Study Skills Blog

HOW TO SEPARATE IMPORTANT INFORMATION FROM TEXTBOOKS

Posted June 4th, 2021
HOW TO SEPARATE IMPORTANT INFORMATION FROM TEXTBOOKS

Mentioned in a previous post, this has been the #1 problem for students striving to learn from textbooks for more than 80 years and the main reason why SQ3R was developed at Ohio State University in 1942. It’s still the #1 problem because SQ3R fell through the cracks at the end of WWII and, with the exception of Reading and Literacy Teachers, most educators have never been trained how to use it or even heard of it. We’ve updated it with computer technology and ‘whole brain’ memory techniques to bring it into the 21st Century. To separate important information from text material, use the ‘Q’ task in SQ3R. Turn topic and subtopic headings to QUESTIONS before you read the material and only take notes on what helps you answer the question. For example, if you are studying Photosynthesis and there is a section entitled Chloroplasts, change the title to “What are Chloroplasts and What do they do?” Now, as you read and study the section, only take notes on what helps you answer the question. The question acts as a ‘prompt’ to help determine the importance of the material and gives you a greater purpose to read and study the text. Open ended words like WHAT and HOW make the best questions and stay away from WHERE and WHEN because those words are too restrictive. Unfortunately, the majority of students today are not using these study techniques. Instead, they’re reading textbooks like novels, missing the important information and taking an excessive amount of unnecessary notes which causes frustration and stress. Click to learn more about 21st Century Study Skills and how it’s changing students’ lives: http://www.21stcenturystudyskills.com/testimonials.html

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