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Re: Calculators and "Cheating"

One way to make cheating on tests less likely is to give tests that
don't lend themselves to copying. I have had virtually no problem
with cheating on my tests over the past few years because I give the
type of problem that requires a complete set up and a picture and all
the math done on the page. This kind of thing is difficult to copy,
and even if you are going to copy, it is pretty dicey to do so, since
you have no idea that the person from whom you are copying is doing
it right--in fact on those instances where I did detect copying, it
was usually from one wrong answer to another. Of course, copying from
right answer to right answer is more difficult to detect, but I don't
have 305 people in my class, so I can more or less keep track of who
sits next to whom and will note overly identical answers that way.
The most common problem I have is when I give the same test on
different days, I sometimes see evidence that there has been
information passed from earlier takers to later ones (even though I
grade on a curve, so that people who pass information are only
hurting themselves). When I see this, I take the trouble to give the
later class a slightly different test, without advance warning. Lots
of hair pulling and gnashing of teeth among the perpetrators when
this happens, and the dramatically lower scores they receive usually
balance out the higher scores they got on earlier tests.

As most of you know, the College Board has caved in on the calculator
issue and now lets students use any calculator on the free response
part of the Physics APs (no calculators at all on the multiple choice
part, though). Then, to level the playing field for those students
who either don't have access to fancy calculators or don't know how
to use them, they include a page of formulas that the students can
use on the test. This means that they can no longer ask the type of
questions that amount to writing down the appropriate equation for
some situation. This is fine with me, since I thought those were
pretty dumb questions anyway.

I think this is a good idea. I have been giving my students a formula
page to use on tests for years. Since I am violently
anti-memorization, I do not want my students to think that they can
solve any problem given to them if they can just dredge up from
memory "the right formula" and plug in the numbers without having to
think about it. It also makes it unnecessary for them to hide all
their formulas in their calculators. If they want to put text into
their calculators, that's fine with me, also, since the effort they
will make in putting together the text that they think they will need
is probably excellent study for the test, and once there in the
calculator, they won't need it, since the effort they put into
preparing it left them knowing it without having to refer to the crib.

Our school requires that all students purchase a TI-83-Plus graphing
calculator when they arrive. The math department uses this
extensively in class, having the students do all sorts of graphical
techniques as part of classroom exercises. What this means to me is
that I don't have to learn how to use the calculators (I don't think
they are very intuitive anyway, so, since I don't use them that much,
I don't have to continually relearn the methods). The students can do
any of the things I need them to do almost instantly on their
calculators. If I give them a physics problem on a test that involves
the solution of two simultaneous equations, and they want to solve it
on their calculators, that's fine. The problems I use of that nature
are usually too simple for that to be of any advantage anyway. It
also means that, using the CBL units, they can do individual lab
problems as part of the test, and we can even individualize the lab
problems, to minimize collusion.

The bottom line, as I see it is, don't sweat the calculators. Let
them use whatever they have. Just give them problems for which having
the calculator is not an advantage. In fact, I really enjoy it when I
come up with a problem for which using the calculator puts that
student at a disadvantage relative to those who don't use one.

This makes the tests harder to grade, you say? Well, I guess that's
the price of progress. If this problem forces us to do away with
multiple choice questions, then the world will be immeasurably better
off. The solution is to pressure your department chair into letting
you hire more graders.

As for me, I wish we could go back to the slide rule days, but if
there was ever whistling in the wind, that's it.

Hugh

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.



()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()

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


Hugh Haskell
<mailto://hhaskell@mindspring.com>

Let's face it. People use a Mac because they want to, Windows because they
have to..
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