Looking
at Students and Issues That May Reveal the System as a Whole—and Possible
Remedies
Perhaps
many of these issues in the two charts below are “covariations—to use Dörner’s
term—variables that are interrelated and reveal the system.
This
webpage provides:
§
Looking
at Sources on Students and Issues
Use the
table below to find the kind of information you want:
If You Would Like This
Information… |
Then Use This Link to See the
Source of the Quotation Used and Additional Information |
Frequently
identified problems faced by our students with their values |
§
Ethics—64% of
them “cheated on a test in the past year” but have a “high self-image when it
comes to ethics” §
Entitlement—their
“attributing … failure to someone else” and misunderstanding “what education
is.” §
Self-esteem—their
“self-confidence”—the “one area” where they “score highly … relative to their
international peers” |
Frequently
identified problems faced by our students with their preparation for college and careers |
§
New
media with new challenges to learning—their being unable to “handle the
deep, probing, complex thinking that is the key to true mastery” §
Limited skills
in reading and writing – with some sources indicating a decline over time §
Skills
in testing but not learning—“ultra-efficient in test preparation” and
their seeking “a magic formula to get high scores” §
Unprepared for learning—includes 5 tips from
“Applying the Science of Learning,” with the “single most important variable”
for ”long-term retention and transfer is practice
in retrieval” |
New
approaches that seem to help students |
Perhaps the “flipped classroom” seems to be working because it
deals directly or indirectly with each
of the issues above and
because it provides time for students to get the
practice they need—and to find out
the specific piece of information that they
did not know. It may also be part of the solution for the issues in the table
below. For an introduction to the “flipped classroom,” see “The Flipped Classroom” at http://educationnext.org/the-flipped-classroom/. |
Dietrich
Dörner covers that, without
feedback that is “telling” and “frequent,” people develop “magical hypothesis”
about how thing work based on “local
experience.” The changes of the last
ten or more years seem to have made it where many students seem to have
lacked “telling” and “frequent” feedback. Given the consequences of the wave after wave of
students who experienced these changes, it may be that faculty and many
students will face problems for a long time:
§
Faculty do not know students’ “local experience” and how students
have been rewarded with grades previously—and grades are powerful feedback.
§
Students may not know that their experience is only local—and not
necessarily in their own interests.
Use the
table below to find the kind of student examples you want:
If You Would Like to See Examples of… |
Then Use This Link |
Why do
these “magical hypotheses” matter? |
We need a
culture of evidence
for our students not just because of the traditions of learning, but also
so that students can succeed in the workplace and in making personal and
financial decisions. We need a culture of evidence for our students because sources show (and perhaps your
own experience shows) that reading changes the brain and has “Matthew
effects.” Justice
Sandra Day O’Connor expresses the urgency for the nation: §
“We face difficult challenges at home and abroad…. Meanwhile divisive
rhetoric and a culture of sound bites
threaten to drown out rational dialogue and debate.” §
“And at least half of the states [an indirect consequence of No Child
Left Behind] no longer make the teaching of civics and government a
requirement for high school graduation. This leaves a huge gap, and we can’t forget that the primary purpose
of public schools in America has always been to help produce citizens who
have the knowledge and the skills and the values to sustain our republic as a
nation, our democratic form of government.”[bold added] (The link culture of evidence
for our students includes these quotations and how to locate them.) |
A
“magical hypothesis about how to “study” |
Typical
student explanation of how they think they ought to work: §
“How will you know I read it if it’s not in the exact words?” Example: What she thought she was to do
Related Issue: When they write answers, they
believe they must use the exact words. |
A
“magical hypothesis about how to “study” – how widespread |
These are
anecdotal signs of how widespread this “magical hypothesis” is: §
The example above is from a student
just out of high school in Fall 2011 §
The example below on writing using a similar method is from a student who probably was
first in public high school a decade prior to that. |
“Magical
hypotheses” about what evidence is |
Students
misunderstand the basics that evidence
should be “verifiable, usable,” not just opinion and skillfully written
words. Typical student explanations of their understanding of evidence: §
When he used data about ranchers in the Gilded Age in a question about
farmers, “Farmer, rancher—what’s the difference?” §
“What I felt when I read over it” §
“What I got out of it” §
“I thought it [the events of history] flowed better with what I said.” – Not typical words, but the
assumptions behind it are. Example: side by side with the
source they said they used, 3 common examples of what students believe is
evidence (proof). The 3 examples show students who cited pages of the source
and apparently expected high points for: §
Detailed description of things that do not exist §
Statements about one subject but the source is about another subject §
Statements that are not only inaccurate but also the opposite of the
cited page |
“Magical
hypotheses” about what evidence is – how widespread? |
§
From 2008 on, a minimum of 50% of students submitted work that was factually inaccurate—either not
reading or not writing carefully. To see the meaning of the phrase factually
inaccurate, look at the
3 common student examples. §
By self-report
on two surveys (Spring 2011, Fall 2011), a minimum of 63% did not know they
should be factual accurate until they received feedback |
“Magical
hypotheses” about how to “write” and what writing is supposed to be |
Typical
student explanations of this understanding: §
I thought I had to have the
“magic words.” §
I just “grab some words and muck them up.” Example: HOW she thought ALL GOOD
students were supposed to work Related Issues: This misunderstanding shows up
with returning students and adult students. Some blogs
in 2010 identified this misunderstanding with international students: it
is a misunderstanding for students in the United States as well. |
Example: WHAT he was certain ALL GOOD
students were supposed to create
- You can read his understanding in detail in the email dialogue. |
|
Example: Scenarios and language of a
student who has chosen plagiarism as a way to work Related Issue: The explanations/justifications
are very typical. |
|
“Magical
hypotheses” about how to “write” and what writing is supposed to be – how widespread? |
§
In 4 samples in 2009, 50% of each of 4 classes plagiarized or “half-copy”
plagiarized – You can also see all
of the essay answers for one class with the pages from the sources.
Usually those who copied passively also had factual errors. §
By self-report
on two surveys (Spring 2011, Fall 2011), 52%
in Spring and 61% in Fall (with
new students arriving) did not understand
either the common sense purpose of citation and/or quotation marks until
they received feedback. |
For information
or problems with this link, please email using the email address below.
WCJC Department: |
History – Dr. Bibus |
Contact Information: |
281.239.1577 or bibusc@wcjc.edu |
Last Updated: |
2012 -06/04 |
WCJC Home: |