Thinking About Exams
Bob Jacobsen
Physics
"What was on the exam?"
Introductory Physics is taken by a lot of grade-oriented students, who like to ask "Will this be on the exam?" Even though I always answer by stressing that our exam grading cares more about how they think about the problem than whether they could recall a specific formula, they don't really believe or even understand that.
So at the first lecture after the 1st midterm, I spend 50 minutes redoing the exam. I put each problem up on an overhead projector, and walk them through three points for each problem:
The time is divided about 15%, 35%, 50% for each problem. I spend about 5 minutes at the front of the hour and 5 minutes at the back of the hour talking about our goals for student learning in the course, and how the exams fit into that.
Typically, students change their approach to the material after the 1st midterm. They understand that they have to change their behavior from "maximal memorization" to really trying to understand the material, because we're serious about assessing that understanding on the exams. And it's the slow, point-by-point walk-through of the grading that convinces them we're serious.
Using Debates
Victoria Kahn
English and Comparative Literature
In English 118, Milton, I offered the option of participating in a debate in lieu of the first paper (a 20 point assignment). (This assignment followed an earlier one in which each student was assigned the task of imitating—in 2 or 3 pages— one of Milton's school exercises: arguing pro and contra the liberal arts.) The topics were dispersed throughout the semester and were: pro and contra freedom of the press; the execution of Charles I during the English civil war; the representation of God in *Paradise Lost,* and gender relations in *Paradise Lost.* Three students were assigned to the pro side and three to the contra side. Each side was provided with the same xerox packet of 4-5 critical articles and a list of further reading. The students on each side were supposed to work together in order not to replicate each other's arguments.
Each student got 4 minutes to speak, so that the whole debate would take roughly 30 minutes and there would be 20 minutes for questions from the rest of the class. Students were encouraged to wear costumes and use handouts. (There were some great costumes.) Each member of the audience was required to write a one-page verdict on the debate, which they could turn in at the end of the class or in my box after class. Each participant in the debate was required to write a 2-3 page "reflection" on his or her debate experience: not simply a recapitulation of the arguments used, but rather a reflection on what the student learned by preparing for and performing in the debate. (Some of these reflections were also quite wonderful, including one on how debating taught the student how better to write a paper: have a controversial thesis, write with your audience in mind, anticipate objections, be concrete and dramatic etc.) I originally scheduled just 3 debates, but added another as a result of popular demand. In the future, I'd do 5 in the course of the semester.
Writing Workshops
Katherine Snyder
English
In my undergraduate literature seminars, I devote the last two weeks of the course to writing workshops. In the first workshop, groups of 3-5 students exchange, read, and comment on partial rough drafts of their final essays, along with 5-10 working thesis statements submitted by each student along with his/her draft. I distribute to them a list of questions designed to facilitate constructive responses to their works-in-progress. For the second workshop, I distribute to the groups a different set of questions, this time designed to facilitate responses to complete, but still rough, drafts. When the students submit their final essays to me, usually a week or so after the second workshop, I require them to append a statement explaining what they had attempted to achieve in their revisions, an assignment that encourages them to be conscious of their own writing process and goals. Beyond the obvious advantages of getting peer feedback at two different stages of writing their essays, the students benefit simply from being required to complete a draft at least a week before the final deadline; this timing gives them the chance to get some helpful critical distance from their own writing.
Forming Groups in Class
Michael O’Hare
Public Policy
To form random, and obviously random, groups in a class (of course this all assumes everyone agrees height is not correlated with any important quality like IQ):
Have the class form two parallel lines, one for men and one for women, ordered by height.
Instruct the lines to merge alternately (if about equal numbers) or 1 to two, or whatever, if sexes are disproportionate.
Have the resulting line form into a circle. They they can count off "1,2,3,4,...,n" to form n groups, or pass prepared "calling cards" (name, email, phone) to the three people on the right to identify "consultants" who will comment on their papers, or whatever is desired.
This scheme has the advantage of getting them out of their seats and walking around, it's slightly goofy in practice and leads to a lot of laughter as people get it wrong and have to be corrected, and raises arousal at the beginning when people are suspecting you're about to set the men against the women in some way, or some such thing.
Using An Experiment to Engage Students
Jeff Perloff
Agricultural and Resource Economics
An In-Class Experiment: Fishing
An in-class experiment or demonstration can make more of a lasting impression than a lecture. One of my favorites was suggested to me by a colleague. It demonstrates the underlying reason why people over-fish in competitive markets.
In a large class, I invite anyone who wants to participate in an experiment to come to the front of the room. The rest of the class act like judges and enforce the rules of the experiment. On the floor in front of the assembled participants, I drop little slips of paper with pictures of a fish on them (or paper clips). "These are fish. You are fishers. I will pay for any fish you catch. If you catch them in the first two minutes after I say 'start,' I will pay you a dime per fish. If you catch the fish after two minutes, I’ll pay you a quarter. Ready? Start!" (Of course, one could use hard candies and chocolate instead of money.)
To show what happens in a competitive market, I should tell them not to speak to each other. However, I don’t say anything and the participants often try to collude: "OK! Don’t anyone move! Let’s wait and get the extra money!" I've conducted this experiment many times—they’ve never succeeded in colluding. At least a few seconds before the two minutes are up, they throw themselves on the floor and grab for the fish.
Then, I ask what they learned from the experiment. The answers are often interesting. Eventually, I tell them what economic theory suggests.
Over-fishing occurs because property rights in fish are not clearly defined. The only way you can "own" a fish is to catch it before someone else does. This system encourages people to try to catch fish before anyone else does and leads to over-fishing.
For example, suppose that you owned a pond and hence all the fish in the pond, so that there’s no problem in defining property rights. You’d let your fish grow and harvest them only when they had reached maturity. In contrast, in the ocean, where no one owns the fish, people are unwilling to let the fish grow before catching them. If you wait, others will catch the fish before you can.
Next, I point out that even though I allowed the participants to try to collude, they were unable to do so. Certainly over-fishing would occur if they couldn’t communicate. Indeed, the pressure is so powerful to over-fish, even when they try to collude, they fail.
Finally, I ask how many people are convinced by this little demonstration about the veracity of the economic theory. Typically, there is universal agreement that the experiment is convincing. (Were they not convinced, I’d ask them why not and discuss their alternative explanations.)