I felt that the week after the first exam went really well. The average was pretty high, and we were all discussing the reasons why. For some students, it probably was the use of notes/other materials during the exam, but for others, I think that it was a combination of the review sessions,studying notes and the text, and working with others/attending the study tables. One interesting question that I was musing over was, “does the type of note taking students do effect their exam grades.” This came to me because when I sit in the front, I notice that some students are writing away furiously in their notebooks, while others are writing few things or nothing at all. It would be interesting to relate their style of notes to their exam scores, and correlate the findings.
Some interesting things I saw in class, which we also discussed (about habituation), was that the professor can keep the students’ attention more, if there is a range in his/her voice, movements, expressions, and emotions. For example, Prof. Gurung speaks louder during more important points in his lectures, uses his hands for a lot of expression, was using funny voices to mimic a “mother” and “grandpa,” and also walks around for most of the class period. This way, students do not become easily habituated to the lecture, and daze off or get bored. If the brain is continuously stimulated to “adjust” to changes of the professor, the student is more likely to be alert and interested.
The only thing I questioned about was Jared “sleeping” in the back. I’m not sure if he was paying attention and keeping his head rested on the wall, but he was also asking questions during class, so he had to be paying attention at one point or another.
I really think that the “survey” Prof. Gurung distributed to his students was a good idea. This way we will be able to see if the students thought that the test covered the material well enough. One of the things in the Teaching Tips book about making tests/exams was that the Prof. should really aim to cover the material he wants the students to learn in the exam, not just to test and see if they memorized all of the material. I believe that Prof. Gurung did a great job at putting the learned material on the exam, but only the students really know what they learned, so their grades may give a good idea of what was learned.
This coming week is my study table, which I plan on having Fri, from 10am to 11am in the coffee house.