Part 3 – Forming a study syndicate

Questions 21 and 22
Complete the notes below.
Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.

Reasons for having Study Syndicates:

• teaching one another is a good way to learn
• it gives the opportunity to 21 ______
• shared reading means fuller notes
• You can do 22 ______

 

Questions 23–25
Complete the table below.
Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.

PLAN FOR STUDY SYNDICATE

Date	Geology Topic	Name of Presenter
9th May	23 ______	Bob
24 ______	glacial areas ed	Andy
23rd May	rock formation	Helen and John
25 ______	Volcanoes	John

 

Questions 26–30
Complete the notes below.
Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.

• Presentations should last for 26 ______
  (plus time for 27 ______ and ______ )
• Sources of information
  • bibliography
  • library books
  • 28 ______
  • 29 ______
• For the presentations, use:
  • overhead projector
  • whiteboard
  • 30 ______

 

 

Keys

1. Share ideas
2. Much deeper research
3. Mountain building
4. 17th May
5. 29th May
6. 30-40 minutes
7. Question(s), discussion
8. Journal
9. Internet
10. Photo copy

Transcript

Andy: Right then, are we ready? Bob? Helen?

Helen: Uh, yeah.

Andy: And is someone taking notes for John? He’s at a tutorial, isn’t he?

Helen: Yeah, I’ll let you know what we agree.

Andy: Good. Okay, well first thing is, has anyone apart from me actually been in a study syndicate before?

Bob: No. What does it actually involve, Andy?

Andy: Well, the idea is that it’s a way for students to study together without a teacher.

Helen: Oh, yeah, right.

Andy: When I did it last time, I found it helpful because, well, as I said, there’s no teacher, so it means we’re teaching one another. And I found I really learned a lot through having to teach it myself. It seemed a very good way to learn.

Bob: And presumably it gives us the chance to share ideas as well.

Helen: And you get fuller notes if you’re all doing the reading.

Andy: That’s right, and as well as that, because of that really, you can do, you know, much deeper research. So I thought we could try to revise what we’ve done on the geology course, because I know this is the one that most of us are worried about, the geology exam. So, the idea is we all look at a different topic, a different topic from the geology course and then give a presentation and talk about it.

Bob: That’s right.

Andy: I’ve drawn up the framework of a table which might be useful.

Helen: Yeah, I’ve made a copy.

Andy: Oh, thanks.

Andy: For the first topic, I thought we could maybe do mountain building. Is that all right?

Bob: Yeah, sure. Actually, would you mind if I did that? I’m quite interested in it.

Andy: Right. Right. So is May 9th okay for that?

Helen: Mm-hmm, yeah.

Andy: I’ll just write that down, and it’s Bob for Mountain Building.

Andy: And the following week, it can’t be May 16th because of our tutorial. But what about the 17th?

Bob: Hmm. Okay.

Andy: And what about the next topic? What would be the next priority?

Bob: Well, there’s glaciated areas, but I don’t want to do that.

Helen: Fair enough.

Andy: Actually, I don’t mind having a bash. I did an assignment on them. Glaciated areas, Andy.

Bob: Then we need someone to do rock formation.

Andy: Helen?

Helen: Yeah, okay. And John said he’d like to too, so you can put us both down for that.

Bob: When?

Helen: May 23rd would be best.

Andy: Rock Formation, Helen and John, right.

Andy: That really only leaves one week before the exams. Shall we make it on the 30th?

Helen: I can’t make it, I’m afraid.

Bob: 29th of May, the exams on June 3rd?

Andy: Have to be, OK?

Bob: Any ideas for a topic?

Helen: Uh, John said he wouldn’t mind doing something on volcanoes.

Bob: Great. That’s everyone then.

Helen: And how long should these presentations be?

Andy: Well, it’s obviously up to us. In my experience, 30 minutes is about enough.

Bob: Mmm, maybe a bit short. I’d have thought 40 minutes would be more like it.

Andy: Well, should we say 30 to 40 minutes?

Helen: Okay, and presumably time for questions.

Bob: And discussion.

Andy: Yes, together they usually take about 20 minutes.

Bob: Where should we get the information from? Is it mainly lecture notes?

Andy: Well, actually I suggest we avoid those because we already have all that information. I think it’s better to go more deeply. We could use the bibliography.

Helen: And anything else we find in the library, any other books.

Bob: Hmm and articles, you know from the journals.

Helen: And then, of course, there’s lots of stuff on the internet.

Andy: Yes, that’s the sort of thing.

Bob: And what about the presentations? Will we just be talking? Presumably, we can’t use slides.

Andy: It’d be a bit difficult, but we can use the OHP. And the whiteboard, of course.

Helen: And we can make photocopies of our notes so everyone can have a copy.

Andy: Yes, great! So is there anything else?