lillie@pop.uky.edu wrote:
>
> The whole partial credit issue gives me a headache. I try not to think
> about it very often.
>
I hear you. Unfortunately (or maybe not), life is frequently "partly
right". I try to keep a positive attitude about partial credit (and
life in general).
> About the bridge problem. One should bear in mind that half the doctors
> practicing out there were in the bottom 50% of their med. school classes.
>
So true. Acceptance of this property of averages, throughout society,
would sure help avoid many problems.
> lillie
>
> At 02:38 AM 8/1/97 -0400, CoolMath2@AOL.COM wrote:
> >I've enjoyed the back-and-forth on the pros and cons of multiple choice exams
> >(which I think I somehow started!). 8-)
> >
> >So, here's another one to kick around. Let me play devil's advocate for a
> >minute.....
> >
> >You're driving over a bridge. It collapses. You find the engineer who
> >designed it and ask him (from your wheelchair) how he could have made such a
> >mistake! His reply, "Well, I never did really get any answers right on my
> >exams.... But I got B's and C's on partial credit! The bridge *did* last for
> >5 years!"
> >
> >Or....
> >
> >After being in that bridge/collapse accident, you wake up on an operating
> >table. The Dr. who is about to open you up survived college on partial
> >credit!! Do you want that Dr? "Let's see........ the appendix is on the
> >left - no, right side!! How many points do I get for that?"
> >
Well, I imagine that most engineeers have considerable anxiety about
(and invest many resources into) avoiding 'partially right'. They
should; that's a major part of what's important. In a math class,
though, is 'totally right' what we want our students to focus on?
> >Perhaps these have been exagerations. Perhaps they haven't.
> >
> >I have been fretting about the whole idea of partial credit. The scariest
> >part is that I worry that not many students would pass my classes without it!
As long as YOU can justify the partial credit as reflecting student
performance, don't worry. We should worry if students would not pass
the class without it AND don't deserve to pass; if you can
professionally justify it (which you probably can), you are doing your
job right.
> > The course that scares me the most is my Math for Elementary School Teachers
> >--- A student (who wants to teach *your* children) cannot complete a long
> >division problem correctly, but asserts that she got it almost right, so I
> >need to give her more points!
> >
I agree that 'future teachers' present a special challenge. In some
ways, they are more like the engineers: Their professional performance
will be judged based on their precision as well as their insight and
creativity. Hang tough!!
> >How many of your students have argued with you over the amount of partial
> >credit that you have deemed appropriate for their partial solution? Or,
> >better yet, they've somehow gotten the right answer..... but the work breaks
> >all the rules or doesn't match up and you don't give them full credit! That
> >brings about even more complaints.
I actually don't get too much of this; maybe that's because I come
across as such a strict/nasty person (to my students) -- or, maybe it's
because of gender. (I honestly do believe that female math instructors
tend to get more complaints like this than males; if this is true, I
would blame it on societal problems with gender roles.)
> >
> >This will probably bother me for the next 27 years of my career........ What
> >does everyone out there think?
I think that these complaints will exist long after 27 years. In some
ways, that's OK -- "complaining" can be a learning process for students;
hopefully, they learn which issues to focus on, within our courses.
--
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< from >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Jack Rotman phone (517)483-1079
Math Professor ROTMAN@ALPHA.LANSING.CC.MI.US
Lansing Community College Lansing, MI
"Like all art & science, mathematics surrounds us."
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Math Success ! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
dept web page http://www.lansing.cc.mi.us/sas/mathsci
****************************************************************************
* To post to the list: email mathedcc@archives.math.utk.edu *
* To unsubscribe, send mail to: majordomo@archives.math.utk.edu *
* In the mail message, enter ONLY the words: unsubscribe mathedcc *
* Words in the Subject: line are NOT processed! *
* Archives at http://archives.math.utk.edu/hypermail/mathedcc/ *
****************************************************************************