Hi Annette: Extra work? Why can't they achieve mastery without extra work? Or perhaps this is like extra credit? My students DO indeed have such expectations. When they don't do well, they want extra credit thinking this will make up for the deficiencies more objectively shown with regular exams. If this extra credit work demands real proficiency, and the previous exams indicate they do not yet have this proficiency, doing more work hardly seems worthwhile. I do give them exercises and steps to take to increase their learning, but the ones who need this "extra work: seldom undertake it. Extra work to really achieve mastery? Now that would be a joy. Gary
>>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 5/16/2006 6:45 pm >>> NOT typical of my students. I find that our students, maybe because they are in California and it's a very competitive job market and high cost of living around here, are MORE likely to do as much as they can to maximize their grades. They are willing to do inordinate amounts of extra work to earn a higher mastery grade. The majority are far more likely to get by on grit and willpower to make up for what they might lack in intellectual ability and I was thinking that was troublesome. But maybe I'd better shut up and be happy I have students willing to bust their buns for mastery. Annette Quoting Paul Brandon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > I've noted over the past few years that more students in my > Introductory Behavior Analysis course are settling for B's - not even > attempting to get an A. > Since I use a unit/mastery system this can be quantified: > The most common (generally easiest) way to get a grade of B is to > complete all eleven test units and three (out of six) projects. > Therefore, handing in a report on the fourth project is a good proxy > for attempting an A. > When I started teaching this way 35 years ago the model course grade was A. > Over the past decade or so the mode has shifted down to B. > This does NOT seem to be due to a poorer level of student performance; > they do just as well on the work that they attempt -- they just don't > attempt as much. > I've attached a graph of the number of students handing in a report on > the fourth course project over the past five years (I'm not sure if > this listserv will allow attachments, so it's also available on my Web > site at http://krypton.mnsu.edu/~pkbrando/AttemptingA.pdf). > You can see that the number of students attempting an A has gone down > from about 18 (section size is about 25) five years ago to 7 this > semester. There's the variability one would expect from this sample > size, but the trend seems compelling. > The text, Lab Manual and course requirements have not changed over this > period. > Therefore, the change is in either my behavior or that of my students. > Comments? > -- > The best argument against Intelligent Design is that fact that > people believe in it. > > * PAUL K. BRANDON [EMAIL PROTECTED] * > * Psychology Dept Minnesota State University * > * 23 Armstrong Hall, Mankato, MN 56001 ph 507-389-6217 * > * http://krypton.mnsu.edu/~pkbrando/ * Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph. D. Professor of Psychology University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 619-260-4006 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program. --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=english --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=english
