Ericka Deadwyler
Topic: Why is it important for workshop leaders to prevent the dependence of the use of an answer key? And how can we promote independent thinking among students?

I chose this topic because it seemed as if it was a common problem among the students. Also, it was a problem I had as a freshman. I applied William Perry’s Theory of Intellectual Development in my workshop by giving the students questions without the solutions and asking them to come up to the board to explain the steps they took to solve the particular questions. It tied in to the workshop model because it allows the workshop leaders to understand how to help students, and what techniques to use in order to promote independent thinking.

Tip: Allow students to work in groups and voice their opinions – the heart of the workshop model!
 

Sylvia Ebalu
Topic: How can peer leaders help students to improve their intrinsic motivation?

I wanted to improve my students’ participation in workshop. When I applied the theories of Deci and Ryan, and Malone and Lepper, I found out that most of the students were not motivated. I used cooperative learning, attention, and recognition of students’ efforts. In the workshop we want to get a better way of making students understand chemistry. If peer leaders use motivation theories to help students, I feel there would be improvement in class.

Tip: Be attentive to students; congratulate them.
 

Mariya Gorkhover
Topic: Leaders’ teaching styles and group dynamics: Determining the most effective approaches

Are the variables (approaches) likely to be significant towards the effects (stages of group dynamics)? Using Tuckman and Stetson’s theory of group dynamics, I was able to concretely identify the stages that my workshop went through and to know which steps to take to push it towards norming and performing. Successful group formation, i.e., reaching the performing stage, would certainly be conducive to improving academic performance and increasing student satisfaction and retention.

Tips: Use a variety of approaches; make students do work and help each other, and don’t “babysit” them.
 

Mengyi He
Topic: How does pairing students of different standing affect their ability to solve problems?

The workshop is composed of all different students. Some students learn faster, some learn slower; some are doing well and some are not doing well. As a result I put them in pairs to help each other out: I chose this topic because I wanted to see if pairing students of different standing works during the workshop. Vygotsky’s theory states that a more knowledgeable other’s assistance is needed in order to overcome/learn certain concepts or skills during the process of learning. Since we have some students who are doing better than others, they can serve as a “MKO” and provide assistance to their peers.

Tip: Pair a “doing well” student with one who’s not doing well. The “doing well” student can provide help to the other student.
 

Nyimasatta Jawo
Topic: How can students be motivated to participate in workshop?  

To explain how an effective workshop can be created: I did this by giving students compliments, by making them feel smart and appreciated. Deci and Ryan’s theory of motivation can help improve the participation in workshop.

Tip: Make students feel wanted in class by complimenting the students’ performance and participation.
 

Ghazala Khokhar
Topic: How can a group get past the forming stage of development?

I chose this topic because I noticed that many groups spend hours together every week, for months. Yet they still do not know each other’s names or feel comfortable with each other. I tried to encourage students to get to know each other. During the first meeting I left he class open to discussion so that all students became acquainted. Workshop success depends on the success of the group. If a group cannot work together comfortably then how can they be expected to benefit? I used Tuckman’s four stages of group development.

Tip: First impressions are important; never let your students leave early in the first meeting. Leave the group open for discussion for 15 minutes on the first meeting.
 

Abhishek Kumar
Topic: How important is it for the peer leader to recognize the students’ learning styles
(Kolb’s quadrants)?

This topic is important because it allows other peer leaders to understand the importance of different learning styles because every student has their own way to see things and understand the material. This will allow the peer leader to help students work more efficiently. One student was doing well in the workshop and didn’t do well on the first test. I asked him what’s the reason and then I gave him a questionnaire so I could determine which style is good for him. Then I paired him with students who have the same learning style and I taught them as they learned more. He started to understand things and did well on his second test. I used Kolb’s learning styles theory and this was very useful when applied to the PLTL workshop: Because of the small number of students, the leader can recognize and work with students’ learning styles to enhance the efficiency of the workshop.

Tip: Find out about all four learning styles (Kolb); apply them to the workshop; use a log of diagrams, flow charts, models etc. to help visual learners, and non-abstract learners.
 

Igor Labutov
Topic: Does age difference between workshop peers benefit the group’s development?
 

Towfiq Majumder
Topic: How do students learn to solve problems to develop conceptual understanding of a subject?

I chose this topic because the experiment I did has made a tremendous impact in my group by creating a more collaborative and motivated group. The theories of Piaget and Vygotsky reflected on the pair problem-solving method I used. Also it applies on how workshop is designed to give more attention to students by redoing the number of students in a group which relates to Vygotsky’s theory. This ties into the workshop model by making the students follow the pair problem-solving method. It can be a source of improvement.

Tip: Always pair your students, depending on how many students you have. Switch student eats around by pairing the strong students with the weak ones.
 

Mary Nnoli
Topic: Does feeling “Mattered” help students as a team?

I chose this topic because I realized that three things were missing in my workshop sessions. I used “Mattering and marginality” (Schlossberg) to make the students understand that each of them matter in the class. Relationship leadership comes in to create an atmosphere whereby the students feel free to ask questions, and the jigsaw technique comes in to build teamwork and social interactions. This ties in to the PLTL workshop model because one of the goals is to raise up leaders who will identify problems in the students that normally the professor will not see and these ideas help the workshop leader in achieving that.

Tip: Be open-minded to the students; encourage teamwork; create an atmosphere whereby the students feel free to ask questions.
 

Ibrahim Salako
Topic: How can cooperative learning be improved in the workshop?              

I took this topic to show that just pairing students in the workshop to solve problems doesn’t necessarily improve the dynamics of knowledge sharing among groups in the workshop. I chose theories of cooperative learning and elaboration theory and applied them by trying to take note of students’ performance when they work together in groups of twos and threes in the workshop. These theories tied to the workshop model because it clears all the stereotyped views that we have about pairing students being an automatic ticket for a successful workshop.

Tip: Note the abilities of students in your workshop and try to make them sit in groups of at least three so that you will have a smart, intermediate, and a slow student, who can help each other.
 

Anthony Tam
Topic: How does the motivation of the workshop leader affect the motivation of the students?
 

Thanhhanh (Mimi) Tran
Topic: What would a peer leader do to balance a group with various learning styles?

Since I became a peer leader, I realized that other leaders and I always had the same problem in our workshop: one exercise in the book might take some students 5 minutes; some other students need half an hour. Why? The reason is students have different learning styles which lead to different way of thinking while solving problems. Our workshop is only 2-hour. How can we make sure that we can finish on time and also make sure that our students are not lost. The only answer for this question is finding out their learning style and make sure that our workshop goes through the whole four stages of the learning cycle, according to Kolb’s Learning Styles Inventory.

Every workshop I try to go through the four stage of the learning cycle as much as I can. In my case, I think my group only has two styles of learning: assimilators and convergers, it is easier for me to balance. Basically I just need to help them answer two questions “what is it?” and “how do I apply what I know to solve it?” It works well since I know what they need and provide them the step to come to the answer

Understanding the concept of the learning styles will help to save time and help the group study effectively.

Tips: In the first few workshops, try to figure out how many learning styles you have in your group. In a basic general chemistry course we most often have two styles, Assimilators and Convergers. Students basically are divided into two groups: 1) they need to know the concept and theory well before starting solving problems; 2) they can only study one theory and expand what they know into solving many other problems. But it doesn’t mean that we can not have other students who are interested in answering the other questions like “Why” or “What if”. In these cases, it might be harder for leaders to help them.

If leaders have a lot of learning styles in workshop, the best way is trying to go through the whole four steps of the learning cycle but it might vary, depending on the lesson. For example, if we are dealing with acid-base titration which needs more of calculation then conceptualization, we should expect to expand the question “How can..” more then the question ”What?”. On the contrary, if we are dealing with atomic structure, obviously conceptualization is more important. Or in some other cases that we can easily make connection with application into real life or industry or expect some things happen, we should expand the question “What if” etc…
 

Juan Jose Villar
Topic: How can a junior leader help the transition from storming to performing in a workshop?              

Tip: Find a junior leader quickly and use him/her from the beginning of workshop to help guide students.
 

Kevin Wallenstein
Topic: Does stating assumptions prevent single loop learning in group problem solving?

People always get stuck in ruts and circular loops due to bad assumptions in workshop so preventing single-loop learning would prevent this. I used Argyris and Schon’s theory of single and double-loop learning; in workshop we should prevent single loop learning and encourage double-loop learning to help prevent circular logic and wrong answers while problem-solving.

Tip: Get students into the habit of stating, checking and questioning assumptions before, during and after problem-solving.