When studying for a Chemistry exam, a good way of implementing a behaviourist mindset is to reiterate the idea of “how would you teach your parents what you learned?”. Personally, for me, I liked to express my understanding of the material by creating an exam for myself, making it close to the actual exam (same number of questions and time). By doing so, I create an exam of materials that I am confident with and content that I struggle to remember. Have the questions mixed up, print the exam, and set a timer. By doing so, I am situating myself to the pressured environment that I will soon come to face and test my understanding of the material that I learned. The outcome of my exam will be the outcome of my response to my environment and my learning progress. Using this learning style is beneficial in a way that makes you feel prepared for the results you will receive due to the experience being practiced beforehand. If you felt ready during your practice exam, you will feel ready for the real exam.
One of the most important things to obtain for Chemistry, in my opinion, is understanding the why’s and how’s of the process being made. Chemistry is a topic-based upon science, and as we all know, science is based upon former scholar’s hypotheses, theories, and laws. By remembering one scientist’s theory, it is easy to remember how calculations are made and why such things are considered chemistry and not biology. For example, to understand why an ice cube melts, I must know the Kinetic Molecular Theory. I know that fast-moving particles are high in energy, meaning energy that is being turned into heat. With heat applying to an ice cube, there is high enough energy to break the bonds holding the frozen water molecules together, causing ice to melt. I took my previous knowledge of the Kinetic Molecular Theory and applied it to understand why ice melts. By training my memory, using cognitivism can help me during my final exam. Cognitivism is really helpful when studying a topic that correlates to multiple theories put into one law. It also grasps an understanding of different perspectives from different people who thought of the process of law.
The great part about Chemistry is the opportunity given to become a constructivist. Labs are designed to help students have hands-on learning about why there are theories of such topics and how these theories come about—scenarios such as an exam question asking if lemons are an acid or a base. For example, to answer the question, I can reflect on a time in a lab there was a cup of lemon juice and Litmus paper, which helps distinguish if a substance is acidic or basic. When dipping the Litmus paper into the lemon juice, the paper turned red, telling me that it is an acid. By retaining that experience, I can answer the question, “are lemons an acid or base?” Hands-on learning is really beneficial to those who have a hard time with comprehension. Being active with your learning can enhance your connections to situations like this. The environment created a positive scenario, giving you the confidence to feel good about your understanding.