Hi everyone,
I teach a 2-semester 8 credit research methods core. In the first class we
learn research methods, review the stats from the previous course, and
develop a project to carry out in the second course. One of the goals of
the course is to develop teamwork and organizational skills so we do a lot
of group work. In the past, individuals have passed the course even though
they have done poorly on the exams because they have had partners carry
them through the stats and difficult concepts.Then they had a terrible time
in the following course. This year I was determined to be sure that each
individual had the necessary skills before they go on, so we have lots of
tutoring, hands-on labs and homework to go over the critical concepts and
stats. I've slowed down and dropped whole chapters to spend more time on
key concepts. For the second exam, I told the students that they would have
a portion of the exam (I'm thinking 20%) in which they would demonstrate
their understanding of design and statistics in the lab in very small
groups. The idea was to split my 2 hour lab class into 4 --30 minute
periods and have 5-6 students in at a time. Then I would ask them to upload
a data set to spss, run the appropriate analyses (2-way anova) , print it
and interpret the print out (what effects were significant) what followup
tests to do.
So here is the question: On the one hand, I've never seen the students work
so hard in preparation for this, on the other I fear that about 1/3 of them
will fail this section, due in part to lack of understanding and in part to
anxiety over the exam format. I hate to destroy the class moral which is
already fragile, as they struggle with the complexities of factorial
designs. Have any of you done this sort of individual testing? if so, what
have you found to work?
Thanks for your help-Dawn
Dawn G. Blasko Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Experimental Psychology
Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
Station Road
Erie, PA 16563-1501
Office phone: 814-898-6081
http://www.pserie.psu.edu/hss/psych/blasko.htm
