There is no 'N' in strumpet, you Diplodocus.

October 30, 2007

Happy Bloggiversary to ME!

Celebrating three years of complete and utter randomness!

YAY!

The obligatory sucky first post.

And for gratuitous goodness, a favorite recipe. Yum.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 02:26 PM | Comments (20) | Add Comment
Post contains 30 words, total size 1 kb.

This wasn't a surprise

As I am clearly not Aspie. But the number of questions about sneaking up on people was!

The Aspie quiz:

h/t Jay

Posted by: caltechgirl at 11:35 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 28 words, total size 1 kb.

October 29, 2007

Captain Picard Cat is not amused.....

For the TNG fans out there:

Posted by: caltechgirl at 10:14 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 18 words, total size 1 kb.

October 19, 2007

Do I get Extra Credit for this?

Like Ricki, I HATE that phrase. Hate it.

But EVERY student, without exception, seems to utter it at one point or another during the semester. And they'll go the extra mile to get it, too. Troy University Professor Richard Scott Nokes writes:

Why is it that students who wouldn't scratch their bottoms to get a final exam grade will do anything for extra credit? Last week, I had midterm exams, and many students put, at the most, an hour's worth of effort into the take-home project (worth 25% of their grade). This week I gave an opportunity for extra credit, worth only a tiny fraction of the midterm, and the students are meeting after class and going to the Writing Center to work on it. Maybe I should start calling my regular assignments "extra credit."(h/t Prof. Taylor)

I feel your pain, sir. My subject is biology, not medieval literature, but the students approach is EXACTLY the same. They'll spend HOURS collaborating on a tiny piece of crap that is worth maybe 1-2% of their grade (if I'm feeling charitable), but brush off the actual studying. Which is, you know, the basis of 100% of their grade.

Interested, I decided to see if anyone has written a scholarly article on extra credit, and the psychology behind why students prefer it over just doing their work. A quick google search turned up page after page of syllabi with possible extra credit assignments from psychology classes at universities all over the country.

There are only a few articles looking at extra credit, and those look at it as a motivating factor, not why it is preferred.

(I put the rest of what turns out to be a longer piece than I had planned to write below the jump!)
more...

Posted by: caltechgirl at 12:05 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 1273 words, total size 8 kb.

1 Hello, I have happened by your site once or twice before but have never commented. I am an undergraduate student, majoring in Political Science. I earned my A.A. in June and have since transfered to my current university, where I will earn my degree next November. While I love extra credit, I look at it as a last resort. But I think your theory is right for most of my peers. I try not to look at it that way. When I was a sophomore, I took a class within my major, that should have been an easy A. I had a terrible test day on the mid term and while I earned full credit on all the subsequent assignments I earned a B. The professor, a retired Air Force Lt. Col., was surprised I had not asked for extra credit. It was my fault I did poorly on the mid term, not his. I did not understand why. Now I do.

Posted by: Archerychic at October 19, 2007 01:16 PM (QqM7O)

2 You are so right about kids not 'thinking'. Even though I'm at the elementary end of the spectrum, I see the danger of the increased push for standardized testing and ONLY standardized testing as a means of recognizing gains. Kids are being taught to regurgitate facts without any semblance of understanding.

Posted by: Mrs. Who at October 19, 2007 02:39 PM (oHNtt)

3 I think the "not knowing how to think" point is correct and quite brilliant. I wonder of some of the resistance to things like timed-testing in math (I remember doing timed tests for things like the multiplication table when I was a kid - they were stressful but you learned your stuff) and homework, and what is sometimes sneered as as "drill and kill" is coming from people who don't comprehend that work done outside of class reinforces what's learned in class. You know, maybe I need to talk to my students about thinking and the importance of thinking about what you are learning. I kind of took it for granted that they understood that, but I guess now they don't. I don't offer extra credit. Once in a while, if, as I'm writing an exam, I come up with a question that's really good but I know only 10% or so of the class would get, I put it on there as "extra credit" - it's a reward for the people who are paying attention and making connections that the average student isn't; it's not a way for someone who's slacked to salvage their grade. Once in a while in my gen. bio. class I announce a "homework amnesty" where I will allow people to complete and hand in any homework that they missed doing earlier. That's as close I as come to "extra credit" - giving them a chance to redeem themselves on the actual assignments. (And you'd think the people with Ds would jump at that chance. Nope, it's usually the A and B students who were maybe sick for one of the homework assignments who jump to do it and who thank me for the opportunity.)

Posted by: ricki at October 20, 2007 05:51 AM (qrkix)

4 One of my favorite lines was when a classmate asked if there would be extra credit available the professor respond, "You should really be focused on getting your regualr credit done."

Posted by: the Pirate at October 21, 2007 12:46 PM (tM0AO)

5 I had a professor one time who, when asked for extra credit by someone in the class actually assigned a 2 page essay for five points. Needless to say, I don't think many people ended up turning it in since the work was not worth the reward. I don't think anyone asked for extra credit again after that.

Posted by: Carmen at October 22, 2007 07:23 AM (9VWj+)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Friday Mutters

Y'all know the rules:
My answers in the extended!

1. Illicit ::
2. Go ::
3. Jacket ::
4. Blow ::
5. Coach ::
6. Effort ::
7. Leadership ::
8. Snore ::
9. Fearless ::
10. Network :: more...

Posted by: caltechgirl at 10:38 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 85 words, total size 1 kb.

October 18, 2007

Your daily funny

Ladies and Gentlemen, my morning commute:

Posted by: caltechgirl at 12:11 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 12 words, total size 1 kb.

39kb generated in CPU 0.0247, elapsed 0.0658 seconds.
76 queries taking 0.0534 seconds, 231 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.

Search Thingy

Monthly Traffic

Pages: 2459
Files: 94
Bytes: 22.9M
CPU Time: 1:38
Queries: 182195

Content

Posts: 1959
Comments: 6192

Feeds

October 30, 2007

October 29, 2007

October 19, 2007

October 18, 2007

Search Thingy

Recent Comments

Categories

Archives

Blogroll

Monthly Traffic

Content

Feeds