On the difference between input and output, I really liked the article
that Liz brought to our department: "Why Students Think They Understand
When They Don't"
<http://www.aft.org/american_educator/winter03-04/cognitive.html> It is
written for K-12 teachers, but I have assigned it in classes. It
describes the difference between familiarity and understanding. I
reinforced this before the 1st exam in my macro principles class by
showing questions from an old exam and asking if (i) they are familiar
with the terms (yes) and (ii) could they confidently answer them
(uh...). A lot of students looked pretty uncomfortable.
But, I think this might just be a part of poor test takers. One example:
in grad school (UNC Chapel Hill) I used to tutor athletes (including
basketball players). They could sink free throws on national TV, and
while in person they understood the material well, they sometimes did
poorly on exams and said it was test anxiety. Of anybody who you'd
expect to have steady nerves among the general student population...
- Bill
Antony said:
> Perhaps some students are legitimately poor test takers (whatever this
> means). My experience, however, is that the larger problem is the
> student's inability to distinguish between the mental processes of input
> vs. output. I tell my students that these are, cognitively, two very
> different animals. They can sit in class and read their notes and
> understand what they are seeing. All of this, however, is input --
> matching external material to an internal mapping. In an exam, the
> students must do the opposite -- they must take an internal mapping and
> generate external material.
>
> Performing the first function is easy (it is also easy to fool one's self
> that one is performing the function adequately). To perform the second
> function is difficult, but is (in the classroom and the outside world) the
> measure of success.
>
> Antony Davies, Ph.D.
> Assistant Professor of Economics, Finance, and Statistics
> Duquesne University
> Pittsburgh, PA 15282
> http://www.business.duq.edu/faculty/davies
--
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| Bill Goffe goffe@oswego.edu |
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| "She had a damaged digestive track and no known survivors." |
| -- Part of an obituary for Samantha, the largest captive snake in the |
| world. She weighed 275 pounds, was 26 feet long, and ate one pig a |
| month. "Never Leather, Samantha the Python Dies at the Zoo," New |
| York Times, 11/22/02. |
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