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Re: a different test scoring policy?



Michael Porter says:
James Mclean wrote:
I recently had an nebulous idea on a test scoring strategy to discourage
blindly applying equations (perhaps chosen simply because the symbols
match), rather than thinking through the physics. The basic idea is to
*subtract* points when this occurs. That is, a really botched problem
could actually garner a negative score.

Are you afraid that the students are getting some problems _right_ because
they happened to guess correctly which equation to use?

Not at all. The idea is *not* to improve the test as a knowledge measuring
device. The intention is to discourage bad problem solving strategies
which students sometimes seem to persist in. Maybe homeworks would be a
better place for this than tests.

Maybe, too, this particular type of problem is not widespread enough to
warrent major policy changes. As you might guess from my signature, my
experience is extremely limited. I've just been tutoring someone who
tends to engage equations before engaging their brain.

Also, you may be discouraging students who think they know how to do a
problem, but are not totally sure which equation to use; or want to
experiment with a likely equation and see if the answer is reasonable.

Exactly the kind of undesirable effects I was concerned about.

--
--James McLean
jmclean@chem.ucsd.edu
post doc
UC San Diego, Chemistry