Retrieval over Reading

Lawrence Quizon

2026-01-21

“Icebreaking Activity”

FAST – RAPID

LAMP – LI__T

KING – CROWN

TREE – LE__

LONG – SHORT

HARD – SO__

KNEE – BEND

FOOT – SH__

STOVE – HOT

ICE – C__D

LION – ROAR

DOG – B__K

RED – ROSE

BLUE – S__

SLOW – TURTLE

HIGH – L__

WISH – WANT

BEAUTIFUL – P__TTY

DARK – NIGHT

WHITE – BL__K

OK LETS DISCUSS THE SYLLABUS

Diagnostic Quiz

TREE

DOG

FAST

BLUE

STOVE

WISH

ICE

LONG

BEAUTIFUL

KNEE

RED

HIGH

LION

DARK

LAMP

SLOW

HARD

WHITE

KING

Checking

Grade separately words pairs with blanks and word pairs that were given completely.

Compare your final scores.

TREE – LE__

DOG – B__K

FAST – RAPID

BLUE – S__

STOVE – HOT

WISH – WANT

ICE – C__D

LONG – SHORT

BEAUTIFUL – P__TTY

KNEE – BEND

RED – ROSE

HIGH – L__

LION – ROAR

FOOT – SH__

DARK – NIGHT

LAMP – LI__T

SLOW – TURTLE

HARD – SO__

WHITE – BL__K

KING – CROWN

Result

You are much more likely to have gotten the words with blanks CORRECT.

  • Words without blanks: You read and accept it.
  • Words with blanks: You read, think about what it is, then you say “ok that makes sense”.

What we just did is the same experiment in the seminal 1978 Learning Psychology paper The Generation Effect

Pre-141 Study Tips

Per the statistics EEE 131 is objectively difficult. EEE 141 is also objectively difficult.

But it doesn’t have to be!

  • Both of these were my favorite subjects!
  • My grades were lowest at the start of undergrad, but slowly improved.
  • The following are what I can remember were useful to me.

Active Recall

From the activity, we can take:

  • Writing down what you know is better than reading the slides again.
  • Practice filling a yellow pad with EVERYTHING you remember first, THEN reading the slides

This modifies your neural circuits not to just familiarize, but to be good at recalling.

Familiarity \(\neq\) Understanding

Quite often, you can find yourself having trouble with a problem that you’re supposed to know easily. The following are likely cases of mistaking familiarity for understanding:

  • “I remember this lesson but I can’t solve the problem”
  • “The exam problems are too different from the slides”

In any case, it’s better to have this problem BEFORE the exam.

Familiarity \(\neq\) Understanding (2)

Bjork 2011

Be aware, too, when rereading a chapter or your notes, that prior exposures create a sense of familiarity that can easily be confused with understanding.

Generate your own questions

  • Actively think up questions about the subject matter during the class. Write it down. Why do electrons move up? Why is frequency response important? Do we really use coupling capacitors for everything? Does anyone ever use JUST a CE amplifier?
  • Create your own sample problems. If you can make a sample problem, then you understand WHY we try to learn a specific lesson. You have mastered the concept. This is true understanding.

Generate your own questions (2)

I was always the annoying kid who kept his instructor in the classroom for about 15 minutes after class, asking about theoreticals.

  • Please ask me questions after class. ANY question.

Tip

Nowadays, chat AI can typically answer questions like these very easily as well!

Miscellaneous

  • Answer ALL the samplex you can1 2.
  • Study in various places. This is known to be more effective3.
  • Interleave subjects!. This is also known to be more effective than studying one at a time.4

Further Reading

If you’re interested in the neuropsychology of learning:

  • Desirable Difficulties (Bjork 2011)1.
  • Google “Feynman Technique” (Not actually made by Feynman).
  • How to Solve It (Pólya 1945)2.

Sem-wide Bonus

Handout Generation

Create a handout version of the slides for a specific lesson in EEE 141.

Use stackedit or your any Markdown editor (notepad works) to create the handout.

Sign up for a specific lesson in the link above.

One (complete) handout is worth one bonus handler grade point. (1% of grade) - note that this is about as much as a single homework.

Experiment: Identify the Painter

Georges Seurat

Georges Seurat

Georges Seurat

Georges Seurat

Paul Cézanne

Paul Cézanne

Paul Cézanne

Paul Cézanne

Maurice de Vlaminck

Maurice de Vlaminck

Maurice de Vlaminck

Maurice de Vlaminck

Paul Gauguin

Paul Gauguin

Paul Gauguin

Paul Gauguin

Who?

Georges Seurat

Who?

Paul Gauguin

Who?

Maurice De Vlaminck

Who?

Paul Cézanne

Who?

Maurice De Vlaminck

Who?

Georges Seurat

Who?

Paul Gauguin

Who?

Paul Cézanne

appendix

Feynman Biography

From The Life and Science of Richard Feynman

On the title page he wrote: Notebook Of Things I Don’t Know About. For the first but not the last time he reorganized his knowledge. He worked for weeks at disassembling each branch of physics, oiling the parts, and putting them back together, looking all the while for the raw edges and inconsistencies. He tried to find the essential kernels of each subject. When he was done he had a notebook of which he was especially proud.