Re: [Phys-l] SuperMemo

[Brian Blais <bblais@bryant.edu>]

On Apr 27, 2009, at 12:43 , LaMontagne, Bob wrote:

> If I deliberately try to memorize student names I come up with the  
> same negative results. Having a 65 year old brain doesn't help any.
>
> However, I take a picture of each of my students on the first day  
> of classes. I assign daily homework. When grading the homework I  
> bring up on my computer the picture of that student. I do the same  
> when I enter grades. In a couple of weeks I know all the names  
> without deliberately trying to memorize.

I wrote a little game, which shows me a picture of a random student,  
and about 10 choices to choose from.  It then times me in getting the  
name right, and keeps score.  I, too, am very bad with names and this  
helps somewhat, but it is a little short-lived -- I often forget many  
names once the semester is over.  I find I have to really work at it  
to keep them in mind.

I have sometimes wondered whether this type of thing would lead a  
student more towards physics, and away from biology, because of the  
difference in memorization.  In physics you need only remember a few  
things, and then derive the rest.


			Brian Blais


--
Brian Blais
bblais@bryant.edu
http://web.bryant.edu/~bblais