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Minute Sketches, a Tool for Learning
This article, from Professor of Biology Paul Heideman of the College of William and Mary, describes how and why to create a “minute sketch,” a tool to improve science learning. A minute sketch is a simple drawing that captures an essential concept, event, or structure in less than a minute. Using examples, the author explains the four steps in the minute-sketch process: Identify an important concept or process; write down the term and key words from the definition or explanation; create or find symbols for each key word or event; and combine the symbols in a sketch that captures the definition or concept. Minute sketches involve motor or kinesthetic memory; they provide a second way of learning that is independent of word learning but is far more permanent, as the sketches can be easily practiced and recalled. Dr. Heideman contends that the process forces users to learn topics, not just to memorize them, and helps them solve problems and make predictions. He also says that it trains students to think like scientists, who work by creating their own minute sketches—called models—that look like the figures, flow charts, and diagrams found in textbooks. Minute sketches are most useful, he writes, when used in conjunction with Folded Lists, another resource available within this database.
Program Director: Margaret Somosi Saha, Ph.D.
Award Years: 1989, 1998, 2002, 2006
Summary: The College of William and Mary is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Its HHMI-funded educational initiatives emphasize the importance of interdisciplinary and integrative approaches to education and research. They include:
- The development of a Biological Mathematics program (which includes substantial curricular changes and the addition of new faculty positions), the strengthening of the interdisciplinary Neuroscience major, and the establishment of a new undergraduate Applied Science minor.
- The enhancement of both Introductory Biology and Chemistry and upper-level immunology, molecular genetics, physiology, and neurophysiology laboratories through new equipment and expanded laboratory exercises.
- The HHMI Freshman Research Program in Biology and Chemistry and related sciences, which allows participating students to conduct independent research with a faculty mentor very early in their college careers—as freshmen. Many of these students have the opportunity to continue their research during the following summer and throughout the next three years.
- Student participation in the National Genomics Research Initiative (NGRI), a national experiment in both research and education sponsored by HHMI’s Science Education Alliance. Through this initiative, groups of freshmen at selected colleges participate in an authentic research experience—integrated into an introductory laboratory course—on the genetics of phages or bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria). Freshmen in the College of William and Mary’s program discovered a new life form, a bacteriophage they named CrimD.
- The expansion of a summer fellowship program to include students at Thomas Nelson Community College and three neighboring HBCU—Hampton University, Norfolk State University, and Virginia State University. Students in this program have the option of continuing their research project throughout the academic year and receive an hourly stipend and weekend transportation and carpooling.
- Partnerships with Hampton University, Norfolk State University, and Virginia State University to enable faculty to work together with research students at both the home campus and the College of William and Mary. The objective and anticipated outcomes are to establish lasting collaborations that improve opportunities for publication and the development of ideas for competitive grant proposals, either independently or in collaboration with faculty from the College of William and Mary.
- The Saturday and Summer Enrichment Programs, which allow young children with high abilities to explore specialized areas of science, mathematics, and the arts and humanities.
- The Science Training and Research Program (STAR), a four-week residential summer enrichment program that serves high-school juniors from disadvantaged backgrounds. The program, which offers core science and mathematics courses and an opportunity to visit research centers and laboratories, is designed to introduce students to the world of science, research, and technology.
- A series of “Update Courses” tailored to help middle and high-school teachers develop both a knowledge base and practical experience with topics—such as microbiology and molecular biotechnology—that are the stated components of the Standards of Learning for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Participants also help design Teaching Modules that help integrate the science topics into the classroom.