Actually, it's no surprise to me that the students didn't have questions.
For one thing, nobody wants to appear to be a fool in front of the others,
so nobody wants to be first with a question. For another, it's hard for
sleepy (from all-night studying) students to think that quickly. But there
are some things you can do, as an instructor, to "loosen things up" and use
the time for productive review. My favorite is to start off such a review
session with a two-question quiz. "Question 1: What do you think would be a
good question to put on the exam? Question 2: What topic or problem would
you like me to go over in class?" When the students can think quietly for a
few minutes and communicate their wishes without the peer pressure, they'll
come up with questions. I always explain that Question 1 isn't for me. It's
for them, because thinking about what might be on the exam is a good way to
study. They get about 5 minutes to do the quiz, then I collect it and
quickly thumb through it. Usually a quick glance is all I need to assess
which topics are the most troublesome. Then I'll go over those topics in
general, or read some of the student-generated exam questions to the class,
and that usually starts a dialogue and a good review session.
Vickie
-----Original Message-----
From: Tina Fanetti [mailto:FanettT@QUEST.WITCC.CC.IA.US]
Sent: Monday, May 13, 2002 8:13 AM
To: PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu
Subject: Am I nuts? or reviewing for Students
It is finals week here at WIT. Today is the last class day. I went =
to my 8am class. Gave back the test. Asked them if they had any que=
stions over anything they got wrong. Any questions about the final? =
Nothing. So my class lasted an entire 8 minutes.
Am I nuts to think that students want to review and might want the co=
rrect answers on an old test? Esp since they could show up again?
What am i doing wrong besides not singing and dancing?
tina
Tina Fanetti
Physics Instructor
Western Iowa Technical Community College
4647 Stone Ave
Sioux City IA 51102
712-274-8733 ext 1429
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