I attended schools in China for sixteen years and have experienced one of the most tiring education systems; we have to stay at school from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm. However, this way of learning through lectures did not make me have a solid grasp of the topic I learned. In order to change my way of learning, my parents sent me to the United States, as the U.S. education system is highly valued. It is true that the the teaching method is totally different from what I experienced before. In the high school I attended, the average class size was ten. I feel like with small class sizes, professors are able to make sure that every student fully understands the knowledge by using dialogic discourse. However, the way of learning became much different when
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For Chemistry of Life, this is a course that combines both organic and inorganic chemistry. This course is also a requirement course for entering the Rutgers Nursing School. I do not want students to only study this course because of the major requirement, but rather to motivate students to enjoy learning chemistry. In order to facilitate students’ learning motivation, I try to create a comfortable classroom environment by proving students opportunities to ask questions and find answers through collaborative learning. I believe cooperative learning could help students in learning because “one of the most distinctive characteristic of cooperative learning, and perhaps the reason for its success, it the close relationship between theory, research, and practice” (Johnson, 2007, p.15). Students are not only sharing knowledge others, but also learning from other students. There are no right or wrong answers during the process of cooperative learning, which motivate students to talk and share ideas during the study of chemistry. Cooperativa learning includes five basic elements, which are positive interdependence, individual accountability, promotive interaction, the appropriate use of social skills, and group processing, and these basic elements would also help students in …show more content…
For example, positive interdependence “promotes a situation in which students work together in small groups to maximize the learning of all members, sharing their resources, providing mutual support, and celebrating their joint success” (Johnson, 2007, p.23). So even though students do not have the same background, but through dividing them into groups, students can still learn from each other. While at the beginning of the school year, I let all of students sit together and go over the homework and quizzes, but this was not efficient at all. I remembered there was one study group, we used eighty-minutes and only went over four questions. I then started to question myself, “how can I make sure that every student is able to fully understand the concept?” I went to see Alice office hour for advice, and she suggested to me to divide students into groups, just like the Pedagogy course we had. I might be amazed by how much materials they know. So I separated the eight students into three groups, and each group had two students. I asked them to discuss questions that they would like to talk about. For student A and B, they might understand how to balance the equation, so there is no need for them to relearn this material again. They can go to other materials that they do not understand, and not waste time
For Chemistry of Life, this is a course that combines both organic and inorganic chemistry. This course is also a requirement course for entering the Rutgers Nursing School. I do not want students to only study this course because of the major requirement, but rather to motivate students to enjoy learning chemistry. In order to facilitate students’ learning motivation, I try to create a comfortable classroom environment by proving students opportunities to ask questions and find answers through collaborative learning. I believe cooperative learning could help students in learning because “one of the most distinctive characteristic of cooperative learning, and perhaps the reason for its success, it the close relationship between theory, research, and practice” (Johnson, 2007, p.15). Students are not only sharing knowledge others, but also learning from other students. There are no right or wrong answers during the process of cooperative learning, which motivate students to talk and share ideas during the study of chemistry. Cooperativa learning includes five basic elements, which are positive interdependence, individual accountability, promotive interaction, the appropriate use of social skills, and group processing, and these basic elements would also help students in …show more content…
For example, positive interdependence “promotes a situation in which students work together in small groups to maximize the learning of all members, sharing their resources, providing mutual support, and celebrating their joint success” (Johnson, 2007, p.23). So even though students do not have the same background, but through dividing them into groups, students can still learn from each other. While at the beginning of the school year, I let all of students sit together and go over the homework and quizzes, but this was not efficient at all. I remembered there was one study group, we used eighty-minutes and only went over four questions. I then started to question myself, “how can I make sure that every student is able to fully understand the concept?” I went to see Alice office hour for advice, and she suggested to me to divide students into groups, just like the Pedagogy course we had. I might be amazed by how much materials they know. So I separated the eight students into three groups, and each group had two students. I asked them to discuss questions that they would like to talk about. For student A and B, they might understand how to balance the equation, so there is no need for them to relearn this material again. They can go to other materials that they do not understand, and not waste time