1. Click here to get started (if asked, please choose “enable macros”) Click here to get started (if asked, please choose “enable macros”) Beyond Rote Memorization: New Ways to Use Flashcards to Learn, Remember, and Understand Concepts Mark Mitchell & Janina Jolley, 2014 Clarion University of Pennsylvania mitchell@clarion.edu jolley@clarion.edu

2. Welcome, Mark! Thanks for telling me your name!Although I know your name, I have no concept of who you are. Because I am only a computer program, I often fail to grasp concepts, but this tutorial will show you how to avoid that problem. Before we get started, there are three things you should know about me.

3. Introduction: 3 Things About Me 1.If this is your first time through this tutorial, you should click through the entire tutorial. After the first time, you can use the menu on the next slide to go to specific parts. 2.When a slide instructs you to write something on a flashcard, you will see this picture on the top of the slide: 3.At the end, you will be given a quiz that you can print out and give to your teacher.

4. Menu Stage 1: Learning the concept’s key characteristics Stage 1: Learning the concept’s key characteristics Stage 2: Learning a typical example Stage 2: Learning a typical example Stage 3: Learning the concept’s breadth Stage 3: Learning the concept’s breadth Stage 4: Learning the concept’s limits Stage 4: Learning the concept’s limits Stage 5: Remembering the concept Stage 5: Remembering the concept Mastering concepts Acknowledgments References Using flashcards to study class notes Using flashcards to study class notes Using flashcards to study lecture notes Using flashcards to study lecture notes Conclusions

5. What Are Concepts? Concepts are  Ideas  Compact packages of information  Separate bits of information that are united into a meaningful whole

6. What Do We Learn When We Learn Concepts? Often, we learn 1. An idea 2. A label (a name or term) for that idea.

7. Reflection Question Have you ever felt that you knew the material, but had trouble with the test questions because of how they were worded? a.Frequently b.Sometimes c.Rarely d.Never Click on the best answer

8. Unless You Answered “Never” to the Last Question  You have probably said, “I knew the material, but not the way that it was tested.”  That often means that you memorized terms and definitions, but did not learn the concepts.  You have probably said, “I knew the material, but not the way that it was tested.”  That often means that you memorized terms and definitions, but did not learn the concepts. As a result, you were lost when  you saw definitions that were worded differently than the ones you memorized,  you saw examples that were different than the ones you memorized, or  you had to tell the difference between concepts that seemed, at least to you, to be basically the same. As a result, you were lost when  you saw definitions that were worded differently than the ones you memorized,  you saw examples that were different than the ones you memorized, or  you had to tell the difference between concepts that seemed, at least to you, to be basically the same.

9. How to Learn Concepts If memorizing terms and definitions, doesn’t work, then what does?  To really know a concept, you usually need to learn it in five stages.  In the next section, we will show you what those five stages are.  Then, we will show you proven techniques that will help you master those five stages so that you can learn concepts. If memorizing terms and definitions, doesn’t work, then what does?  To really know a concept, you usually need to learn it in five stages.  In the next section, we will show you what those five stages are.  Then, we will show you proven techniques that will help you master those five stages so that you can learn concepts.

10. What It Takes to Learn Concepts Like unpacking, we do not learn a concept all at once. Instead, we must take several trips—and each trip takes several steps.

11. What It Takes Learn Concepts  Like unpacking, we cannot do not do it all at once. Instead, we must take several trips—and each trip takes several steps.  In fact, concept learning involves 5 stages.

12. What It Takes to Learn Concepts The 5 stages are 1.Learning and understanding the concept’s definition. “dog”: A domesticated canid”

13. What It Takes to Learn Concepts The 5 stages are 1.Learning the concept’s definition. 2.Learning a typical example.

14. What It Takes to Learn Concepts The 5 stages are 1.Learning the concept’s definition. 2.Learning a typical example. 3.Learning that the concept is broader than a single example and to recognize a wide variety of examples.

15. What It Takes to Learn Concepts The 5 stages are 1.Learning the concept’s definition. 2.Learning a typical example. 3.Learning that the concept is broader than a single example and to recognize a wide variety of examples. 4.Learning that the concept differs from related concepts. “No, Timmy, that is not a dog. It’s a cat.” “No, Timmy, that is not a dog. It’s a cat.”

16. What It Takes to Learn Concepts The 5 stages are 1.Learning the concept’s definition. 2.Learning a typical example. 3.Learning that the concept is broader than a single example and to recognize a wide variety of examples. 4.Learning that the concept differs from related concepts. “No, Timmy, that is not a dog. It’s a horse.” “No, Timmy, that is not a dog. It’s a horse.”

17. What It Takes to Learn Concepts The 5 stages are 1.Learning the concept’s definition. 2.Learning a typical example. 3.Learning that the concept is broader than a single example and to recognize a wide variety of examples. 4.Learning that the concept differs from related concepts. 5.Remembering the concept.

18. How to Learn Concepts We have outlined the five stages you must go through to learn a concept, but how do you actually go through each stage?

19. Stage 1: Understanding the Concept’s Definition You need to unpack the definition to understand the concept’s key characteristics. This unpacking and understanding involves A.Understanding the individual words making up the definition. B.Identifying and understanding the key features/characteristics of the concept.

20. How to Use Flashcards to Understand the Concept’s Definition: Overview  If you are like most students, you probably already use flashcards to help you study.  Like most students, you probably could develop “smarter” flashcards that will be more effective in helping you learn concepts.

21. How to Use Flashcards to Understand the Concept’s Definition: Overview  In this presentation we will show you how to make 2 basic types of flashcards. 1.Definition 2.Example  You are probably already familiar with the first type—the Definition Flashcard.

22. How to Use Flashcards to Understand the Concept’s Definition: Overview Let’s make our first “Definition” flashcard by 1.Putting the name of the concept (the term) on the front of an index card. 2.Getting the concept’s definition from your text, your professor, or a reliable source, and put that definition on the back of that index card. 3.Understanding the words making up the definition. 4.Identifying, numbering, and understanding the separate aspects of the definition.

23. Steps in Making a Definition Flashcard: Making the Front First, make a definition card by 1.Writing the term (the concept’s name) on the front of the card. If your term was negative reinforcement, write “negative reinforcement.” 2.Writing “Definition” below the term. negative reinforcement Definition Front

24. Steps in Making a Definition Flashcard: Making the Back Copy the term’s definition (e.g., “occurs when a behavior is increased by taking away an aversive stimulus.”)—but not the term itself—from your textbook or from a reputable source on to the top of the back of your flashcard. Do it now.

25. Steps in Making a Definition Flashcard At this point, your card looks like this: negative reinforcement Definition occurs when a behavior is__ increased by taking away an aversive stimulus._____ ___ _______________________ Front Back

26. Tips on Making a Definition Card Although the first part of the definition card is easy to make, you can also probably find one already made. 1.Some books come with flashcards. 2.Flashcards can be obtained online from sites, such as www.studyblue.com www.quizlet.com You will probably learn better if you handwrite the cards yourself. However, the important things are to have accurate definitions and to understand those definitions.

27. Why You Need to Understand the Definition 1.If a definition does not make sense to you, it will seem like nonsense to you—and memorizing nonsense is more difficult than memorizing stuff that makes sense. – For example, compare trying to memorize the following two “sentences”: Jek veh xib yap biv mup va gew hix weg cih qez fik. The boy and his dog met an old man who had one eye. 1 Unfortunately, we do not remember where we Got this demonstration. If you know, please e-mail us.

28. Why You Need to Understand the Definition 2. If you memorize information without understanding it, you have not learned a concept. Memorizing without understanding is like storing garbage.

29. Why You Need to Understand the Definition 3. If you memorize information without understanding it, you won’t be able to use that information: You can’t use what you don’t understand. – You will miss questions that ask you to apply your knowledge. – You will miss questions that ask you to recognize reworded versions of the definition, such as the following question:

30. _____ reinforcement occurs when a response leads to the _____ of something bad. (Appleby, 2013) a.Positive, removal b.Negative, removal c.Positive, presentation d.Negative, presentation To get this right, you need to recognize correct definitions of a term that are worded differently from the definition you learned. Someone who merely memorized a definition might get this question wrong. To get this right, you need to recognize correct definitions of a term that are worded differently from the definition you learned. Someone who merely memorized a definition might get this question wrong. √ √ A Typical Multiple-Choice Question on Negative Reinforcement

31. Reflection Question Have you ever memorized a definition, but A.Did not really understand what the definition meant? B.Had trouble applying it to new examples? C.Had trouble explaining to other people what the term actually meant? D.All of the above. Click on the best answer

32. A Problem With Memorizing Definitions As your answer to the last question reveals, people have trouble learning by just memorizing definitions. One problem they have is that they don’t unpack the definition. They get into trouble by trying to take the definition in all at once.

33. How Can You Be Sure You Have Successfully Unpacked the Term’s Definition? 1.Be sure you understand the individual words making up that definition. 2.Be sure you understand the key elements of that definition. 3.Show you understand your definition by using it to generate an example.

34. Design Your Flashcards to Help You Unpack Your Definitions As you will see, your flashcards can help you unpack your definitions. Flashcard A four-part definition 1 3 2 4

35. Use the Back of Your Definition Card to Unpack the Concept Text definition: “ Occurs when a behavior is_______ increased by taking away an aversive stimulus.”__ _________________________________________ Do it now. 1.If there are individual words in this definition you do not know (e.g., “aversive”) but can look up in an English dictionary, define them on that card. 2.If there are discipline-specific, technical terms in the definition that you do not know (e.g., stimulus), look those up in your text’s glossary, and make another definition card for each of those terms.

36. What the Back of Your Definition Card Might Look Like

37. Working on the Back of Your Definition Card Underline and number the key elements of the definition. Tips: 1.It may help you to put the different parts of the definition in different colors. 2.If the term has two words (e.g., negative reinforcement, conditioned stimulus), note which parts of the definition relate to which parts of the term. 3.You may even wish to make a separate card for each word in the term (e.g., one for “negative” and one for “reinforcement”). Do it now.

38. What the Back of Your Definition Card Might Look Like

39. Back of Your Definition Cards: Checklist 1.Have you copied the definition of the term from your textbook or reputable online source on to the back of your flashcard? 2.Have you noted words or terms in this definition you do not know (e.g., aversive), defined those words or terms—either on that card or on separate definition cards? 3.If, after defining the individual words, the definition still doesn’t make sense to you, did you write your own definition? 4.Did you underline and number the key elements of the definition?

40. Use the Back to Revise the Front On the back of the card, you figured out the number of key elements the definition has. Put that number on the front of your card. Specifically, put it right below the term and put it in parentheses. In this example, it would be (2). Do that now. negative reinforcement (2) Definition Front Text definition: “Occurs when a (1)__ behavior is increased (2) by taking away an aversive _ stimulus.”__ __________________ ______________________________ “aversive” means unpleasant.______ Back

41. Learning From Definition Flashcards Now that you have your definition flashcards, how do you learn from them? 1.Assemble a set of definition flashcards. To be effective, this set should include – a large number of terms. – some similar terms. 2.Shuffle the cards and put the definition side facing you

42. Learning From Definition Flashcards 1.Assemble a set of definition flashcards. To be effective, this set should include – a large number of terms. – some similar terms. 2.Shuffle the cards and put the definition side facing you. 3.Say the term that the definition represents. 4.Turn the card over to see if you are correct. Text definition: “Occurs when a (1)__ behavior is increased_____________ (2) by taking away an aversive_____ stimulus.”__ ___________________ ______________________________ “aversive” means unpleasant.______ “Negative reinforcement”

43. Learning From Definition Flashcards Text definition: “Occurs when a______ (1) behavior is increased____________ (2)taking away an aversive stimulus.”__ _ ______________________________ “aversive” means unpleasant.______ “Negative reinforcement” Note that you are basically giving yourself a multiple-choice test over the term’s definitions. Saying the term aloud is important—especially if the term is hard to pronounce. If you can’t say the term, you will probably not learn, remember, or use the term. Note that you are basically giving yourself a multiple-choice test over the term’s definitions. Saying the term aloud is important—especially if the term is hard to pronounce. If you can’t say the term, you will probably not learn, remember, or use the term.

44. Learning from Definition Flashcards Naming the term from the definition will probably be a fairly easy task. However, if you never make a mistake, it may be that you need to add more terms (especially related terms) to your “deck” of cards— and shuffle your deck more.

45. Learning from Definition Flashcards As we just stated, you should, occasionally, make mistakes. However, if you are really having trouble with a term, you should ask yourself whether A. You know and understand the concept, but either haven’t remembered the term’s name (e.g., In learning Spanish, you know what red is, but you can’t remember that the word for red is “rojo”) or you mix the term up with a similar sounding term (e.g., you know what the cerebrum and cerebellum are, but you confuse the two names)? B. You do not fully understand the concept and thus have not fit the whole concept into your mind (e.g., you confuse cerebrum and cerebellum because you know only that both are parts of the brain)?

46. Learning from Definition Flashcards If you are mixing the terms up because the names for the terms look or sound similar (e.g., cerebrum and cerebellum), 1.Practice saying them aloud, concentrating on how they sound different. 2.Realize that there is often a reason they sound different (e.g., there is a reason that psychologists use different terms for positive punishment and negative reinforcement). If you find out that reason, learning the term will be easier. 3. Even when you don’t know why the terms sound different, you can still use the difference in how they sound to accent how they are different. For example, you might say that the cerebellum, because it is involved with balance and coordination, allows one to dance gracefully while playing bells.

47. Learning from Definition Flashcards If your problem is that you don’t fully understand the concept, it may be that you are using only one aspect of the concept’s definition (e.g., “dogs have four legs,” “cerebellum is a part of the brain,” “negative reinforcement involves an aversive stimulus”). In that case, ask yourself whether you A.need help understanding the other part(s) of the definition, or B.whether you simply need to focus on all those parts. In that case, ask yourself whether you A.need help understanding the other part(s) of the definition, or B.whether you simply need to focus on all those parts.

48. Learning from Definition Flashcards If your problem is that you are too focused on one aspect of the concept’s definition: Text definition: “Occurs when a (1)__ behavior is increased by (2)_ taking__ away an aversive stimulus.”__ ____ ______________________________ _________________________ Text definition: “Occurs when a (1)__ behavior is decreased by (2)_ adding an aversive stimulus after the_____ undesired behavior occurs.”__ ____ ______________________________ Negative Reinforcement Positive Punishment 2. highlight the parts of those definitions that differ. 1. compare, side by side, the definition of the correct term with the definition of the incorrect term.

49. Learning from Definition Flashcards If you give the wrong term for a definition four or more times: 1.Put that term in red and in brackets on the front of your card. Thus, if you were giving “Positive punishment” for the “negative reinforcement” definition, the front of your card would look like this: 2. Aloud, say why you confuse them (How they are similar). 3.Aloud, say why you should not confuse them (How they are different). 4.Aloud, say why you will not confuse them on the test. negative reinforcement (2) Definition {positive punishment} Front

50. Stage 2: Learning Concepts by Learning a Good Example Creating and Using Examples Cards

51. The Purpose of Examples Cards People generally do not learn concepts from definitions alone. They need examples “get the picture” and to tie the information together in a meaningful way. Often, a good example is worth 100 definitions. For example, for many students, the definition of a reversible figure (”A stimulus pattern that allows perceivers to reverse figure-ground organization”) is just words. However, an example, like the famous face/vase reversible figure makes the concept concrete, useful, and meaningful.

52. The Purpose of Examples Cards People generally do not learn concepts from definitions alone. They need examples to “get the picture” and to tie the information together in a meaningful way. Often, an example is worth 100 definitions. Concepts made of definitions alone are fragile. You must make concepts out of examples to make them last. Concept built from definitions alone. Concept reinforced with examples.

53. Which Example to Put on the Examples Card Because we think in pictures and examples, rather than in definitions, find an example that helps you remember, visualize, and understand the concept. This example may be from your book or from your professor. Be sure that you understand how this example is consistent with the key aspects of your definition.

54. Making the Front of An Examples Card 1.Write down the name of your term. 2.Below that, write “Examples” Negative reinforcement Examples Front

55. Making the Back of Your Examples Card 1.Write down an example of your concept. This example may be from your text or from your professor. 2.Match the key elements from your definition card to that example. 3.Underline and number those elements. Example: The baby gets his mother (1) to hold him more (2)by stopping his crying when his mother picks him up. ____ Back (Example card) Text definition: “Occurs when a (1) behavior is increased (2) by taking away an aversive stimulus.”_______ _____________________________ Back (Definition card)

56. Learning From Examples Flashcards 1.Assemble a set of example flashcards. To be effective, this set should include – a large number of terms. – some similar terms. 2.Shuffle the cards and put the example side facing you. 3. Say the term that the example represents. 4.Turn the card over to see if you are correct. Example: The baby gets his mother (1) to hold him more _____________ (2)by stopping his crying when his __ mother picks him up. ____________ “Negative reinforcement”

57. Learning From Example Flashcards If you are giving the wrong term for an example, find the cards related to both the right term and the wrong term. Then, 1.look at the examples, side-by-side, to see how they differ. 2.look at the definitions and see how the different examples fit the different definitions. Write: “I confuse this term with ______. Although they are similar in that they both _____, they differ in that ________.” In other words, spell out which key elements each term has and which elements they do not share.

58. Stage 3: Recognizing a Variety of Examples  You now recognize a typical example—but a concept isn’t an example, it’s broader than that. – If the only example of “plant” you knew was grass, your view of plants would be quite limited.  To help you appreciate the breadth of your concept, complete your examples card.

59. Each example that you create should be 1.Visual and memorable. 2.As different from the example you already have on your card as possible, while still being consistent with the definition. Make it different by  using a different individual (maybe even use a different species)  using a different situation. Completing Your Examples Card If the example is based on a rat, you might use a human; if it is from the lab, you might use a real life setting.

60. Creating this second example will help you 1. apply your understanding of a term to a real-life situation that is relevant and meaningful to you. 2.remember the concept because of active learning is stronger than passive learning.  (If your example relates to your life, you will also take advantage of the self-reference effect: information you relate to yourself is well-remembered.) 3.know and understand the concept because concepts are more general than a single example. Completing Your Examples Card

61. Text/professor example: (2) A baby cries until Mom picks it up. (1)Mom picks it up to stop the crying. _______________________________ _______________________________________ Find your examples card. Then, underneath the example you borrowed, add your own example. Find your examples card. Then, underneath the example you borrowed, add your own example. Do That Now

62. Text/professor example: (2) A baby cries until Mom picks it up. (1)Mom picks it up to stop the crying.______ ____________________________________________________ My example: My dog whines until I start scratching her ears, so I scratch her ears to stop the whining._______ _____________________________________ What Your Example Card Might Look Like 2 Example adapted from Appleby, 2013.

63. Make Sure Your Example Is Correct 1.Go back to the key elements of your definition and see if they are included in your example. Number and underline the parts of your example corresponding to those key elements.

64. Ways to See Whether Your Example Is Correct Text/professor example: (2) A baby cries until Mom picks it up. (1)Mom picks it up to stop the crying.___ __________________________________________ My example: (2) My dog whines until I start scratching her ears, so (1) I scratch her ears more than I used to because I want to stop the whining. 2. Compare your example to the example you borrowed. Your example should differ from the borrowed example, but it must have the same key elements.

65. Ways to See Whether Your Example Is Correct 3.Out loud, explain why your example fits. “I now understand that my dog has been negatively reinforcing me for scratching her ears because something I don’t like stops (i.e., whining) when I do the desired behavior (i.e., scratch her ears) and she has increased my doing that behavior (scratching her ears).”

66. Ways to See Whether Your Example Is Correct 4.If, during the definition sorting or example sorting phase, you did confuse this concept with a different concept, explain why your example is not an example of that competing concept. 5. If you are still unsure about your example, ask your teacher or classmates.

67. Stage 4: Learning Not to Confuse Concepts

68. Concept Confusion Often, the last step in understanding a concept is to distinguish it from other concepts. Thus, a child may be able to point out lots of examples of dogs and even draw a dog, but then call a horse a “dog.” “ Doggie !”

69. Reducing Concept Confusion We have already discussed 4 ways of reducing concept confusion: 1.Making sure you number and understand all the parts of the concept’s definition. 2.Reading the example side of your examples card and then naming the concept that relates to that example. 3.Underlining and numbering the parts of the example that match up with the key parts of the concept’s definition. 4.Explaining why an example fits one concept’s definition but does not fit another concept’s definition. However, if you are still having trouble distinguishing among concepts, you can add a small table to the relevant examples card.

70. Adding to a Table To Your Examples Card: Step 1 Start by just noting that you confuse two terms. So, if you confused positive punishment for negative reinforcement, you could add the following partial table to your negative reinforcement card. Negative reinforcement Positive Punishment

71. Adding to a Table To Your Examples Card: Step 2 If you continue to confuse the two terms (e.g., positive punishment and negative reinforcement), number, label, and list the ways that they differ. At this point, your table might look like this: Negative reinforcement Positive Punishment Key difference(s) 1. Their effects Increases behavior. Decreases behavior. 2. Timing of unpleasant event Unpleasantness occurs before desired behavior. Unpleasantness starts after undesired behavior

72. Adding to a Table To Your Examples Card: Step 3 If you are still getting the terms confused, add examples that illustrate how your concepts differ. So, after the third time, your table might look like this: Negative reinforcement Positive Punishment Key difference(s) 1. Their effects Increases behavior.Decreases behavior. 2. Timing of unpleasant event Unpleasantness occurs before desired behavior. Unpleasantness starts after undesired behavior. Example Parent yells before and until child starts cleaning up room so child starts cleaning up room. Parent yells after child writes on walls so child stops writing on walls.

73. Stage 5 Remembering Your Concepts

74. Remembering What You Have Learned Now that you understand the concepts, you need to remember that knowledge. To retain that knowledge, you will use both your definition and example cards. Start with your definition cards. Be sure the front (term) side is up. Negative reinforcement (2) Definition {positive punishment} Front

75. Retaining What You Have Learned With the term side of your definition card up, try to produce the definition from memory.  The number in parentheses will remind you how many key elements you have to remember.  Give yourself credit only if you recall all of those key elements.  In addition, if you have frequently confused your term with another term (that term will be in red in brackets on your card), explain how your concept differs from that other term. Front Negative reinforcement (2) Definition {positive punishment}

76. Retaining What You Have Learned Now, test yourself over your examples cards. Negative reinforcement Examples Front Look at the term side and then try to recall the examples.

77. Why Test Yourself Over Your Example Cards?  Testing yourself over the examples will help you with two of the harder types of multiple- choice questions:

78. 1. Questions that give you the concept and then require you to recognize the difference between examples and non-examples of that concept. Which of the following is an example of negative reinforcement? (This question is from Appleby, 2013) a. A child is slapped for swearing. b.A child loses recess for not paying attention. c.A mother stops nagging after her son cleans his room. d.A student gets $10 for a good report card.

79. 2. Questions ask you to apply a concept to an example as well as to understand the difference between that concept and other concepts. Jason experiences nicotine withdrawal symptoms (e.g., a slight headache) after he has not smoked a cigarette for 20 minutes. When he smokes another cigarette, this symptom disappears, but then reoccurs 20 minutes later when he must smoke still another cigarette to make his headache go away again. Which of the following operant conditioning terms best explains why Jason continues to smoke, even though he knows nonsmokers live an average of 10 years longer than smokers? (This question is from Appleby, 2013) a.positive reinforcement b.negative reinforcement c.punishment by application d.punishment by withdrawal

80. Can You Stop Now That You Have Gone Through Your Cards Once? No! To forget is human– unless you review. Reviewing maintains the paths to your concepts.

81. How Should You Review Your Cards? In hard ways: Don’t re-read your cards—Test yourself on the cards. Make your testing hard by testing  On different days. Give yourself a chance to see what you are forgetting — and to reverse that forgetting. For example, studying 15 minutes a day, 4 times a week is much more effective than studying 1 hour straight.  In different ways. Shuffle your flashcards so you do not go through them in the same order each time. Mixing up the cards is so helpful that it may even help to mix cards from different subjects together. Sometimes, answer aloud; sometimes, answer in writing.  In different places.  On the hard cards more than on the easy ones 

82. To Be Sure You Are Testing Yourself More Over The Hard Cards 1.Sort your cards into at least 2 piles: (cards you always get right and cards you don’t). Test yourself much more frequently on the cards you get wrong. 2. If you make a mistake on a card from the “easy” pile, move it to your “hard” pile. Similarly, if you have correctly responded to a question from your hard pile 5 times in a row, move it to the easy pile.

83. Practice on Your Electronic Devices If you are tired of your flashcards, you can use free, online flashcard systems such as – StudyBlue http://www.studyblue.com http://www.studyblue.com – Quizlet http://quizlet.com http://quizlet.com

84. Practice With Friends If you are tired of practicing alone, get a partner. In addition to making quizzing more fun, partners  Can help check that your definitions and examples are correct.  Make you say your answers aloud—and saying it aloud improves memory.  Let you know when your answer is vague or wrong.  Give you experience with more examples of the concepts.

85. Conclusions About Making Cards 1.Before you try to memorize a term, understand what the term means. Specifically, know what its key features are, know some examples, and know how it differs from related terms.  Differentiating a new concept from other related concepts is often the last—and the hardest—thing to learn.

86. Conclusions About Making Cards 2.Make your cards work for you by making sure that your cards help you see the concept’s key features, provide you with good examples, and distinguish concepts from similar sounding and similar meaning concepts. 3.If a card doesn’t seem to be helping you, add examples, arrows, pictures, or tables to it.  Sometimes, just highlighting key parts of the card or writing the different parts in different colors will help you.

87. Conclusions About Using Cards 4.Don’t just quiz yourself using the term side of the card. Instead, when you first begin learning a term, look at the definition or example side and then saying the name of the term. This will help you (a) understand the term and (b) connect the term’s name to the concept. 5.After you understand the concept, test yourself by looking at the term side and then providing the appropriate example or definition. Be tough on yourself—only give yourself credit if you say or write the definition perfectly and test yourself more on the cards you get wrong than on the ones you get right. 6.When testing yourself, study often, study in short bursts, and mix it up: Study in a variety of settings, at various days and times, and frequently shuffle your deck.

88. Quiz Time! Now that you have gone through this tutorial, please take the quiz on the next few slides so that you can show off what you have learned.

89. References Appleby, D. C. (2013). A flashcard strategy to help students prepare for three types of multiple choice questions commonly found on introductory psychology tests. Retrieved from http://teachpsych.org/Resources/ Documents/otrp/resources/appleby13flashcard.pdf Brown, P. C., Roediger, H. L., III, McDaniel, M. A. (2014). Make it stick: The science of successful learning. Cambridge, MA: Belknap. Hubbard, D. W. (2010). How to measure anything (2 nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Oakley, B. (2014). A mind for numbers. New York, NY: Tarcher-Penguin. Young, S. (2010). Learn more, study less! Publisher: Author.

90. Acknowledgments We would like to thank Dr. Jeanne Slattery, Dr. Jamie Phillips, and Dr. Scott Kuehn for their insightful comments on earlier versions of this presentation.

91. Quiz Question The hardest thing to learn (and the thing multiple-choice tests are good at testing) is telling the difference between two concepts. True False

92. Quiz Question Reading over your cards is almost as good as testing yourself over your cards. True False

93. Quiz Question You should only test yourself by looking at the “term” side of the card and asking yourself what the definition or example is. True False

94. Quiz Question One good example is all you need to learn a concept. True False

95. Quiz Question You should keep your cards in order. True False

96. Quiz Question Doing a good job in making your cards will help make memorizing the concepts much easier. True False

97. Quiz Question You should study your cards in the same place every day. True False

98. Quiz Question If you can’t immediately generate the full definition or example, you should look at the other side of the card to get the answer. True False

99. Quiz Question It is important to quiz yourself in a way that makes it so you always find your quizzes easy and you almost always get all the questions right. True False

100. Get your results

101. Results for Mark You got 9 out of 11. Time 1 = 0. Time 2 = 57. Press the Print Results button to print your answers. Start Again Print Results