Physiology 335
STUDY GROUPS
Educational Psychology studies clearly show that better learning occurs when students work together in active study groups (see the collaborative learning literature if you're interested in proof)--here's your chance to put that into practice. A common complaint of students who are struggling in this class, is that they are comfortable with the material, but not comfortable with multiple choice exam questions. Answering this type of question is a skill that can be developed with practice, and one which will be extremely beneficial to students continuing in training for health science careers. What evidence is there that joining and participating in a group will help you in Physiology? In the Fall of 1997, after the second exam, 93 students (out of about 600) joined small groups, and worked on their multiple-choice question skills. When the third exam was given, the improvement of small group students was more than double that of the rest of the class. In the Fall of 1999, 137 out of 400 students participated in study groups, and the final grade in Physiology 335 was significantly higher in study group students than in students who were not in study groups. Below are suggestions for combining the power of group learning with the honing of exam-taking skills.
Joining a Group
The first step is to join/form a study group. At the beginning of Fall semesters, we will be announcing where you can sign up to join a study group (these are optional). In Spring and Summer sessions, no formal study group program exists, so students must form their own groups. If you choose to recruit/run your own group, the ideal number in a group is 3 or 4 members, but more or less is OK. Recruit other students from labs, discussions, or from lecture.
Group Activities
Group activities are most effective when all members are keeping up with the material; before going to each meeting, everyone should review their handouts and notes. Then meet for about two hours, and try working on the following activities (these are only some suggestions--if you try other activities that work well, we'd like to hear about them): strang@physiology.wisc.edu .
1. Multiple Choice Question Building
Each person in the group chooses a lecture to compose
questions about. In silence, then, each person writes one
or more multiple-choice questions about that lecture, but
only supplies one answer--the RIGHT answer to the
question. When everyone has finished writing, the group
comes together to discuss the questions out loud. Taking
turns, the questions and right answers are read, and the
group's job is to come up with four WRONG answers to
complete the question. You should work hard to make the
wrong answers a)sound plausible, and b)prevent correct
guessing by those who don't thoroughly understand the
concept underlying the question. This is a great
activity, because not only does it get you looking
through your notes, talking and debating about the
material, but it also gives you insight into the
psychology of building good multiple choice questions
(It's not as easy as you may think!) Submit any questions
to the lecturers that you are especially proud of, and
they could just find their way onto an exam......Hmmmm.
2) Multiple Choice Question Analysis
You will have two sources of practice multiple choice
questions: the instructors will be providing questions
(either as handouts, or on Learn@UW) for you to practice on,
and there are questions in the book at the end of each
chapter. If you are working with a study group, DO NOT
answer those questions on your own before meeting with
the group. Bring them to the next meeting and work each
question as a group in the following manner: a)each
person read the question silently, and answer it to the
best of your ability; wait until everyone is finished
before proceeding. b)one person in the group read the
question aloud, and discuss answer A--why is it either
right or wrong. c)a different person take answer B and do
the same, and so on until all of the answers have been
discussed. d)rotate the role of question reader around
the circle, and on each question be sure the group has
reached complete agreement on the right answer before
checking the key.
A main point of these group exercises, is to get you discussing the material with each other. On average, you remember 70% of what you say to others during a discussion, compared to only 10% of what you read silently to yourself. Hard to believe, maybe, but educational research shows clearly that it's true. Give it a try if you're struggling.