The STEM+ Learning Academy is offered as an in-person cohort several times each year. If you are interested in joining our next cohort, please let us know via this interest form. Academy Overview This training course focuses on the learning and study processes for developing the conceptual knowledge and know-how (strategies and techniques) necessary to solve Princeton exam-level problems in STEM and other quantitative problem-solving courses (e.g. statistics classes). Learning how to solve these types of problems is both a key course goal and crucial to students’ grades. Typically, these problems are novel/unfamiliar to students, multi-faceted and complex requiring synthesis and application of conceptual knowledge and problem-solving techniques to figure out a creative approach to their solution. Being prepared to do this kind of problem-solving under exam conditions requires that students will have developed a deep conceptual understanding of the knowledge domain, acquired problem-solving strategies and techniques, and learned how utilize them no only flexibly and creatively, but also quickly yet accurately. To learn all this requires, in turn, that students get ‘in sync’ with instruction and align their learning and studying with it strategically. Students must effectively engage with and learn from the course as it is designed by their instructors (and sometimes go beyond course materials). You must effectively engage with lectures and the textbook (and other written materials) to make sense of them, refine your understandings in precepts and labs (particularly of problem-solving techniques), learn strategies and techniques from p-set problems (not merely complete them), and utilize other resources such as office hours, study groups, tutoring and on-line materials in purposeful ways. To organize and solidify different kinds of knowledge and prepare to apply it quickly and accurately to novel problems, students must study actively to organize and solidify their knowledge base and systematically practice solving authentic, complex problems so that they can accurately self-assess and fill gaps in their knowledge in preparation for exams. In the sections below you will find the full course materials. These materials are designed for use within an in-person cohort (see note at top if you are interested in joining) but are available for you to explore on your own. Academy Components Syllabus & Course Description Over these five sessions our emphasis will be on how you can learn from instruction and self-directed study so that you acquire deep conceptual knowledge and procedural knowledge (know-how), transfer what you learn to exams, excel academically, and take your expertise in learning how to solve problems to future courses, tutoring other students, grad/professional school, and beyond. You will learn a method for developing a course-specific strategic approach to learning, studying and exam preparation which will help you succeed—and which you can draw upon to help others succeed as a peer educator--in Princeton STEM+ courses. Central Problem & Question We can articulate a central problem we are tackling in this training and frame that as a guiding question for you to keep in mind throughout. The Central Problem: Acquiring the conceptual knowledge and developing the problem-solving expertise to solve unfamiliar, complex (primarily quantitative) problems on Princeton exams. The Central Question: “How do I develop a course-specific strategic approach to purposeful, efficient, deep engagement and learning so I can learn what is necessary to solve novel, complex problems on exams and achieve my goals?” Continue reading the full syllabus Unit 1: Course Foundations & Problem-Solving During session #1, in addition to orienting you to the entire course and laying the foundation for the following sessions, we will do a deep dive into the central topic of problems and problem-solving. In particular, we will seek to develop a comprehensive understanding of the kinds of complex, quantitative problems found on Princeton-level exams in STEM+ courses. This description will serve as a “target” for our entire course, including our focus on problem-solving strategies, techniques and processes in week one. The full materials for Unit 1 can be found in this folder, you should begin with "Unit 1: Advanced Organizer". Unit 2: Overview of the Learning Cycle & Learning from Textbook & Lectures Building from the first unit which established the target of this academy’s training—developing course-specific strategic approaches to learning, studying and exam prep to solve complex exam-level problems—this unit we’ll focus on grasping course design and learning effectively from lectures and textbook reading. To learn effectively and efficiently from college instruction requires developing your knowledge of both learning AND teaching--this will be a theme of our entire training course. The full materials for Unit 2 can be found in this folder, you should begin with "Unit 1: Advanced Organizer". Unit 3: Guided Practice in Precept & Lab Continuing on from our last session where we started considering course design, and in particular the role of lectures and textbooks, we are moving on to components of the course where students are generally engaged in guided practice, precept and office hours. As we mentioned last session, in order to learn effectively and efficiently from college instruction you need to know about learning and teaching. To that end we will be exploring both the intent/design behind parts of the course, this module in precepts and office hours, and ways to use these spaces as productively as possible. The full materials for Unit 3 can be found in this folder, you should begin with "Unit 1: Advanced Organizer". Unit 4: Self-Directed Practice on P-Sets The focus of this module is self-directed practice of problem-solving on p-sets, namely learning HOW TO solve problems but also learning FROM p-sets in order to develop the knowledge and skills needed to solve complex, Princeton exam-level problems. Your guiding question can be framed as, “How do I approach p-sets so that I can learn to transfer my conceptual, procedural and conditional knowledge gained from this problem-solving practice to figuring out and creatively, flexibly and fluently solving complex problems on exams?” Learning from problem-sets plays a crucial role in becoming skillful enough to excel on exams in most Princeton STEM+ courses. But, the function of such assignments in the design of Princeton courses is, for most students, quite different than the function of homework in high school STEM+ courses, thus requiring a new and different approach on students’ part. Because learning FROM p-sets is largely self-directed, with little feedback, students must clearly understand and establish their own purposes, being intentional and strategic as they engage with and learn from p-sets. The full materials for Unit 4 can be found in this folder, you should begin with "Unit 1: Advanced Organizer". Unit 5: Exam Prep & Pulling It All Together This module we will focus on the studying and exam prep phases of what we have called the ‘study cycle’ and we’ll prepare for the final, culminating project in which you pull together what you’ve learned over the preceding sessions. Many Princeton students have told me that they did not ‘really’ learn how to study in high school. And, as I reflect, I realize that was the case for me, too. To do well in high school classes, for the most part, I completed the readings, (usually) paid attention in class, participated in in-class learning activities, did assignments and conducted some minor review (e.g. re-reading the textbook) prior to the exam. For the most part, this yielded good grades. So, mostly, I did what I was told and that was sufficient to learn what was expected to do well on the exam. Though I sometimes did less, I rarely if ever did more than was assigned. And, I didn’t intentionally strive to undertake a distinct act one might call ‘studying’. It simply wasn’t necessary and I didn’t know how to do it, anyway. Perhaps you have had similar experiences or, if you did study in high school, those methods have proved ineffective or inefficient in the Princeton context. Either way, highlighting advanced methods of studying and what makes them effective and efficient is a crucial step in learning how to excel in Princeton STEM+ courses. The full materials for Unit 5 can be found in this folder, you should begin with "Unit 1: Advanced Organizer". Culminating Project Developing a course-specific strategic approach to learning from instruction and achieving in Princeton STEM+ courses is crucial if students are to be not only effective, but purposeful and efficient, learners. This final task prompts you to pull together what you have learned in order to create a course-specific how-to guide or users’ manual for your target course. We expect that you will draw extensively upon the assignments you have done thus far and mainly focus on integrating them into a coherent, refined whole and so this task should not require more than two hours, and perhaps less. This culminating project prompts you to articulate a strategic approach to learning in a course of your choice. In so doing, this task provides you with an opportunity to engage in the intentional process of strategizing that we have been working towards during this training. In short, the culminating project asks you to answer the central question of this training course: The Central Question: “How do I develop a course-specific strategic approach to purposeful, efficient, deep engagement and learning so I can solve novel, complex problems on exams and achieve my goals?” Continue reading the full culminating project description
