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Re: Take home tests?
Posted:
Feb 10, 2010 11:06 AM
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I have given two take home tests so far in Alg 2 and Trig, but I had the
students and parents sign a contract first. The contract indicates that the
student may work with other students in completing the test, use their
notes, textbook and internet as resources and ask me for help only after a
full attempt has been made.
They may not just copy another student¹s paper or copy the actual solution
directly from the internet. (i.e. They ask ³Dr. Math² for the answer.)
Also, they may not just have a tutor do the work for them.
On the day the students hand in the take home test, they are given a quiz
with three or four questions that are identical to questions on the actual
take home test. If their work on the quiz is consistent with the work on
the take home test, they may keep the grade on the take home. If the work
on the quiz is inconsistent, meaning they achieved a high score on the take
home test but bombed the quiz, they must retake the entire test with me
after school within two days. As was mentioned in a previous post, I also
require work on every question, even on the multiple choice questions.
The bottom line I want the students to practice and understand the
material. So far it is going fairly well; many students work in groups
after school to work on homework or a take home test. Since time is limited
in this course, I feel that much of the review of previous topics will need
to be done by the students. Those students who are completing the take home
tests in the manner I have intended should be prepared for the exam. As for
the other students, it is their loss if they are not taking advantage of
this opportunity. I know they are juniors, but I also have the parents sign
an updated progress report every two to three weeks so that the parents can
see how much effort their child has been putting forth. By the time the
regents exam rolls around, there should be no surprises.
-Genevieve
On 2/10/10 8:57 AM, "TKENYON@crcs.wnyric.org" <TKENYON@crcs.wnyric.org>
wrote:
> I don't worry about cheating - the better kids - it gets them to reflect on
> their errors, catch their own mistakes, etc. They generally don't just
> straight up copy an entire take home test (although I'm sure it happens on
> occasion.)
>
> The poorer students - they're more motivated to at least do something at home.
> If they don't do it, I get to fall back on the "I did everything I could to
> help them out - I even gave them a take home test & they got a zero." But
> even copying an entire take home exam is better than nothing.
>
> Note: no (or very limited) multiple choice on take home exams - every problem
> has to have work, not just an answer. And right up front I tell them "if you
> did your work on another paper & don't turn it in, you're not getting a grade
> for that work - so you don't get credit for that problem."
>
> My students quarter averages (for regents exam courses) are 50% test, 30%
> quiz, 20% homework. I don't count take home exams as tests - it skews the
> test average too much. But with roughly 2 dozen quizzes & 30+ homeworks for
> the quarter, next week I can assign the January Regents exam to my geometry
> class, tell them it's going to count as 2 homeworks and 2 quizzes - they'll be
> happy that it's 4 easy grades, yet it won't significantly inflate their
> grades. (If it does, I can just make a test slightly harder.)
>
> -Tom
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