Science
A study states final exams before a board of examiners generate so much tension they destroy neurons. 
Appeared in La Nación.
Appeared in La Nación.
A group of scientists from the Littoral University suggest modifying the student evaluation method, besides lowering the amount of information to be incorporated and teaching the students how to study efficiently.A research team from the Littoral University analyzed the organic reactions experimented by a group of veterinary medicine students right before an oral final exam, and concluded that such tension provoked all kinds of physical alterations, even destroying neurons. The scientists who carried out the study claim that, therefore, oral final exams before a board of teachers should be replaced by a different kind of examination, one that doesn't cause so much fear". They add that "It's also necessary to reduce the amount of information students are supposed to learn and to provide them with the instruments for them to acquire the ability to organize their study and sleep time, as well as to understand the need to eat properly and do physical exercise while they're preparing themselves for the exams." The research, entitled "Organic changes associated to fear during collage evaluations", was developed by Doctor Eva Moreyra, a teacher of Physiology of the School of Veterinary Medicine, and Doctor Osvaldo Panza Doliani, alarmed by the alterations suffered by their students, decided to do something about them. The professors analyzed the different problems faced by the people in their classes, such as skin and gastric illnesses, sleep and appetite disorders, backaches and muscular pains, colds and fever. They found out their students' defenses and the amount of red corpuscles in their blood lowered right before an oral exam, as their heart and respiratory frequencies grew; even some neurons seem to be destroyed in these periods. (...) "These alterations remain for up to two weeks after the exam. The harmful effect is cumulative, and the symptoms worsen when students must study for more than one subject," added the researcher. Panza Doliani pointed out that, among the observed changes, one of the most salient is the alteration of the "stress hormone" or cortisol, "whose excessive production destroys neurons". The expert explained that "if the organism is exposed to a succession of similar situations, the harm is multiplied. So we asked ourselves, what are we doing to our students?. When the pressure becomes extreme, the student begin losing interest and the predisposition for amazement. And since they're not finding any sort of gratification in learning, they get indifferent". (...)
 
January, 2003.
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