Suggestion 188. Give assignments typical of the field

IF YOU WANT TO:

• Give interesting and stimulating assignments

• Develop students' analytic problem-solving skills

Assigning "thought problems" which are typical of the problems faced by professionals in the field.

A forestry professor assigns weekly "thought problems" which are of the same type he includes on his two midterms and final examination. "These `thought problems,'" he explains, "serve two functions: to expose students to my kind of exam and to get them to really think through the material covered each week. They are not graded, but every Monday I go over them in class so that students can see how well they are doing."

He goes on to say, "I can best define `thought problems' in terms of the type of questions professional foresters are asked, such as, `What is killing that tree?'; not `Name six factors which can kill trees.'"

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Copyright 1983 by the Regents of the University of California

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