Chapter 5

1. Chapter 5 Making the Learning Process Work for You

2. Chapter Overview • Skills for learning • Reading for comprehension • Problem solving • Organizing your learning process • Preparing for and taking tests • Making effective use of your peers

3. Reading for Comprehension • What to do before you read? • What to do while you read? • What to do after you read?

4. Before You Read • Establish a purpose for the reading • Entertainment, Pleasure • Find out a single piece of information • Comprehend principles or concepts (technical courses) • Survey/skim/preview (fast reading) • Decide on the specific scope/size of the reading • Look at headings and subheadings • Inspect drawings, diagrams, charts, tables, figures, photographs • Read the introductory and the summary sections • Make a list of questions to be answered • A useful technique is to turn section headings and subheadings into questions

5. While You Read • Read actively (sketch a graph, summarize ideas, …) • Focus on understanding concepts in detail (pay attention to mathematical formulas, take time to absorb graphs, …) • Take your time; don’t try to read too fast (in each stage decide whether the idea presented was clear) • Write down questions that need to be answered about anything you don’t understand (a re-reading is usually needed to try to answer these questions) • Periodically, stop and recite (ideally aloud) what you have read(the purpose of reciting is for implanting the knowledge in your brain)

6. After You Read • Recite answers to the questions you prepared before you started reading. Reread where needed. (Try to teach what you have learned from the reading to someone else) • Review within a day; again in a week; when you prepare for an exam; and when you prepare for the final exam (this task reinforce your learning process) • Solve problems (try to be fast and accurate you will be judged on in your coursework), (try to solve as many problems as you can)

7. Analytical Problem Solving Step 1 - Understand the problem • Read the problem carefully • Identify the question you are being asked to answer • Identify the unknown(s) and assign each unknown a symbol • List all known information • Draw a graph, figure, … that describes the problem Step 2 - Develop a plan (this is the most difficult step in the problem solving process) Step 3 - Carry out the plan • Work carefully and check each step as you proceed • Take particular care to ensure correct handling of units Step 4 - Look back • Examine the solution obtained • Make sure your solution is reasonable

8. Organizing Your Learning Process • “Take it as it comes” • Procrastination • Mastering the material • Learn to manage your time • Priority management

9. Take It As It Comes This is the most important behavior to put into practice Don’t allow the next class session in a course to come without having mastered the material presented in the previous class session. ”لا تؤجّل عمل اليوم إلى الغد“

10. Procrastination Procrastination – “Choosing to put off something we know we should be doing and instead doing something we know we shouldn’t be doing.” Reasons for procrastination • Fear of failure: Difficult task  if we don’t try it, then we haven’t failed • Fear of success : Success might bring responsibilities • Low tolerance for unpleasant tasks: Doing the task may bring some discomfort • Disorganized: Unwilling to set priorities, develop schedule, and stick to the schedule

11. Mastering the Material • Learn from your lecture notes • Highlight important points • Reduce each main idea into key word or phrase • Recite and reflect on what you have learned • Review all of your notes, at least, once each week • Reread the text • Apply the reading for comprehension methodology • Solve problems • If time permits, work all the problems in the book • If more time is available, work them a second time As soon as possible after the initial exposure to the material:

12. Learning From Your Lecture Notes (Cornell Note-Taking Method) • Study and annotate your notes • Formulate a question answered by each section of your notes and write it in the “cue column” • Write a summary of each page in the summary area at the bottom • Recite answers to questions in the “cue column” • Reflect on what you have learned • Review (at least weekly)

13. Learn to Manage Your Time • Place a high value on your time • Schedule your time • Make a serious commitment to your study time

14. Benefits of Scheduling Your Study Time • You will see if you are overextended • You are more likely to keep up (تتابع) in your classes • You will get immediate feedback as to how much you are studying • You’ll learn what you can do and can’t do • You’ll feel that you have more time • You’ll feel much less stressed-out over school

15. How Many Hours Should You Study? • How difficult is the course? • How good a student are you? • How well prepared are you for the course? • What grade do you want to receive? It depends on:

16. Making Up Your Weekly Schedule • Block out all of your commitments (classes, meetings, part-time work, time to get to and from school, time for meals, etc) • Remainder of time is available for one of two purposes – 1) study; or 2) recreation • Schedule your study time to avoid wasting time by answering three questions: Should I study now or later? Where should I study? What subject should I study?

17. Priority Management Per Stephen Covey – Seven Habits of Highly Effective People • Decide what has high personal value (school, family, health, etc) • For each thing that needs to be done decide: How urgent is it? (Requires immediate attention; doesn’t require immediate attention) How important is it based on personal values? (Important; or not important) • Unimportant things whether urgent or not – ignore • Things that are both important and urgent (crisis management) – must be tended to • Things that are important but not urgent – tending to them is the key to overall effectiveness

18. Preparing For Tests • Schedule time for review several days prior to the test • “Scope out” tests (look for tests from previous semesters, …) • Practice under time pressure • Get a good night’s sleep • Make sure you have the right materials and tools • Arrive early

19. Test-Taking Strategies • Size up the test • Work the easier problems first • Be aware of the time (always keep an eye on the clock) • Complete a problem before leaving it • If time permits, check and recheck your work (never leave a test early) • Other? (don’t try to get responses from your peers)

20. Making Effective Use of Your Peers • Overview of collaborative learning • Benefits of group study • Frequently asked questions

21. Learning Modes • Solitary – You learn by yourself • Collaborative – You learn with others “My anecdotal research indicates that about 90 percent of first-year engineering students do virtually 100 percent of their studying alone.” Raymond Landis

22. Class Poll on (استطلاع) Collaborative Learning • How many of you spend some fraction of your study time on a regular basis studying with at least one other student? • How many of you spend virtually 100 percent of your study time studying alone? • For those who study alone – “Why don’t you study with other students? • For those who study with other students – “How is it working for you?”

23. Why Do Students Study Alone? • I learn more studying by myself. • I don’t have anyone to study with. • It’s not right. You’re supposed to do your own work.

24. Benefits of Group Study • You’ll be better prepared for the engineering “work-world” • You’ll learn more • You’ll enjoy it more

25. Frequently Asked Questions • What percentage of my studying should be done in groups? (Between 25 and 50 %) • What is the ideal size of a study group? (Ideally 2) • What can be done to keep the group from getting off task? (Split up a group’s meeting time into a series of short study periods with breaks between each period; 45mn – 15mn)

26. Group DiscussionBenefits of Group Study In your group, discuss the benefits of working with other students on your academic work. Appoint a leader to keep the discussion on topic and a recorder to write down and report what was learned