Throughout the first two classes of our seminar, we talked a lot about how Dr. G likes to make students “learn by doing.” I think that this was certainly the case during class on Tuesday. Though we spent the first half of class mostly talking about the test as well as different types of eclipses, we spent the second half of class doing the moon exercise in groups. Personally, I thought that I learned more about the moon’s phases in a couple of minutes of doing the exercise than I did from reading all of chapter 2 from the textbook. It was just so much easier to understand the entire process once you could clearly see everything occurring around you on a miniature scale. Do you think it was fairly easy to learn about the processes of the moon from the exercise or do you think a lecture would have been more helpful?
On Thursday, we had our first of four tests. The test consisted of roughly 35 multiple choice questions and 4 or 5 short answer/free response. There was also a bonus question in which we were able to write about anything that was covered in class but not directly on the exam. Furthermore, for multiple choice questions that we thought were arbitrary, we were allowed to show that we understood the concept and possibly still receive full credit even if the answer we picked was wrong. I think that the multiple choice questions really caused us to think while we were taking the test rather than just regurgitating memorized material. For example, in one of the questions we were asked to determine the size of an object that was compared to the Milky Way. Though it would have been very easy for most students to get the correct answer if we were simply asked how big the Milky Way was, this question took more thought because it consisted of two parts: knowing how big the diameter of the Milky Way was and then comparing the object size to the size of the Milky Way. Though I am having a little bit of trouble remembering the exact questions, I felt that this was the case for a large number of other multiple choice questions on the test. Do you think that Dr. G does this in order to cause students to actually apply the material they memorized? I also noticed that some of the questions on the test were the same questions that were asked on the PowerPoints during lectures. Do you think that Dr. G. did this in order to reward people for coming to class and paying attention or do you believe it was for another reason?
In my opinion, I thought that being able to receive full credit for multiple choice questions we thought were arbitrary was a great idea. I cannot explain how many times that I knew a concept well but was tripped up by the phrasing of the question or by ambiguous answers while taking tests in other classes. Furthermore, people might have two completely separate ways of thinking about one concept yet both still be correct. However, if an answer is not the same as how you conceptualize it yourself, you might be compelled to pick the wrong answer. Did you think Dr. G did this in order to make sure that students’ grades were based more on how well they knew the material rather than how well they were at answering test questions? Did you think that the test was fair overall or do you think that some changes would be beneficial?
