Preparing Students for Midterms and Exams in STEM Fields

STEM classes often move at a rapid pace, such that the course material accumulates quickly and can make preparing for exams a daunting task. Students need to stay on the top of the material so they do not fall behind and resort to last-minute “cramming” before exams. As teachers, we must help our students devise effective and efficient study strategies that allow them to synthesize the concepts they are learning. It is also essential that we help our students develop ways to retain the material for long-term understanding rather than short-term memorization merely for the exam. In this workshop, we will address how instructors can promote good study habits in their STEM classrooms through teaching practices that foster long-term learning and building connections among different parts of the material. We will also discuss the use of practice exam questions to help students gauge how they will be assessed. Finally, we will consider how instructors can use individualized approaches to engage certain students who are struggling with specific areas of exam preparation (for example, time management).

TA Training Follow Up Workshop (for new TAs in SAS). All graduate students are welcome.
Counts toward the CTL Teaching Certificate.