STUDY HANDOUT FOR KINESIOLOGY COURSE
Please let go of any resistance you may have and integrate all the study skills and suggestions presented on the following pages. Donโt worry, Iโll be showing you how every time we meet.
For many, one major hurdle to learning is fear, not intelligence, nor ability. Usually the fear of failure (conscious or unconscious). Fear creates anxiety around studying, leading to:
1. Procrastination - usually manifests as cramming before a test.
2. Poor study methods - usually manifests as anxiously staring at the lecture notes or textbook, re-reading or repeating the words over and over, hoping for the best
Whether we have anxiety or not, the truth is that most of us never learned how to effectively study or how to approach learning. Staring at pictures of muscles, or repeating muscle names (and O, I & A) over and over, will not work for this course.
Repetition is necessary, yet inadequate.
ยทWe don't massage paper, and we cannot learn by repeating words, or staring at pictures.
ยทWe learn kinesiology by doing, not so much by thinking or figuring โitโ out.
It is essential that you become actively involved in learning! The more that you involve all your senses, the greater your ability to recall the information that you have learned.
KINESIOLOGY
Short summary of what you need do for this class:
ยทFirst comes mental organization, then specific activities to learn & integrate the material
1) Know exactly what you are supposed to know for each CB page โ by testing yourself
2)Complete coloring assignment before class
3)Be familiar with that days material (bones, terms of movements, muscles) before class
4)Review material from class the same day it is presented
5)Study for short time periods - then take a break
6)Study kinesiology everydayโฆyes everyday
7)Test yourself continuously as you study
8)Have study partner
9)Learn muscles using visuals, auditory, touch and movement โ all used simultaneously
10)Learn muscles through palpation, not reading
11)Learn shortening & stretching of muscles by performing them with a partner
12)Outline/trace the muscles on a study partner
13) Understand how a muscle works by using a elastic band on the skeleton
14)Memorize muscles according to their Coloring Book pages (their functional groups)
15)Use Coloring Book and Trail Guide simultaneously as you study
Do Not:
1)Cut back on sleep. Memories are formed during sleep. An hour less than optimal = poor performance
2)Attempt to learn by repeating names of muscles
3)Attempt to learn by repeating O, I, A, of muscles - hoping it sticks
4)Stare at pictures of muscles โ hoping it magically sinks in
5)Study muscles without both the Trail Guide and Coloring Book open
6)Procrastinate. (After test #2, things change: there will be classes were you will learn more in one day than you learned in the first 6 classes combined)
7)Cram. (Look at the study guide, you have to know every word in there โ canโt cram that)
8)Think. Ten year olds do the best in this class. Why? Because they like to play, to touch themselves, and they see muscles as they truly are: As simply rubber bands pulling on bones. Ten year olds get that there is nothing โto figure outโ, and thereโs nothing to โunderstandโ.
รAs one ten year old stated to the rest of the class โYou know why this is easy for me? Cause Iโm not worrying about the testโฆ. Iโm not afraidโ
SPECIFIC SUGGESTIONS
#1) KNOW WHAT YOUR ARE SUPPOSED TO KNOW
1)For each CB page make a condensed list of every muscle and structure your required to know on the opposite blank page in the coloring book, or use Study Guide. This reduces anxiety and organizes the material for your brain.
2)Begin and end each studying session by testing yourself by naming all the muscles you need to know for each CB page. This creates a โfolderโ in your brain that you can always go back and find to retrieve the info.
#2) BE FAMILIAR WITH THE MATERIAL BEFORE CLASS:
1)Complete coloring assignment before class. (While coloring stay physically and verbally active by touch yourself and say the structures out loud.)
2)Skim the Study Guide. Know what muscles are to be covered, and what I want you to know
3)Look at the muscles in the Trail Guide - say their names out loud
4)Review the bony landmarks and terms of movements we will use for that CB page
#3) REVIEW MATERIAL THE SAME DAY IT IS PRESENTED:
Otherwise, you will lose at least 80% of what you heard or experienced in class!
#4) UTILIZE A FRAMEWORK FOR EACH COLORING BOOK PAGE:
Order or sequence makes it much easier to remember any piece of the information learned.
Use this Sequence for studying each CB plate - this too will create a โfolderโ in your brain
1)Read, then re-read CB heading.
2)What functions do all these muscles share? Remember each plate of muscles is already grouped according to function. Read what I say in SG about the group.
3)What bone (s) do all these muscles insert into?
4)Review bony landmarks = Touch yourself or partner. Highlight, or write landmarks in CB.
5)Perform terms of movement for the joint they move.
6)General visual identification= Touch & say name out loud. Outline in CB with finger
ยทVery important to get visual I.D. solid before getting too specific with O, I, & A
ยทVisualizing a muscle means you know its actions - by simply visualize muscles pulling are like puppet strings.
7)Then and only then do you start to look at the specific O, A & I
8)Look at the relationship of the muscles on the plate to other muscles or structures. Are these muscles deep or superficial? What structures are medial, lateral, superficial or deep.
9)When using the Trail Guide to study individual muscles - always refer back to Coloring Book to remind you the group that muscle is in.
#5) MEMORIZE MUSCLES ACCORDING TO COLORING BOOK GROUPS:
With your folder in place โ always start by asking yourself โwhat group is this muscle in?โ
Muscles on the same CB page share actions, functions, and attachments - and we can use this because: It is much easier to remember a simple sentence describing one muscle than it is to remember details about 4 or 5 separate muscles! Examples below.
1)Their shared attachments or actions:
ยทAll Quadriceps extend the knee
ยทAll 4 rotator cuff muscles originate from the scapular fossas
2)The exceptions in each CB group:
ยทAll 5 adductors insert onto the posterior femur except gracilis
ยทAll 4 rotator cuff muscles insert onto the lesser tubercle except subscapularis
#6) HAVE ALL 3 BOOKS OPEN AS YOU STUDY:
1)Anatomy Coloring Book: visual ID; which functional group
2)Trail Guide to the Body: visual ID; Visual of O & I; Visual of Actions
3)Kinesiology Study Guide: O, I & A as I want you to know them; memorization tips, groups
#7) WHEN LEARNING, INVOLVE ALL YOUR SENSES SIMULTANEOUSLY- VISUAL, AUDITORY & KINESTHETIC:
If we use all our channels at once, we learn quicker and retain much more of the material.
Have you ever drifted off, or felt sluggish while studying? This occurs when you use only your left brain. Visual stimuli, and especially touch and movement activates you right brain. Get both sides of your brain working = learning and remembering.
Examples:
1)While looking at a picture of the muscle. Say the name, the origins and insertions, and actions out loud. Touch its origins and insertions on yourself or a partner.
2)Do the action of the muscle replicating it with band. Do the action while trying to palpate it on yourself or others
ยทSo important to attempt to locate the muscle (palpate it) on yourself and others,
ยทUse your body - it is the very best resource or cheat sheet
#8) USE THE SKELETON (it will be a part of the tests):
This is so important. 5 minutes on the skeleton is worth one hour looking at pictures
1)Locate the muscles origins and insertions on the skeleton โ use your handout.
2)Place an elastic band on the O & I and simulate what the muscle does by pulling from the origin, allowing the insertion move.
3)But you must look at a picture of the muscle as you simulate its action
a)Muscles simply pull like strings of a puppet, so recognizing a picture of a muscle means you know its actions!
#9) REGULARLY PRACTICE SHORTENING & LENGTHENING, AND PALPATING
1)Practice with a study partner
2)Always have picture of muscle to look at as you practice
3)Verbally state to yourself or your partner exactly what you are doing (e.g.: โto lengthen pec minor I will elevate and retract the scapulaโ)
#10) STUDY WITH A FRIEND OR A SMALL GROUP:
Some very smart people (with several degrees) have tried it alone - all have failed.
1)Must palpate, and shorten & lengthen muscles on another student
2)Quiz each other, predict test questions, discover where youโve been screwing up.
3)Others may have memorization tricks, word associations, etc.
4)Explain things to one another: teaching each other reinforces the material.
ยทAs passive learners, we remember only 10% of what we read, 20% of what we hear, and 30% of what we see.
ยทWhen you teach someone else, you retain 70 % of what you teach. When you teach and demonstrate to another you retain 90% of what you say and do!
#11) PAY ATTENTION AS YOU COLOR:
1)Talk to yourself as you color (heading, names, actions, attachments)
2)Touch the muscles on yourself as you color. Contract the muscles as you color
#12) STUDY REGULARLY AND FREQUENTLY:
ยทSuggestions 1->11 will not work if you do not follow this suggestion.
The attention span of most people is 15 to 20 minutes (probably a whole lot less these days). Everyone learn best in short spurts. Small time periods are important because it helps to maintain interest and concentration. It also enhances comprehension and retention. So โ do not study longer than 20 minutes before you break.
Key Points: We remember the material studied from the first and last few minutes of a studying session. This means: the shorter the study session the more you retain long-term.
1)Study regularly during week - not in a single long chunk.
a)Example: You will retain more info studying the muscles 20 minutes, 6 days a week (2 hours), than if you studied the same muscles 8 hours in one day!
2)Use shorter time intervals for memorization, review, and self-testing.
a)Example: If you have 5 minutes at a time, at different points in throughout the day, then study one coloring book page for 4 minutes, test yourself for 1 minute.
b) Do memorization and review, especially details, just before you fall asleep (1-5 mins.).
3)Break up a longer time periods into smaller sections.
a)Take lots of short breaks
b)Integrate physical activities as you study (or at least during breaks)
c)Mixing up activities helps one process information in a variety of ways.
d)Review by testing yourself for a few moments on everything studied
Consider the following example the following 3-hour plan:
6:00-6:25 Palpate Coloring Book pages 56 & 57
6:30-6:55 Do shortening & lengthening pages 56 & 57
7:00-7:25 Draw muscles on study buddy
7:30-8:00 Reward: Watch favorite TV show
8:00-8:25 Quiz each other on Coloring book pages 50-58
8:35-9:00 Perform stretches and actions for Coloring book pages 50-58
Consider the following example the following 1-hour plan:
20 minutes โ Create an outline for new information given in A&P
5 minutes - Take a break (juggling is a good thing to do. MOVE!)
15 minutes - Review information from this week, last week and last month
5 minutes - Take another break
10 minutes - Review the information from outline in the first 20 minutes
5 minutes - Take a break and get ready to start all over again, or go to a different subject
#13) TEST YOURSELF (and EACH OTHER):
Kinesiology: test yourself every few minutes - seriously
A & P: ask yourself questions as you read and study
1)Too many of us spend hours and hours and hours hunched over our notes and text books trying to learn and yet we spend very little time practicing the recall of the information that we have learnt.
2)So in effect we develop a very strong "IN" mental muscle yet the "OUT" muscle that we will rely on in our exanimations is hardly tested at all.
3)Spend more time demonstrating what you know than putting it in and keep adjusting and correcting until you get it right every single time.
4)The act of trying to recall also imprints the material. (note how we often remember answers to questions we miss on a test)
MNEMONICS
(nu-moniks) It's a bag of tricks and word games designed to help a person remember stuff, especially isolated, unfamiliar details--the type we have the hardest time holding onto.
Memory works by making links between information, fitting facts into mental structures and frameworks.
The basic premise for mnemonics is linking new unfamiliar information to stuff already stuck in your brain.
1)SIMPLY ATTEMPTING TO USE A MEMORY DEVICE WILL HELP GET STUFF INTO YOUR BRAIN!
2)Mnemonics relies on linking, grouping, and framing information.
3)The word or phrase used as a mnemonic should not require as much effort to remember as the items themselves. This would obviously defeat the purpose of the strategy. So, try to keep the cue words or phrases as simple as possible.
4)Use a variety of memory techniques.
5)Select memory techniques appropriate for the information, the type of test, and personal learning style
Acronym: is an invented combination of letters. Each letter is a cue to an idea you need to remember.
Examples:
Rotator Cuff Muscles "The SITS muscles"
Clockwise from top:
ยท Supraspinatus
ยท Infraspinatus
ยท Teres minor
ยท Subscapularis
Additionally: A pro baseball pitcher has injured his rotator cuff muscles. As a result, he SITS out for the rest of the game, and then gets sent to the minor leagues.
(Rotator cuff very often injured, and thereโs a Teres Major muscle)
Acrostic: is an invented sentence where the first letter of each word is a cue to an idea you need to remember.
Example: Ooh, Ooh, Ooh, To, Touch, And, Feel, Very, Good, Velvet, AH.
The first letter of the 12 Cranial nerves:
Olfactory, Optic, Oculomoter, Trochlear, Trigeminal, Abducens, Facial, Vestibulocochlear, Vagus, Accessory, Hypoglossal
Example: I Like Standing
From lateral to medial - the erector spinae muscles
Iliocostalis
Longissimus
Spinalis
Ad Hoc: Makes use of limericks or poems.
Example: "Columbus sailed the ocean blue, in fourteen-hundred and ninety-two."
Image-name technique: Simply invent any relationship between an image and the name of something.
Example: For the Parietal Bones of the skull, visualize a Two Pears dangling off your head.
Verbal manipulations: Link the item with a word that has an established association with the item.
Example: "Stand on your Soles. Explosive gas":
You stand on soles of your shoes, so Soleus is for posture.
Gasoline is explosive, so Gastrocnemius is for explosive movement.
Keyword Method: Select key words from a story or a block of text that capture the overall theme or point of the material
For example, text about the two types of nerve cells might be summed up by two key words,
Neuron = impulse
Neuroglia = serve
ยทFor A&P: The key words are those words that are necessary for understanding the term or concept. Underline or highlight these words and focus on them when studying. This reduces the amount of information to be remembered.
There are many other mnemonic devicesโฆโฆโฆseveral are in the kinesiology study guide