Re: [Phys-l] not our majors now!

["Anthony Lapinski" <Anthony_Lapinski@pds.org>]

I've been teaching at private high schools for over 15 years. Cheating is
everywhere, and it has gotten worse in recent years (especially with
widespread internet use). And they only think it's "wrong" if they get
caught.

I've had to redesign my course to minimize the cheating. I assign (math)
homework but do not collect/grade it. We simply review it the next day. I
stress how important it is to practice physics, and most kids to the
homework. They have all the answers since I usually assign odd-numbered
problems. I'll know on the test who's doing the work. Students should
ultimately be responsible for their learning, and a test should reflect
this.

So after a test, I pass them back, field their questions, and then collect
them. I don't do "retests" or "test corrections." I use similar tests
every year to track which questions students get correct/incorrect, but I
don't want to have to spend hours writing a good thinking test (with
conceptual and mathematical questions). They can see their tests in any
term (e.g., to review for the term exam), but they can't take their tests
with them.

Hope these ideas are useful, in college or high school classes.

Forum for Physics Educators <phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu> writes:
> My colleagues in the department are tired of hearing me complain so I'm
> taking this to a higher authority: PHYS-L.  :-)
>
> I'm teaching E&M to a class of 8 majors.  I'm using Griffiths as I've
> done for over many years, and actually think I'm doing a better job in
> teaching the course than ever (practice makes perfect).  I think the
> "disease" that seems to be infecting the general student population has
> made its way into our majors.  The students are not engaging the
> material; i.e. they are not putting in the work to stay up with the
> course and often wait until the last night to start the problem
> assignment.  They don't seem to have a grasp of even basic concepts from
> the intro. course.  I gave a pop quiz to confirm my suspicions which
> consisted of intro course level problems and except for 2 students, the
> other 6 failed.  I've talked to them about keeping up, how this is a
> challenging course for majors, etc. etc. etc.  The worst of it is for the
> "6" their problem sets are near perfect and closely resemble Griffiths'
> solution manual, yet when I ask them basic question  in class, none can
> come up with the answers.  I've told them that I can't stop them from
> using such a manual, but it will do them no good on the exams, and will
> probably contribute to their failure if they are not truly trying to work
> on the material.  I've never expected this from junior level physics
> majors.  GE students in an intro course, yes, but not here.  I've taught
> this course probably 15 times and this is the first instance that I've
> seen such a lack of effort on the part of the students. Oh, by the way,
> the 2 who seem to be keeping up are both foreign students, the "6" are
> American.
>
> Rant off.  Any ideas folks?
>
>
>                                Mike Monce
>                                Connecticut College
> _______________________________________________
> Forum for Physics Educators
> Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
> https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l