Calculators and "Cheating"

[Doug Craigen <dcc@ESCAPE.CA>]

Joel Rauber wrote:
> Leigh wrote in part:
>
> > I have a real tactical problem here. My exam on Friday will be
> > held in a room with 335 seats. I have 304 students still left
> > in the course! I couldn't possibly allow them to use their
> > calculators; I would be unable to enforce a ban on programmable
> > calculators with text and formula storage capability. As it is
> > my TAs and I will have to get very glowery to reduce wandering
> > eyes.
> >
> > Leigh
>
> Leigh would you share a few thoughts about not allowing calculators on
> tests.  Have you been doing it long? Does it work well? What sort of student
> resistance do you have? What's your reasons for doing it? etc etc.
>
> I have been toying with this idea for a while now, but haven't had the guts
> to implement it such a policy.  I worry more and more about "programmable
> calculators with text and formula storage capability" as well; and like you
> wouldn't like to enforce forbidding particular types of calculator.  One
> might add that some calculators now-days can transmit to other calculators
> information; and I assume this capability will get more so.

Nobody should have any illusions about one thing - if you don't have
calculator restrictions for an exam then you are giving an open book
exam to those students who know how to operate their calculators.

An outright ban on calculators opens up another whole can of worms -
innumeracy.  When most of my students reach for a calculator to do 300
minus 270, it is obvious that I will end up testing basic arithmetic
skills as much as anything else.

Calculator restrictions would be far easier if I had the faintest
interest in them myself.  As is, I see them as completely pointless
except at those odd occasions where I want to find arctan(log(4.351))
while standing at a bus stop.  The majority of the time I either solve
problems in my head (99% of the math) or else move my hands 40 cm to the
right where I can type the question into Matlab (or whatever math tool I
have open on my computer at the time).  I have no interest in learning
to use anything much beyond a 4 function calculator, hence I am
completely baffled at the multitude of functions I see available on
students desktops.

I may be at one extreme here, but I suspect that there is a pretty big
cultural gap on average between us and our students.

> To date I haven't worried too much as most of my students can't operate the
> sophisticated features of their calculators; but this may change.  One
> thought I had, but not supported by my colleagues, would be for the
> department to provide cheap calculators for test time.  Much like I provide
> rulers for ray tracing on optics section tests in my introductory course.

Providing calculators is one solution, however precautions would need to
be taken to reduce the sublimation rate during exams.  There may also be
complaints due to students only knowing how to do problems on their own
calculator - not one where the buttons are in different positions.

I have a pretty simple business solution, but its implementation would
require some sort of "quantum leap" (our current phrase to abuse).  I
think most science classes have close to the same requirements in terms
of character display size (to reduce neighbor viewing), programming
ability, memory, equations, graphing etc.  I would register a trademark
- "ExamSafe" for illustrative purposes here.  ExamSafe would have to
appear in a specific size, location and color on a calculator.  ExamSafe
would then be obvious at a glance.  The trademark would indicate that
the given calculator meets a known list of requirements.  Any
manufacturer would then licence the right to put ExamSafe onto models of
their calculators which met the specifications.  This provides maximum
choice for the students while providing easy verification for the
professor.  Since ExamSafe calculators which did everything necessary
for exams could cost less than $10 and would be used in a multitude of
science/math/business classes over the years, there shouldn't be many
financial complaints that the additional cost is unreasonable for
students who also want to own a full featured calculator for personal
use or perhaps for other parts of the course.



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Doug Craigen
          Latest Project - the Physics E-source
          http://www.dctech.com/physics/