This semester in my General Psych class I've been using Gray's idea of a "question essay" (it's in Sternberg's 1997 collection of teaching tips for Intro Psych, sorry but I don't have the reference handy). Students write an essay focused on a question about something from the chapter that they: don't understand, disagree with, or can suggest an application or issue that goes beyond what is presented in the chapter. These essays are due the day we start a new chapter. They are graded and count towards 15% of the final course grade. It has worked reasonably well as an alternative to quizzes to get everyone reading the chapter, and most students have been doing them. On the day they are due I've been dividing the class into small groups and having one person in each group read his/her essay, the group discuss the essay and writes a brief report about their discussion. This last part has not worked real well, as the discussions have been rather perfunctory (mostly they like/agree with everything said. So last week, I asked each group to make specific suggestions about how the essay could be improved, but I haven't read them yet.
Vinny Vincent Prohaska, Ph.D. Associate Professor and Chair Department of Psychology Lehman College, City University of New York Bronx, NY 10468-1589 [EMAIL PROTECTED] 718-960-8204 718-960-8092 fax --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
