I took a look at the Science tutorial on the Smarthinking website, and I noticed some of the strategies we had discussed were being used. Most significantly, I noticed the tutor nearly always formulated a question to help lead the student closer toward the answer. I also noticed the tutor provided encouragement throughout the tutorial and praise at the end when the student reached the answer. At the point where the student does not correctly balance the number of hydrogens, however, I thought the tutor could have waited for the student to figure out it was located in the OH instead of just telling him. This, I feel, would have better cemented the material in the student’s head. Nevertheless, I still feel that overall, if this had been an actual tutoring session, it would have been effective.

 

I also looked at the Spanish tutorial, porque yo puedo hablar español, and the tutor here also used leading questions, as well as provided examples and charts to help the student understand indirect and direct object pronouns. I think providing examples is a very important teaching tool and it’s awesome if the tutor/teacher can come up with one on the spot, but I’m wondering if I will be able to do this for some of the more difficult aspects of Biology. I imagine I will be utilizing the Campbell Biology CD-ROM that came with our book as a tutoring tool- I know it had a lot of practice activities that helped me understand important concepts. Do any of you Biology tutors have any other ideas to help provide practice examples for students?