STAtistics / Mr. Hansen

2/11/2011

Student Suggestions for Reducing the Culture of Cramming

Dear Students:

    Every year, my students teach me something, and this year is no exception. Below I have compiled your suggestions for reducing the “cramming culture” at STA, and I will sincerely try to implement at least a few of these before the end of the year. Thank you for your suggestions and for your patience!

1.	Make HW and projects worth more, tests worth less.
2.	Oral quizzes. [Suggested by several students.]
3.	Always allow a re-take. First test highlights what skills are lacking, re-test removes the discouragement. Perhaps have both tests count but with the lower score weighted less.
4.	Quotation from Alan Bennett: “I count examinations . . . as the enemy of education.” Overvaluing of testing is what leads to the cramming culture. [One proposal I have seriously considered is to make each test “must-pass”: students who fail the written test because of test anxiety, inadequate preparation, confusion, or whatever reason, have to sit around a seminar table and have a discussion moderated by Mr. Hansen. The discussion continues until everyone reaches a passing level of understanding, and if that requires students to help other students, so much the better. Any student who shows clear evidence of preparation for the seminar, as well as evidence of retaining knowledge from earlier in the year, earns the right to take a scored re-test; otherwise, the original test score is changed to a 70.]
5.	Less fill-in-the-blank, more conceptual longer-form answers. No memorizing of vocab words. [I happen to disagree with this suggestion. It is impossible to learn statistics without knowing the vocabulary and notation. Perhaps a 90% score on a vocabulary/notation pretest should be required in order to allow people to take the “real” test the next day.]
6.	Small quizzes, announced a day in advance but occurring at irregular intervals.
7.	More conceptual focus, less number-crunching. [As much as I agree with this suggestion, the reality is that the AP exam includes a certain amount of number-crunching. Thus we have to do some of that.]
8.	Make class participation a component of the grade.
9.	Review reading notes along the way. Hard for Mr. Hansen to enforce, but certainly effective.
10.	Occasional “touch-up quizzes” on earlier material that students might have forgotten.
11.	More discussion-based teaching to get more students involved in the class. [I totally agree with this one, but unfortunately there are some students simultaneously asking for less discussion and more number-crunching. Finding the right balance is always difficult.]
12.	Do the work when it is assigned, and actually do it so it becomes a review instead of trying to teach oneself.
13.	HW should be on the previous day’s discussion, not on what will be discussed the following day. [Good suggestion, though it’s hard to see what this has to do with cramming.]
14.	Some HW should cover earlier material so that we have to go back and revisit that information.
15.	Place more priority on HW and notes. Understanding increases when we actually do all the HW and reading notes.
16.	More announced quizzes. [Several students said this. One student said the quizzes should be 2 points each.]
17.	More explicit description of what students are expected to learn. It’s hard to keep current if we don’t know what “current” means until we pick up the test.
18.	More quizzes, closed notes.
19.	Make sure we have gone over the homework and that everyone knows how to do it.
20.	More applied statistics done in class. Although the text does this, doing it in class as well would “ground” the information and make it more tangible.
21.	Give the people selected for HW audit a short oral quiz, so that there is always a chance of being selected to take a quiz.
22.	Low-risk wake-up call: announced quiz on basic material. All that is proven is that we understood the basics of the textbook reading.
23.	Provoke thought by asking students more questions on the spot about what the HW is about.
24.	Make tests cumulative.
25.	More review days, with assigned reading notes from the Barron’s review book. The Barron’s book is a good way to review without repetitive [and presumably boring] rereading.
26.	Prioritize statistics, not anecdotes or mechanics. [I included this comment, even though it does not seem to have anything to do with cramming, because the comment is frequently made by students.]
27.	Crucial notes on the board, key terms for each day. [Note: The textbook already does this, which is why I often try to provoke a discussion in class, so that we can do something different from the textbook. But I am well aware that many students would like a class that closely tracks and reinforces the textbook.]
28.	Must-pass online quizzes (take as many times as needed).
29.	Grade class notes to ensure full attention during class discussions. [A variation on this that I have considered is to have a rotating “scribe” duty. Each student gets several stints as the designated scribe and has the job of preparing the class notes for the day. Mr. Hansen grades the notes for completeness and quality, then posts them on the Web for all to see.]