Pop Quizzes: You hate taking 'em, I hate grading 'em, but they work!
STUDENTS GET BETTER GRADES WHEN TESTED FREQUENTLY IN CLASS"I was famous for the spotquizzes at Florida State. Students hated me. They raged in front of the whole class. They hated being quizzed, and yet, it worked," Tuckman said.
He added that at the end of the course, students often felt differently, since their knowledge and grades reflected the fact that they kept up with their studies every week. Many commented to Tuckman that they would not have done the assigned reading if not for the quizzes....
"By the time a midterm rolls around, students are already either successful or in big trouble," said Tuckman. "If teachers want to increase students' drive and get them to keep up with their schoolwork, we have to evaluate students' performance over shorter intervals of time."
In one study, students with low GPAs in a class with pop quizzes earned a final grade that was 18% higher than similar students taking the same class without pop quizzes.
We live in a fallen world -- one that includes sin, death, procrastination, and pop quizzes.
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I do think pop quizzes are a good way to keep students current with class information but it should be known what material will be covered and what the format will be. Maybe this doesn't make it so much a "pop" quiz but it would ease the stress on students.
For instance, professors could let it be known that every Friday a 5 point, multiple choice quiz will be given on the lectures from that week. At least this would give students somewhere to start and would allow them to prepare more for the class.
Go mindy, its ur birthday.
I still think that pop quizzes stink. Although they may make students keep up on their studies, they may also make students hate that particular professor. Maybe the article should have been taken thought the stand point of a busy college student, who plays a sport for the college, practices ntil midnight everynight, works 25 hours a week in Pittsburgh, mentors students on the weekend, and studies in the few remaining hours of the day that are left. Then perhaps we will get a different view on how students feel about pop quizzes, not the professor who gets to sit back and enjoy.
I just thought I'd let everyone know that I don't give pop quizzes just because I like to be mean. I put this article on my own blog a few months ago, and thought it would be a good time to repeat it here.
Dr. Jerz, is this in response to my pop quiz "repairs" that I posted on my blog?? (just wondering...) :-D