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Diagnosing Study Problems
Strengthening Student Success
Richard Baiardo, MS
Evergreen Valley College
I’m Winston Wolf. I solve problems....
First Interview
Surface Learning Problem
Explain How Learning & Memory Work
Introduce Remediation Steps
Understand Study Approach
Three Key Questions
First Question
“Was all the exam information contained in
your notes?”
– Purpose: determine if complete notes?
(Student is required to bring lecture notes to the appointment.)
Second Question
If No –
– “Do you have difficulty deciding when
something important has been said?”
– Listening or note-taking problem
Third Question
If Yes
– “Describe everything that happens with
notes from time you walk out of class?”
– Study technique problem
Subjects Requiring Different
Approaches and Techniques
Some academic disciplines present special
study technique problems such as:
– Mathematics
– Accounting
– Chemistry
Chemistry
Subject with symbols, formulas, definitions, and laws
Ideas presented in:
– mathematical terms in a sequential and hierarchical way
First task: memorizing symbols
– Symbols for elements*  formulas (compounds)  chemical
reactions (equations)  stoichiometry
*Fe (iron), Cl (chlorine) = FeCl3
(i.e., FeCl3 + 3NaOH  Fe(OH)3 + 3NaCl)
Foundation topics must be learned early.
How Learning & Memory Work
Central Problem Every Student
Must Solve
Pavlov of Memory
Hermann Ebbinghaus
(1850 - 1909)
Owe fundamental understanding
of human memory to one man.
1885 published On Memory
– Described memory experiments on
himself.
First scientific study of memory.
Research Method
Constructed lists – 20 “nonsense syllables.”
VUZ
CVC
HUQ
DAR
PIW
FOT
RUJ
BEL
MAF
MUK
LEV
LIM
ZAD
KIR
Research Method
Practiced list by repetition until correct two times in row.
Counted number of times took to master list.
Varied lengths of time before trying to remember.
Forgot, practiced until remembered list perfectly again.
Ebbinghaus’ Data
Delay
Savings
immediate
100%
20 minutes
60%
1 hr
45%
9 hr
35%
1 day
30%
2 days
25%
6 days
22%
30days
20%
Forgetting
Most rapidly soon after end of practice.
Rate slowed as time went on.
Retention pattern = first forgetting curve.
Retention Curve
Time Spent Reviewing
More times practiced list on day 1, fewer
repetitions required to relearn on day 2.
Amount remembered depended on:
– Time spent on repetition.
– When started rehearsal.
Ebbinghaus’ Findings
Three Principles
Principle I
Memory decays as a
function of time.
Rate of forgetting:
– Fastest after initial learning
– Slower for more meaningful
material
Principle II
Amount remembered depends on multiple
times spent learning.
Principle III
Effect of “overlearning”:
Information practiced beyond mastery more
resistant to disruption or loss.
What Does Not Work!
Pseudo Learning Strategies
Strategies With Limited Value
Listening in class.
Taking notes.
– Only taking notes using the lecture outline.
“Rote” rehearsal (memorizing facts and conclusions).
– Examples: rereading and repeating.
Shallow processing.
Shallow Processing
Recopying or retyping your notes.
Waiting until after lecture to read textbook
assignment.
Waiting until last minute to review.
Why Do They Not Work?
ISSUE IS NOT TIME SPENT ON TASK
NOR EFFORT SPENT TO REMEMER
Graph of Forgetting Curve
Brain Basics
Brain
Learning
Memory
Human Brain
About 3 pounds
78% water, 10% fat,
8% protein
Less than 2.5% of
body’s weight
Uses 20% of body’s
energy at rest
Brain Numbers
100 billion neurons
Each neuron has
10,000 connections
1,000 trillion synaptic
connection points
280 quintillion
memories
“The nerve cell,
or neuron
resembles a
miniature tree…”
(p. 21)
Diamond & Hopson, 1998
How does Brain Lay Down and Retrieve
Memories?
Grow and develop, neurons
are 'wired up' to each other.
Communicate through
thousands of connections synapses.
Memories formed when
certain connections are
“strengthened.”
Synaptic Density
Natural pruning
process
– Pruning of unused
connections
– Most of pruning
occurs between
10-16 years
– Synaptic density
reduced
Connections
To maintain connections,
cells must stay active
“Strengthening” means:
– Neuron grows more dendrites
– Adds more receptors on
dendrites/cell body
Disintegrate/disappear if
cell doesn’t use
Brain Modified by Environment
Dendrites can grow at any age
Synaptic connections occur at any age;
easier earlier in life
Brain is adaptable
Plasticity
‘Use it or Lose it’
The Only Way We Learn
is by
MAKING
CONNECTIONS
Memory is “Associative”
Memory of new information is increased if:
Associated with previously acquired knowledge
Meaningful association = effectively remembered.
Closely Studied Memory Factors
Intention
Repetition
Emotion
Deep Processing
Four Closely Studied Memory Factors
Intention - how much effort you expend.
Repetition - how often material is repeated.
Emotion - whether material brings emotional
response.
Depth of processing - whether related to known
material.
Shallow vs. Deep Processing
Simple rehearsal
– Definition: Repeating information
Elaborative rehearsal
– Definition: Actively reviewing and connecting to
knowledge already stored.
Remediation Steps
How to Take Notes
Review: How & When
How to Take Notes
Cornell note-taking system.
– Important features:
• Red line
– Position on the page
indicates importance.
– Only a major point touches
– Everything else is indented
– Further from red line, less
important.
• Cue column
– Key words & phrases
– Permits review by recall
Cues Students Use to Decide They Know
Something
Cognitive science: two cues important in guiding
judgments of what we know:
– (1) our “familiarity” with a given body of Information.
– (2) our “partial access” to that information.
Getting a Complete Set of Notes
Start a Study Group
Advantages:
– Get a complete set of lecture notes.
• Immediately after class, meet with your group to fill in any gaps in your
lecture notes.
• Won’t matter how hard you study if you missed an important point in the
lecture.
– Opportunity for review and exam preparation.
• You can ask questions.
• Explain to others what you know.
• Gain emotional support.
Review by Recall
When
How
Multiple Reviews Are Essential
1st review: within minutes
2nd review: within 24 hours
3rd review: within the week
4th review: within the month (before the test)
5th review: within the semester (before final exam)
Graph of Forgetting Curve
and Effect of Review
Deeper Level Processing
Review by recall not by recognition
Establishing more connections with LTMs
–
–
–
–
Making associations.
Attaching meaning.
Forming relationships.
Creating hierarchies.
Deep Processing Techniques
Techniques:
–
–
–
–
Writing outlines.
Self-examination during learning.
Review questions.
Previews.
Encourage integration of material and thereby
process (i.e., think about) meaning.
Second Interview
Feedback
Modeling
Review Recent Set of Notes
Student brings recent set of lecture notes
– (taken within 24 hours)
What worked; what did not?
Review notes together
Additional Suggestions
Sleep and Stress
Effect on Memory
Deprivation
Stress
Role of Sleep
Brain uses to process the day’s experiences
– Compensates for inadequate sleep with:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Shorter attention span
Lowered creativity
Reduced memory capacity
Rigid viewpoints
Irritability
Increased appetite
In both animals and humans:
– Increase in rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep during night
following learning experience.
Sleep Deprivation
Sleep deprivation adversely effects learning.
Low-frequency sleep - mainly at start of night
– Plays a role in memory consolidation
REM sleep - mainly at the end of a night’s sleep
– Plays role in problem solving
Interference and Sleep
Percentage 90%
of syllables 80
recalled 70
Without interfering
events, recall is
better
After sleep
60
50
40
30
20
After remaining awake
10
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Hours elapsed after learning syllables
8
Performance
Stress and Memory
Low
Moderate
Stress
High
Final Thoughts
Adult Learning
Characteristic of “A” Students
Graph of Learning
“A” Students
What is the single behavior that distinguishes an
“A” student from a “B” or “C” student?
“A” students start early!
References
Bloom, Benjamin S. Developing Talent in Young People, 1985, Ballantine Books
Ericsson, K. A., Krampe, R. T., & Tesch-Romer, C. (1993). The role of deliberate
practice in the acquisition of expert performance. Psychological Review, 100,
363-406.
Pauk, Walter. How to Study in College. 2005, Houghton Mifflin
Ross, Philip E. “The Expert Mind” Scientific American, August 2006
Willingham, Daniel T., “Inflexible Knowledge: The First Step to
Expertise,”American Educator, Winter 2002
Willingham, Daniel T., “How Knowledge Helps: It Speeds and Strengthens
Reading Comprehension, Learning—and Thinking,” Am. Educator,Spring 2006
Willingham, Daniel T., “Why Students Think They Understand—When They
Don’t,” American Educator, Winter 2003-2004
Willingham, Daniel T., “Practice Makes Perfect, But Only If you Practice Beyond
the Point of Perfection,” American Educator, Spring 2004
Willingham, Daniel T., “Students Remember...What They Think About,”
American Educator, Summer 2003
Supplementary Material
Types of Knowledge
Rote
Shallow
Inflexible
Flexible
“Rote” Knowledge
Memorizing form in absence of meaning.
– Knowledge devoid of meaning.
– Memorizing something you do not understand.
“Shallow” Knowledge
Meaning - understand each isolated part.
– Unlike rote knowledge
Lacks deeper meaning that comes from
understanding relationship among parts.
“Inflexible” Knowledge
It may appear as rote, but it’s not.
Knowledge - meaningful but narrow.
Doesn’t translate to other relevant situations.
– Example: classical conditioning.
Knowing particulars of an example
– Meant to illustrate a principle not the principle.
New Knowledge
Tends to be shallow and inflexible when it is
first learned.
– Normal
– Usefulness is limited.
“Flexible” Knowledge
As continue to work with knowledge, you gain
expertise.
Knowledge no longer organized around examples
Organized around principles.
Where Knowledge Seems Flexible
Suppose know how to find the area of a rectangle.
That knowledge is probably generalizable:
– Can apply it to any rectangle.
– Formula not tied to specific examples in which
learned.
– Can use formula in novel situations: determining
total square footage of a:
hallway
kitchen
dining room
Testing for Flexible Knowledge
Multiple Choice Questions
Types of Multiple Choice
A blood pressure reading of 200/96 mmHg
is considered:
A.
B.
C.
D.
Hypotension
Hypertension
Cardiac hypertrophy
Renal hypertension
Types of Multiple Choice
A newly admitted client has a blood pressure of
200/96mmHg. The client has a family history of
diabetes mellitus. Which nursing action is most
appropriate at this time?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Call the doctor
Retake the blood pressure
Assess for other signs and symptoms
Ask the client if he/she is taking antihypertensives.
What’s the Difference?
First question - recalling factual information
Second question - clinical decision using critical
thinking skills.
– Clinical scenario-type questions are commonly used in
nursing exams.
Testing for Factual Knowledge and
Critical Thinking
You are the nurse on a med-surg. unit who has just
received report. Which patient should you assess
first?
a. A 35 yo admitted 3 hours ago with a gunshot wound; 1.5cm
area of dark drainage noted on the dressing
b. A 43 yo s/p mastectomy 2 days ago with 23cc of
serosanguinous fluid noted in the drain.
c. 59 yo with a collapsed lung due to an accident; no drainage
in the chest tube over the previous shift.
d. A 62 yo s/p abd-peritoneal resection 3 days ago; pt now with
complaints of chills.
Background Knowledge Needed
Medical terminology:
–
–
–
–
yo
S/p
Pt
Abd
Vocabulary:
– serosanguinous
– Peritoneal
Nature of the four surgeries
What is normal and expected?
What do you not expect to see?
“d.” - huge surgery - big, deepbowl cancer.
Chills =
– Internal bleeding
– infection
Effective Strategies
Spacing Effect
Sustained Practice
Expertise
Overlearning
Spacing Effect
Cognitive research evidence:
– Distributing study time over several sessions:
• better long-term retention than a single study session.
Short periods of practice daily are better than
cramming.
“mass vs. distributed practice”
Sustained Practice
= Regular, ongoing review or use.
Practice beyond one perfect recitation.
Practice past point of mastery is necessary to develop
expertise.
Useful for developing automaticity.
"Practice makes perfect"
Obvious that practice is important.
Unexpected finding:
practice does not make perfect.
Practice until perfect – perfect only briefly.
STM or LTM requires ongoing practice.
Developing Expertise
Practice involves more than repetition.
Experts engage in “deliberate practice:”
– Setting specific goals
– Obtaining immediate feedback of results
– Concentrating on technique more than outcome
– Exerting effort to improve performance
Expert’s Attitude
Approaches everything with need to learn more.
Never loses intensity of a beginner.
Never feels finished or satisfied.
Engages in ongoing effortful study:
– Continually tackling challenges that lie just beyond
one's competence.
Overlearning
Overlearning
– Studying material one already knows.
For a new skill to become automatic or for new
knowledge to become long lasting, sustained
practice, beyond the point of mastery, is
necessary.
Developing “Automaticity”
Permits higher levels of competence.
Become more skillful in mental tasks.
– Effective writer knows:
• Rules of grammar and usage
• To begin a paragraph with a topic sentence
• Include relevant detail automatically
Developing “Automaticity”
When cognitive processes automatic, demand
very little space in working memory.
– In any field certain procedures used again and
again.
– Procedures must be learned to point of
automaticity so they no longer consume working
memory space.
Major Point
Will only remember what extensively
practiced.
Only remember long term what practiced in a
sustained way over many years.
Background Knowledge
Comprehension
Take In New Information
Comprehension of new information depends on what you
already know that can be connected.
More basic knowledge = easier to build new knowledge
– Easier to fix in memory when have knowledge about topic.
Deeper processing, comprehension, and listening all
depend on background knowledge.
Think About New Information
Language is full of semantic breaks where
knowledge is assumed.
Making correct inferences demands background
knowledge.
Information Stated vs. Implied
“John’s face fell as he looked down at his
protruding belly. The invitation specified “black
tie”and he had not worn his tux since his own
wedding 20 years earlier.”
What is John concerned about?
Reference
“He was a real Benedict Arnold about it”
Thinking About New Information
Read through one time, then look away and
recall letters:
CN
NFB
ICB
SCI
ANC
AA
“Chunking”
Most people get about 7 correct.
Demands background knowledge:
CNN
FBI
CBS
CIA
NCAA
General Education Prerequisites
Purpose is to create a larger body of general
knowledge.
Some researchers maintain prior knowledge
actually makes up or replaces aptitude.
Motivation
“Motivation is a more important factor than
innate ability.”
“The preponderance of psychological evidence
indicates that experts are made, not born.”
- Philip E. Ross
A Common Student Mistake
Thinking We Know Something
Feeling of Knowing
Familiarity & Partial Access
How Do We Know That We Know
Something?
Psychologists distinguish between:
– Familiarity - knowledge of having seen or otherwise
experienced some stimulus before, but having little
information associated with it.
– Recollection - characterized by richer associations.
Feeling of Knowing
If believe know material, likely to divert attention
elsewhere.
– You will stop:
•
•
•
•
Listening
Reading
Working
Participating
Mentally “checking out” is never a good choice.
Feeling of Knowing
Some common causes:
– Rereading.
– Shallow processing.
– Recalling related information.
Feeling of knowing becomes a problem if
have feeling without knowing.
Rereading
Prepare for exam by rereading class notes & textbook.
Encounter familiar terms
– know you’ve heard these terms before
– become even more familiar to you as you reread
“Yes, I’ve seen this, I know this, I understand this.”
Feeling you understand material as it is presented
not same as being able to recount it yourself.
Feeling of Knowing
Some students quit once some facts have been
memorized, believing already done quite a bit
of studying.
Cues Students Use to Decide They Know
Something
Cognitive science: two cues important in guiding
judgments of what we know:
– (1) our “familiarity” with a given body of Information.
– (2) our “partial access” to that information.
Guarding Against “Familiarity”
Insidious effect of familiarity:
– Feeling know something when really don’t.
– Fools mind: think know more than do.
Guarding Against “Partial Access”
Knowing a lot of related information
– Makes feel as though know the target information.
Mind fooled when know part of material or
related material.
The Test!
Standard of “knowing:”
– “ability to explain to others,” not “understanding when
explained by others.”
Process information as if preparing to teach it to another.
“To teach is to learn twice.”
Source: “Thinking You Understand When You Don’t” by Daniel T. Willingham
Bloom’s Study of High Achievers
Five-year study
120 nation’s top artists, athletes, & scholars
Research goal - understand keys to high
achievement.
Case Studies
Conducted in-depth anonymous interviews with
top 20 performers in six fields.
Research hypothesis:
Expected to hear tales of great natural gifts.
Findings
Heard accounts of an extraordinary drive and
dedication not great natural talent.
Bloom’s study concluded drive and determination
are keys.
Training a Future Expert
Bloom proposed training involved four
stages:
Stage 1
– introduced to area under playful conditions as a
child
– promise was noted
Stage II
– Lessons were provided, usually with a teacher or
coach who worked well with children
– regular practice habits were established.
Training a Future Expert
Stage III
– internationally recognized teacher or coach
engaged
– requires significant commitment of resources from
parents
– dedicated and likely exclusive study by the child.
Stage IV
– student absorbs all that he or she could from
teachers
– began to develop his/her personal contribution to
the field.
Summary
Start early
Review new material by recall at least 3X/wk
Study in shorter spaced periods vs. massed effort
Increase background knowledge
Strive for automaticity
Use overlearning
Join a study group
Tutor others
Get 8-9 hours of sleep per night
Final Thoughts
Assume Nothing;
When in Doubt, Always Check it Out!
Final Thoughts
Confident →Cocky →Lazy →Dead!
-Scott Swaby
References
Bloom, Benjamin S. Developing Talent in Young People, 1985, Ballantine
Books
Ericsson, K. A., Krampe, R. T., & Tesch-Romer, C. (1993). The role of
deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance. Psychological
Review, 100, 363-406.
Ross, Philip E. “The Expert Mind” Scientific American, August 2006
Willingham, Daniel T., “Inflexible Knowledge: The First Step to
Expertise,”American Educator, Winter 2002
Willingham, Daniel T., “How Knowledge Helps: It Speeds and Strengthens
Reading Comprehension, Learning—and Thinking,” American
Educator,Spring 2006
Willingham, Daniel T., “Why Students Think They Understand—When They
Don’t,” American Educator, Winter 2003-2004
Willingham, Daniel T., “Practice Makes Perfect, But Only If you Practice
Beyond the Point of Perfection,” American Educator, Spring 2004
References
Willingham, Daniel T., Ask the Cognitive Scientist “Students
Remember...What They Think About,” American Educator, Summer 2003