I had to comment on the thread. I've been involved in teaching since, 1958
and have taught at many levels (maybe too many). I tried the open book
approach and believed at one time it was a good method but I always wondered
it it really was the best way to go. I tried take-home exams but was never
really heppy with the results.
There have been a number of list members advising the use of 'crib' sheets
that could be taken into the class.
I used the same procedure for an number of years and I thought that the
concept of a "crib" sheet worked well. It did, as a number of you have said,
make the students reduce the information to a single sheet. This was helpful
in developing their study methods.
In explaining this technique to a fellow worker he suggested that I should
have the students build a working list of 4"x6" cards. Each card holding
information about a particular test or statistical routine. The student
could put an example problem on one side and the type test, when it is used,
why it is used and the formula on the other side. In this way, when the
student left school the deck of cards could be of use to him/her in the
future. I decided that it was a better plan than the crib sheet since the
crib sheet was generally discarded at the end of the term.
I have been doing the "deck" thing since 1987 and have had a number of former
students contact me to tell me how much the cards helped them in their work.
Most didn't keep their text nor their class notes but did keep the cards.
I'm using the technique again this term and the students continue to like the
method.
Just my two cents.
GOD BLESS AMERICA
Dr. Robert C. Knodt
4949 Samish Way, #31
Bellingham, WA 98226
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
"The vocation of every man and woman is to serve other people." -- Tolstoy
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