The Paer Method
- 1. 4.0 Study Pro –The PAER Method 1.0 Preview: Preview the material and plan ahead how you will study Step 1: Determine yours or the instructor’s goal for the assignment or task. Try to figure out what the instructor expects you to learn from this (learning outcomes) or what your personal purpose is if is not assigned (reviewing a research article for a term paper for example). You can ask the instructor, look at the chapter goals/objectives, or even look at chapter review questions to get an idea of what you are expected to learn. Try to figure out the importance of the information and how it is organized with the other information related to the course or term paper. You also want to consider how important it is to the overall field or major or the main argument of your paper. The answers to these questions should guide you in terms of the time you devote to it, the way you read and learn it, etc. Step 2: Figure out what you already know about the topic or assignment. Before you start looking at the contents or chapters or the book or article, try to jot down everything you can possibly think of that you know about the main topic. If it is a complex topic, then go ahead and look at the chapter headings and ask yourself what you know about each one. Jot down what you know so you can use that with your notes later. Step 3: Preview the material and determine how the information is organized. This is actually a two part question. First, review the table of contents or the outline of the material. Look at bulleted information and how the information is structured. Try to determine: What comes first, next, last, etc.? What are the relationships between the items?. What is the logic, purpose or reasoning behind how the information is organized? Then determine how it relates to the overall course, assignment, paper, etc. What relationship does it hold with what you learned previously in the class, other classes, other experiences, and what you will be studying later in the course, etc. Step 4: Make sure you understand it all. Determine if you are unsure or confused about anything. Look at the graphs, charts, tables, and other visual aids and make sure you understand how they reinforce or represent the information. Step 5: Get in the author’s head. Figure out what argument or point is the author making. While reading the information and using what you know from looking at the outline, think about what the author is trying to accomplish. What is s/he trying to say or convince you of? What is s/he trying to persuade you to believe or what argument are they trying to prove? While reading the Used with permission from: Learning by Design, LLC Copyright ©2010
- 2. information, think what the author is going to say next, but also think why they might do so. This can help your understanding a great deal when you try to think like the author! Step 6: Ask the important questions – the Expert Questions, and your own questions. Since knowledge is born of questions, there is a good chance the experts asked questions that lead them to the understanding that they are now sharing with you. Newton may have asked…”What causes apples to fall down consistently rather than up?” To determine what the expert questions are, look through the chapters at the questions they ask, look for the research questions that led people to conduct research you read about, etc. When you start to see the same or similar questions emerge, you’ve found the expert questions. This is probably one of the most beneficial steps! Another crucial part of learning is being involved in the process, so you are aware of the questions that come to your mind. If you are learning about how wars and social upheaval resulted in Great Britain when they began changing from wood to coal for the main source of fuel, and you ask what will happen when the US changes from fossil fuel to another source…ASK IT!!!!! If you are learning about the civil rights struggle in the 60’s and 70’s and wonder if there are any similarlities to the gay marriage or immigration issues…ASK IT!!!! Jot it down and bring it up, either in class, with other classmates, or with the teacher privately. 2.0 Attend Class: Listen intently, take good notes, and monitor how well you understand the material in terms of your goals and the learning outcomes of the chapter or assignment. You should understand what everything means, as well as how it is organized, what questions does it answer and raise, etc. Step 7: Attend class and listen attentively. Take notes and think about what the teacher is saying in relationship to what you understand from the steps above. Look for answers to the expert questions and your own questions. (Write down new questions as they arise!) Step 8: Determine what the important information is, how it is organized, and make sure you understand it. Drawing on all of the previous steps, the goal, organization, expert questions, your questions, etc., determine what information is important as it relates to what your instructor says and your notes and what you know from previous steps. For example, what are the answers to the expert questions and your own? How is the information organized? You can also rank it… 1. what is of primary importance (meaning what is central to the main ideas or goals, the learning outcomes of the course, etc.), 2. what is of secondary importance (meaning what is not central but helps explains the more important information, gives it context or perspective, etc.) and 3. what is tertiary (meaning what isn’t really important in terms of the learning outcomes, but what you find interesting or helps you understand other things better). Used with permission from: Learning by Design, LLC Copyright ©2010
- 3. 3.0 Engage: Really dig into the information, process it and recreate it. Step 9: Paraphrase and summarize this information. If there is a #2 most important step, this is it. Paraphrasing and summarizing is one of the best ways of synthesizing information in paper and in your brain. Putting it together in fewer words again and again, helps you better understand the material as opposed to just memorizing the facts. Step 10: Try different ways of representing the information. Reading and taking notes, in other words, the written word, is only one way we learn. We learn through visual interpretation, auditory stimulation, even through smell! Visual imagery is often considered most powerful next to the written word. So try to translate and interpret the information in different symbols, drawings, flow charts, mind maps, etc. Do this as much as possible! Step 11: Consider and determine the best strategies remembering this information. Then USE them! 1. Study to learn and understand, not just memorize. 2. Remember and make associations with other things. o Draw a picture or a concept map or mind map or an outline, etc. o Create a rhyme or song, or a story, or an acronym, or other mnemonic device, etc. (especially for things that need memorizing, such as terms, dates, important people, events, etc.) o Engage your senses - smell something related to the subject and touch something representative of it. Listen to music or other sounds that are related to it. Look at pictures or videos that are related. 3. Study in smaller increments and understand each part very well before moving on. 4. Sleep. Memory is actually improved when you sleep (and reach dream state) after studying. 5. Use it or lose it. Practice and quiz yourself regularly. Practice giving speeches or explaining it to someone else. The more you USE the information, the better you’ll remember and understand it. Step 12: Go over what you have learned and determine if you’ve missed anything or if there are any gaps. This is often easier done during or after you’ve tried explaining it to others or writing down explanations of what you’ve learned. But identifying gaps in your understanding helps make sure you have the opportunity to fill them in before an exam or before the assignment is due. 4.0 Constructing Knowledge and Meaning: Relate new information with what you already know and determine how it fits or how it differs and why. Step 13: Figure out how you can organize the information in relation to what you already know. Used with permission from: Learning by Design, LLC Copyright ©2010
- 4. Most of the time the information is already organized in the book or article you are reading…but you may be using more than 1 source of information (book, article, lecture notes, information you already knew, etc. (see how the information may be organized differently in those sources), and you probably already have some prior knowledge that is related to what you just learned. Try to determine how the new information is related to what was in other sources and what you already know. o What aspects are similar? Different? o What aspects are related to each other? How? o Are some aspects dependent on others? How? o How would you organize this in an outline? A concept map? Does it change what you already know? Does it conflict in any way? How can you reconcile those differences? Try to look for related information that is not included in the material and see where you would fit it into the organization. Try to organize it differently than the sources and see if anything makes better sense logically or in terms of understanding the relationship. Believe it or not, authors sometimes know TOO much information and actually organize information that isn’t best for those with less knowledge. Step 14: Think about how you might use this information in a different context. Think about how could you use this in different contexts/scenarios? Could you apply that math formula to when you go shopping or comparing the cost of things you buy online? Could you apply that physics lesson to how you swing the bat in baseball/softball or tackle someone in football? Could you use the general way you solve that math problem to solve a personal problem as well? Could you apply something from the civil rights movement to the current issues around gay marriage and immigration? Would the way that character in that novel handled a problem work for you regarding a different problem? Step 15: Make it yours! Link it to other information you know as much as possible. Draw connections with other information; combine it with what you already know. Try to relate the information to what you know about the topic. But also relate it to what you know about anything else you can possibly, remotely, ever so slightly relate it to. If you are studying the Greek and Trojan war, relate it to your own feelings of love, passion, and desire for fame, etc. If you are studying the Periodic Table, try to relate it to how you organize information and put it into “boxes” in your own head, or how you organize your clothes, shoes, collectibles, etc. Used with permission from: Learning by Design, LLC Copyright ©2010