S104 update, slightly revised study plan and playing with blog layout

S104 update

I always have a little break after doing a TMA, so had a break on Thursday away from OU stuff.  Friday starting reading Book 2 Chapter 3 and now on my second read of it.  Some quite devasting numbers coming through on the amounts of people killed in earthquakes and tsunami's.  And this is not including the Japanese earthquake/tsunami that occurred recently.  We are still quite a primitive civilisation in not being able to even predict these events, and it was only in the 1960s we 'discovered' tectonic plates so Earth Sciences has a long way to go yet.

Slighty revised study plan

Have revised my study plan very slightly (is this an indication I am getting closer to finding out what I want to do - you may ask lol), I think the level 3 courses shall be confirmed closer to the time as the OU are still thinking about revising the level 3 courses.  I just hope those of us starting our degree now don't get forgotten in the OU plans!  Else there will be a lot of disappointed people around:-

Playing with blog layout etc

I have changed the blog template to a nicer template, which I think is a lot better then the previous version.  I have also slightly rearranged the S104 notes sections on the top right hand side, so they are now split up into books, instead of one long page.  If anyone knows how to set up groups please let me know.  e.g. I would like a set of my posts to be under S104, then later another set under S282 - not just one long list of blog posts.

S104 update and playing with mind maps

S104 update

Facebook block is going well, having now extended it out a little bit so facebook is now blocked between 10am and 4pm.  Being a lot more productive.
Have now started Book 2 Earth and Space.  Finished chapter 1 and 2 today, along with a mind map for chapter 2 (chapter 1 was just an intro).  Also started doing the definitions for Book 2 on quizlet.  I did start out doing the post it notes with notes on for doing a similar note setup as my last chapter notes (chapter 8 book 1), but they seemed very unwieldly so decided to go back to doing mind maps again : - copy attached, I suspect you will need to click it to see the larger version....

Reasonably pleased with it as it looks a lot easier to review then just standard notes, so will try mind maps for now - I am still basing the mind map around the SQ3R method as you can see from the chapter headings being the first arcs in the 'tree'.

Taken another couple of days reading of the rain gauges - not as much rain in them as last week.

Would love to hear about your study techniques, e.g. to you do mind maps, notes, SQ3R - or some other technique I haven't heard of yet  - always on the look out to improve......  

S104 very productive day today after finding out how to block facebook!

Very productive day

Spent almost 3 1/2 hours on coursework today after a fellow facebook addict (:D) showed me a link to block facebook - for those that are interested in reducing procrastination here is the link:-

http://techtips.salon.com/block-certain-websites-certain-times-4143.html

I requested that Facebook be blocked between 11am and 4pm (may extend this out a bit), first hour it was a bit tempting to check it via my ipad and/or iphone but once I got settled into doing some work and OU study I was fine. 

So finally finished the first TMA, Book 1 Global Warming, and entered my results from the first week of the rain gauge experiment  into the WIKI.  Conpleted my first set of notes using the SQ3R method yesterday and my notes for the first time ever managed to closely resemble the chapter summary.  I will try and find out if I can share the document on here as an example for those trying to make notes.

Next task is to move onto Book 2 which I have been told by many people doing the same course, is a lot more 'engaging' then Book 1.

S104 feelings on chapter 8/global warming and started revising study technique

Book 1 Chapter 8

Just finished Book 1 Chapter 8 (the penultimate chapter) of Global Warming and the feeling I get now is one of despondency - is there anything that we can do as a human race to stop global warming? - I hope so, the level of technology we have reached, you would have thought so, but is there the will?  We need to start looking at the problem urgently as from reading the chapter, optimistic projections where the CO2emissions peak at 2050 and then start to decrease, would still mean the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere will rise for the next 100 years, in that time they will reach a steady state, but will be almost double the amount they are now.  Temperatures will go up,  by 2100 optimistic projections predict a 1.5C rise and pessimistic projections by 6C.  So the only way out of it is to come up with technologies to remove the levels of CO2 currently in the atmosphere, and implement them almost straight away to reduce the effects.  And this doesn't even take into account the potentional affect that methane could have, Methane being 20 times more potent then CO2.
There doesn't seem to be the urgency to do this however, just look at how the US treats environmental concerns, and with China and India now coming into the fold, the problem will only get worse.  Until it starts to affect 'the man in the street' personally and they start really lobbying government to get things done, or take actions themselves,  I feel nothing will happen to address the situation (seriously anyway).  Time will tell.

Progress towards study technique

Been through the whole of Book 1 and have written down on removable post it notes attached to the end of every chapter, all of the headings and sub- headings (part of the SQ3R study technique - the S = scan part - bit late as I have already studied the first 7 chapters, however these will be good for creating the documents or mind - maps that I have in mind):-

I have also started to create section summaries in chapter 8, example picture below.  Will see if I have time to do them for the rest of the book, but feel I must now move on to finally finishing the TMA and proceeding to Book 2:-

Next task is to complete the activites in chapter 8 - the global warming model and a bit on the rain gauges.  Then finish chapter 9 which is only a couple of pages, and finish the TMA.  Do an overall summary of Book 1 for revision purposes and then proceed to Book 2.

S104 rain gauge update, book purchases and investigating procrastination

Rain gauges

Gone back to normal now after the hiccup over the 'faulty' reading yesterday - an additional 4 mm in the non funnel one, and an additional  5 mm in the funnelled one - so good news...

Book purchases

In an effort to improve my study skills (apart from surfing youtube) have purchased the following book, will let you know how I get on with it in later posts:-

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1111840288/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00

Have also purchased the DK Science book to back up anything which I don't understand at first glance in the S104 books:-

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1409383148/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00

Some good info in there so far regarding Global Warming, and a very nice reference in general.

Have also ordered a Universe book which will hopefully arrive tomorrow:-

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0756698413/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00

Procrastination

Just starting to look at why people procrastinate - there seems to be loads and loads of videos on youtube about it so obviously a common problem!  My main problem at the moment is facebook and reorganising my study everytime I go in there! Having just watched one video on procrastination so far (is it procrastination to watch videos on procrastination, one may ask!), so this is not going to be very scientific, it seems that the reward is being given before the deed has been done.  So lets say the house was meant to be cleaned, you would go to the cinema or go out first before doing it, makes sense in a way, anyway this is the video:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAK-wbrr4mI&list=PLWPtk52gu0iMNmwa4P4KQ936T-sh26rUp&index=3&feature=plpp_video

I personally would love to find something which locked me out of facebook for a couple of hours a day to start off with and see how it goes from there.  So if anyone knows anything that can do this please let me know!

S104 update on rain gauges and update on investigating study technique

Update on rain gauges

Just measured the rain gauges - have lost 2 mm in the one with the funnel and lost 3 mm in the one without the funnel, no idea how that has happened as it is currently raining, unless it was a faulty reading yesterday!

Study Technique

Was just browsing youtube yesterday and today in response to some questions on the S104 October 2012 Facebook page on study technique and found a good one on a study technique termed SQ3R, which stands for Scan, Question, 3Rs - read, recite, review (or record - depending on which version you watch).  There are also some good ones on notetaking, critical reading, etc etc -

A good show the basics video I found is here:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2Gic5lU-5g&list=PLWPtk52gu0iMNmwa4P4KQ936T-sh26rUp&feature=mh_lolz

This is a one page example of what I have done so far in reference to notetaking, so a mixture of a small mind map and straight forward notes - definite need for improvement:-

One of the best ways to learn as far as I have gathered so far, is ask questions on what you have just read, interact with the text, e.g an example for S104 is the greenhouse gas bit, what makes an element or compound a greenhouse gas, that is one of them I will use..  using flashcards via Quizlet.   Next stage for me is to create a set of questions for the whole of the first book based on general questions like the greenhouse gas question.   This will hopefully be good for revision later on.  I will also attempt to do some mindmaps for sections of the chapters.

I feel that the Open University should create a course just on study technique at the beginning of every person's degree.

Anyway need to read Chapter 8 and do question 3 on the TMA - been procrastinating for too long today !

S104 Update on rain gauges -

First time I have seen a measurable difference in the levels between the two - about 4 mm difference between them, it was sunny yesterday though.