Perhaps the context of the specific subject can be an important factor here,
but somehow "remembering what they have been taught" just doesn't do it
for me. I recall the recent education symposium in which the presenter
used the chess analogy. Chess masters were demonstrated to remember
the placement of pieces on the board if they were arranged in a game
situation, but if randomly placed on the board, their recall of the pieces was
no better than the average subject. They could recall the placement only in
the context of the game. One cannot "remember" a game. One can learn a
game (remembering the rules notwithstanding), but then one must think,
reason, deduce, etc. to be efficient.
One can remember all of the great chessmasters and even all the great
games, but at best, unless this is applied in some appropriate way in
context, one will not be a proficient chess player just because of good
memory.
If "exam" is meant as a project or problem in which the student must
consolidate, integrate, analyze, etc. to complete it, then I suppose a "final
exam" (whether given/due the final day, the day before, the day of the
scheduled final, or whenever) is valid. By the same token, however, if a
student has demonstrated a proficient knowledge of the material to use it
porficiently and critically, then part of the process would involve no need to
"demonstrate" it at some predetermined time or place.
If, on the other hand, "final exam" means this is the day you prepare for by
stuffing a lot of information to "remember" into the brain long enough to get
to the test and spill it back out, I can't see this as relevant, useful,
stimulating, or anything else that raises us above the criticism of so-called
"bored" students.
I recall a freshman seminar student last year who on the question I put on
the final exam as to what could be improved about the course vs. what
could be dropped altogether said he found my term paper assignment
irrelevant to the purpose of the class. The term paper assignment was to
take two fictitious students and write a short story in which one was a
successful student and one was not, then write a second short story
reversing the characters and the outcome.
Could that student "remember" the number of colleges at UTC, the
locations of the departments, offices, classrooms, etc.? Could that student
recite the 128/60/30 hr rule or the specifics and reasons for general
education? Probably so. Had that student LEARNED anything from the
course vs. remembered a lot? Probably not. Will that student graduate?
Just as likely as anyone else. Would I consider that student to have a
"college education" upon graduation? Not as likely as the student who
rarely handed in work on time, often forgot details, but when he had to
answer exam questions that required deduction from information presented,
he excelled (and he wrote two short stories that were "all that").
And that's my square root of 25 cents worth!
Ed Smith
(who can remember the square root sign but that's about as far as it goes!)
> I agree completely with John Lynch that comprehensive final exams are very
> important. Based on my own experience as a student, and on decades of
> experience giving comprehensive finals, I believe that students who study
> for comprehensive final exams remember the material much better than
> students who do not. I am disturbed when I hear that in some classes,
> students are given the option of skipping a comprehensive final exam as a
> "reward," either for a high end-of-semester average or some other reason.
> Presumably, we all think that what we are teaching is worth learning--and
> worth remembering even after the semester is over. "Rewarding" a good
> student so that he or she is less likely to remember what we have taught
> them strikes me as a bad idea. What, after all, is the purpose of going to
> school if it is not to remember what one has been taught?
>
> Betsy Darken
>
> >Dear Community of Scholars:
> >
> >One of the things I carried away from the retreat last year was that
> >students can hold a lot of information in short term memory. If you're not
> >giving comprehensive finals there may be little left for students to carry
> >out of the class. If people prepared for athletic events the way many
> >study for exams the sweats wouldn't go on until the day before.
> >
> >Hope to see you at the Instructional Excellence Retreat. The process can
> >be great.
> >
> >Cheers,
> >
> >John
> >
> >John A. Lynch, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry
> >Department of Chemistry, #2252
> >University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
> >Chattanooga, TN 37403-2598
> >
> >
> >Office: 437 Grote Hall
> >Phone: (423) 755-4491
> >Fax: (423) 755-5234
> >Email: [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
> Mathematics Department, #6956
> UT-Chattanooga
> 615 McCallie Ave, Chattanooga, TN 37403
> Phone:423-755-4580;Fax: 423-755-4586; Email: [log in to unmask]
|
