Making Homework Easier to Do Than to Copy Gerd Kortemeyer Michigan State University 2011 AAPT Summer Meeting Omaha, Nebraska

Copying Homework Do all work independently Blind copying, no understanding Productive collaboration, give and take Collaboration, mostly one-way Good? Bad. Ugly! Too Good? Gray area Continuum

Copying Homework Why do students copy homework?  They don’t understand the material?  They don’t have enough time?  They don’t see the value of doing it?  They are not aware of the consequences?  It’s considered an acceptable form of “cheating”?  It’s so easy to do!

Why do students copy homework? They don’t understand the material?  Homework may not address student difficulties It should clearly be formative assessment It should be helping the students learn, not test if they understood the material  That’s what exams are for  Oftentimes problems are way too difficult We mostly should refrain from “cool” physics We should refrain from homework that just shows off how smart we are We should not assign homework that requires a “trick”

Why do students copy homework? They don’t have enough time?  Our course is not their only course  Students make surprisingly sophisticated choices how to allocate their time budget  Don’t assign too much!

Why do students copy homework? They don’t see the value of doing it?  Why should the students pay attention to something that you ignore? Don’t just assign “Problems 3 through 16” Discuss homework difficulties in lecture  Occasionally put variations of homework on exams

Why do students copy homework? They are not aware of the consequences?  Homework is seen as a chore rather than a way to succeed in the course they will seek out the most “efficient” method of getting it done  Very hard to refute students don’t believe us that it’s good for them useful data by Bauer et al. and Pritchard et al., which can be shared with the students (later in this session)

Why do students copy homework? It’s considered an acceptable form of “cheating”?  “Everybody does it”  Well, whom are they cheating? They are cheating themselves  Usually, the vast majority of the grade is based on exams  Should we really care? Go ahead and shoot yourself in the foot?  But: demoralization of the whole course can happen quickly Good students who invest a lot of time should not feel betrayed

Why do students copy homework? It’s so easy to do  Remainder of this talk: making it harder  “Making homework easier to do than to copy” while fostering constructive collaboration  Key: the right types of randomizing problems

The right types of randomizing problems Problem types:  Multiple choice  Numerical  Graphical  Symbolic  etc. Randomization:  Different students get different versions of the same problem  The same student always gets the same version of the problem

The right types of randomizing problems Numerical Multiple choice

Randomization No Randomization Completely different problems Different scenarios with different physics Different scenarios with similar physics Different order of options in multiple choice Different numbers in numerical problems Different options Different images, graphs, formulas Spectrum: low to high energy

Randomization No Randomization Completely different problems Do all work independently Blind copying, no understanding Collaboration, mostly one-way Good? Bad? Ugly! Gray area Productive collaboration, give and take Different scenarios with different physics Different scenarios with similar physics Different order of options in multiple choice Different numbers in numerical problems Different options Different images, graphs, formulas Too Good?

Randomization? Next section: Show-and-Tell Random examples of randomization in random order

Different Numbers Simple numerical response

Different Formulas Different formulas, same concept

Different Formulas Different formulas, infinitely many correct answers

Different Questions Higher/lower normal/frictional force

Different Scenarios, Same Answer Choices

Different Questions Lifting/lowering, speeding up/slowing down, different numbers

Different Scenario Construction Carefully construct the problem Egyptian fraction: 1/n 1 +1/n 2 +1/n 3 +… Want limited number of small denominators

Different Graphs

Something big changed here

Different Graphs and Scenarios Same options, but different one is correct Need to change this, too

Different Scenarios, Graphical Input Graphical input Infinitely many correct answers Different stories

Different Line Graphics

Using Learner Answer

“Hidden” Differences Two ways how the paper could slide off the fridge: Magnet slides off paper Paper and magnet slide off fridge Depending on values, one or the other decides.

“Hidden” Differences Most course discussion ever! Panic.

Collaboration Do all work independently Blind copying, no understanding Productive collaboration, give and take Collaboration, mostly one-way Good? Bad. Ugly! Too Good? Gray area

Online Discussions Discussions Encouraged, since all students have different versions. Peer-Instruction. Discussions Encouraged, since all students have different versions. Peer-Instruction.

Online Discussions Classifying homework discussion contributions Green: desirable collaboration Yellow: unproductive Red: undesirable (“copying”)

Online Discussions More successful students exhibit less “copying” during discussions

Online Discussions More successful students exhibit less “copying” during discussions PostFCI= PreFCI+0.24 %Physics PostFCI= PreFCI %Solution Meaning what? Students who contribute 100% solution-oriented discussions on the average achieve 4.2 points (out of 30) less on the post-test, controlling for pre-test

Online Discussions Reducing copying: don’t use simple problem types Multiple Choice:  highest percentage of solution-oriented discussions (“that one is right”)  least number of physics discussions Ranking and click-on-image problems:  Physics discussions highest Problems with representation-translation (reading a graph, etc):  slightly less procedural discussions  more negative emotional discussion (complaints)

Online Discussions Reducing copying: mid-range difficulty Above mid-range: more pain, no (significant) gain

Helprooms Staffed with Learning Assistants in the evenings Collaborative learning space, peer instruction

Homework No Randomization Completely different problems Do all work independently Blind copying, no understanding Collaboration, mostly one-way Good? Bad. Ugly! Gray area Productive collaboration, give and take Different scenarios with different physics Different scenarios with similar physics Different order of options in multiple choice Different numbers in numerical problems Different options Different images, graphs, formulas Too Good?

Exams No Randomization Completely different problems Blind copying, no understanding Collaboration, mostly one-way Good! Ugly! No gray area Productive collaboration, give and take Different scenarios with different physics Different scenarios with similar physics Different order of options in multiple choice Different numbers in numerical problems Different options Different images, graphs, formulas Do all work independently Remain fair

Exams Problems can also be rendered for bubble sheets Every student gets a different version

Exams

Exams

Exams

No Randomization Completely different problems Do all work independently Blind copying, no understanding Collaboration, mostly one-way Gray area Productive collaboration, give and take Success? Learning Success

Intro Physics for Scientists and Engineers Grades in years before and after online homework

Learning Success Mostly helps students who are on the brink of failing the course. Fail

How can I write these complicated problems? Shared content repository with almost 450,000 resources Almost 200,000 online homework problems

Thank You Gerd Kortemeyer Lyman Briggs College and Department of Physics and Astronomy Michigan State University