Re: What to do now

["Dewey Dykstra, Jr." <dykstrad@EMAIL.BOISESTATE.EDU>]

> I read an idea, that appeals to me, on one of these lists.  I remember its
> being due to that Gadfly Schwartz (retired UCB).  It is for the students near
> the end of the class to write in a few sentences the main point(s) of the
> class.



> They are collected and graded!

I respectfully suggest that they not be graded in the normal sense.
In fact most of the successful applications of this particular
procedure never grade what is written, although they might give
students credit for contributing their ideas.

To ask them for what they think you said you have to trust them that
they are writing what THEY think you said.  How do you know what THEY
think except that THEY tell you?  This gives you very useful feedback
if you do not grade them but give them credit.  Another good thing to
ask them is what they think about some issue that has come up in
class.  Again, if you ask what THEY think then the best you can do is
give credit.  Here again grading them in the normal sense will yield
you nothing of any great value, least of any enthusiasm on their part
for the course.

> This will serve several purposes:  It
> will increase attention, (assuming they are grade driven), sharpen their
> ability to summarize concisely (tautology?), and also indicate how well you've
> been "putting it across."
>
> bc
>
> Mariam Dittman wrote:
>
> >  I just heard a neat idea from one of my new instructors.  In one physics
> >  class she took the students were all issued a card with one side red and one
> >  side green.  If you were following the lecture, you turned the green side
> >  up.  If you got lost, you turned the red side up.  The instructor could then
>  > stop and repeat or try again to explain a topic when red cards appeared.
>  >
>  > Mariam Dittmann


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Dewey I. Dykstra, Jr.                 Phone: (208)426-3105
Professor of Physics                  Dept:  (208)426-3775
Department of Physics/MCF421/418      Fax: (208)426-4330
Boise State University            dykstrad@email.boisestate.edu
1910 University Drive                 Boise Highlanders
Boise, ID 83725-1570                  novice piper: GHB, Uilleann

"As a result of modern research in physics, the ambition and hope,
still cherished by most authorities of the last century, that physical
science could offer a photographic picture and true image of reality
had to be abandoned."  --M. Jammer in Concepts of Force, 1957.

"If what we regard as real depends on our theory, how can we make
reality the basis of our philosophy? ...But we cannot distinguish
what is real about the universe without a theory...it makes no sense
to ask if it corresponds to reality, because we do not know what
reality is independent of a theory."--S. Hawking in Black Holes
and Baby Universes, 1993.

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