Re: grading schemes

[John Clement <clement@HAL-PC.ORG>]

> Hugh Haskell is correct.  The extra credit I strongly disagree
> with is extra
> credit that is primarily busy work.  This seems to be rampant in high
> schools around here.  I know this from talking to students coming to
> college, I know it from talking to my son and daughter, I know it from
> talking to high school teachers.

I just recently tried an extra credit idea that was very small, but I think
was very successful.  I gave only one extra credit assignment as follows.
At the beginning of the semester my book as a simple exercise where the
students answer a variety of questions.  It is essentially a pretest and
resembles the FCI, but is not identical to it.  At that time students beg me
for the answers, and I say you will be learning them as the semester goes
on.  As the last assuagement I gave them a copy of the answer sheet for this
activity and asked them to answer the questions again, and then look at
their previous answers and mark each one that differed.  I offered a single
bonus daily grade which would amount to 1% increase on the final quarter
grade.  Most of the students did the assignment and many expressed surprise
that they could give such stupid answers when they first came into class.
They realized that they had undergone a paradigm change, but of course did
not realize until then that it had happened.

I will give bonus credit to any student who comes into tutorials and really
wants to understand some of the hard parts of the homework.  I will award
immediate bonus points on that particular homework.  I do not give any other
extra credit, and I tell them when they get a bad test grade to do better
next time.  There are other teacher who are holding the line and making the
students accountable, but ultimately the buck stops at the colleges.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX