Packing Slip 
item |
Stress, Wellness, Research, and Writing: A Metacognative Approach |
contact |
Kevin O'Neill (South Mountain Community College) kevin.oneill@smcmail.maricopa.edu |
credits |
Thomas Kirsch Rojas |
college(s) |
South Mountain Community College |
discipline(s) |
English composition and counseling |
summary |
Through research and writing, students learned how to reduce and manage stress, and in turn, improving their wellness. This increased wellness contributed to students' personal and academic development. While not a "team taught" class, Thomas Kirsch Rojas of the Counseling department was a frequent visitor. |
details |
Specifically, this proposal offers students an opportunity to learn about themselves, about how they respond to stress, and how to effectively deal with stress. While a little stress is healthy and helps learning, excessive stress interferes with learning. If students learn how to manage stress, they will be more able to focus clearly on their learning than previously. Indeed, what students will learn in this class will enhance, enrich and advance learning in every other class they take. ------------------------------------------------------------ How did the project improve, advance, or enhance student learning? Please provide specific examples. ------------------------------------------------------------ Perhaps the biggest hurdle students face in college is stress. The stress response, a physical reaction to anything that appears threatening, can be beneficial in many situations, but the chronic stress students endure is harmful to their physical wellbeing, and moreover, it has a negative effect on learning. Throughout this project, students studied how factors such as nutrition, sleep, exercise, and attitude affects both their well being and academic performance. Statistically, the number of students who could identify the signs of stress, the sources of stress, the strategies to cope with stress, and the strategies to succeed in college and life nearly doubled, which we considered a success. Anecdotally, many students made changes in their lives to reduce their stress levels, to improve their coping skill, and to advance their learning in all of their classes. While the biggest change most students made was to ensure they slept enough, others eliminated fast foods (two became vegetarians), some developed better time management skills, some started exercising, and others worked on their attitudes towards education and life. All of the students who made changes based on what they researched reported feeling more confident about school and feeling less stressful about their success in school. Students who are confident tend to be successful because they approach their assignments with the expectation of success. ------------------------------------------------------------ How did you evaluate your project's success? What did it tell you? ------------------------------------------------------------ We evaluated the success by three methods: Statically through a pre-test and post-test Likert Scale; using short question and answer format; and formative feedback in the form of a written essay. All three methods indicated that the project was a success. Students learned how to effectively deal with their stress, and moreover, they were grateful that in addition to learning composition and research skill, they also learned life skill that will help them to succeed academically as well as personally. ------------------------------------------------------------ What is your plan to share this project with others? ------------------------------------------------------------ We will be posting the project on the Maricopa Learning eXchange, as well as presenting the project to both the composition instructors at SMCC at the faculty convocation If we have an opportunity to present at the District wide all faculty convocation, we also share the project there. ------------------------------------------------------------ What, if anything, will happen in the future with this project? ------------------------------------------------------------ This project will definitely continue. The improvement in student success was striking, and the students liked the project. Personally, I would like to see a mini-version of the project in every Eng 102 class district wide because it is that beneficial to students (I will also use it as my last assignment in my Eng 101 class since I introduce researching writing for the last essay assignment). ------------------------------------------------------------ What, if anything, would you do differently? ------------------------------------------------------------ Mid-term, in the first semester, we changed the wording because some students felt the focus on stress was negative. Therefore, instead we focused on being happier because the same techniques that affect happiness quotent affect stress. Note! As a professional courtesy to the owner of this package, if you use some aspect of this package or have some thoughts about it, please share your feedback via the comments form below. |
web links |
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/learngrant/ |
shareback |
A "Shareback" cites the places on the web that mention, reference, or use this MLX package, and "shares" that information back here (more about shareback...) Sharebacks can be generated automatically by weblog tools. |
extra |
Last modified: May-29-2009 Date created: May-27-2009 Visitor count: 687 Dublin Core Metadata record  This package is included in the Maricopa Learning Grants special collection. |
Maricopa Learning eXchange
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/mlx/slip.php?item=2270
