Metacognition (learning) techniques

[robert zellmer]

I've been holding "How to Study/Learn" sessions last week and this
coming Tuesday, tomorrow.  We have over 270 students in both my
Chem 1250 classes but so far maybe 45 people have attended.  I think
a lot of people don't think they need this but it helps, even if you've
been doing pretty well.  The following is related to this.

A former student sent me some information about how to study/learn.
He took a course offered through the Dennis Learning Center (DLC).
The course he took was ESEPSY 1259 (a class OSU offers that teaches
how to study effectively in college) about the Pomodoro Technique.
This is an in-person class (no prerequisites) for 3 credit hours. It didn’t
count towards his degree but he thinks it can count as a general education
course for students that still need to fill those.The following is from his
e-mail,

"I credit it with raising my grades last semester by at least 1 letter grade
for each course. It’s an easy class to do well in, but the techniques it 
teaches
are very valuable for any student, especially those coming from high school
or returning from a leave of absence. It teaches everything you went over
(almost word for word in terms of how to study effectively with skimming
chapters before class, writing in the margins, reorganizing notes after 
class,
creating your own questions, etc) and then some. I really can’t recommend it
highly enough. The textbook we used was even similar to the one you 
mentioned
in class"

"ESEPSY 1259 is at best going to allow them to study much more 
efficiently and
raise their GPA, and at worst is an easy A, so it’s a no-lose situation 
for students. I
think the Younkin Success Center did a study on students that took the 
course,
and they averaged raising their GPA by .25 points."

He had attended OSU before but was dismissed from his major for a poor GPA
of below 2.  He came back this past year and took this course along with 
the other
freshmen courses he needed for his major.  He got a 3.9 GPA his first 
semester
back.

There is an on-line course ESEPSY 1159 and workshops offered through the
DLC.  Some of these may be 1/2 semester courses so you could possibly 
still sign
up for one.

Here are some of the links he sent. The first one is about the Pomodoro 
Technique.
It's essentially what I spoke about, studying for some period of time, 
taking break
and then coming back and studying more and then a longer break and 
switching to
another subject.  Honestly, most studies show that spending more than about
45 minutes on a given subject is the limit for retention.  Even taking a 
break and
coming back to the same thing makes it harder to understand anything 
after about
the first hour.  Everyone is different, so you might find your like 30 
min, followed by
only a 10 min break.  I would say though don't go longer than about 45 
min on
any given subject before taking a break and then switching to something 
different.

Here’s a link to an article about the Pomodoro Technique (there are some 
links to
timers in there as well):

https://lifehacker.com/productivity-101-a-primer-to-the-pomodoro-technique-1598992730

Here’s a link to an online timer that can be used in browser:

https://tomato-timer.com

Here’s a link to the Chrome extension he uses (there are phone apps as 
well):

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/marinara-pomodoro-timer/lojgmehidjdhhbmpjfamhpkpodfcodef?hl=en

Here’s a link to the ESEPSY 1259 course:

http://dennislearningcenter.osu.edu/es-epsy-1259/

The textbook used:

https://www.amazon.com/College-Study-Skills-Becoming-Strategic/dp/0495913510

I also stated in my sessions to turn off notifications in your phone so 
you aren't always
checking your messages.  You need to be concentrating on the task at hand
and not what your friends are doing.  Here's one more thing from the 
same student,

"Other things that have helped me is turning off my phone notifications 
and keeping a
post-it note next to me when I study: if while I’m studying I think of 
something I NEED
to take care of relatively soon, I just write it on the post it note and 
quickly get back to
studying so I don’t lose my flow. This allows me to take care of things 
during my “break
cycle” and not during my “study cycle”.

I told you I've had countless students come back to me or e-mail over 
the years about
how much this helped them in all their courses.  They stated it improved 
their grades
and learning (better retention and understanding).  Countless studies 
have shown this
works.  Certainly for those of you struggling you might as well try 
something different.
What do you have to lose by doing so?  Even for those of you who are 
doing well this
can help for retention and maybe even reduce your study time since it's 
a more efficient
way to learn.

This is all pretty much what I state in my talks at the beginning of the 
semester.
I know a number of you attended but perhaps wont use the techniques I 
suggested
or only parts of it.  This early material isn't too hard for most of 
you, especially those
who had a decent high school chemistry course recently (w/in the last 3 
years).
However, that's going to change real soon when we get to the end of ch 
9, parts of
chapter 10 and then from chapter 11 on.  There's material there that 
most of you
will not have seen before and certainly not at the depth we expect. 
Starting this now
and planning on more time later once we're in these chapters will be 
helpful.
Often time people who've come to see me have told me they're only 
spending 6 hours
per week outside of class.  Again, that might be okay for this material 
if you've seen
it before and you're satisfied with "average" or maybe a little above.  
However, I can
assure you 6 hours, even 10, is not likely going work for the newer 
material coming up.
It certainly won't work if you've never had chemistry, it's been more 
than 3 years or the
course wasn't very good.

Finally, attending lecture is important.  While you don't "learn" in 
class and I'm not there
to "teach" you anything (only to help you learn and make things easier), 
you will pick up
important insights.  Studies have shown that students who attend class 
generally have
scores at least a partial letter grade to one full letter grade higher 
than those who don't
attend on a regular basis.
shown that

Dr. Zellmer
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