Different students learn in different ways -- we know that. Students know that too....
The precalculus student I talked to on Friday afternoon failed the class last fall and will fail it again this spring. (Her current grade is about 200 points of a possible 600; her highest exam grade was 35%.) Sadly, she will probably fail the class again next fall. Despite all the class aids (and there are many) she has not reacted to her consistently low scores until I spoke to her after class.
Her science major requires that she complete Calculus 1 and possibly Calculus 2. Her math SAT score is 380.
We talked a little bit about the class, her performance, where she should go next. As we talked, the student explained that my class is not compatible with her "learning method".
The student explained that she learns much better with "that multiplying method, you know, where there are letters, A, B, C...."
I said, "You mean, 'Multiple Choice'?"
"Yes, that's the one!" she said. "That's the method where I learn best. I'm good at figuring out which letters aren't the right ones...."
She elaborated. She is "very good" at the "multiplying learning method" because she has learned to eliminate wrong answers and get the choices down to 1 or 2 where she can then make a good guess. She has transferred into Sam Houston State University with 65 credit hours (TWO YEARS!) of "college" classes, all earned at a nearby community college. With possibly one exception (part of a math class), ALL of her community college classes used this "multiplying learning method". She explained, "I don't really learn well with your method."
I tried to gently explain that "my" method -- where students have to work out the answers themselves -- will be the norm for her (real) college classes. But I don't think she believed me. And I could be wrong. In her current biology classes, "The tests all use that ["multiplying"] method." "But", she admitted, "one of my botany labs started with the multiplying method but now we have to write out answers."
Those of us committed to higher education claim that college education teaches students to think critically and to solve problems. Yet recent studies (see, for example this study) tell us that we are failing at that task. The problem with those negative studies, of course, is obvious. (Angry-sarcasm alert!) These negative studies don't take into account the "multiplying method." Our students will be much better at "critical thinking" and "problem solving" if we can tell them exactly how to "think" and "solve". If we would just lay out the choices (A, B, C, D -- no more than four!) and then tell them that three of the four choices are wrong... if we would just give them the right method ... then they would be better at getting the right answers....
(Deep breath.)
Multiple choice exams, quizzes and online homework are popular because they are easy to grade and can be cheaply given in large classes with many students. They add "efficiency" to higher education. The only problem with this efficiency is that it leaves out the "education" part of higher education.
I once taught English to a middle-aged woman from Iran. She wanted to get her GED. In addition to weekly two-hour sessions with me, she went to a local center for evening tutoring. She told me that she knew she was far from her goal, but she was having difficulty making any progress at all, and could I please come and help?
ReplyDeleteSo, one night I went with her to try to help her figure out why she was not making progress. The book she was working through had a series of exercises, each with a half-page of reading and then multiple-choice questions. The entire session, and I mean every bit of the two-hour, one-on-one session with a tutor, was about multiple choice test-taking skills. Read the passage. Read the question. Four choices, which can you eliminate? Which of the two remaining fits the question better? I observed her on several occasions asking the tutor to explain aspects of the passage she read. What did the author mean by this? What did this word mean? Why did they say this (pointing to a sentence)?. The tutor sidestepped EVERY one of the questions and pointed her to HOW TO ANSWER THE MULTIPLE CHOICE.
I talked to the tutor. I said, she really wants to improve her language skills; could you help her with the MEANING of the passage? I explained, she really won't be taking the GED for a year or so, so test-taking skills are not terribly important right now. The tutor seemed surprised, like I was asking her to paint Easter eggs.
BTW, for those not routinely dealing with SAT Math scores, at Sam Houston we require an SAT Math score of around 540 for students seeking to take freshman math classes. A 380 SAT score is pretty low. Most "low" SAT scores are in the upper 400s.
ReplyDelete@D. Nixon -- the sad part is that the tutor is honestly surprised, having very likely equated "learning English" with "Scoring well on multiple choice language tests." The "multiplying method" has become normative; many don't realize that it is NOT the same as learning.
ReplyDeleteIt is easy for me to criticize my students but many of them are pretty innocent regarding this misunderstanding. They've seen nothing else.
Excellent post. Or maybe I should say...
ReplyDeleteA. Thought-provoking
B. Well-written
C. Helpful
D. All of the above
Seriously, I hadn't thought much about the dangers of multiple-choice.
As a former kindergarten teacher, I was always fighting the notion of teaching to the test. Schools would spend two weeks before a standardize test teaching students how to fill in the bubbles to the test. What a waste of teaching time!
ReplyDeleteWhat advisor in their right mind would encourage a student who doesn't like math to choose a major that requires passing Calc II???
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure an advisor is making the decision about the choice of major. In this case the general university advising office, which advises entering students, ignored the developmental math requirement implied by her low (11th percentile) SAT score and used the community college credit to "help" the student move further up the math sequence, skipping development math.
ReplyDeleteMany of our students are interested in "CSI"-type majors (forensic chemistry is one) or in a pre-med track but they don't realize how much mathematical thinking is required. Sadly, their poor high school math training gets in their way and many give up on a career in science.
Downward and Backward instead of Upward and Onward, once again.
ReplyDeleteIf you take this to its logical conclusion, students like this one might one day be able to attend two graduations: one for their high school and one a week later at a "university". Now that's early!!!
Every time I think things can't possibly get worse, they do!