Difficulty With Groups In Physics Labs

[Meadman23]

What do I do if I have a hard time contributing in labs? Everytime my professor tells us to work together on a lab, I always walk away feeling like it was a wasted learning experience because I couldn't contribute. Additionally, labs are hard for me because there seems to be a huge mentality of acting before thinking.

I don't know what's wrong with me, but I've struggled with group work since I was young. Whenever I get put into a group, I end up unable to contribute due to partners who take on to much responsibilities and also because my mind seems to just randomly go into overload with rapidfire stream of different viewpoints coming out...

 

[mathwonk]

I thought you wanted help on group theory. Getting along is always hard.

 

[lisab]

I thought you wanted help on group theory. Getting along is always hard.

Much harder than group theory, I'm sure .

Meadman, I totally understand and agree, group work can be tough. But you're in luck, because the secret to being effective in lab is the same whether you're working alone or in a group: read the lab before class. It makes all the difference.

 

[Andy Resnick]

What do I do if I have a hard time contributing in labs? Everytime my professor tells us to work together on a lab, I always walk away feeling like it was a wasted learning experience because I couldn't contribute. Additionally, labs are hard for me because there seems to be a huge mentality of acting before thinking.

I don't know what's wrong with me, but I've struggled with group work since I was young. Whenever I get put into a group, I end up unable to contribute due to partners who take on to much responsibilities and also because my mind seems to just randomly go into overload with rapidfire stream of different viewpoints coming out...

Being able to work in a group is a critical job skill- you need to learn how to work in groups, and lab groups are an excellent way to learn this skill.

You didn't give too many specifics, but one way to start 'contributing' is to take on the responsibility for some small aspect of the lab- say, the error analysis. Or, if you feel someone in the group is taking on "too much" of the pro

I'm not sure what you mean by "my mind seems to just randomly go into overload with rapidfire stream of different viewpoints coming out..." but if it's counterproductive, then stop doing that.

 

[PhDorBust]

Many people are simply good in hands-on lab situations. And some are horribly bad.

I easily topped my class in every exam, but during labs I couldn't keep up with even the poor students.

 

[symbolipoint]

Just like they all said, study ahead, plan what you will do before lab time occurs. A group can be more difficult than a pair. A pair is better because you have back&forth, two directions and not a confused mess among three or more people. Also, do not rely on everyone else always knowing what to do. As the term progresses, some will maybe get confused and mishandle some procedure or instructions. If you have studied and thought ahead, then you can help correct the flow of the lab exercise.

 

[ephedyn]

I thought you wanted help on group theory. Getting along is always hard.

Hahahaha this really gave me a laugh. I don't know when you returned to this forum, but I've always enjoyed your posts.

Coincidentally, I have an exam on group theory at 8 AM, about 4 hours from now.

 

[Choppy]

I agree with Lisab that the best thing you can do to keep your mind from overloading is proper lab preparation. Too many students come into the lab without preparing and try to figure it all out in the moment. What I would recommend is:
1. Read the lab completely before you start (preferably not in the 5 minutes leading up to the lab).
2. When I taught labs, we always had prelab questions. Make sure you answer these.
3. Figure out what you're measuring and how you are going to organize your data. What values are you expecting to get?
4. What is the final goal in the lab? How are you going to manipulate your data to derive this result? What variables are you going to graph? Are you going to compare your result to a known value?
5. How are you going to perform the error analysis? What experimental uncertainties are you expecting? If you figure out all the formulas ahead of time, your time in the lab can be spent simply "plugging and chugging."

As for working with the group...
1. Are you always with the same group? Maybe you need to switch up and work with some new people.
2. Decide ahead of time who will be responsbile for what.
3. Make sure you understand your role.

 

[Meadman23]

Thanks a lot for all this helpful information guys. Symbolipoint's statement about "a confused mess among three or more people" is what I was trying to explain when I said, "my mind seems to just randomly go into overload with rapidfire stream of different viewpoints coming out..."

I will definitely ask about labs in advance now to. I've always been a person who likes to prepare and it never occurred to me that this could be a simple solution to my problem.

I also work with the same group. They're all nice guys, but the thought of starting a new group feels like a better idea to me. With the amount of members there are currently, there's just no room for another role where I am now.