4 Chapter 4: Biology
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Purpose |
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Warm-up |
Your brain actually remembers information better if it warms up. You warm up your brain by preparing it for the academic activity that it must do. If you are preparing for a discussion, for example, you can ask yourself, “Why is my instructor going to have a discussion? What do they hope I will ‘get out’ of this discussion?”
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Work out |
In academics, the purpose of the workout is to learn the material you need to know in order to be successful in the class. This might involve reading, jotting down ideas you might wish to share in discussion, or taking notes on a lecture.
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Cool Down |
In academics, the purpose of a cool down is to do two things—one, make some decisions about what you did during your workout that is important enough to remember and two, plan ahead. What will you need to study tomorrow? What confuses you and how can you get help with your confusion?
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Warm Up:
What is my instructor going to ask me to do? What do they hope I will ‘get out’ of this chapter and unit?” Read the Review Questions at the end of Chapter 1 The Study of Life. Here is how that process applies to reading college level material:
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Activity |
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Warm-up |
To warm up your brain, spend a few minutes looking over the material you need to read. Read the headings and subheadings. Look at graphics and pictures if there are any. Ask yourself “What will I be learning in this reading?” “What ideas seem to be important?”
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Work out |
To work out in reading, you need to read! But it isn’t that simple. You need to have a note taking strategy that will allow you to do two things: 1) Figure out what information is most important and 2) Remember that information.
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Cool Down |
To cool down in reading, see what you can remember about the reading by stating main ideas in your own words, telling a friend what you learned or asking yourself “Which ideas did I read tonight are so important they might end up on an exam?” You can also make a list of things that confused you that you can ask your instructor or a tutor.
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Warm up
The three strategies described below should be used before you actually read. You might wish to do just one strategy, or it might make sense to use more than one.
Work out
While you are reading, you can’t simply run your eyes over the words and expect to retain anything anymore than you can expect to sit quietly in the corner at a choir rehearsal and learn the songs. While you read, you need to have a way to interact with the material so you can remember it.
Cool down
Many students make the mistake of completing the read they have to do for a particular day, closing the book and moving on to the next task. This is like the athlete who leaves practice before the cool down! In addition to risking injury to her muscles, this athlete also misses the end of practice conversations about what the team is doing well and what practices will emphasize in the future. Students need to have a cool down to make sure