Mentoring Seminar

The goal of this informal seminar is to survey some of the research literature on group dynamics, to discuss approaches that improve student team experiences as well as the outcome of group projects, and to identify good mathematical modeling projects for teams of undergraduates.

People

Organizer: Joceline Lega, Faculty, Mathematics and Program in Applied Mathematics

Regular Participants:

• Jared Barber, Graduate student, Program in Applied Mathematics
• Serina Diniega, Graduate student, Program in Applied Mathematics
• Alain Goriely, Faculty, Mathematics and Program in Applied Mathematics
• Robert Indik, Faculty, Mathematics and Program in Applied Mathematics
• Mark Robertson-Tessi, Graduate student, Program in Applied Mathematics
• Rebecca Vandiver, Graduate student, Program in Applied Mathematics

Resources

Below are links to some of the literature, together with summaries provided by the student participants.

• Small Group Mentoring, a summary of the surveyed literature, prepared by the student participants.


• Lessons from the best and worst student team experiences: How a teacher can make the difference, by D.R. Bacon, K.A. Stewart, and W.S. Silver, Journal of Management Education 23, 467-488 (1999).
  Overview by Becky Vandiver.


• Coorperative Learning for Higher Education Faculty, by B.J. Millis and P.G. Cottell, Oryx Press, 1998.
  Overview by Mark Robertson-Tessi.


• Planning and running effective classroom-based exercises, by R.D. Woodberry and H.W. Aldrich, Teaching sociology 28, 241-248 (2000).
  Overview by Jared Barber.


• Entering Mentoring, by J. Handelsman, C. Pfund, S. Miller Lauffer and C. Maidl Pribbenow, an online book written for graduate students mentoring undergraduates in biology laboratories.
  Overview by Becky Vandiver.


• A review of articles on Creativity among individuals and groups, by Serina Diniega.


• A review of articles on Peer learning groups, by Jared Barber.


• A review of articles on Student assessment in problem-based learning, by Serina Diniega.


• A review of articles on Getting students to work together and on Critical mindedness, by Becky Vandiver.


• A review of Discussion techniques, by Serina Diniega.