Recap with Rostra

Good morning, hope You're enjoying Your coffee! We're coming to You with another Recap with Rostra, this time on Thursday. Apparently, it’s the best day to send out the newsletter (totally not the reason though).

After a long internal dispute, I decided to use the intro to do some surveying. I stumbled across an old article and an obvious question emerged.

Moist. Just a word or some abomination?

You can let us know your harshest feelings by reaching us on the app formerly known as Twitter ( I refuse to use its name) at @rostra_econ (it’s a fresh account with ambitious plans for shitposting, stay tuned) or by simply replying to us at [email protected].

And yes, today’s illustration is brought to You by DALL-E 3, how did you know? I was so impressed with how close the spelling was I just couldn’t bring myself to leave it out.

- Mikołaj Kuczmarski, Elizabeth Palii, Riad Guliyev

⚡ Rostra in the Flash

A little recap of our October articles. Make sure to check them out if you haven't!

• Have you ever heard about the “Brazilian core”? Beatriz, as a Brazilian, gives some insights about this fashion trend. This article discusses the trend’s impact on the perception of Brazilian identity, touching on both positive and negative aspects, including how it challenges stereotypes but may also contribute to the creation of new ones.  

• Without clocks you would be late for your lectures, and wouldn't know when it’s time for your appointments… Timekeeping is an important part of our daily lives. But have you ever thought about the history of clocks? In this article John tells about the development from ancient methods like sundials to the mechanical clock, pocket watches, and the introduction of quartz and atomic clocks.

   

• This article explores the comeback of the far-right Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) in politics four years after the Ibiza incident. Find out why the FPÖ is becoming a more popular option for voters in Austria, potentially leading to a 'Orbánization' of the country's politics, despite this party’s controversial history and far-right objectives.

   

• Check this article to find out about how Dilan Yeşilgoz, a politician of Kurdish and Turkish descent, went from being a refugee to supporting strict immigration rules as the leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) in the Netherlands. Is there a relationship between personal identity and political convictions?

- EP

🚀 Rome Wasn't Built On 2.5x Speed

By now, you should have realized that much more learning is done outside of classroom time - that is what self-study time stands for. As a result, our time management and study techniques are put through a stress test as we notice their correlation with the final grade we get for a class. The majority of classes are structured in a way, such that endterm exam grade affects our final grade relatively more than a team assignment or midterm exam. This can be a reason why students experience a relative increase in stress and anxiety levels preparing for it.

The good news is that there are plenty of study techniques that can help us feel more prepared and thus reduce negative emotions. The bad news is that students often do not make proper use of study techniques that cognitive researchers identify as effective.

The paper from APS (Association for Psychological Science) by Miyatsu et al. discusses five study techniques most commonly used by students: (1) rereading, (2) highlighting or underlining (marking), (3) note-taking, (4) outlining and (5) use of flash cards. The authors discuss their findings about the effective implementation, ineffective implementation, and educational recommendations for each study technique.

Rereading

Rereading is beneficial for memorizing facts and details, especially when spaced out over time, but less effective for higher-order assessments that require inference and application.

Highlighting or Underlining (Marking)

Highlighting can enhance the retention of marked information, but only if students are trained to select and mark important information after reading a section of the text. Highlighting alone is not sufficient for higher-order assessments.

Note-taking

Note-taking is an effective encoding strategy when students engage in generative processes such as summarizing and paraphrasing. Reviewing notes is crucial for reaping the full benefits of note-taking. Note-taking may be less effective for audio-visual presentations of content.

Outlining

Outlining can improve comprehension and organization of the material, but only if students are trained to identify the main points and text structure. Outlining can be enhanced by using skeletal outlines or advance organizers. 

Use of Flash Cards

Using flash cards is a powerful technique for enhancing memory through retrieval practice. Flash cards can be used to test both factual and conceptual knowledge with spaced practice and feedback.

The authors conclude that using multiple study strategies together may enhance learning outcomes such as combining outlining and flash cards, or retrieval practice and elaboration. They also propose to divide a study strategy for a given exam into two parts: (a) generation component (creating and retrieving information) and (b) utilization component (using or applying information) to maximize learning outcomes. However, the authors also note that not all of their findings and advice are suitable for all students.

While it might be challenging to implement the papers’ key findings and advice right away for your upcoming exams, I hope that you will make use of it throughout this academic year.

- RG

🗒️ Rostra Recommends

This week we're coming to you with some different recommendations, namely some interesting findings from Product Hunt (and yes, we're going with AI this week). Without further ado, here are the picks!

For the fans of notes...

Strut is an interesting tool that will help you turn your rough notes into content or multiple different ones into one cohesive piece. It is also supposed to replicate your tone?

For those looking for firm feedback...

If you have some idea great ideas that need a reality check, look no further! Hell's Pitching is an ingenious AI assistant with the sole role of roasting your future enterprise. Great for insights and some tough love!

-MK

🎓 The UvA Corner

It’s getting cooler outside - don’t forget to dress up properly, so you won’t catch a cold!

Do you find yourself staying at school later to study with a hot drink or are you just getting sleepy because of this weather?

Here is some information and news from UvA:

• In case you want to attend interesting lectures, events, and meet people with the same worldview, check out the Events calendar!

• The Executive Board adopted the UvA’s 2024 draft budget on 10 October 2023. You can check it out here. If you have any thoughts about this draft, you have until October 27 to send them in!

- EP

You can send us feedback at [email protected]