Okay, so you have a lecture coming up. DON’T walk in there blind.
The more you prepare for the (roughly) hour that your professor explains a
topic, the more you’ll GET out of that hour. In this blog post, I'll talk about
how to do that.
Think of something that you enjoy learning about. When someone
explains something to you about your topic - you already know a lot about that
topic. You already have a context for the new information. If someone is
teaching you to play a new board game - you already know how board games
usually work. You can look to see if this one uses dice or a spinner. You can
look to see if you move one piece around a set path or not. So as the person
explains to you, you have context for their instructions.
If you want to actually learn what someone is explaining to you,
you have to have a context for it. You have to have some pieces already in your
brain to connect the new knowledge to. This is sometimes called Activating
Prior Learning, and good instructors do it in class, by reminding you of topics
you've already covered, and helping you see how this new information connects
to it.
Okay, now, back to talking about your upcoming lecture. The best
way to get context in your brain for the lecture is to prepare for the lecture.
What tools do you already have available to you before the
lecture? You have your textbook. Do you have a lecture outline, like a
Powerpoint? What other handouts do you have ahead of time (maybe posted on a
course shell online)? Gather those materials to read through.
Is this the first lecture on this topic, or will it continue prior
discussions? Do you have notes that you took on prior discussions? Put those
with your tools to use.
Now, how much information can you glean from these materials on
your own? What can you teach yourself with these materials before you get
help from someone else? “WHAT??” you exclaim, “what do you mean TEACH MYSELF?”.
Here’s the thing: the only one that can learn the material is you. A
professor can explain things so you might understand things differently, they
can explain how two things relate in case you don’t see the connection yet,
they can help you synthesize information. But learning is a fundamental process
of YOUR brain, and only YOU can do the step that is “learn” things.
Another way to look at it: you’re going to be sitting there with
these same materials at 3 am the night before your exam. You’re going to
be trying to cram it into your brain at that time, using the same materials,
but withOUT the benefit of an expert helping to explain it to you the next day.
So instead of waiting until the night before the exam, you should get as much
as you can out of the materials on your own BEFORE the expert is
scheduled to engage with you to add on or help. It’s the same activity, but if
you do it before the lecture, you’ll both be able to get MORE out of the
lecture, as well as things cleared up that you weren’t able to comprehend just
by reading/studying.
Okay, so now I’ve convinced you to prepare for lecture, what
should you actually … you know … DO? That depends on your learning style. How
do you normally try to comprehend written information? Can you focus on reading
for long periods of time? (Most people can’t - so break it up into chunks.) Do
you need to write things down while you read in order to keep your mind
engaged? (Most people do - and writing helps you retain what you read.)
Here’s what I suggest. Look at your Powerpoint - that shows you
what your professor is planning to cover. What’s the topic they are going to cover?
Where is that located in your textbook? Now read the section of the chapter
that covers that topic. Is there anything that catches your attention that you
want to write down? Now look for figures in your Powerpoint. Find the same
figures in your textbook. Is there text explaining the figure? Read that. Write down anything you want to
remember. And then think about how the text and the figure are trying to
explain the concept to you. Is this building on prior lectures or material
that’s been covered already? How does it fit in? Make notes on whatever ideas
pop into your head.*
Move on to the next topic or part of the concept that is in your
Powerpoint. Continue until you’ve studied on your own the material that will be
covered in the lecture.
You can see that this isn’t a simple process, or one that can be
knocked out by getting to lecture 15 minutes early. That’s where many A&P
students go wrong - they don’t invest the time to PREPARE for lecture, when it
will really pay off.
If you’re spending 3 hours outside of class for every
hour that you spend in class, some of that time can go toward this preparation,
and getting everything out of your book that you can before you come to
lecture. It’s really a wise investment of time. If you do this in a focused and
engaged way, it will really help you get more out of the time you have with
your professor explaining concepts. Block out the time in your planner to sit
down and get prepared for what is coming up.
*You can feel free to make these notes on sticky notes that can be
removed and thrown away if you think what you’re writing might not be “right”.
Try not to get too bogged down with things being “right” or “perfect” and just
learn to capture your thoughts in some way. If later studying clarifies your
thinking, you can always cross things out, erase them, or toss out the sticky
note.
