Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Incorrect Conclusions
As a college student, I am pretty positive that many of us have encountered the example I am about to give sometime during our college career. The way our classes our set up, it makes it easy for students to study in groups. It may work for some, and for the rest it may not be the best strategy. For me, it is the latter. I find myself giving study groups before a midterm a chance, but I always end up doing worse in a test than if I were to prepare for it myself. In my point of view, going over the class material with fellow students before a midterm is beneficial because we ask each other questions and each of us tell the group some information that we might be missing. When it comes to the test, I do not do as well as I thought I would. I have tried studying myself and I do better. This is most likely due to the fact that I am distracted by the side chatter when I can use that time focusing more on the text. Using my scientific skills, I was able to observe not only my own but also the rest of my study groups' actions and assess the effect it has on other people. I observed that our study techniques were effective, however it was not at all accurate. With that I was able to apply my observations and experience to the next situation. Situations like these happen all the time. For as long as we learn from our mistakes, these wrong situations can have a good outcome.
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I think when it comes to study groups, you have to be very picky with whom you choose. I’ve found that it is best to study the information on your own, write down the information, and study the concepts. Then comes the study group; if everyone in your group has done the same preparation as you, you guys can ask questions of one another to test your recall. Without this recall practice, you may or may not be able to recall if for the test. This way also helps you figure out what parts are not sticking. Further, by asking questions with the material in front of you, you can explain to others the correct answers :) This is what works best for my friends and I.
ReplyDeleteIn my experience trying to learn the information in the group often leads to more confusion than clarity because there are multiple interpretations of the lesson. I agree with the previous comment. I think that study groups work best if you already know the information well, and then use the group to clarify minor sticking points. I think one way to look at this is that I understand information much better after I teach it to someone else, because it forces me to clarify the issue and address any questions that I didn’t think of before. This can apply to study groups because it gives you the opportunity to teach parts of it that someone else doesn’t understand.
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