Academic Mentoring

Description of the video:

LIAM: What's going on, everybody? Overshot it. What's going on, everybody? I'm Liam, and today we're going to be talking about one of my personal favorite topics-- science.

[THEME MUSIC- "BILL NYE THE SCIENCE GUY"]

- Bill Nye the Science Guy. Bill, Bill, Bill.

LIAM: No Bill today, just me. I'm sorry. But that's OK, because today we still have plenty of tips that are going to help you all master your science classes. Let's get into it.

Science is the discipline that explores the quantitative and qualitative natures of the world. Scientists attempt to answer those who, what, where, when, and why questions that help us understand how the universe works. I know-- deep stuff, which is why many students suffer science anxiety.

With so much information flooding our brain, sometimes we find our minds going blank or not being able to think clearly when it comes time to take tests or complete assignments. So how do we combat that anxiety?

A great way to start is to visit an Academic Support Center on campus. These are locations where students can receive supplemental help from experienced trainers. You can go over coursework, learn new studying strategies, or find whatever other kind of help you might need for your classes.

Another helpful tip is to seek out or form a supportive study group. It's helpful when there's other people. Link up with your friends, your classmates, or anyone else who wants to succeed in their courses and make learning more fun while holding each other accountable.

Learning Centers on campus are another wonderful resource for your academic success, so be sure to check those out to receive tutoring and mentoring that can take your performance in the classroom to the next level.

Now let's talk about how we can help ourselves inside the classroom. In science classes, especially, it's important to be an active listener. Passively listening to your instructor speak and actively engaging with the material they're speaking about will produce massively different results. So how can we force ourselves to become active learners?

First, sit front and center. Easy, but effective. Sitting in the front ensures you can easily see the board. It reduces distractions from fellow classmates. And most importantly, makes it virtually impossible to fall asleep during class, because that's never a good thing-- not that I've ever done it. You know, moving on.

Another key ingredient to academic success in college is understanding instructor expectations. Every instructor you have will expect you to be self disciplined and self-directed. Let's talk about the differences. Self discipline is the ability to establish and follow a set of rules and regulations to guide your academic behavior. This means being able to learn and develop new study rules and having the ability to maintain consistency without having teachers and your parents reminding you to do everything.

Self direction is the ability to decide when, what, where, and how much you should do. It's a behavior pattern by yourself for yourself. You have to identify what your academic goals are and understand the process it's going to take to achieve them.

And staying true to our scientific theme, let's talk about the anatomy of a science class. Most classes are composed of three main parts-- lecture, lab, and a recitation or discussion class. Most of us know what a lecture is. This is where your instructor will be providing you with the majority of your course content. Labs provide the hands on process of science, where you'll get to see what you've learned put to practice. A recitation or discussion class is dedicated to problem solving and/or clarifying information that you learned in lecture and labs.

And make sure you're taking good notes throughout all these processes. Include all key points your instructor goes over in class, anything that was emphasized, theories, formulas, and anything that was spoken about in great detail. Another helpful note taking tip is to leave the left margin of your page blank. During lecture, write all information on the right side of the page. This allows you to leave the left margin empty for when you study later. The blank space allows you to write questions you have without jumbling up your notes. It also serves as a study guide of sorts, as you'll be able to essentially quiz yourself over the material that you don't already know.

It's also important to note that just as there are different types of college students, there are different types of college instructors. Do I look like an instructor?

SPEAKER 2: No. Not even a little bit.

OK. Let's talk about the different kinds. First you've got the followers. These are the instructors who go through the contents of the textbook word by word, page by page, chapter by chapter-- you know the ones. So make sure you bring your textbook to class. And while this style of instructor might make it a little harder to remain engaged during class, they make reviewing material and studying a breeze.

Next you've got skippers. They jump around from section to section, idea to idea, topic to topic. And while more lively and engaging than a follower type instructor, makes it a little harder to keep up. So you have to make sure if your instructor is a skipper, you're taking great notes during class.

Then there's synthesizers. These instructors draw on different parts of the textbook and on outside resources. And while these lectures are engaging and fun, it's another class where you're going to be needing to take good notes, because it's hard to find personal anecdotes and life experiences in your textbook. And last but not least, originators. These instructors pull information from a variety of different sources. Rather than one singular textbook, collections of readings may be important.

These types of instructors typically expect a lot of independent study and research on the students' behalf. Try to identify your type of instructor as fast as possible. That way you know the best way to set yourself up for success. It's also important to note that most instructors are required to have scheduled office hours. So be sure to schedule an appointment if you have any questions about what's going on in class. And be sure to write those questions down before arriving to the office. This will lead to an efficient meeting and it will show your instructor that you're serious about your education.

I hope this video has helped you feel more confident about your science classes as a college student. And I'm sure that by using the tips and tricks contained within it, you'll be crushing it in no time. Thanks for watching, and have a great semester.

Description of the video:

LIAM PINEIRO: Oh, hi. Did you guys hear the joke about the chemist reading a book about helium? He just couldn't put it down. Yeah, that was funnier in my head. All right. We're going to talk about science. Roll the intro.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Science seems to be one of the more intimidating subjects for college students to master. And whether that's due to its high cognitive demands, the abstract topics it goes over, the sheer vastness of subjects talked about in science courses, or the fact that we use stuff that looks like this every day, it's easy to understand why students find it frightening. But it doesn't have to be. So let's talk about how we can conquer our science courses.

BILL NYE: Science rules.

LIAM PINEIRO: One of the most important skills to learn is time management. You got to learn how to work well with this guy. Now, I'm sure you've heard that before, so how do we actually do that? Well, one of the first things you should start doing is planning a daily schedule. After charting the workload for the semester, establish the goals that you want to complete daily. And keep in mind that self-direction and self-discipline will be crucial to keeping a daily schedule. Identify where, when, and why you need to be studying material. This will keep study sessions streamlined, effective, and efficient.

Making a to-do list is also a pivotal part of academic success. An advantage of a list is it helps you simplify your tasks. It gives you something methodical to do. Make sure you give yourself a time frame to complete your tasks, and reward yourself by crossing out your tasks as you complete them. And this is especially important because as college students will tell you, the last thing you want to do is get behind. And keeping a to-do list is a great way to hold yourself accountable and avoid doing just that.

It's also important to figure out what skills you have to master in class and what you'll need to be studying outside of class. Let's talk about in-class skills. Obviously, these are things like making sure you attend, being an active listener, taking complete and accurate notes, participating in class, and developing good test-taking skills. Another key is getting familiar with the difference between memorizing and understanding. There will be plenty of times where you'll be expected to memorize specific or concrete bits of information, such as the name of elements, the parts of a cell, atomic numbers, and things of that nature.

But there's other material that will depend upon more abstract thought. Things you'll be expected to understand and be able to explain in your own words. Utilizing understanding and memorization will take your comprehension to the next level. Now, let's take a step outside of class and talk about what we can do to facilitate our academic success when we're not sitting in the classroom. Well, again, we create to-do lists, we complete assignments, study six to 15 hours a week, preview for classes, engage in study groups, and we seek help from tutors or instructors if needed.

By staying locked in both in and outside of the classroom, you're guaranteed to find academic success. Now, we've talked a lot about studying, but how do we determine what's important to study? Well, obviously anything mentioned in lecture or lab has high priority. And the more time allocated to a topic the more time you should spend studying it. Also, pay attention to the problems that are solved in your lectures, labs, and recitation or discussion classes as these are samples of problems you'll be expected to solve on your own.

Another great resource to use is your class syllabus. This contains all expectations and topic breakdowns you'll be facing throughout your time in the class. It also contains your class calendar, which will include all due dates for your assignments. Something else that helped me in my classes was mastering how to read my textbook. Because it's deeper than just reading the words on the page. Really analyze the information you're reading instead of just skimming through it. Engaging with the material will improve your comprehension, and application when working with it in the future.

Now let's talk about everybody's favorite topic, test taking. Normally, the stress and the anxiety that comes with test taking comes from the unknown. Well, confidence will alleviate that stress, and confidence comes from being prepared. So be straight up with your instructor. Ask what types of questions will be on the test, how long you'll have to complete it. You can even ask if sample tests are available in the library or online. By having a clear vision of what will be on the test, you'll know exactly what you need to prepare for in order to ace it. Here are some more helpful test-taking tips.

Survey the test and plan how you will spend your time. Make sure you're placing the answers on the proper location on the answer sheet. Work at your own pace. Don't let the pace of others influence your work. And be sure to review your answers upon completion. But let's say you still need a little bit of help. That's all right, we all do at some point. But the good news is there are plenty of resources for you to get it, whether that be through a Learning Center on campus, through books, study guides, lab manuals, or even through your study groups, help is out there. All you got to do is ask. I hope this video has left you feeling confident to conquer your science classes. Thanks so much for watching and have a great semester.