Each year, around 1,000 new students begin an undergraduate science degree at McGill. For many of them, their first year at university represents a dramatic change from the world of high school or CEGEP.
鈥淭he workload, the amount of new content you get, and a different style of testing鈥� are three of the challenges Marie Walker recalls from her first semester as a science undergrad.
鈥淎t high school, teachers kind of push you to stay on track; at university, you have to do it yourself more. All of a sudden, you have a mid-term and you鈥檙e like, 鈥極h my gosh, how do I study for this class?鈥欌��
Now in her third year, the physiology major from Calgary says SciLearn, the Faculty of Science鈥檚 neuroscience-based learning skills program 鈥� which she took in her very first semester at McGill 鈥� helped bridge the gap, both academically and socially.
鈥淪ciLearn is a great way to meet people,鈥� Marie says. 鈥淏ut also, it helps you zero in on learning strategies. Sometimes you don鈥檛 realize how you learn best, but when it鈥檚 laid out for you, you realize, 鈥業 could use this strategy for this class or this strategy for a different class.鈥欌��
Evidence-based strategies to help students learn
First-year science students get their first taste of what SciLearn has to offer with orientation sessions run in August and January each year. Since its inception in fall 2020, the program has been grounded in a scientific approach to learning, using insights from neuroscience to shed light on techniques and lifestyle habits that have been proven to enhance cognitive function.
Third-year pharmacology major Alia Devasahayam, who was also part of the first group of students to participate in SciLearn, says that while she had an intuitive sense of the value of many of the ideas presented in the program, seeing the scientific data to back up all the good advice left a lasting impression.
鈥淜nowing why made all the difference,鈥� Alia says, recalling a string of topics covered by SciLearn. 鈥淭hey showed us, here鈥檚 why studying in groups is effective, this is the data from students who did 鈥� and didn鈥檛 鈥� exercise, here鈥檚 how it affects your mental health, your academic success, that kind of stuff.
鈥淥f course, I knew sleep is good, exercise is good, human interaction is good. But seeing why made a big difference.鈥�
Back-to-campus opens new avenues for SciLearn
So much did Alia and Marie enjoy SciLearn that they both went on to join the Office of Science Education (OSE) team as SciLearn mentors to other students. OSE Student Engagement Officer Kira Smith, who co-leads SciLearn, says involving former participants in this way has been invaluable in ensuring the program continues to be attuned to students鈥� needs.
鈥淲e鈥檙e really fortunate to work with students who have taken SciLearn,鈥� Smith says. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e really informed how our program operates.鈥�
With McGill鈥檚 return to full in-person teaching in fall 2022, SciLearn has expanded to include in-person peer collaboration sessions, which run throughout the semester. Building on the legacy of , these drop-in study sessions at the Royal Victoria College cafeteria, just across the street from McGill鈥檚 downtown campus, give students a place where they can work together with help from teaching assistants and instructors.
鈥淲e decided to launch SciLearn peer collaboration fully in-person this September because we heard that students were really missing that 鈥� they felt isolated, disconnected,鈥� Smith says. 鈥淎s much as the strategies [from the orientation session] were useful, that relationship over the term was missing as they haven鈥檛 had a forum to connect.鈥�
On the ground at the peer collaboration sessions, SciLearn mentor Devasahayam says it鈥檚 rewarding to see students having 鈥渆ureka moments鈥� when working on problems with their classmates.
鈥淚t opens up the opportunity for you to talk to somebody else. People鈥檚 brains work differently, and that can trigger different things, so I think it鈥檚 very valuable, the group perspective.鈥�
Making SciLearn even better
Dedicated to continual improvement, the SciLearn team are tireless in their efforts to ensure not only that the program serves its purpose of helping students learn better but also that it is as accessible as possible for new students juggling multiple demands on their time.
鈥淎 general principle for us is really trying to meet students where they鈥檙e at,鈥� says Smith, pointing to the integration of SciLearn workshops into two undergraduate science courses taken by a large percentage of first-year students, Introduction to Psychology and Introductory Organic Chemistry. Students in either course can receive a bonus towards their final grade by taking an optional SciLearn workshop. Initiatives like this have seen participation in SciLearn grow from around 100 students in fall 2020 to over 500 this semester. Since its inception, the program鈥檚 growth has also been aided by generous and ongoing funding support from the DGDM Family Foundation.
True to their scientific pedigree, the SciLearn team take a rigorous approach to research and evaluation when it comes to improving the program, employing machine learning methods to analyze participant feedback on the learning strategies that work best for them.
鈥淲e perform data analytics and modeling which helps us understand how students navigate challenging first-year science courses and which study techniques prove to be effective,鈥� explains SciLearn co-lead Armin Yazdani, who holds a Ph.D. in neuroscience and plays a key role in developing the program鈥檚 content.
鈥淭he combination of neuroscience and data science will not only help us understand how our students learn, but also different paths towards success.鈥�