My approach to study will be formed by three readings (superficial, concepts , details), testing and note taking. I am using the theory of this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rtSSM-C91I by Justing Sung. In the video Justing talk about learning in four layers: logic, concepts, important details, arbitrary details. I will use mind maps to “take notes” during my study sessions. Well, I will work like this:
This reading could be during my study sessions, but it could also be done in other situations while I am waiting something like during transportation.
- Pick the big concepts and try to make sense of them: For this I can just look for bold words, vocabulary, titles, images, etc. I just want to get an idea of what I will learn, I can read or watch the material really fast, the importante thing is to try to organize the concepts in a way that make sense for me.
- Time: Approx. 10 min
This is the heavy reading. I have to be in this layer most of the time.
- Develop First layer concepts: In this layer/reading I want to explore and expand the concepts that I already have. During this work I will have to change the mind map that I already had in the first reading in order to organize the information in a better way. The important thing her is that after every ending of a concept I have to take some steps back and thing how it connects with the rest
- Time: Necessary
This reading is for looking and trying to make sense of “random” information. The important details are the ones that fit in some way in my mind map. The arbitrary details are the ones that don’t fit, but it could be interesting to know. In order to learn the details I could use flashcards.
- Categorize Details: I will look at information that during the first two reading doesn’t seem important or seem random, I will question if it has some way to fit in the mind map. If it fits, then that is an important detail. Otherwise, it is an arbitrary detail.
- Time: Approx. 10 min
I will create a simple test to see how well I learned the material, I will use Bloom’s taxonomy as a reference.
I will pass the mind map to notes following the zettelkasten method and the system that I had stablish for my note taking system in org-roam.
Ther may be some extras rules or steps for some special cases.
Textbooks usually come with solved and unsolved exercises. During the second reading I will have to be able to solve by myself the example exercises, I will have to repeat the exercise many times until I am able to solve it by myself. The testing part will change depending of the unsolve exercises and questions that the textbook could have, for example: if the textbook only has exercises, then the testing will have some deep questions about the concepts.