Guidelines for informal discussion teams
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Before you meet:
- Have a plan about which problems or assignments you prioritize talking about.
- Work substantively on those problems before your actual meeting.
- Plan to come prepared with answers or partial answers to the problems, and questions of your own.
When you meet, you can:
- Exchange and critique proofs of solved problems from homework (old, new, or revised) or exam study problems.
- Make progress on unsolved problems.
- Recommended: choose the hardest problem for which, ultimately, your team feels they have found a proof or answer. Choose one person to write the answer, after which everyone else suggests, debates, and implements improvements. When you have a draft of your best answer, write "Here is our best answer" at the end and list/sign everyone's name. Have a representative (preferably not the writer) bring the consensus answer to office hours and I will try to prioritize feedback on those requests.
General:
- Size of 3-5 students is recommended.
- Remember, as these are informal and voluntary discussion teams, you may modify/dissolve/create them any way you like. Just make sure to be courteous, constructive, and actively engaged, and use your time well.
- It bears repeating: you are encouraged to discuss homework with your peers, but to gain a greater understanding of the material you must wrestle with the problems alone in the beginning, and write your solutions independently at the end.
You may inform other students about meetings using our class calendar (let me know if you need edit access)