I ran across the following article by Soojung Shin, a high school student in Korea.
http://bettertastethansorry.com/2010/01/do-your-own-thing/
I tried to solve it with the guide of a pamphlet I received at Toys-R-Us on solving Rubik’s cubes. I realized that even though my cube was almost configured, I had no idea how I had done it. I had just blindly followed the instructions on the pamphlet (move left, right, one-quarter clockwise to the left) that I had no clue how I had gotten from my colored mess of a cube to the cube sitting before me, all figured out. Guess it just goes to show that using pamphlets as a guide won’t help me solve the Rubik’s Cube on my own. Sometimes you need to do somethings on your own.
Soojung’s thoughts reminded me about what my Real Analysis professor always says.
Do it by your own.
She has instilled upon me that doing math is the only way to learn something completely. Although she promotes doing research on topics and collaborating with others, she emphasizes the importance of thinking and working by yourself.
How do you work on homework? Do you collaborate with others? When do you think collaborating becomes too much?