One of the earlier posts [sorry I forgot which] on this subject led me
to look at physics humor pages on the web. A section on incompetant
cheaters really brought back memories. I expect that everyone has some
hilarious stories to tell; here are 3 of mine:
1. One pair of students a few year back (in an honors class!) decided
to share information on an exam. I give out blank paper at the
beginning of the class and tell everyone to sign all the sheets so that
none of them get irretrievably misplaced. These two passed sheets back
and forth so that they could see each others answers. One of them
managed to turn in a sheet with his name and work on the front and the
other's name and work on the back!
2. Long ago in a Keller plan course I was using multiple versions of
each of the exams. Students took various versions, restudying if
necessary until they got an essentially perfect score. I numbered the
exams, wrote down which one they had been given, and graded them against
the corresponding scale. One day after class I had two copies of exam
12 and none of exam 9. Turns out one of the students had been given the
answers to exam 12, so when he got exam 9 he changed the number to 12
and wrote down the answers he had been given. Of course, I just looked
up whom I had given exam 9 to and sent him directly to the dean.
3. Later in the same course my TA found the answers to several of the
versions written down in ink on a desktop at the back of the room. We
grabbed some ink eradicator and headed for the classroom. For some
reason I decided to take my answer key along. On comparison we found
that none of the sets of answers were good enough to get a pass. So we
left them there.
I do worry a bit that we may only be catching the stupid ones.
--
Maurice Barnhill, mvb@udel.edu http://www.physics.udel.edu/~barnhill/
Physics Dept., University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716