Reference no: EM133912937

Question

Read pages 37 to 57 from the book: "The thinker's guide for student on how to study and learn a discipline", by Dr. Linda Elder and Dr. Richard Paul. Make an evaluation of your study habits and skills.

1. Do you understand the requirements of every class in which you are registered, how they will be taught, and what will be expected of you? Have you sought out and received advice about how you can best prepare for class?

2. Do you know your strengths and weaknesses as a student and thinker? Have you tried to find out? Are you in the habit of evaluating aspects of your thinking__you purpose, the question you are trying to answer, the information you are using to answer it, etc.? Good thinkers regularly question their thinking. Be especially careful to distinguish what you know for sure from what you merely believe (but may not be true)

3. Have you identified the kind of thinking that is most important in a given class? Think of subjects as form of thinking (history = historical thinking; sociology = sociological thinking; biology = biological thinking).

4. Do you ask questions in and out of class? Do you engage yourself in lectures and discussions by asking questions? Good instructors value questions from students.

5. Are you looking for interconnections? Do you understand the content in every class as a SYSTEM of interconnected understanding or as a random list of things to memorize? Do not memorize individual points like a parrot. Study to understand, to figure thing out.

6. Are you practicing the thinking of the subject? Could you explain this thinking with examples and illustrations (to someone who was not in the class)?

7. Are you reading your textbooks to figure out the THINKING of the author(s)? do you translate the author's thinking into your thinking (by putting basic points into your own words)? Do you role-play the author (to someone else) explaining the main points of various sections of the text?

8. Do you relate content whenever possible to issues and problems and practical situations in life? If you can not connect what you are learning to issues in life, your understanding of it is at best incomplete.

9. Can you explain the main idea behind the class in your own words? Are you seeking to find the key concept of the course from the first couple of class meetings? For example, in a biology course, try explaining what biologists are (mainly) trying to figure out. Do not use technical terms in your explanation. Then relate that explanation to each segment of what you are learning in the course. How does each segment fit in?

10. Do you test yourself before you come to class by trying to summarize, orally or in writing, the main points of the previous class meeting? If you cannot summarize main points, you haven't learned them.

11. Do you check your thinking using intellectual standards? "Am I being clear? Accurate? Precise? Relevant? Logical? Am I looking for what is most significant? Am I recognizing complexities?"

12. Do you use writing as a way to learn by writing summaries in your own words of important points from the textbook or other reading material? Do you make up test questions? Do you write out answers to your own questions?

13. During lecture time, do you actively listen for main points? If we arbitrarily stopped the lecture at the lecture at various points, could you accurately summarize what the instructor had just said in your own words?

14. Do you frequently assess your reading? Do you read the textbook actively? Are you asking questions as you read? Do you recognize the points you do and do not understand?