Acing the group project

For San Diego State University students, attending one of the nation’s top research universities can inspire new ways to investigate the world they live in. Whether in the lab or exploring the influence of a rising Twitch and YouTube creator. 

On Feb. 28, about 100 students sat in the Leon Williams Room of the San Diego State University Library, eyes rapt on their classmates at the front of the room. Amanuel Tesfahunegn, a first-year kinesiology major, and five classmates stood on either side of a pull-down screen that featured a familiar picture and several paragraphs of text.

“How many of you know who Kai Cenat is?” Tesfahunegn asked. Almost every student raised a hand — acknowledging the reach of the 22-year-old Twitch streamer and YouTuber who broke Twitch’s subscriber record; appears regularly with creators, musicians and other celebrities; is signed to Nike and reportedly made over $8 million last year. 

The student group had a lot of ground to cover in presenting Cenat’s impact on popular culture and streaming. It was just one of the group research projects featured at the fifth annual SDSU Black Research Symposium. 

The symposium, the penultimate event on the university’s Black History Month calendar, marked the culmination of research projects by the students, all members of Henrietta Goodwin Scholars, a program supporting Black students as they transition to college and throughout their time at SDSU. 

Rachael Stewart, HGS faculty scholar, said the lessons the students learned during the symposium — working in a group, delegating assignments, recognizing group members’ expertise, managing time and workflow and ultimately, working collaboratively to execute the research — would serve them throughout their college careers. 

“Research is what we do every day,” Stewart said. “And what is important about having research within the classroom setting, or even the symposium setting, is that they benefit from the whole experience. 

“Knowing how to conduct your research always, not just academically but in your everyday life to make informed decisions, that’s important,” she said. 

Stewart also said that students being allowed to choose research topics that resonated with them led to more enthusiasm for the project — and stronger final products. 

“When it comes to research and instruction, it’s always good to provide a theme and let the students select (the topic),” Stewart said. “It empowers them to look into something they are interested in and dive deeper and want to do more research. I think it helps them to get the project completed and brings the vibrancy into the research project experience, for them, the instructor and their audience.”

The 114 students presenting at the Black Research Symposium worked in groups of five or six on projects based on this year’s Black History Month theme “African Americans and Labor.”

The topics ranged from “how Black hair is portrayed in society” to breaking down common misconceptions of African American Vernacular English and the impact on Black women from R&B artist SZA’s 2017 “Ctrl” album. 

For many students like Tesfahunegn, this marked their first foray into undergraduate research, an area SDSU officials see as one the high impact practices that studies have shown foster higher levels of academic achievement and retention and prepare students for a global workforce. 

The energy was palpable in the Leon Williams Room, as classmates laughed, nodded and applauded throughout their classmates' presentations. 

At the end of the symposium, the students said they felt the lessons learned were evergreen. 

“I feel like the most important thing was learning how to communicate as a collective,” Tesfahunegn said. “And also identifying each of the group member’s strengths and weaknesses, and delegating work appropriately. In the end, it’s about managing time and working together as a group, and I think the experience will help me throughout college.

“I think I learned a little bit from each of the projects and, when you can say that, it’s been time well-spent,” he said.