Re: extra credit, GPA, etc.

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

I agree totally with John B.  However one does not have to give a large
number of extra credit tasks to achieve this.  Besides using the results of
PER to guide instruction, students can be given the possibility of earning
grades by completing all of the in class and homework.  Grading can be
tailored to producing an acceptable grade if the student puts in the effort.
However the tests should always have a mixture of tasks that require
understanding and process skills.  My exams have some multiple choice
questions which severely tax the students who do not understand the
concepts.  But some of my problems require that students follow the problem
solving process laid out in Minds on Physics.  In addition there are some
problems which require simple process skills.  As a result my A students
generally have good scores on the FMCE and show good gain, but my D students
usually are the ones who show little gain.  Then of course my C students are
a mixture of variable understanding.  Some students who have awesome
understanding just fail to turn in the work.  I have not been able to solve
that problem.  As for Fs, since my average grade is around C+, B- most
students can manage to turn in enough work to avoid that fate.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX

> If we lived in a perfect world, students would come to
> HS motivated, well-prepared, wanting to learn for its
> own sake, and free of the grade-grubbing virus. But
> that's simply not the case. Parents and students BOTH
> believe that GPA is extremely important. Furthermore,
> both are typically addicted to extra credit from years
> of abuse. So, I see basically two choices for HS
> physics teachers. Present a "here's the formula, go
> crunch the numbers" course where little thinking and
> real understanding of intro physics is required; such
> an approach will easily produce enough A's & B's so as
> not to cause admin or parent problems. Or, OTOH,
> require students to think and explain how they know
> what they know and to REALLY understand the concepts
> behind the "formulas" (How I hate that word). For
> most, this will be their first such experience in
> school and can be very intimidating. If this
> intellectually-challenging approach does not provide
> "life preservers" to produce the expected number of
> A's & B's, parents and administrators howl and
> students get extremely discouraged. I try to follow
> the second path. I view the use of some "fluff" extra
> credit as the price I have to pay for really
> challenging students. I assume most college
> instructors would prefer these students to those
> coming out of the first approach. True?
>
> If there's another realistic alternative for HS, I'd
> love to hear it. John Barrere  Apex HS   Apex, NC
>
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