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Concerned about grades



Let's try a little thought experiment. Suppose you use
the FCI as your sole grading criterion for a first-
semester introductory physics course, and suppose you
use the traditional scale, with 90%=A, 80%=B, etc.
The result would be a huge number of failing grades,
and perhaps 3% A's.

What does this example tell us?
(1) If you want to boost your students' egos by
giving exams on which their raw scores are high,
you will inevitably have to omit any problems that
require conceptual understanding. Everything
will have to be a numerical plug-in problem, and
probably a numerical plug-in that's the same as
one they've done before, just with different numbers.

(2) Most students cannot turn themselves into thoroughly
Newtonian thinkers during a one-semester course that
comes relatively late in life. They need to start
physics earlier, just as they start math and English
earlier. We should not give inflated grades that cover
up the problem.

Ben Crowell
Fullerton College