Learning Effectively 4: Methods of Learning Part 2

The conclusion of 'Methods of Learning' explaining how the sphere method works.

Constructing the sphere concept map is broken down into 3 parts, the circular layer part (core), the cross-sectional part (flesh), and a random part (skin).

1.The first part of the sphere construction begins with forming the seed and the core using a circular layer approach. The idea here is to keep information as concise and simple as possible. As a general rule of thumb, any information that requires more than a simple phrase to describe it does not belong in this section. The majority of this section should be composed of single, two to three words. This can be thought of as making an index or table of contents in a book.

You start off at the centre of the sphere with your topic, and slowly build the next layer and complete it by adding in the subtopics. Sequentially, you would add any topics related to a particular subtopic in the next layer and complete it. You can expand as little or as much as you want after this point onwards depending on your preference, and the subject area you are working with. For example in biology, you would want to expand a bit more than you would in math. However, you should always keep in mind that information present in this core should not be complex. In addition, it is important that one layer should be completed before moving to the next.

2.In this section of the sphere, you will now construct the flesh of the sphere by building on your skeletal core. However, instead of going circular and completing each layer before moving to the next, you are instead going to follow the traditional cross-sectional method approach. In this approach, you will complete each concept from your core by filling in all the relevant information related to it. You may however wish to leave out really what I like to call random information from the flesh layer. This information may include dates, unimportant numerical values, or irrelevant information to the topic in question.

You may complete the flesh layer in a sequential manner by going over the topic as they are presented in the lecture notes or textbook. However, I recommend going over the major topics first, followed by the harder topics, followed by easier topics, and lastly the minor topics. The reason I suggest this is because in this manner you will cover material that will be likely tested, and spend more time on harder materials opposed to easier and minor materials. It makes sense to learn major things and hard things first because they take more time to learn. This is especially important when you are one of those people that decide to cram at the last minute. You do not want to be wasting time on minor topics that have a low probability of being tested. Even if you were tested on the easier and minor topics, your core knowledge will be adequate to cover it and get you the partial marks. The same is not true about major and harder topics.

A comment Id like to make is that section 2 is probably the most brain-intensive of all three sections. The materials covered in the flesh are substantially harder to remember than section 1, and covers more than section 1 and 3 combined. For that reason, unlike the other 2 parts of the sphere, section 2 should be done in more than 1 sitting. In fact, two to three spread out study sessions to complete section 2 would be my recommendation.


Key notes: detailed expansions of concepts presented in the core by sequentially focusing on major topics, difficult topics, easy topics, and minor topics




3.The last of all three sections involves construction of the skin of the sphere. What the skin contains is essentially random bits of information that have very little relevance to your concepts. This layer is probably the least most important layer, and whether you know it or not will have minimal impact on your mark. In some cases, its almost negligible. For this reason, I highly suggest that if you are trying to complete this layer, you have already spent countless hours mastering sections 1 and 2. Either way, if you do decide to complete this layer, you will have covered every bit of information present in your lecture notes or textbook.

To complete this section, I suggest you make a sheet and call it Random information. List the random facts and its associated concepts, and study it right before your test.

Key: List random facts under its related concept

For more information, feel free to e-mail me at flubby2cu@gmail.com

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Sphere
• method
• learning
• effectively
• test
• exam
• cramming
• goal
• education
• school
• university
• help
• tutorial

[1080portal]

smart

[eujuan]

Great presentation! very simple, easy to learn & practical to use immediately! keep up the good work! you'll be a young famous professor soon!

[mromaha]

Thank you so much. And great style

[m1ssssi]

Man... great tip at the end! Luv it! thanks a lot...

[farmaman7]

Thanks man. Really appreciate it.

[XtremeNerdMeUp]

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[XtremeNerdMeUp]

Nerdmeup has moved to a different channel! Xtremenerdmeup!

[XtremeNerdMeUp]

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[tonyblueable]

simply superb....

that was really helpful

wonderful concept

[NANABOUTIQUEify]

Can u please do a video on how to write faster? pleaseeee !

[Msbeepositive]

awesome video...I hope you will continue to post more videos...Thanks!

[Combine1331]

Nice video :)