All-
Well- I was intending to agree that we need to learn the rote stuff- if we go 
beyond that, it is good. I think that's what Chris said as well. 

Michael's point is well taken, by me anyway. And the problem is restated 2.5/5 
* .8 = .5 * .8 = .4 (that's what my little grey cells did with it immediately 
as it seemed obvious and easier to divide). ;) 

As to the argument, sorry, I forgot who made it, that we don't need to do rote 
because we have calculators, that ignores the fact that those students can't 
enter the data into the calculator correctly if they don't know how to do the 
problems! And they don't often know what the answer is or how they got there 
after they've done it. That's what I see when I work through the problems with 
them- n = 1. Back to grading essays. Tim

_______________________________
Timothy O. Shearon, PhD
Professor and Chair Department of Psychology
Albertson College of Idaho
Caldwell, ID 83605
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

teaching: intro to neuropsychology; psychopharmacology; general; history and 
systems




-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Scoles [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Sun 1/28/2007 10:54 AM
To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)
Subject: [tips] Re:  Why I pull my hair out grading statistics     assignments
 
So, I should not expect college seniors and graduate students to
multiply 2.5 x .20 x .80 in their heads?  Or, if I get them started by
saying, 2.5 x .20 = 0.5, they should still be reaching for their
calculators to figure out half of .80?  (Oops, I forgot--they don't
recognize that 0.5 is one-half, or that one-half of a fractional value
is meaningful!)




Michael T. Scoles, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Psychology & Counseling
University of Central Arkansas
Conway, AR 72035
501-450-5418

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