One of the subtle things that some teachers do to reinforce such beliefs is "taking off points" when grading exam questions. I remind students that they come into the exam with zero points and that they earn/accumulate credit with good answers. That is, you'll never see "-3" or "-5" on my exams; not because I'm avoiding "negativity" or anything, but because it makes no sense if you start from zero. I feel like I have had some success in starting to change the mind-set by doing this. It's not as subtle as it seems.
On Feb 18, 2009, at 10:40 AM, Mike Palij wrote: > On Wed, 18 Feb 2009 05:36:16 -0800, Christopher D. Green wrote: >> According to a UC Irvine report covered by the NYT today, about one >> third of students expect B's just for attending lectures, and 40 >> percent >> believe they earn B's by doing required reading. >> http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/education/18college.html?_r=2 >> >> If I had only known... > > There are some things that are unclear here. Although the article > seems to suggest these expectations are based on student's experiences > in K-12, I have to wonder what do the syllabi for courses they take > say about how the final course grade is calculated. Consider, if the > final course grade is based on a 1-100 point scale with "thresholds" > for different letter grades, then how can such expectations be > maintained > if the student is told this is how the final course grade is > constituted: > > 10% - Attendance, participation, and homework > 20% - Exam #1 > 20% - Exam #2 > 30% - Final Exam (cumulative) > 20% - Papers: 2 Papers (about 10 pages each; 10% each) > > If one lays out the components of the final grade, I know > that a student may still hold unrealistic beliefs ("but I always > showed up for class, how could I fail?") but the instructor can > point out how and why the beliefs are unrealistic ("attendance > at best counts less than 10% of the final course grade"). > > So, are students' expectations unrealistic because they are > "delusional" or carrying over beliefs from high school or is it due > to the lack of specificity that some professors have in identifying > how a course grade is determined (i.e., the point contribution of > specific activities)? > > -Mike Palij > New York University > m...@nyu.edu > > > > > > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) > > ======================================================== Steven M. Specht, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology Chair, Department of Psychology Utica College Utica, NY 13502 (315) 792-3171 "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." Martin Luther King Jr. --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
