Learning Strategies for Biology

 

Get a Game Plan: Game plan is just that, a plan to win. You've got a lot of material to learn, break it down into small steps. Here's how to develop a game plan for yourself:

1.      Find out what will be covered on the next test, or what information needs to be learned. You can get this from your teacher or look on the syllabus.

2.      Break the material down into small pieces using a calendar. Take the material to be covered and spread it out evenly over the number of days you have until the project or exam is to take place.

3.      Take your calendar and for each day put what you need to accomplish down on paper, then stick to it and do it!

If you don't have a personal calendar with all your important dates

- get one now and use it!!

 

SQ3R Study Method (Survey, Question, Read, Recall, Review) First developed by researchers at Ohio State University. Use this method to study written materials such as a textbook. It worked for me! How to Use:

  1. Survey: Skim through the chapter looking at headings, and subheadings. Look at illustrations and pictures. Think about what the chapter is about.
  2. Question: Use the questions at the end of the chapter or make up questions, but be sure you have a question for each subheading.
  3. Read (Write): Read the chapter and look for answers to the questions from above. Write notes in your own words under question.
  4. Recall (Recite): As you read, periodically stop and say OUT LOUD what you have been reading in your own words. Try not to look back at what you have been reading, but Recall the information in your own words. Be sure to do this at least after each subheading. Aristotle used reciting to teach! Research says that if you do this part, you will remember 70 to 90% of what you're studying.
  5. Review: Review the chapter the day we cover it in class and the night before a test. Once you use this regularly, it will become second nature.

 

Note Cards - Notes cards can be used many ways. The traditional standby is taking the definitions or equations you need to memorize and putting the definition on one side, the answer on the other. This can work for some, but here's another use for your note cards.

Once your teachers has given you all the materials (notes, worksheets, etc.) take a note card no bigger than 5" x 8" and try to organize all your materials on ONE card as if you could use it on a test. This will force you to organize all the information in concise pieces. Also, by going through your notes and worksheets, you work with the material again.

 

Use note cards to arrange information gleaned from class notes, lab and textbook. The simple act of rearranging the information is a big help. I recommend the students draw a picture of the organism we are studying on one side of the note card and then put everything about that organism on the back side of the note card.

 

 

 

Classification Circles (Venn Diagrams). Draw three overlapping circles Use these circles to help you compare the different phyla and classes of organisms we are studying. Here's how to use it:

1.      In each circle put one taxon such as Platyhelminthes, Aschelminthes and Annelida

2.      Using your notes find a particular characteristic to place somewhere on the diagram.

3.      An example could be respiration by diffusion. That would go in the very center where all three circles overlap because all three of the phyla respire by diffusion. If only two of the groups have a characteristic, then it would go on the diagram where only the circles for the two groups overlap. If only one of the groups has a characteristic, then write the characteristic in that groups circle.

4.      Continue on with as many different characteristics that you can think of and then use this diagram as you study the specimens in class.

 

Be the teacher – Teach your parents the notes, homework or practice test. Parents should actively listen to them and ask questions when they are not clear (or you don't understand). Don't let them gloss over a concept. If the material is still not clear, have them find the answer - even if they need to email me or come by and see me. This works because the "teacher" must organize their thoughts on the material.

 

Set up a study group. Quizzing each other or teaching each other is a great way to learn. Try to answer the review questions at the end of the chapter in the textbook

 

TV should not be on while studying. Some students believe they can concentrate and affectively study while the TV is on. Educational research has shown this is not true and some researchers suggest that even having music on decreases concentration especially when the music has lyrics.

 

Shorten study time, but study more frequently. Research has shown that the human brain really only remembers the first and last 10 to 15 minutes of a study session. Study sessions should be no longer than 30 minutes and then take a break. The break should be something completely different from what you were studying. As I told the students in class you should spend 30 minutes per day studying biology not 2 hours for two days before the exam.

 

Take advantage of open lab time. Have a partner set up specimens and quiz you over the material and then you quiz them. Even just stopping by the lab for a quick look at the organisms we are studying and quizzing your self should help reinforce the material. Repetition is the key to taking information out of short term memory and storing it into your long term memory.

 

Come in and see me about concepts that are not understood.