LEARNING AND STUDY STRAGIESfor STEM STUDENTS

Thanks to Joe LandsbergerStudy Guides and Strategies

http://www.studygs.net/And

Penn Sate University Learning Centers

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

Don’t be like this guy…

….or her

Cornell Notes

NOTES• Record lecture/reading here• Concise• Abbreviations• Lists• Skip space between points

WHEN: During class/reading

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

Summary

Set up your paperAddress 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.

This is for all the perfectionists out there!

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.

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.

After the lecture, go back and give headings to your notes to make it easier to find when you study.

Always take notes here.

Summarize each section of your notes into only a few words

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

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

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.

CHEMISTRYEXAMPLE

Biology Example

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.

Possible questions:

Why don’t the ticks usually kill their host?

How could tick infestations in cattle impact humans?

How do the ticks find the cattle?

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.

Reduce ideas and facts toconcise jottings and summaries as cues for Record the lecture as fully and as Reciting, Reviewing, meaningfully as possible.and Reflecting. 

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).

 

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!

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?

Step 5: Review

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

Whether you want this?

OR

                     

                              

This

It’s up to you!

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Pre-reading

1st Reading

2nd Reading

Review

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

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

Pre-reading

1st Reading

2nd Reading

Review

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Pre-reading

1st Reading

2nd Reading

Review

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

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Pre-reading

1st Reading

2nd Reading

Review

REVIEW your notes for:• Review before any test • Memorization • Exercises or problems to

complete• Labs, experiments, future

lectures, etc.

Still having difficulty?

• CD/Video/Website• Other text• Study Group• Tutoring Services– http://sciencecenteratspscc.weebly.com/