Forming Study Groups

A ringleader is needed for an act of rebellion. Book-smart don’t-get-into-trouble Hermione would not be your first guess for ringleader. But when Dolores Umbridge “teaches” the students defensive magical theory by having them just read the textbook in class*, Hermione gets rebellious in Order of the Phoenix.

First, she questions the lack of practical skills in class by skillfully disagreeing with the course aims and the theory. Umbridge shuts her down by questioning if she is a credentialed education expert. Whether or not Umbridge is a credentialed education expert is not discussed – previous Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers likely were not. Quirrell, Lockhart, Lupin, Moody.

Then Hermione organizes an outside-of-class study group – the D.A., Dumbledore’s Army.

Two reasons are mentioned for this act of rebellion. Hermione provides compelling motivation for arming yourself (and being able to disarm your opponent) in dangerous times. A fellow student also points out that Hermione wants to be prepared for the upcoming O.W.L. exams that have a practical component. Both are motivating factors: Do well in your exams AND learn skills preparing you for the outside world. If your instructor and coursework are not doing it for you, go do it yourself – with friends! Hermione could have just formed a study group with Harry and Ron, but she decides that inviting others “for the greater good” is valuable. Dangerous times.

I’ve previously discussed the formation of study groups in preparation for exams. To provide some direction, I asked students to submit mock exam questions before each exam. I explained to the students why this was a useful exercise, and how to get the most out of it. I’m not sure if I was sufficiently motivating in my exhortations – a few students took this exercise seriously, but the majority turned in perfunctory work. Maybe they didn’t see the need. After all, I don’t teach like Umbridge and I think the students sense that I care about their education. But what if I was a worse or absent teacher?

As a student I’ve experienced having teachers who did not know the subject material, and in several cases, no teacher at all. When you’re in a school facing teacher, classroom, and equipment shortages, let’s just say that the situation is far from ideal. If not for the external exams, equivalent to O.W.L.s, I would likely have done nothing – school was a fun social experience with many “free periods”. But as exam-time loomed, we the students organically formed study groups. The purpose and strategy was clear. If you can predict the sorts of things you would be asked on an external exam, you could focus your studying on how to answer these questions and do well. This involves coming up with mock exam questions. Alone, this is challenging. It’s much more efficient to divide and conquer – with friends!

If I was a terrible teacher, would students get together and study effectively on their own? Likely some would and others would not. Besides the D.A., it’s unclear if any other study groups formed – less likely with the introduction of Educational Decree #24. We don’t have the data to compare the Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. results in Harry and Hermione’s cohort versus other years, when the teaching was not as patchy. Well, some combination of Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic likely has the data, but that’s a subject for a different post. But returning to the topic at hand, I’ve considered being more confusing and opaque in class so that students don’t deceive themselves into thinking they understand what I’ve said. I’ve never actually tried it, oh well. I do tell students over-and-over how to not-deceive-themselves when taking practice exams. (They need to do it “under exam conditions”; few of them do judging by my office hours.)

Perhaps I need to have a stronger hand in the forming of study groups. I’ve formally organized the students into groups for class projects, but have preferred study groups to form organically without my interference. But I’m not sure the present generation of students knows how to do this effectively. I’ve noticed that being in a residential liberal arts college helps (as opposed to a commuter school), but there seem to be larger invisible barriers between students these days compared to when I was a student, or before the rise of cellphones. There is “student success” research suggesting that interventions involving forming effective study groups improves student performance. But I still think students should take the initiative and do this on their own organically without my intervention.

Maybe a Hermione-type student is needed for this to happen. I was not a ringleader in my study groups. But there might be more ways that (as an instructor) I can nudge the students towards forming effective study groups. Something to think about and bounce around with my colleagues.

*Reading the textbook in class is a bad use of class time, but if students never read it outside of class…

P.S. For my previous Order of the Phoenix re-reading, see Educational Decree #23.