Group Action and Dynamics for Group 16> Nathan Luscri -- 742875 "Clueless in Chemistry" has been a very prosperous group since its creation. Our primary meeting time is on Monday evenings, and we meet in the Blair Oasis. Most of the time, we meet for about an hour to go over multiple choice questions and the news items and will meet on Thursday nights before tests for last minute review. The overall majority of the time I spent with the group was very useful and allowed me to share many vital ideas pertinent to the current studies. For example, if we ever had a question for Dr. Glaser, only one of us would go to him to find the answer and would report back to the group later. This saves time for the whole group to concentrate on other issues rather than each of us dwell on a single question for too long. Concerning the group project specifically, our group maintained a very tactful and efficient process throughout the preparation of our project. Because our group formed earlier than some, we were allowed time for each of us to ponder about topics that might spark our interest to use as a news item. When the time came to select a decent topic, we merely each sat down at a computer in the Blair Computer Lab and searched the internet for decent topics. When one of us found something desirable, he or she would submit it to the group for possible selection. After stumbling though many interesting ideas, an article on bulimia struck our eyes and became our article. During the progress of creating our news item, we maintained our efficiency by dividing the work among us. While half of us were exploring the web for pertinent links, the others were striving to compose the best questions. As for the editorial comments, we partitioned the work so everyone wrote a section that they felt most comfortable with. After the difficult work was completed, our group only needed to modify the small mistakes and create the HTML. Except for some difficulties in finding the optimum time for all six group members to meet, "Clueless in Chemistry" has otherwise progressed very positively, and I would definitely be willing to partake in similar activities again. ====== Misty R. Piatt Chemistry 210 715293 4-1-99 Group Actions and Dynamics My group met weekly on Monday nights usually at nine in the evening. We met in the little eating place near the Subway and computer room of Blair Hall. This provided us with easy access to computers, which was a decided advantage. Our first meeting was very short-approximately thirty minutes. This was to let us figure out what our group members looked like because some of us didn't know anyone. The rest of our meetings varied somewhat in time from one hour to two but not usually exceeding two hours. We chose our article in one evening. It was one of our longer evenings. I don't really know how many articles we looked at because all of us were trying to find articles on different computers and most of the articles could be easily discarded. The ones we thought were good possibilities we printed out and read through. One thing taken into consideration when we were choosing was the length of the article. Most of the articles we found were very long and thus tended to be much harder to read through, understand, and more technical. All in all we looked at several articles before choosing the one that we did. My group did study together. However, I study much better on my own so I only went to our study session for the first test. There weren't any problems between members of my group. We all worked well together. Two people were more knowledgeable about chemistry while someone else was experienced with html format and the rest of us contributed in other areas of personal strength and anywhere else we could help. I benefited from this group activity in getting to know people in my class and thus having a peer to ask questions of as well as working towards a common goal. I would want to do something like this again. I believe it was a very good way to learn outside of the classroom as a supplement to lectures and homework. ====== Tricia Eden Group 16: Clueless in Chemistry Group Dynamics report I thought my group worked very well together and created an awesome web page. All of my group members worked hard and were very reliable. I didnÕt know any of my group members previously and simply found my group because many of us live close together. I was very lucky to get such a great group. Our group met regularly: every Monday at 8 or 9. Then, as the project deadlines grew closer, we also met on other days too. We met at the tables outside of the Blair Oasis and computer lab. This was close to where most of us live, and gave us easy access to computers. We had a hard time finding an article to write about. It took us at least 3 hours, maybe longer. The meeting when we finally decided on our article was definitely our longest meeting. It took so long because we wanted to find an article that was interesting, pertinent to organic chemistry, and also not too long. I think we found the perfect article and I hope everyone else agrees. Our group sessions were always very productive and we were usually able to accomplish a lot of work in one to two hours. We also met to study for the test and go over our homework problems. All group members showed up on time and everyone participated in discussions and voiced their opinions and ideas. I think that this collaborative project is a great idea. It encourages us to get to know some of our classmates and also provides a great group of people to study with. I also feel that the actual project (creating the new item) was fun and very informative. The only aspect of the project that might need to be changed is the way we divided up into groups. The discussion list is a great idea, but shouldnÕt be used for the group formation. At one point, I was receiving about 20 e-mails in an hour. IÕm sure there are better techniques to use for the group formation. I usually am not to keen on group projects, because it always seems like I have to do all of the work and members never participate evenly. However, this project went surprisingly well. Maybe itÕs because all of the group members are intelligent hard working students (after all, theyÕre in an organic chemistry class). IÕm not sure why this project works so well, but I really enjoyed it and I would recommend doing it again for future classes. ===== I'm sorry Dr. Glaser, but our group didn't realize that we were to compose a group dynamics page all together, and now some of us have them done and sent, and others, like me, are just now getting to it. Our group worked out really well. I didn’t know too many people in the class, actually just one other person, Nathan, who I had barely met once. He too didn’t know anyone, so we just sent an email out asking for group members, and we sort of went from there. At first we had a hard time finding a time where we could all get together, many of us had meetings, and I personally work two or three evenings a week. But we finally got it normalized and set, to where most of us could be there most of the time. Usually, when we were to work on the project, everyone showed up and contributed, and then if we were just going to work on problems or study, sometimes people missed. We met in Blair Hall, at the southwest corner of campus. There we had access to tables where we could talk and spread our work out, and also a computer lab. We spent most of one evening in a row at the computer lab all looking for suitable articles to consider for our project. We considered all sorts of publications, on-line newspapers and magazines. We finally found one on the CNN page. I would guess we met and worked on the project about five or six times since the semester began, each meeting lasting anywhere from one to three hours. However, we have met almost once a week, usually Monday nights to study and review homework or test problems. I think this is an extremely valuable way to help prepare for tests, and it's nice to have a group to compare with and relate to. I think it is also helpful because then we can discuss abstract ideas and come to a better understanding of them. I think that having a group to study with and work on this project with was an overall beneficial supplement to the class. I don't know if I would have learned as much, thus far, if I hadn’t have been working in a group. Since we work on problems together and discuss ideas, it helps me to go ahead and get the work done instead of procrastinating until just before the test. If I had it to do again, I definitely would have joined a group and used them to help learn organic chemistry. ===== Group Actions & Dynamics To begin with, I just want to say that working on this project and meeting with my group for other additional purposes have proved to be very helpful this semester as I try to survive a semester of Chem 210 and Physics 176. We have met every Monday at 8 or 9 p.m. at the Blair computer lab throughout the semester. Other times, such as this week and weeks when we have a test, we meet more times. The amount of time that we spend at these meetings varies a lot. When it is after a test, we usually meet for only a short time, such as twenty minutes. On the other hand, when we are having trouble understanding some concepts, the meeting might run as long as 2 hours. As far as the project goes, we usually met for about 1-2 hours every time we worked on it. Doing this project definitely was an experience work me. It has taught me a lot about using the internet and about setting up links. With the group as a whole, I think that we all had doubts about this project. We thought that it was going to be hard, but it really was not. Overall, we all cooperated very well, and we were all willing to put in our two cents worth if we thought it would improve the project. The group proved to be quite useful in finding the article. Some people spent a little time looking for one in their own free time. However, we finally decided on one after spending a few hours looking on the internet at one of our meetings. We went through quite a few articles before we finally chose one. We looked in a few newspapers, but we spent most of our time looking at stories reported by CNN (at least I did). I do not know exactly how many articles we considered, but it had to be a lot since all six of us each spent about 2 hours searching on our own computers. After all that time and a large number of suggestions, we finally decided on the one we thought was the most interesting. Overall, I feel that working with the group was a better idea than working alone, both with the course material and with the project. Some people had better knowledge of computers than others. Personally, I did not know that much about the web, other than for searching it for fun or for class material. I did know a lot about our topic (amino acids) because I have taken a number of biology classes. Tradeoffs, such as that one, typified our group and helped us complement each other well. I did not have any problems with the group. Sometimes people would be late to a meeting or forget about one, but no one missed the important ones. As I stated earlier, I know that the effects of this group extend well beyond just the time we spent working on the project. I did not study for tests with them, but I did discuss problems I was having with the material and the homework. We all helped each other in that regard. I feel that this group has indeed helped me on a personal level. I am not the most outspoken person, but this group has forced me to voice my opinion. I know that I will benefit from that. In conclusion, I have to give the group activities high marks. Both the meetings and our working on the project have been useful. I was skeptical at first, but if I had the choice I would definitely be in a group such as this again. Matt Donaldson (715523)- Group 16 *We each wrote our own report because we did not know that it was supposed to be written as a group. Misty spoke with you today, and you approved it. ==== Tracis Schoengarth I forgot to type one of these up, and quite frankly after reading what everybody else wrote about our group I hardly feel I need to. I am in complete agreement with everybody elses consensus and will not reitterate our mutual feeling here. A few thoughts though... 1) If I did have negaitive things to say about a member of my group I would not like you to display it on the web page for that person to read. 2) I persoanlly am a solitary studyier and against group projects in general; that said, this was one of the best groups I've ever worked with, and probably the only one where I didn't do most of the work. I think I just got lucky. 3) In fact, I don't think I contrubuted an equal amount to our group. I wasn't even there when we picked our news item. 4) I am against all required computer work, especially in an organic chemistry course. I do NOT think it is neccessary to be able to program in HTML and create a web page in order to make an A in this class, graduate college, or suceed in life. If I had an interest in computers and the internet I would major in computer programing. As it stands now, just to graduate ChemE, I have to learn C+ for CECS103, HTML for Org Chem, and Mathemattica for calculus. WHY, I say? WHY?