Learning Challenge: Sleep over Studying

Learning Challenge

This week for the learning challenge I chose to read the article Why Sleeping May be More Important than Studying written by Katrina Schwartz. To be honest there has been many times that I have stayed up late to cram for an exam and I have many times felt like going into the exam exhausted does more harm than good. This article definitely confirmed my idea by describing how a good nights rest can be even more beneficial than a late night cram session. The biggest surprise from reading the article was the suggestion that school should start at 10 a.m. to ensure that students have enough sleep. That would be great!

(Sleepy Student, credit to Love Krittaya)

Learning Challenge: Happiness Jar

Learning Challenge

This week I chose to do a Learning by H.E.A.R.T. challenge. The challenge that appealed to me the most was the Happiness Jar challenge since I read about classmate doing the challenge while doing the commenting assignment this week. The premise of the challenge is to write down something that makes me happy every day and then reflect on the writings at the end of the week. I feel like this will be a great challenge because it would make me more aware of the positive things that happen to me during the week. I look forward to this challenge!

(Happiness Jar, credit to Marta Z on flickr)

Growth Mindset: Week 15

Growth Mindset

For this growth mindset post I chose to find some growth mindset cats on pinterest that I really could relate to. The first meme that I enjoyed was the "Study hard, and then take a break" meme. Being a chemical engineering major here at the university I often find myself studying for hours on end and only recently have I found a better system. I found that the way of studying that works best for me is to take a ten minute break every hour so that I do not get overwhelmed.

(Study, Study, Study. Credit to Laura Gibbs)

The second meme that really spoke to me was the "There are many paths to success." Going into college I thought that I was for sure going to graduate in four years, and when I found out that I needed to take five years I was devastated. The idea of my plan being thrown off by an entire year was very scary and I felt like I was a failure in some ways. After some time I realized that taking an extra year really helped me to mature and taking less hours decreased my stress level significantly. This meme reminded me that there really are multiple paths to success and my plan was not the only plan that could lead to success.

(Path to Success, credit to Laura Gibbs)

Growth Mindset: Week 14

Growth Mindset

After reviewing what the growth mindset was last week, I was inspired to dig a little deeper into the concept of growth mindset. Specifically, this week I am exploring how I am using the growth mindset in other aspects of my life outside of school. 

Where I apply Growth Mindset Outside of School

So when I am not studying for exams or completing assignments, I really enjoy trying to express myself in creative and artistic ways. This can include playing piano drums or guitar, or even drawing sometimes. When it comes to doing the best job of applying the growth mindset it would have to be when I am learning something new on piano. Since I genuinely enjoy playing piano it is easy to relax and allow myself to take time and focus on what I am learning rather than get frustrated every time I mess up. Even when I am learning a difficult piece I can usually find a way to embrace the process and be excited for the outcome even though it is time consuming and difficult. I hope that in the future I can apply this amount of patience with myself when I am trying to learn a new concept for class rather than get frustrated when I don't understand it immediately.

(Growth vs Fixed, credit to Jessica Ottewell)

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Growth Mindset: Week 13

Growth Mindset

With finals week fast approaching, this week seemed like a great time to revisit the growth mindset concepts and hopefully find some motivation and advice to carry me through to the end of the semester. Since it had been a while since I have explored the growth mindset I decided to read an article by Saga Briggs titled 25 Simple Ways to Develop a Growth Mindset. In the article I was reminded that the growth mindset is just believing in the idea that I can grow, rather than my intelligence and personality being fixed. 

Out of the 25 ways to develop the mindset I chose a few that really spoke to me. First was the concept of replacing the word failing with learning. Throughout my college experience I have had a few times where I became extremely discouraged from failing an assignment and in retrospect if I had thought of the experience as having more to learn rather than failing I may have been able to handle the situation without getting so upset. Second, was the concept of  paying more attention to the growth rather than the speed. I always try to learn things quickly and have many times crammed before an exam without actually learning the concepts. I feel like it is important to give yourself time to grow rather than rushing a process and ultimately becoming discouraged with the learning process. 

(Grow, photo from flickr)

Tech Tip: Typing Test

Typing Test

So after trying out the typing games and realizing I could use some improvement I decided to get a baseline of my typing skills in order to see how much I can improve in the remaining of the semester. 

Before I took the test at MyHero.com I looked up the average typing speed and found that the general consensus is over 40 words per minute is above average. This being said, I was surprised that my first attempt was 50.88 words per minute with 92.39% accuracy.  The second time I took the test I had an even better score at 97% accuracy and 62.98 words per minute. With this data I was able to set a goal for the end of the semester; to type over 100 words per minute. 

Tech Tip: Touch Typing Games

Touch Typing Games

For this tech tip I chose to try out some typing games online in order to assess and improve my typing skills. Being an engineering major I do not do too much writing, and this translates into not doing too much typing. The first game that I played was the NinjaCat game, and I must say I have some improvement to m ake! I was not terrible at the game  but it was clear that I am not an expert typist. I also tried out the game Typing Alien. I personally enjoyed typing alien more since it reminded me of the old game Galaga.