On Wed, 20 Sep 2000, Michael J. Kane wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I have a 2-part question, based on the following (too true) premise:
>
> I just gave the first exam of a Cognitive Psychology course, which consisted of
> multiple-choice and short-answer questions. The class includes many 1st and
> 2nd year students, with a smattering of 3rd and 4th year students. Based on
> percent-correct scores, my grade distribution breaks down as follows:
> A's: 11%
> B's: 11%
> C's: 11%
> D's: 18%
> F's: 50%
>
> Yikes. Clearly, some students performed admirably, but many others did
> not. So here
> is part 1 of my question:
>
> Would you leave the grades as-is, or re-scale them somehow? If the latter,
> what method
> would you choose, given that the 2 highest grades are near-perfect scores
> (98%), and the
> bottom grade is 25% correct? I'm typically not fond of finding breaks in
> the distributions
> as a means to assign grades, because I do not want to foster competition
> among my
> students. I also would like each exam and quiz score to be a number (e.g.,
> 90%, 75%)
> so that's it's easy for students to calculate their grades as the semester
> proceeds. Are there
> good reasons NOT to simply give everyone a free 10%, for example, which
> would raise
> everyone's grade and make the distribution look a little more reasonable
> (beyond the fact
> that a few students will have grades over 100%)?
If you just want to go the easy route and equal things up a bit I'd just
use Z-scores this time.
Alternatives: I let students make up items when I have this situation
according to the following guidelines: They must rewrite the items for
multiple choice items giving me ONE sentence about why the "correct"
response is the best response and and additional ONE sentence about why
their reponse is not the best possible. They get half normal credit for
this.
For short answers they must give a completely correct response for half
credit.
they also have to agree to grade someone else's make up exam because I am
not about to reread all these exams!!!! but I do peruse the students re-
grading comments. Generally I find the students are harder on each other
than I am.
I explain to students that this can potentially raise the curve for the
exam so that it might be 93/85/77/69 for the a/b/c/d cut off points!!!!
this turns the exam into a teaching tool as well as an assessment tool
and makes them all know that material whic h was tested over better
but your bigger problem lies in what I have to say below.....
> The 2nd part of my question is, given that many students did not do well,
> many of us --
> including me -- are likely to feel some sense of failure. Although I would
> like to think that
> these poor grades will improve the motivation and work ethic of my students
> and me, my
> previous experience suggests that this will be true for only some
> students. Any suggestions
> on how to *build* motivation and/or confidence in a situation like this, as
> opposed to crushing it?
> I've been at this just a few years and I'm not sure I've figured it out yet.
given we can get them to "know" the tested over material better but they
may not know the big picture of material any better with this formula...
I stick to my testing guns and talk more about study groups, techniques,
etc.
I allow students a 3x5 notecard for exams--I find that to put what they
think is MOST CENTRAL to their knowledge base on a single hand-written
3x5 card requires them to really think through what are the most
important concepts--I also encourage study groups between students
AFTER everyone has their card filled out. No card, no access to study
group. but only the students can enforce that amongst themselves.
I do check the cards for uniqueness :-)
the cards are a good security blanket and limit cheating. In preparing
their thoughts for the cards I think they memorize as much as they need
to. I also then don't give in to adjusting exam scores, because they
clearly have all the extra help they need.
The cards do seem to build motivation and confidence and limit the
idea of competing for grades rather than taking an exam to assess
knowledge.
Some students will never "get" it but in trying to help the most of them
you make the same help available to all of them.
good luck and don't beat yourself up
annette
>
> Thanks much!
>
> -Mike
> ************************************************
> Michael J. Kane
> Department of Psychology
> P.O. Box 26164
> University of North Carolina at Greensboro
> Greensboro, NC 27402-6164
> email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> phone: 336-256-1022
> fax: 336-334-5066
>
>
Annette Taylor, Ph. D.
Department of Psychology E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
University of San Diego Voice: (619) 260-4006
5998 Alcala Park
San Diego, CA 92110
"Education is one of the few things a person
is willing to pay for and not get."
-- W. L. Bryan
