exams (rant)

[Rob Reinsvold]

Monique,

I just finished grading an exam and had the same frustration.  I'm
reminded on the saying my grade school teachers always quoted "You can
lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.".

Hang in there.

Rob

Monique Reed wrote:

> Ever give an exam that gives the students every opportunity to show
> what they know, that includes examples you have gone over in class,
> that covers just what the syllabus says it will, that you have you
> talked about with great skill and enthusiasm, that reinforces what
> they are doing in the lab---and they all still fail?
>
> We have done everything we can think of to make the material
> interesting, to have live material (botany class) and not just pickled
> or dry stuff, to back up lectures with web-based materials, to have
> lab and lecture impart non-conflicting information, to be available
> for outside-class help, and to encourage them to think, compare,
> theorize, etc.  This semester, nothing seems to have worked.
>
> I have just marked the biggest pile of incompletely-memorized facts,
> poorly-understood theories, fuzzy thinking, bad spelling, and
> atrocious handwriting yet.  We know we're teaching, but I have no idea
> what the students think they're doing.  It's certainly not reading the
> text or studying...
>
> Monique Reed
> Texas A&M

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