Peer Tutoring
Anatomy & Physiology and Chemistry! Jessica Luong
Anatomy & Physiology
Using the notes!
For the majority of the students enrolled in A&P, the professors often have a note guideline of what the students need to know. Therefore, it is crucial for students to bring them. If they didn't bring them, tell to bring it next time and work off the A&P book to the best of their knowledge what they need to know (or if they can pull off the notes on blackboard).
- Making sure they have the right information--EX: Dehydration (synthesis)
- Making sure they have enough information--Refer to Echo360
- Filling it out in their own words (with pictures if they want to)
- Creating shortcuts to summarize or discern differences
- Ex: Protein Synthesis: DNA-> RNA-> mRNA-> rRNA-> tRNA-> proteins.
- EX: DNA synthesis is DNA-> more DNA BEFORE mitosis & Protein synthesis is DNA->RNA and happens during cell's lifetime
- Referring to the figure pointed out in the notes in [Figure #]
Echo 360
Echo 360 is a wonderful tool which records a whole lecture that all of the students enrolled in the class can use.
- Most of the time, it is safe to assume that the more time the professor talks about a certain topic, the more details the students have to know. Meaning it's usually a bigger portion on exams
- Helpful to discern what need to know on surface wise and what need to know
- Double checking if information is right
- In my experience, I used this towards the end of the semester due to professors rushing the material making it hard to write the notes while listening.
The Book
Helps with visual learners and also explaining the physiology and where things are located.
- Ex: Muscular system w/ the different layers (fascicles, perimysium, epimysium) and explaining processes such as how muscle contracts with the multiple step to nervous->muscle->contraction and hopefully the whole muscle contracts)
- For me, usually when my tutees read the caption by themselves and look at the picture along side it, most of the times they understand to point well enough to be able explain to me what the picture and the process.
- If he/she doesn't get it right away, I go through step by step with them explaining to me what they didn't get and then what they get and then we clarify together what the info is saying
(Bio)Chemistry
Notes/Powerpoint slides
Similar to A&P, usually the content on the professor's notes/powerpoint is usually most of the information the student needs to know
- Use the examples shown in the powerpoint & writing on the whiteboard a similar problem to calculate how well the tutee understands the material
- Writing their own notes in addition to the professor's powerpoint--what helped most of my tutees was they wrote their own notes in conjunction to the professor's powerpoint and they organized in a way for them to understand it Ex: organic chemistry w/ aldehydes, ketones, etc and reactions.
- Writing out other problems step by step and writing out the variables given in the problems
(Bio)Chemistry Book/Sample Problems
In my sessions, we usually use this to practice what they've just learned because many of the questions in class that the professor uses utilizes the same structure as the sample problems in the book.
- Using the whiteboard, they try to solve at first (and again similar to A&P, my tutees take pictures if it helps them) and or write in their notes
- What helps in my session, is identifying what is given in problem and what it is asking by assigning the numbers given to what they such as mass, temperature, etc.
- Then asking what equation we need to use
- Making sure it's in the right units
**Sometimes, they bring a worksheet to session, and want to work on it...MAKE SURE IT IS NOT FOR FUTURE GRADING**
- If it's already graded and the answer sheet is on blackboard, we usually try comparing what went wrong, and then seeing if we can re-do the whole problem again except end with the right answer.
For (Bio)Chem
Stoichiometry
Nomenclature - Crash Course Chemistry #44
Other Advice
- Check out the book before the tutoring session starts
- Save time by talking to them in the hallway
- Ask them how the professor teaches
- Ask them if they've been to a peer tutoring session and explain what it is
- Let prioritize what they want to know and be realistic about the time it's going to take
- Don't be afraid to say I don't know about this or I don't remember because then you two can figure it out together.