next »

[kshenko]

When I recently gave a midterm in my soph/jr.-level undergrad course, I wanted to do a little unintrusive experiment to see how many students are actually listening to me when I am saying important things.

So, during the lecture right before the exam (it's a 90 minutes class, so I gave a bit of a lec and then the test), I just told them that a particular question was going to be in the test.  It was a simple conceptual question, right from the lecture/textbook, and I told them that they'd be tested on this item in a few minutes--and I even repeated my explanations several times.  Guess the proportion of my students who got this question right--it was about 70%. 

Wow.  Believe me, they were looking at me as I was repeating the definitions several times, but I suppose 30% of them were completely thinking about something else.

[cuyler]

Alternative Hypothesis: The few minutes between receipt of the information and the test was not a sufficinetly long period for some students -- even those paying attention -- to absorb and integrate that information.

[pinkmouse]

Alternative Hypothesis: The few minutes between receipt of the information and the test was not a sufficiently long period for some students -- even those paying attention -- to absorb and integrate that information.

Easy way to test that: ask the same question again at the start of the next class. I'm with the "not paying attention" conclusion, but if a few of those who missed it on the test got it right the next class, you could be on to something.

[thrillcheese]

What about the effect of text anxiety?

[polly_mer]

What about the effect of text anxiety?

OK, I've experienced that as a test taker. 

However, I've done the experiment of spending five minutes on a topic like the difference between humidity and relative humidity, put the difference on the board, left the notes up on the board, walked to the other end of the board, written the words "humidity" and "relative humidity" on the board so that they are in the same order on both ends, and asked, "What's the difference between humidity and relative humidity?", only to be met with blank stares.  They could remember, look at their notes, or look at the other end of the board.  Nada.  I might just as well have been speaking Russian <old interthreaduality>.

I have also done the experiment of asking the same question on multiple homeworks, every practice test, and every test until the whole class gets it right.  This semester, I am now at 12 repetitions of "What is the acceleration at the top of an arc for a thrown ball?"  I'm hoping that 13 is the lucky number where no one will give the incorrect answer of zero.

Consequently, while test anxiety may play a role, some students really are not paying attention even when the instructor says something like "And remember this exact problem will be on the test.  Memorize it."

[geogeek]

Didn't the military once show that a person must hear something at least 7 times before it sinks in? 

Next time try giving them the question a couple of class meetings before the exam.  You might be pleasantly surprised....or not.

[kedves]

For the sake of argument, assume they were trying to listen and remember.  Just because it seems simple to you, and you explained it several times, does not mean they understood it.

[magistra]

I agree that this was a flawed experiment, but it's true.  I'll take questions before exams, and if there's time I may review something briefly.  So this is a concept that I'd lectured on, they'd studied, they'd done the homework for -- at least in theory -- and students will still miss it.  The one-minute review of the salient features doesn't help.  Students either know it or they don't.

Of course, most are also so focused on the test that they don't care; they just want it to start.

[labronx]

Didn't the military once show that a person must hear something at least 7 times before it sinks in? 

My apology first - I have no intent to hijack a thread.
But this comment, geogeek, is interesting.

Do you have any references on it?

[mad_doctor]

I'm supporting the "don't give a cr@p" hypothesis.  I've done this before.  You get the same result even if you do it during your regular lectures leading up to the exam.  I'll write the question on the board, tell them it will be on the test exactly as written, tell them the answer, reassure them that this isn't a trick, and still about 1/3 of the class will get it wrong.

[karmie]

I'm supporting the "don't give a cr@p" hypothesis.  I've done this before.  You get the same result even if you do it during your regular lectures leading up to the exam.  I'll write the question on the board, tell them it will be on the test exactly as written, tell them the answer, reassure them that this isn't a trick, and still about 1/3 of the class will get it wrong.

I second that hypothesis. The class meeting before the midterm's class, I lectured over EXACTLY what was on the midterm.  I gave my students the exact prompt they would receive and then I wrote on the board an outline of main points to use (complete with examples and an analysis of the significance of each point) when writing their essay.  During the class, I REPEATEDLY said "This IS your midterm. You NEED to be taking notes. I am GIVING you the answers."   In a class of 26, only 5 people had paper in front of them and were writing.

When I first did this, I questioned my motives. It really led to a crisis of teaching-faith because I was hand-feeding my students the answers in COLLEGE. 

....2/3rd of the class flat out failed the midterm. 

[hulkhogan]

I faintly remember from my undergrad days in foreign language teaching methods that some French scholar had worked out a system according to which information sinks in best when it is reviewed on days 2, 4, 7, and 11 with Day 1 being the day of the original presentation. Sort of the 7-11 method, I guess, although it frightens me to even phrase it that way.

[kshenko]

Oh, people (not everyone--some!), I didn't say this was a "scientific experiment!"  I certainly don't intend to publish this, nor do I have my control group, IRB approval, etc. etc...  It was just for my own purposes after many of my students chronically failing to comply w/ my simple instructions.

Sure, anxiety, the question was too hard (which it really wasn't, based on how other classes have done), etc. may have played roles, but I still find what happened amazing--not for its scientic value but instead for the purpose of adjusting my future strategies and expectations.    I agree w/ mad_doctor, karmie, etc. that my experience supports the view that handholding doesn't appear to help.

[snrubmas]

And wait, because the test was that day, weren't they already supposed to have studied the material and be ready for it?  The fact that you told them something that they should have already mastered before walking in that day makes this experiment way more compelling than if you told them something for the very first time.

[magistra]

Oh, people (not everyone--some!), I didn't say this was a "scientific experiment!"  I certainly don't intend to publish this, nor do I have my control group, IRB approval, etc. etc...  It was just for my own purposes after many of my students chronically failing to comply w/ my simple instructions.

Sure, anxiety, the question was too hard (which it really wasn't, based on how other classes have done), etc. may have played roles, but I still find what happened amazing--not for its scientic value but instead for the purpose of adjusting my future strategies and expectations.    I agree w/ mad_doctor, karmie, etc. that my experience supports the view that handholding doesn't appear to help.

I think it's cute that you think we wouldn't analyze it to death.  We are academics, after all.