remember • You can take notes in any format you choose, just keep those notes in the large section on the RIGHT side of the vertical line! • Some styles of notes • Outline • Narrative • Symbols • Short hand • Draw pictures

16. Tips for recording notes • Use abbreviations • Paraphrase to capture content but simplify writing • Use symbols • Arrows, circles, underlining, and highlighting • Include graphics when necessary • Skip lines between ideas

17. More recording tips • Identify words that are unclear. • Think about what is being said. • Ask questions. • Pay attention to class objectives. • Make sure your notes are aligned. • Become familiar with the speaker’s style • Look for voice inflections, gestures, etc.

18. CHEMISTRY EXAMPLE

19. Biology Example

20. Tips when revising • Develop study questions and identify main ideas. • Fill in details for clarity. • Look up definitions of words you don’t know. • Delete irrelevant information. • Add symbols to highlight important points or key words. • Write a summary of the significant ideas.

21. Possible questions: How do the ticks find the cattle? Why don’t the ticks usually kill their host? How could tick infestations in cattle impact humans?

22. Reduce ideas and facts to concise jottings and summaries as cues for Record the lecture as fully and as Reciting, Reviewing, meaningfully as possible. and Reflecting. This is the balanced equation for the chemical reaction of photosynthesis = light Carbon dioxide and water react with light to make glucose (sugar) and oxygen. Pigments are proteins. (Just like in Ch. 3) Chlorophyll absorbs the light in photosystems. Plants are green because green light is not absorbed, it’s reflected! Find out what the other pigments are! • PHOTOSYNTHESIS: • 6CO2 + 6H2O C6H12O6 + 6O2 • How do plants capture the sunlight? • Chlorophyll is a molec. in chloroplasts. • Chlphyll is a pigment. • two main types are chlphyll a and chlphyll b • other pigments are ________________? • chlphyll in plants absorbs the red and blue wavelengths of very well, but not the green areas. • Chlorophyll is located in the thylakoid: it contains light collecting photosystems that hold the chlorophyll. • Many thyklakoid membranes make up the granum. • The fluid interior is called the stroma. Carbon dioxide, water and light are needed to make sugar. The light has to be absorbed first, the chlorophyll pigments absorb light. The chlorophyll is a membrane protein. They are found in the thylakoid membranes of the chloroplast. Other parts of the chloroplast are the stroma and the granum (a stack of thylakoids).

23. Step 3: Recite • Cover the note taking column (right side) with a sheet of paper. Then, looking at the key points or questions of the left of the paper, say aloud, in your own words, the answers to the questions, facts, or ideas indicated by those key points or questions. • NOW YOU’RE STUDYING!

24. Step 4: Reflect Reflect on the material by asking yourself questions, for example: -What’s the significance of these facts? -What principles are these based on? -How can I apply them? -How do they fit in with what I already know? -What’s beyond them?

25. Step 5: Review Review frequently. If you do, you’ll retain a great deal for current use, as well as, for the exam.

26. Whether you want this? This OR It’s up to you!

27. READING ASSIGNMENTS Pre-Reading Review the assignment in the syllabus and any handouts (1-2 minutes) Survey the chapter (5-10 minutes)for how the content is organized; get the "big picture“ Major concepts Introduction/summary Vocabulary Key terms Graphics Check out the Media

28. READING ASSIGNMENTS 1st Reading read and get a good idea of the material: what you understand, and what you do not Read sentences, paragraphs and short passages with 1-second pauses. Look back and forth between words and related graphics ask yourself if you are "on track" to understanding Vary your study activity

29. READING ASSIGNMENTS 2nd Reading Mark or highlight what you think is important Memorization? Note New vocabulary Create your own visual pictures or images, or concept maps Create sensory cues Read a passage aloud Work out your own explanations Mark passages with a question mark WORK the example problems

30. READING ASSIGNMENTS REVIEW your notes for: Review before any test Memorization Exercises or problems to complete Labs, experiments, future lectures, etc.

31. Still having difficulty? • CD/Video/Website • Other text • Study Group • Tutoring Services • http://sciencecenteratspscc.weebly.com/