Study Skills - how to teach them, how to learn them-HELP!!!

Parents Forum
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<p>I am less concerned with the ability to study than the ability to learn. Therefore I suggest approaching the problem backwards, at least for the sciences and math. </p>

<p>In a class where the teacher covers the textbook material in class, rather than using new methods to attack the material, <em>skim</em> the textbook before class so that you will be able to follow the class. (By skimming, I mean: read through once for new vocabulary. Don't memorize.)</p>

<p>As for note-taking, as a teacher I try to encourage what I call "active listening". Many students passively take notes without thinking much about what the teacher's saying. Students should write down keywords, vocabulary, the questions s/he asks during the class. </p>

<p>After class, look at the vocabulary list: do you know all the words? Find them in the text and write down the definitions.</p>

<p>Go through the chapter and read the captions on all the pictures. What points are the pictures trying to make?</p>

<p>Look at the problems at the end of the chapter. Read through them until you find the ones you can't answer, then try to answer them by searching the text for that information. For the ones you can't answer, work through the process with a friend or go to the teacher for extra help.</p>

<p>Many texts include factual and conceptual problems. Make sure you can answer all of the conceptual problems. (If you have a teacher who emphasizes memorization, answer the factual ones too.)</p>

<p>For test preparation, I think making a cheat sheet works very well. By attempting to distill the information onto a small piece of paper (I recommend a 4x6 index card), a student finds the most crucial pieces of information and overlearns them. (When teaching full-time, I allowed the students to create such a cheat sheet; most said they never referred to it during the test, because they'd learned the material, but they also found it reassuring to have.)</p>

<p>Many students benefit from making a concept map in which they distill the main concepts and how they are connected to each other. This web page illustrates and explains concept maps: <a href="http://users.edte.utwente.nl/lanzing/cm_home.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://users.edte.utwente.nl/lanzing/cm_home.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Finally, if you really want to learn the material, encourage your teacher to give open-book tests. Open-book tests assure that memorization is irrelevant, while learning and synthesizing is essential. Of course, they're much harder to create and grade.</p>

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<p>I "take notes" during meetings, classes etc.....it is my way of staying in the moment....it forces me to pay attention....and I am in sales...I work with thousands of customers over 5 states.....technology job, I have to be able to go back to my notes to discern what we should do, what needs to be done, why we did what we did, what to do now that something else has happened etc etc..... certainly as we continue to get bombarded by information, in all walks of life, at all ages of life, the ability to "take notes" is key.... we all interface with so many more contacts and suppliers and teachers and organizations etc....IMHO</p>

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<p>I have the same need to keep busy during lectures, and so am often "naughty" during classes. If I sit quietly with hands in lap my mind wanders. I have found, as a student, teacher, and presenter, that those who seem to be otherwise occupied are often the ones who come up with the questions about what has been said. In my view the questions are more important than the ability to restate the material because the questions often indicate a higher level of thought. The ones who seem to be quietly attending often have no questions and merely take in what has been said often have the most difficulty making the information their own. As Marite said, it is difficult to take notes and take part in the discussion at the same time. </p>

<p>That said, not all colleges "teach" the material. The Thayer method, employed by the academies, has students self-teach, then reinforces in class. In that instance it is imperative that the students read the material before class, distill it then, and come to class ready to ask questions and discuss. There is no "lecture" as such. </p>

<p>So, it would be very important to know the method of delivery and the philosophy behind the classes, which professors usually tell you in the syllabus, and to tailor the study method to best serve the class.</p>

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<p>The efficacy of notes completely depends on the student's ability to synthesize and distill. I am not suggesting furiously taking down every word during a lecture. However, jotting down key points/concepts and taking note of the things the prof 'underlines' by spending time on them in class does not interfere with absorbtion, IMO, it enhances it-- because you are listening for fundamentals. Jotting down questions is also helpful. And I forgot to mention that my Mom's "system" also resulted in a one page distillation.</p>

<p>I took a few notoriously difficult classes at Brown where I used my Mom's method with great success. I believe it is helpful to have a study buddy to debate with during this process-- the buddy may have caught connections you missed, and vice versa. </p>

<p>It does take a process-- at least 2 or 3 distillations-- to GET the material of one semester onto one page. It is HARD to prune, prune, prune and get down to the essential architecture of a course, the essential thesis of the prof, the most useful and telling illustrations of the points made.</p>

<p>I actually agree with you edad that the goal of notes is not to exhaustively chronicle but to capture the essentials.</p>

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<p>I am reading that several posters here cannot take notes, listen and take part in a discussion, therefore they dismiss the importance of taking notes. Some of us can do these things and do think they are important. </p>

<p>At Cornell, I learned to keep good notes. Almost thirty years later, people will still come to me and ask what was being said at certain parts of a meeting and I usually do participate in conversations. My D honed her note taking skills during debate competitions, where you have to keep track of everything said so you can bring it up in rebutal. I asked her if she takes notes during classes at college.. Yes she does, particuarly in classes where the book is meant to supplement the lectures.</p>

<p>For my math students, I urge, suggest and implore them to take notes from the book the day before the lesson, and to leave large spaces for additional information...that way they already have the definitions, process, and a few examples before we formally go over it in class. This is particulary helpful to the EL students. During class, those who have taken notes can add to them with additional examples or alternative approaches that are not in the book.</p>

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<p>I guess I did it all wrong. Such a shame because it seemed so easy to just sit in class and learn the material. With just a few notes to look at I always had plenty of time for the textbooks. I guess I should have done it differently. I probably should have taken fewer courses and spent a lot more time on each.</p>

<p>When I teach I also think I make it too easy for the students. I pass out notes so the students don't need to make their own.</p>

<p>Learning should have been a lot harder.</p>

<p>By the way, I do take notes at business meetings. This is not a matter of learning, but keeping track of what was said and agreed upon. I would also expect a lawyer to keep pretty detailed notes.</p>

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<p>edad, It is good that you know how to make notes to pass out to your students or to use in business meetings. I want my students to have that same skill. Since the op was asking about study skills, I would hope we would all agree that taking notes is a good skill. Obviously you use it.</p>

<p>Some classes require less note taking than others, but I have taken notes and have stacks of notebooks from the various classes I take each year. I don't remember anyone at college not taking notes, I think they would have stood out.</p>

<p>Mom of 1, I like to doodle while I am listening too, but to keep myself focused I started illustrating my notes...sometimes with sketchs of the speaker. I used to run back and type them up, now input them into my computer...disks are so much easier to keep track of.</p>

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<p>To the original poster, I guess that with all of the parents listing their personal opinions about studying, you might reach the conclusion that what works best for one person is not the method of choice for another. This is why I suggested having a professional educator help your D.</p>

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<p>N--kness has a D who has done ok in HS but has "coasted along". Now in the beginning of the junior year, her D has had some poor grades on tests. N---kness is looking for some suggestions on study skills and she jokes that they should go on an iPod so her D would be interested.</p>

<p>Clearly there is a problem which is deeper than the mechanics of studying. I don't think anyone can make much progress in teaching study skills to a student who has a lack of interest and motivation. In addition to motivation, a good student needs to develop some reasonable level of self-discipline. They need to able to invest sustained effort in reaching distant goals when instant gratification may be lacking. It is no accident that kids who do well in music and sports also have the discipline to do well in school. Trying to deal with these issues in a teenager can be really tough. I would indeed suggest having the help of professional educators and I would return to teachers until I really understood the issues.</p>

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<p>There is a book that every college student should own, and using it starting in HS would be a great idea. Its called "What Smart Students Know" and it is written by the cofounder of the Princeton Review program. It really lays out the steps involved in studying various types of material.</p>

<p>One caveat. A big one, actually. The willingess to improve has to be something that comes from the kid. All the books and websites in the world aren't going to make a difference if they aren't used. But if your D is willing to take a look at this book, it will really help!</p>

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<p>I agree that motivation is key. How to use that motivation to gain a reward instead of becoming frustrated is what study skills are all about. It is difficult to watch a student try to study, investing time but using that time unwisely...so their knowledge and grades suffer.</p>

<p>Learning the habits of smart or successful students is a good start. Reading text and taking notes ahead of time, anticipating test questions, keeping study habits..time, place and environment...all help..</p>

<p>Incidentally, although I am a math teacher, I have been hired by my district to teach study classes to low achieving students...we see progress fairly quick.</p>

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<p>Mr B, It sounds like you have had many challenges and many successes and rewards. How do you deal with problems of motivation and lack of interest? I remember the problems with had with D1. She did really well in the lower grade levels. About the time the hormones kicked in, she seemed to lose all motivation and interest in school. It was years before she outgrew her problems and in the meantime nothing seemed to help.</p>

<p>All of my teaching has been at the college level. If I ever taught K-12, I would think teaching math would be the most rewarding area. So many kids seem to have the idea that math is too hard and they are not good at it. If you can break down that barrier, progress must be very rapid.</p>