ACTIVE VS. PASSIVE LEARNING
Adopt the attitude that your college teachers are responsible for no more than presenting ideas and information to you. Assume that it is your responsibility to learn. Students are often conditioned by magazines, television, and movies to be passive learners, and therefore they expect to be entertained by their textbooks and instructors. The only instructors or assignments these students pay attention to are those that catch their attention just as professional entertainers do.
College teachers are not encouraged to be entertainers; being an entertainer in the classroom is viewed as unprofessional at most schools. How much time and money do you think your teachers are given to prepare jokes, create witty sayings, and go through all the other preparations that professional comedians and entertainers do? The answer is "None at all." You will be lucky to find a teacher who not only knows his/her material completely, but who can also add wit and charm to its presentation. Most teachers have a great deal of information to present to you for your consideration; ask no more of them. College teachers are simply not in the entertainment business.
Consider developing the attitude that you are going to become an active learner, and that you are going to get the most out of every class. You have paid your money, so get what you paid for. You are the consumer! You can make even the most boring class interesting by assuming that every teacher has useful information for you. Be an active learner. Be determined to learn everything that you can from each of your teachers and textbooks. Realize that the best investment that you will ever make is in yourself. You may lose your job or your money, but no one can ever take your education away from you.
While these results clearly suggest that attending class helps students to increase their performance, their are many other ways in which assuming an active strategy towards your education can enable you to achieve academic success. Consider the following pairs of active vs. passive strategies and, whenever possible, choose the active approach.
Passive ® Just sit in lectures because you have to be there.
Active ® Come to lectures prepared, pay attention, take notes, and ask questions.
Passive ® Buy used books that already have the important points underlined.
Active ® Buy new books and do the underlining yourself.
Passive ® Borrow and use lectures notes from someone who has already taken the class.
Active ® Take you own lecture notes.
Passive ® Read assignments just to get them over with.
Active ® Skim assignments first, make up a list of questions that you would like to answer, and then read the assignments to answer the questions.
Passive ® Pay attention only to the grades you earned on tests when they are returned.
Active ® Study returned tests carefully so that you don't make the same mistakes again.
Passive ® Don't work any harder than you have to in any class.
Active ® Volunteer to help someone in your class who is having a tough time.
ACTIVE VS. PASSIVE LEARNING STYLE TEST
Place a check mark on the line to the left of the statement in each pair of statements that you believe is true. Try to be as honest as possible in all of your choices.
1. ____ Promotions are earned with ____ Promotions come from having
hard work and persistence. the right people like you
2. ____ I would get better grades ____ How hard I study determines
if my teachers were better. the grades that I get.
3. ____ The increasing divorce rate ____ Fate determines how long a
indicates that fewer people marriage will last. All you
trying to make their can do is hope that your partner
marriages last. will stay with you for life.
4. ____ It is useless to try to change the ____ I can usually change others to
attitudes or behaviors of others. see and do things my way.
5. ____ In our society, a person's income ____ Finding a well-paying job is
is determined primarily by his or simply a matter of being luckier
her level of ability and motivation. than other people.
6. ____ Many people are hard to get along ____ Getting along with people is a
with and there is no use trying to skill that can be learned over
be friendly to them. time with a little patience.
7. ____ My grades are a result of my ____ Whether I study or not has little
own effort, not luck. effect on my grades.
8. ____ It is wishful thinking to ____ People like me can change the
believe that one person can change course of events by standing
what happens in society today. up and making themselves heard.
9. ____ The good and bad things that ____ When I see an unfortunate person,
happen to me are determined I sometimes think "There but for
primarily by what I do. the grace of God go I."
10. ____ I would be much happier if life ____ Peace of mind comes from learning
wasn't so stressful. to adapt to the stresses of life.
To score your test, add the check marks in the left column for the odd-numbered items (1, 3, 5, etc.) and in the right column for the even-numbered items. The higher your score, the more likely you are to be an active learner. If your score is particularly low, you may want to reconsider your beliefs about who is responsible for your ability to learn and perform well in your classes and change your attitudes and behaviors accordingly. Remember, it's your education and only you can make it be what you want it to be.
HOW TO READ A TEXTBOOK FOR MAXIMUM COMPREHENSION
A. Getting to know your textbook
1. Read the introduction or preface to discover the author's orientation.
2. Read chapter titles to determine the organizational structure.
3. Become familiar with its pedagogical aids.
a. table of contents
b. chapter outlines
c. boldface print for new items
d. end-of-section or end-of-chapter summaries
e. questions at beginning or end of chapter
f. appendixes
g. glossary
h. recommended reading list
i. chapter summaries and learning objectives (in this study guide)
B. The SQ4R method
1. Survey — should take only 5-10 minutes for a 50-page chapter and save 25 percent of study time
a. chapter title
b. chapter outline
c. introduction or first paragraph
d. section headings
e. illustrations and their captions
f. section summaries
g. questions at the end of the chapter
2. Question
a. Write questions you would like to answer from the assignment on 3x5 cards.
b. Unanswered questions are bothersome, and you will read to answer them.
c. Reading becomes more purposeful if you have questions to answer.
d. Cautions:
1) Do not overload yourself with questions and do not make your questions too elaborate.
2) Be flexible; add, omit, or change your questions if necessary.
3. Read
a. Read until you come to the answer of a question.
b. Study the answer and try to understand it in your own words.
c. Go to the next step.
4. Recite
a. Close the book.
b. Repeat the answer back to yourself in your own words.
c. Open the book, and compare your answer to the book's answer.
d. If it is not acceptable, go back to the last step and repeat it.
e. If it is acceptable, go to the next step.
5. Write
a. Write the answer to the question (and page number) on the reverse side of the card.
b. Repeat steps 3–5 until you have written all the answers to your questions.
6. Review
a. Use the cards as flash cards.
b. Review immediately after finishing the assignment.
c. Review at least three more times, once immediately before the test.
C. A Note Of Caution about the SQ4R Method: My experience with the SQ4R method leads me to believe that not all students use all six stages to help them study in a goal-directed and systematic manner. For example, you may find that the judicious use of the "recitation" stage is sufficient for you to increase your understanding and performance. In any event, you should consider using some or all of the components, especially if the results of your exams suggest that your previous study methods are not sufficiently effective. One of the major themes of your textbook is that wide individual differences exist among people in almost all aspects of their behavior and mental processes. Studying and test-taking are no exceptions to this theme. Use this opportunity to perform a "study-technique analysis" on yourself that will produce results that can increase your performance not only in this class, but in your other classes as well. The more familiar you are with your mental processes, the more successfully you can use them to your academic advantage.
D. Monitoring your reading to ensure comprehension
1. As you read an assignment, ask yourself the following questions.
a. Do I really understand this, or do I need to read it again?
b. Did I get lost several paragraphs ago?
c. If so, where do I need to begin my review?
d. Am I just reciting by rote or do I really understand this well enough for the test?
2. Your answers to these questions will help to guide your reading habits to ensure that you are actually learning the material, rather than just allowing your eyes to pass over the words so that you can say that you have finished the assignment when you finish reading the last page.
E. Conclusions and advice about reading textbooks
1. Textbooks are expensive, and smart students get their money's worth from them. Therefore ® Become familiar with the pedagogical aids in your books. Their purpose is to help you learn in the most efficient manner possible.
2. Active learning produces better understanding and retention than passive learning. Therefore ® Give yourself a purpose for reading an assignment (i.e., ask yourself specific questions) and then read the assignment to discover their answers. Do not read an assignment just to get it out of the way.
3. An important part of studying is the active identification of the main points of the material you are trying to learn. This process forces you to discriminate between important and less important material as you read, and helps you to review more efficiently. Therefore ® Highlight or underline the important terms, concepts, and relationships in your textbook. (Hint: Use your highlighter or pen sparingly; using them too much indicates an inability to identify genuinely important information and makes reviewing more difficult.)
4. People learn best when they experience new material in a number of ways (e.g., by seeing it, hearing it, and doing it). Therefore ® Reading, reciting, and writing the answers to your questions will help you learn the information in an assignment more effectively than just reading it.
5. Meaningful and personally relevant information is learned more quickly and retained longer than material perceived to be meaningless or irrelevant. Therefore ® Before you read an assignment, become familiar with it, understand why you are reading it, and think of ways to relate its contents to your own life experiences (i.e., make it personally relevant).
6. The best way to prepare for any new task—such as a test—is to prepare for that task under the same conditions in which you will engage in it. Therefore ® Writing answers to questions you have constructed is an excellent method to prepare for a test.
7. The vast majority of information is forgotten very quickly if it is not practiced. If it is practiced on several occasions, it is much more likely to be remembered. Therefore ® It is very important to practice recalling information in your own words as you read it and to review it several times after you have finished reading it.
STRATEGIES TO MAXIMIZE NOTE-TAKING EFFICIENCY
A. Why take notes?
1. To help you retain material
2. To sustain your attention in class
3. To engage you actively in the class
4. To force you to think about the lecture content
5. To provide material to review as you prepare for a test
6. To point out the strengths and weaknesses of your listening skills
B. Techniques to increase note-taking efficiency
1. Learn how your professors communicate to you that something is important.
a. Repeat it.
b. Stop pacing.
c. Make eye contact.
d. Give examples of it.
e. Write it on the board.
f. Make dramatic gestures.
g. Change their tone of voice.
h. Say "in summary" or "in conclusion."
i. Give you time to write it in your notes.
j. Follow it with a period of dramatic silence.
k. Include it in their introduction to a lecture.
2. Try hard to understand the organizational structure of lectures.
a. Pay close attention during introductions and summaries.
b. Use the outline method of note-taking whenever possible.
3. Develop a "speed hand."
a. Use abbreviations.
b. Keep a list of your abbreviations and their meanings.
4. Date your notes.
a. This helps to keep them in order if you remove pages from your notebook.
b. Dating pages makes it easier for professors to answer your questions if you can tell them the date of the lecture.
C. Six principles of efficient note-taking
1. Be flexible; adapt your note-taking style to different lecturing styles.
2. Once you select a successful style, stay with it.
3. Schedule a time as soon after class as possible to review your notes.
4. Take no more notes than are necessary for complete understanding.
5. Use your "speed hand" whenever possible.
6. Your notes should be immediately clear when you re-read them; if they are not, ask a reliable fellow student, the teaching assistant, or your professor for clarification as soon as possible.
D. Conclusions and advice about taking notes
1. You will not attend to, understand, or retain lecture material if you approach lectures in a passive manner. Therefore ® Do not attend class just so that your professor doesn't count you absent. Go to class prepared to actively learn the material that will be given in the lecture.
2. People learn best and retain the most when they experience new material in a number of ways (e.g., by seeing it, hearing it, thinking about it, and doing it). Therefore ® Pay close attention to what your professor does and says during lectures, try your best to understand the organization of the lecture, and take notes that are as simple but as complete as possible.
3. The vast majority of information is forgotten very quickly if it is not practiced. If it is practiced on several occasions, it is much less likely to be forgotten. Therefore ® It is very important to re-read your notes as soon as possible after a class and to review them several times before a test.
4. The more familiar you are with a person who is speaking to you, the more able you are to interpret his or her message. Therefore ® Do your best to pick up the subtle, and sometimes not so subtle, cues that you professors give during their lectures that indicate that they are talking about something they consider important enough to be asked on a test.
5. People understand and retain organized material far better than material that is unorganized. Therefore ® Work hard to understand the organizational structure of a lecture as you hear it. This will be harder during some lectures than others, but it is extremely important that you do it in all lectures.
6. The information that your professor presents in lectures is as important as the material from your textbook. Therefore ® Study your lecture notes as carefully as you study the textbook (e.g., highlight main ideas, make up possible test questions from them, and review them immediately before a test).