Study Tip - Concept Mapping

Many students come to college having successfully learned how to study for memorization exams, but how do you make the transition from just memorizing vocabulary and tidbits of fact to really understanding concepts to the stage of practical use. I do not want to imply that there is not a memorization aspect to this course since there is a fair amount and you basically need to learn a new language if you do not have much science background, but in college science courses, you are expected to learn the concepts to a level which allows you to do something practical with the knowledge.

One of the most important ways to get to this level of understanding is to be able to "see the forest for the trees" so to speak. To be able to see the big picture, zoom in on the details, and to make the connections between the many parts all lead to the skill of critical thinking and practical application of course material. If you are a visual learner, Mind Mapping may be a way to see your notes in a way to take in the big picture, the details, and the connections.

In an article titled "How to Mind Map for Study Success", the author explains that when she started law school, she thought she knew how to study, but quickly realized she had actually learned how to memorize. After receiving a grade of 5% on an exam, she closely examined her study habits and realized that she was not actually understanding the material at an appropriate level. That changed when she learned to use Mind Mapping which is also called Concept Mapping.

Here is an example of a Mind Map I put together comparing various aspects of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells from Chapters 3 and 4.

Click image to see a larger version.

I started by putting Prokaryote at the top of my concept map and Eukaryote at the bottom. I then added the different cellular structures from the learning objective (in the gold box) and researched the similarities and difference between. For example, if you look at ribosomes, there is a dashed line from both prokaryote and eukaryote since both cell types have them, but I wrote "70s" on the line to prokaryote and "80s" on the line to eukaryote since this denotes a difference in the ribosomes between them.

I used computer software to do this one, but it is just as effective (or maybe more so) using pencil and paper. Be sure to think about all of the connections and don't be afraid to erase and rewrite as needed. If you are struggling with the tests, give this a try and see if it helps. 

Study Tip - Cornell Notes

This week’s study tip is an explanation of a style of note taking called Cornell Notes. This is a method of formatting your notebook paper to separate

1. key points from the lecture (or video in an online class), 
2. notes about the key points, and
3. a summary of the lecture material. 

Basic information about Cornell Notes can be found at  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornell_Notes, but I recommend the website http://coe.jmu.edu/learningtoolbox/cornellnotes.html for a more practical explanation.

The format of your notebook paper is as follows:

This type of note taking can allow you to better pay attention to the lecturer or narrator since you will only be writing the Key Points during the lecture and not try to capture everything they say. Soon after the lecture, it is good to fill in the notes while the lecture is fresh in your mind as well as using other resources if needed. 

The summary should be written after reviewing the Key Points and Notes and really understanding the material in the lecture. I recommend that you don’t write the summary immediately after taking the notes, but to wait until the next day or at least later the same day to give the material some time to sink in. Also be sure to write the summary in YOUR OWN WORDS and not to just write the same words the lecturer just spoke. This will help ensure a higher level of understanding as writing dictation does not stimulate the learning centers of the brain like processing and creating an original summary.

Study Tip 02 - Time Management

Time management is one of the biggest issues for a student in online courses. Some courses force students to stay on track by using weekly deadlines with the students being able to choose when during the week they do the work. Other classes have a totally work-at-your-own-pace approach in which there is only the final deadline and the students have the entire semester to work on the material.

This course will be closer to the first with deadlines occurring roughly every 2 –3 weeks:

• Orientation - 1 week (official due date, but really should take no longer that 2–3 days)
• Unit 01 - about a week and a half (depending on how long you spend on the Orientation)
• Unit 02 - 2 weeks
• Unit 03 - 3 weeks
• Unit 04 - 3 weeks

While it is acceptable to work ahead, if you get behind, you might end up not completing assignments by the deadlines and receiving grades of zero (or 50% reduction for late work).

In my opinion, the best way to pace yourself is by following a schedule similar to the traditional versions of the class. During the summer, we are trying to fit 16 weeks of material into 10 weeks, so the traditional sections meet three times per week. Each day the class meets for one hour of “lecture” and two hours of “lab”. This means that students are meeting with their instructor for a minimum of nine hours per week. If you include the 2–3 hours of outside study time expected for each in-class hour, that brings the total time you are expected to be studying microbiology is between 18 and 27 hours per week.


Schedule for traditional BIO220 courses for the summer semester.

While instructors know that most students are not spending this kind of time on their courses, we also know that many students who struggle with the material are not spending enough time working on the class. This is why I think the topic of time management is one of the best study tips I can give this early I the course.

My recommendation is to look at your calendar and commit to a minimum of nine hours per week that you can schedule uninterrupted time to work on the course material. I definitely do not recommend just flying by the seat of your pants as it can be very difficult to choose homework over the other distractions that come along (especially in the summer).

Evidence supports the hypothesis that scheduling work times makes for more productive results. With the online course, you have the flexibility of choosing when you do the work, but again it is still best to schedule this in advance. Start by looking at your calendar and choosing how many days you want to schedule and how long per day. Again I recommend 3 days per week with 3 hours per day, but you can schedule 5 days a week with 2 hours each if that works better for you.

I also recommend taking time off between work times just like with an advanced workout program. If you work out hard every day with no rest in between, you are likely to hurt yourself. I am not saying that you can sprain your brain by studying microbiology, but you can get burned out pretty fast in any technical course.

During your schedule work period, look at the assignments list in Bb and complete the activities in order using the time you have. If you are starting a lab exercise with 30 minutes left in your time, you might want to put it off until the next time or extend your time a little to get it done. When you next sit down, just pick up where you left off. I have designed the flow of the class in a way that most students should be able to complete the module work before the deadline if working regularly for 12–18 hours per week. If you understand the material quicker you might spend less time working per week. If it generally takes you longer to grasp complex ideas, you might need to spend more than this per week.

Give it a try and if you find that you are struggling, at least we will know if time spent is a possible culprit.

Study Tip 01 Write it Down

The following study tip is brought to you through the website Lifehacker.com and concerns the writing down of things while they are fresh. The article recommends taking 30 seconds after learning something to write it down. Research has shown that writing is an active mental activity which helps to solidify things in your brain. Most students are content to just read (a passive mind activity), but if you use active activities such as writing notes, you should have an easier time learning the material.
Click this link to read the original story.

Should You be Worried About Ebola??

Since we are beginning the unit which covers epidemiology, I thought it would be a good time to bring up the current news topic of the continuing Ebola epidemic which is turning out to be the worst Ebola outbreak in history and has the potential to become pandemic. As you know by now, Ebola is a hemorrhagic virus which is most commonly seen in Africa. Once the infection sets in, there is a loss of many immune cells and endothelial cells resulting in an extremely weakened patient who is not only unable to put up a good fight, but will experience the breakdown of blood vessels leading to large amount of blood loss.

The article from Vox.com titled "Americans should panic about Ebola, but not because it threatens the United States" focuses on the idea of what is happening now with the virus to make it a more formidable threat later. There is speculation that mutations in the virus are leading to Ebola becoming endemic in West Africa so that it ..."becomes a constant threat rather than an episodic one.". The article goes on to discuss the potential ramifications of endemic Ebola for global travel, health care, business, and the human condition in general. Ebola may not be a direct threat to kill you in the U.S., but in terms of worldwide human suffering, it is worthy of great concern.

Read the entire article here: http://www.vox.com/2014/10/14/6971585/ebola-panic-africa-america

Excuse Me, Can I Borrow a Cup of ATP?

There is a popular belief that eukaryotic mitochondria are a result of co-evolution of primitive eukaryotes and their prokaryotic symbiotes.  The hypothesis of this co-evolution stems mainly from the fact that eukaryotic mitochondria have several characteristics which resemble bacteria which no other organelle (besides chloroplasts in plants) possess. These characteristics include circular DNA, 70s ribosomes and reproduction via binary fission.

Many of the stories speculate that the relationship was a mutualistic one where both the eukaryotic cell and the prokaryote found benefit in their union, but a new study is showing evidence that the prokaryote may have been an energy parasite.

An article published at ScienceDaily.com reports on a University of Virginia study that used DNA sequencing to compare the genomes of bacterial species thought to be closely related to mitochondria. The researchers are predicting that the prokaryotic parasites actually took ATP from the host cell but after successive generations began to switch the direction of ATP transport and became beneficial to the host.

You can read the entire article here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141016165955.htm

DNA Sequencing: A new Tool in the Diagnostic Toolbox

An article from Popsci.com titled "DNA Sequencing Diagnoses Boy's Mysterious Bacterial Disease", gives an account of the diagnosis of Leptospira infection in a boy who was not showing the typical signs of this type of infection. When traditional means of diagnosis were not successful in identifying the cause of the boy's illness, experimental DNA sequencing was successful. Click the link below to read more about this beginning of the genetic revolution in medicine.

Read more: http://www.popsci.com/article/science/dna-sequencing-diagnoses-boys-mysterious-bacterial-disease