Question

Keisha is a first-year student taking 15 credits. She has found out that there is a lot of work required for each class. She also sees that instructors seem to have a different way of teaching their classes and emphasizing the material. Keisha seems to be having the most trouble with her philosophy class and is finding the lecture hard to follow. She got a D on the first test and is worried. The instructor discusses many aspects of the different philosophers’ theories during the lecture and is asking students to compare and contrast the underlying concepts. Keisha is having difficulty tying them together and is more in tune with the names of key figures, dates, and major points. Her next test is in two weeks.
1. What is one possible reason Keisha is having this difficulty?
A.Her learning style and the instructor’s teaching style conflict.
B. She is taking too many credits for a first-year student.
C. Philosophy is too complicated a subject for a first-year student.
D. She is not very smart.
2. What is something Keisha can do to improve her situation?
A. Approach the department chair to complain about the instructor in the hopes that he will be forced to change his teaching style.
B. Visit the instructor during office hours and explain her difficulties. Work together to find a way to maximize Keisha’s learning despite the differences in their teaching and learning styles.
C. Find a classmate who is doing well in the class and ask to copy their notes so she can study from them for the next exam.
D. Drop the course immediately before the next exam.
3. What is one thing Keisha should NOT do when preparing for her next exam?
A. Join a study group
B. Stay up all night cramming the night before.
C.Visit her instructor during office hours
D. Take a learning styles inventory and use the results to employ her own preferences, talents, and abilities to develop different ways to study and retain information.

Answer 1

1. A.Her learning style and the instructor’s teaching style conflict.

It seems like Keisha is more suited to learning information when it is presented in a direct and clear manner- for instance names of key figures and dates. However, her instructor seems to teach in a manner that is more abstract, indirect and implicit, leaving students to learn through inference and use analytical skills to compare and contrast different philosophical theories. This is why Keisha, who learns in a direct manner, struggles to learn and evaluate abstract theories in her instructor's classes.

2. B. Visit the instructor during office hours and explain her difficulties. Work together to find a way to maximize Keisha’s learning despite the differences in their teaching and learning styles.

This is the best option since it gives the instructor an opportunity to understand Keisha's difficulties, and suggest options she can incorporate to learn the material more effectively. Options A,C and D are not suitable since they involve avoiding Keisha's problem. On the other hand, option B involves bringing the matter in the open and discussing suggestions that can improve Keisha's learning for this Philosophy course, and future abstract, theory-centered courses she might take.

3. B. Stay up all night cramming the night before.

Staying up all night cramming for exams is an ineffective strategy since it deprives students from rest and sleep, which are crucial before an exam. Furthermore, cramming and leaving exam studies for last minute does not aid learning, since students do not have time to thoroughly understand concepts and apply their understanding of them during exams.