MUST GRADE FINAL EXAMS. Don't wanna do it.
I have a number of informal pedagogical experiments going at the moment. I wish I had been thinking more along these lines in August: I have had two sections of the same course, with the possibility of a variable-control situation. I haven't really availed myself of it, except that one section had a review session and the other did not (cancelled due to the aforesaid snowstorm). So all my discoveries are informal, anecdotal, and alas not suited to write-up in professional journals.
In my other course, I gave out the final exam questions (10 of them) and told them I would pick 3. There was some whining about "that's so hard, for us to prepare 10 - why can't WE choose?" My questions were good questions, I thought: but am I getting good answers? How to get students to think more deeply and creatively, rather than just trying to cram the material and give me what they think I am looking for? In my first exam, there was quite a bit of good thinking. I hope I'll see it here too. But I have to find ways to model that creativity and help them to practice that creativity, throughout the semester.
My hypothesis is: discovery can lead to deep thinking. Must practice that in the spring semester.
Posted by otto0114 at December 20, 2007 06:45 PM