3.3 Skills in learning mathematics
A great deal has already been said about the study skills that you will be developing as you work. But how might these help you in your future study, in the workplace or in any voluntary work that you do? This is the subject of the second band of the audiotape.
Audio: Click to listen to the audio clip entitled 'Skills in Learning Mathmatics'
Activity 18 Identifying skills
Listen to the audi clip above, entitled ‘Skills in learning mathematics’. As you listen you may wish to make some notes, and at one point you will be asked to stop the tape in order to draw up a list of skills that you have been using and developing in the course so far. In the last part of the tape, a former student of mathematics at the Open University speaks about some of the skills that he developed during his course of study and how he has been able to use them since.
Much of this section has involved looking at how you study and making learning more explicit. Many people can improve the effectiveness of their learning if they spend some time focusing not only on the content of what they are trying to learn, but also on the learning process itself. Even if you do not find any particular difficulties with studying, it is important to pause regularly to evaluate how well you are doing and whether you can learn more effectively by changing your approach. To this end, before you finish this course, there is one more study-skills activity to complete.
Activity 19 On reflection
Think about your first course of study and, if you feel it is helpful, briefly note down your thoughts. Consider how many hours you have studied, the pattern of your study periods, and where and when you have studied. Think about how you might like to change the way you work so that your study becomes more effective.
Outcome
Now that you have completed your work on this section, you should have:
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organized your learning file (Activity 18);
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reviewed the way that you are studying the course so far and begun to think about improvements (Activities 17 and 19).
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