Topic: Bang Your Head on Your Desk - the thread of teaching despair!

[jimbogumbo]

I write a word problem with three sentences for an exam, and many of my students apparently cannot understand the problem.  They simply cannot read and keep in their heads three sentences of information.

Unfortunately, they have previously been taught to do word problems by finding the key words and using them to guess at what the problem meant.

Maybe I should tell them that, when I was an undergrad, some of my humanities classes required 150 or more pages of dense reading, reading that had to be understood reading carefully line by line, per week.  I have a feeling half of them would drop dead on the spot from shock.

Key words are the work of Satan! In one study (don't have a citation) adults were asked to to do 10 simple problems. All contained two natural numbers, all contained the word "left", and none were subtraction problems. 80% of the subjects subtracted on all problems.

I also told my students I doubt they would have done so if the problem featured "Mr. Left" as the instance. The combo of key word instruction along with ALWAYS having one topic homework in school however was deadly to thinking.

[mamselle]

I write a word problem with three sentences for an exam, and many of my students apparently cannot understand the problem.  They simply cannot read and keep in their heads three sentences of information.

Unfortunately, they have previously been taught to do word problems by finding the key words and using them to guess at what the problem meant.

Maybe I should tell them that, when I was an undergrad, some of my humanities classes required 150 or more pages of dense reading, reading that had to be understood reading carefully line by line, per week.  I have a feeling half of them would drop dead on the spot from shock.

In Piagetian terms, they haven't passed into the hypothetical-deductive thinking phase of development (usually thought to occur between ages 8-12 in the average population).

This theory is not everywhere accepted, but the idea was that one had to be able to maintain two variables in mind at the same time--say, height and width--and determine whether a tall container held more or less water than a wide one.

in some cases the amounts might be the same, or a counter-intuitive result (the tall one might hold less if it were narrower) might obtain; those who had reached that stage of thinking would multiply out the height by the width for each container and predict based on the result; those who were not at that point yet would predict on appearances alone, usually guessing, say, the taller one as holding more even if it were very narrow, etc.

Of course, we've also seen governmental figures in their 70s who can't hold two ideas in mind at the same time...

M.

[kiana]

The combo of key word instruction along with ALWAYS having one topic homework in school however was deadly to thinking.

Yep. Also, I find autograded work very helpful for students who are learning computations, but this is one place where autograded homework w/multiple attempts is not helpful unless the problem is sufficiently randomized to where the same operation is not always required (which is extremely rare). They pick an operation, apply it to two numbers that they see, look at the answer, "Oh they added, I should have added" and continue with 0 understanding as to why they should have added.

And if it's not in the homework system, they just skip it and eat the point loss.

[Anon1787]

I write a word problem with three sentences for an exam, and many of my students apparently cannot understand the problem.  They simply cannot read and keep in their heads three sentences of information.

Unfortunately, they have previously been taught to do word problems by finding the key words and using them to guess at what the problem meant.

Maybe I should tell them that, when I was an undergrad, some of my humanities classes required 150 or more pages of dense reading, reading that had to be understood reading carefully line by line, per week.  I have a feeling half of them would drop dead on the spot from shock.

OK boomer. Long-form reading is sooo 20th century.

[marshwiggle]

I write a word problem with three sentences for an exam, and many of my students apparently cannot understand the problem.  They simply cannot read and keep in their heads three sentences of information.

Unfortunately, they have previously been taught to do word problems by finding the key words and using them to guess at what the problem meant.

That's incredibly stupid. At least a decade ago, when I was doing tutorials, I noticed that some textbooks are already including spurious information in problems to deal with this kind of approach. Just trying to find a formula with the "right" quantities in it won't work if you don't realize which quantities are necessary and which ones aren't. A pox on the high school teachers and/or eduwonks who "taught" students this idiotic approach.

[EdnaMode]

One of my freshpeeps messaged me in Canvas telling me (not asking) that he would turn in his final project by midnight tonight, since that's when he thought the deadline was, instead of 8 AM yesterday. I replied and told him the dropbox was closed, to attach what he had finished to a reply to this message, and turn it in NOW, with a late penalty, or don't turn it in at all. He said it wasn't his fault for not knowing when the deadline was. It's been posted in the Canvas calendar since day 1 of the semester, and I reminded them all in lab last week of the due date/time, he was in class that day. My reply said, "Refer to the instructions in the previous message."

[secundem_artem]

My class has 12 students in it.   Five of them are out with Covid.  The uni hosted its own superspreader event last week and the predictable happened.

[the_geneticist]

My class has 12 students in it.   Five of them are out with Covid.  The uni hosted its own superspreader event last week and the predictable happened.

Our COVID cases and number of folks out with other non-COVID illness went up a week after masks become "encouraged" but no longer "required".  And the switch from "take the Wellness survey every day" to "take this OTHER survey only if you are sick/to report a positive test/other" has made it really confusing for folks.  It's a mess.  I just hope to make it to the end of Spring.

[Biologist_]

The student has submitted the assignment for a grade; it's just that the denominator in the grade book is 0.

Look, I understand you're upset about this, but please don't break the universe for the rest of us.

I entered a denominator of 0 into my gradebook once.  It broke my gradebook, but the universe was fine.  The support staff for D2L were happy to tell me it was all my fault.

I have multiple columns in my Excel gradebook with #DIV/0! errors in them right now. The errors will be resolved when the last item in that category is graded or when it's created and I know how many points are in it. There are other columns with formulas that avoid the errors so I can keep an eye on the grades as the term goes on.

[Anon1787]

Stu's revised term paper proposal should have been submitted nearly a month ago for my approval. Instead Stu emails me an outline of the final paper the day before it's due and wants to show up to my office hours--which are less than 2 hours before the deadline--so that I can provide feedback.

My email response time is one business day, so I will send a reply tomorrow (when the paper is due).

[the_geneticist]

Argghh!

Students, safety goggles do not work if they are not ON YOUR FACE.  Do I need to make an analogy to other safety equipment (seatbelts, bike helmets, lifejackets, etc.)?  It doesn't protect you if you don't wear it properly.

[Anon1787]

Argghh!

Students, safety goggles do not work if they are not ON YOUR FACE.  Do I need to make an analogy to other safety equipment (seatbelts, bike helmets, lifejackets, etc.)?  It doesn't protect you if you don't wear it properly.

If safety goggles are face masks, then wearing them is optional!

[dr_evil]

Argghh!

Students, safety goggles do not work if they are not ON YOUR FACE.  Do I need to make an analogy to other safety equipment (seatbelts, bike helmets, lifejackets, etc.)?  It doesn't protect you if you don't wear it properly.

And on your face does not mean protecting your forehead. I can relate.

I had a student tell me (note: tell, not ask) that they were going to make-up the exam a couple of days after originally scheduled. Another emailed to say that they finished the late work and they are ready to turn it in. It's been weeks since it was due. Is it the end of the term yet?

[mythbuster]

Todays office hours during finals week was the parade of begging and whining. I wish we had a tracker for when students access the Canvas gradebook. I wonder how many jus live in total denial all semester? The opposite of the grade obsessives.

Today included: Students who are convinced that if they are graduating this Friday, how can they fail the class? Walking through the ceremony and graduating are NOT the same thing.
The best is the kid who has a D in lab. He was incapable of showing up on time ever all semester. I know from talking to the lab instructor that this is NOT just a few minutes, but rather 30 minutes+ late. His poor lab attendance grade may be difference between passing and not. I have little sympathy as I know he was warned repeatedly about being late.
  When I mentioned that punctuality is an important life skill, he grimaced. NOT the answer he was looking for.

[kiana]

Todays office hours during finals week was the parade of begging and whining. I wish we had a tracker for when students access the Canvas gradebook. I wonder how many jus live in total denial all semester? The opposite of the grade obsessives.

What's really bad is when I go into their access record and see 90 accesses throughout the semester and yet apparently they didn't believe the <40% they kept seeing.