Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Work willingness



I do physical chemistry (purportedly the 'hardest' course in the
chemistry curriculum) and chemistry for non-science majors, a wholly
different clientele.
This year in the course evaluations for both courses comments to the
effect that they demanded too much of the time they were willing to
devote to studies surfaced.
I have not increased the assignments for the course but perhaps because
of diminished study skills and/or in comparison with other courses they
take, students seem to be self-limiting the time and effort they are
willing to put into mastering the material, REGARDLESS the grade that
earns them. My mode in both courses is around a C+/B-, lower than the
mode for the college as a whole. That fact may also affect the incentive
to involve themselves in a venture for which the rewards are perceived to
be too few to merit the work required.
"Grades as wages" strikes me as similar to the problem with extra credit
for extra work, as opposed to extra mastery.

John N. Cooper, Chemistry
Bucknell University
Lewisburg PA 17837-2005
jcooper@bucknell.edu
http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/jcooper
VOX 570-577-3673 FAX 570-577-1739