1. A Flashcard Strategy to Develop
Critical Thinking

2. Thinking Skills that are used in BIOLOGY
1. to remember biological terms, concepts, theories, and methods
in an accurate manner;
2. to understand information that has been remembered accurately;
and
3. to apply understood information to real-life situations related to
this information.

3. I will use the term hypertonic as an example of an
important term because it is
1. a concept contained in all introductory biology
textbooks,
2. a challenging term for students to comprehend,
3. often the subject of multiple-choice questions in
introductory biology exams.
The following slide contains the definition of
hypertonic that appears in many introductory
biology textbooks.

4. Hypertonic means of or pertaining to a
solution with higher solute concentration
compared with another.

5. The following three slides contain multiple-
choice questions about hypertonic that require
students to remember, to understand, and to
apply this term.

6. Which of the following best describes a hypertonic solution?
a. Solute concentration is high while the solvent
concentration is low
b. Solute concentration is low while the solvent
concentration is high
c. Solute concentration inside the cell is equal to the
solute concentration outside the cell
d. The solution is free of solutes

7. An environment is _____when the solute concentration
is _____ than the solvent concentration.
a. hypotonic, higher
b. hypertonic, lower
c. hypertonic, higher
d. isotonic, higher

8. Celery stalks that are immersed in fresh water for several
hours become stiff and hard. Similar stalks left in a 0.15 M
salt solution become limp and soft. From this we can
deduce that the cells of the celery stalks are
a. hypotonic to both fresh water and the salt solution.
b. hypertonic to both fresh water and the salt solution.
c. hypertonic to fresh water but hypotonic to the salt
solution.
d. hypotonic to fresh water but hypertonic to the salt
solution.
e. isotonic with fresh water but hypotonic to the salt
solution.

9. Although the subject of all three of these questions
is hypertonic, each question requires a student to
use a different critical thinking skill.

10. The first question requires the ability to remember information
accurately because the correct answer is the exact, word-for-
word definition of hypertonic taken directly from the textbook.
Which of the following best describes a hypertonic?
solution
a. Solute concentration is high while the solvent
concentration is low
b. Solute concentration is low while the solvent
concentration is high
c. Solute concentration inside the cell is equal to the
solute concentration outside the cell
d. The solution is free of solutes

11. The second question requires the ability to understand
information that has been accurately remembered because the
you must be able to recognize a definition of hypertonic when
it is composed of different words than the definition in the
textbook.
An environment is _____when the solute concentration
is _____ than the solvent concentration.
a. hypotonic, higher
b. hypertonic, lower
c. hypertonic, higher
d. isotonic, higher

12. The third question requires the ability to apply understood
information in a real-life situation that involves a hypertonic
environment.
Celery stalks that are immersed in fresh water for several hours become
stiff and hard. Similar stalks left in a 0.15 M salt solution become limp
and soft. From this we can deduce that the cells of the celery stalks are
a. hypotonic to both fresh water and the salt solution.
b. hypertonic to both fresh water and the salt solution.
c. hypertonic to fresh water but hypotonic to the salt solution.
d. hypotonic to fresh water but hypertonic to the salt solution.
e. isotonic with fresh water but hypotonic to the salt solution.

13. The remaining slides in this
presentation describe a study
strategy designed to enable you to
prepare for and answer these three
types of questions correctly.

14. Step #1
Purchase a pack of 4x6 cards.
Write each of the bold-faced terms that appear in the
chapter you are about to read on one side of a card.
Keep your cards in the order of the terms as they
appear in your book.

15. Step #2
Begin to read your book, and stop when you
encounter the bold-face term you have written on
your first card.
Let us pretend that the bold-face term written on
your first card is hypertonic.
Follow the directions on the following slides.

16. Hypertonic
(This is what one side of your card should look like.)

17. Copy the definition of the term word-for-word from your textbook on to the top of
the other side of your flash card.
Hypertonic means of or pertaining to a solution with higher solute concentration
compared with another.
Practice this definition by turning the card over to the term side, trying to recall its
word-for-word definition, and then turning the card to the definition side to see if you
remembered it. Repeat this process until you can recall the definition accurately. This
procedure will enable you to know and to practice this definition so you can
remember it accurately in the future when you are asked to recognize it in its original
form on a multiple-choice question.

18. After you have successfully memorized the definition from the textbook, the next
step is to create your own definition that contains as few words as possible from
the textbook’s definition, and then write this under the textbook’s definition.
A hypertonic solution has more solid particles than water
Creating your own definition will help you move from simply memorizing the
textbook’s definition to actually being able to understand the meaning of the
term. After you master this definition with the procedure described on the
previous slide, you will own the definition of this term, rather than just borrowing
it from your textbook’s author.

19. After you have produced your own definition of the term, it is now time for you to
invent an original example of how you have experienced this term in your own life.
Usually when I have a sore throat my mother recommends gargling with warm salt
water, which creates a hypertonic environment around my throat cells. Therefore,
excess fluid leaves my cells and goes to the extracellular environment through a
process called osmosis.
Creating this example will help you apply your understanding of a term to a real-life
situation that is relevant and meaningful to you.

20. The other side of your card
should now look like the next slide.

21. Hypertonic means of or pertaining to a solution with higher solute
concentration compared with another.
A hypertonic solution has more solid particles than water
Usually when I have a sore throat my mother recommends gargling with warm
salt water, which creates a hypertonic environment around my throat cells.
Therefore, excess fluid leaves my cells and goes to the extracellular
environment through a process called osmosis.
.

22. Now let us revisit our three original
multiple-choice questions to see if
the strategy described in this
presentation has helped you answer
these questions more successfully
than when you first saw them.

23. Which of the following best describes a hypertonic solution?
a. Solute concentration is high while the solvent
concentration is low
b. Solute concentration is low while the solvent
concentration is high
c. Solute concentration inside the cell is equal to the
solute concentration outside the cell
d. The solution is free of solutes

24. An environment is _____when the solute concentration
is _____ than the solvent concentration.
a. hypotonic, higher
b. hypertonic, lower
c. hypertonic, higher
d. isotonic, higher

25. Celery stalks that are immersed in fresh water for several
hours become stiff and hard. Similar stalks left in a 0.15 M
salt solution become limp and soft. From this we can
deduce that the cells of the celery stalks are
a. hypotonic to both fresh water and the salt solution.
b. hypertonic to both fresh water and the salt solution.
c. hypertonic to fresh water but hypotonic to the salt
solution.
d. hypotonic to fresh water but hypertonic to the salt
solution.
e. isotonic with fresh water but hypotonic to the salt
solution.

26. No study technique is perfect, and you will
encounter some multiple-choice questions
that require critical thinking skills other than
remembering, understanding, and applying.
However, these are the three skills most often
emphasized in introductory biology classes,
so using the technique described in this
presentation will provide you with a strategy
that will prepare you for the majority of the
multiple-choice questions you will encounter
on your tests.
-

27. I have two more recommendations
that can help you learn the
information you will need for
multiple-choice tests. The first is
based on the results of more than a
century of psychological research on
how humans learn and the second is
technology-based.

28. Recommendation #1
The distributed practice effect, which refers to the
benefits of spreading out study sessions over time,
is one of the most reliable findings in the science of
learning. If both Shuan and Dana spend 4 hours
studying the same material, Shuan will retain the
material longer than Dana if he distributes his
practice by studying 1 hour a day for 4 days and she
crams all 4 of her study hours in one long study
marathon the night before the test.

29. To take advantage of the distributed practice
effect, it is important to know that your job is not
over when you have completed your flashcards
and practiced them once. To learn the
information they contain most successfully, you
must use your cards as a practice test on a
number of occasions separated by intervals of
time. The longer the intervals between your
practice tests, the longer you will retain the
information you are trying to learn. This is
particularly important if you need to retain
information for a cumulative final exam.

30. Recommendation #2
You can create paper flashcards as I have previously
suggested or you can create them digitally with the three
online flashcard apps that appear on the following slide.
The advantages of these apps is that they are low-cost or
free, they are mobile (you can download them to your
iPad, iPhone, iPod, or Android and study wherever and
whenever you want), they are social (you can share your
flashcards with your classmates and instructor), and one
of them (StudyBlue) even enables you to benefit from
the distributed practice effect by texting you “study
reminders” to begin short practice tests you have
scheduled to maximize your learning.

31. Quizlet
http://quizlet.com
StudyBlue
http://www.studyblue.com
FlashCardMachine
http://www.flashcardmachine.com

32. This presentation is a modification of D.C. Appleby’s presentation to
psychology students.