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astro300_f17:day4 [2017/08/31 19:28] – cchengastro300_f17:day4 [2017/09/06 22:37] (current) – [General Takeaways] tzick
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-======AY 375 - Fall 2017: fourth Day Lesson Plan====== 
  
-=====Preface=====+======AY 375 - Fall 2016: Fourth Day Lesson Plan======
  
-Today we'll be discussing two somewhat disparate topics, how to incorporate demos into a lesson plan and how to write good multiple choice and free response questions. +=====General Takeaways=====
  
-====General Takeaways==== +  - Deeper conceptual knowledge CAN be probed with multiple choice questions, but writing effective questions takes time and practice.  
-    - Deeper conceptual knowledge CAN be probed with multiple choice questions, but writing effective questions takes time and practice.  +  - Especially when writing free response questions, it can be useful to develop a grading rubric for each question as a way of ensuring that your questions are specific, clear, and not testing the same concept over and over again.
-    - Especially when writing free response questions, it can be useful to develop a grading rubric for each question as a way of ensuring that your questions are specific, clear, and not testing the same concept over and over again. +
- +
  
-=====Section Recap (20 minutes)===== 
  
-First have students discuss in pairs how section went (5 min). 
  
-Open the floor up for general questions and sharing about how sections are going. Some questions include:+=====Section Recap (15 minutes)===== 
 + 
 +Remind them that this is something we intend to do every week and that everyone should come prepared to share about how their previous sections went.  
 + 
 +Remind them what to think about for section recap:
    * What did you do?     * What did you do? 
    * How did you implement your activities?     * How did you implement your activities? 
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    * What were you thinking about while you were running section? Any moments of panic?    * What were you thinking about while you were running section? Any moments of panic?
  
- +Open the floor up for general questions and sharing about how sections are going.
-=====Administering Demos (15 min)===== +
- +
-Printable Version Here: [[astro300_f14:DemosHandout]] +
- +
-  * Demo basics: +
-    * Demos are a great addition to a standard/dry worksheet. +
-    * Sometimes they actually do help elucidate concepts and students like doing "hands-on" experiments (this **is** a science class!). +
-    * As always, the EBRB is a great resource and has a page devoted to [[private:ebrb:demos|demos]]. +
-    * In addition, on a given topic's page in the EBRB, there should be listed any relevant demos. +
- +
-  * What makes a good demo? +
-    * Illustrating difficult physical concept(s) +
-    * Interactive: students can participate +
-    * A springboard to new topics +
-    * Straightforward: minimal risk of failure +
-    * Demo actually illustrates concept in question +
- +
-  * When demos go wrong: +
-    * Demos **can and sometimes do** FAIL! +
-    * Sometimes, especially in astronomy, they can confuse students more than help them or oversimplify a concept. +
-    * Materials may be missing or broken, so CHECK IN ADVANCE! +
- +
-  * Some of our favorite demos: +
-    * Remind everyone that most are written up in the EBRB and on the Resources handout (and wiki page) +
-    - Arc lamps: Put high voltage through tubes of gas and look through diffraction gratings to see spectral lines.  On the EBRB [[private:ebrb:light_blackbodies_spectral_lines_and_the_doppler_effect|Light Blackbodies Spectral Lines and the Doppler Effect]] page, "under Line spectroscopy and arc lamp activities". +
-        * Head GSIs will train GSIs, Ask Ay375 instructors if you need help.  +
-        * Students like this one +
-        * Make sure the stuff is there if your section is early in the day. +
-        * Test it yourself and make sure you can see lines so you can help your students better. +
-    - Warping of Spacetime: A 2D analogy using stretchy black fabric and balls/weights.  No worksheets exist in the EBRB for this one, but feel free to make one!  +
-    - Celestial sphere, phases of the moon, seasons, orbits: Styrofoam balls, a lamp or flashlight, people getting up and moving around.  Many worksheets go with these kinds of demos and can be found on the Demos page of the EBRB or on the Celestial Sphere, Gravity and Orbits, and Earth/Moon/Sun System pages of the EBRB. +
-         - Retrograde motion //(Discuss pitfalls)// +
-         - Day & night on Earth (circle up around a lamp and groups of 3) +
-         - Lunar phases (balls on a sticks around a lamp and groups of 3) +
-         - Seasons (circle up around a lamp) +
-         - Lunar rotation and orbit (//i.e.// tidal locking) (one person orbits another with the Moon's arms outstretched) +
-    - Parallax with your finger (very simple, “close one eye then the other” kind of thing) +
-    - Doppler shift of sound (whirling a buzzer on a string) +
-    - Class H-R diagram  +
-    - Stating in words, stating in math, drawing, and acting out Kepler's and/or Newton's Laws (can be done with a worksheet, or just have students take notes as each group presents their law) +
-    - Donut/bagel on a string (though I'm sure profs will do it in class) +
-    - Jumping on a chair with balls being thrown (though I'm sure profs will do it in class) +
-    - (Rayleigh) Scattering of Light: Fill a fish tank with water and a couple drops of milk and shine a flashlight through it to show scattering of blue light and transmission of red light. On the EBRB [[private:ebrb:light_blackbodies_spectral_lines_and_the_doppler_effect|Light Blackbodies Spectral Lines and the Doppler Effect]] page there's a worksheet called "Emission, Absorption, Scattering, and Nebulae" and one called "Scattering Demo." +
-    - Planetary Nebulae (and Limb Brightening and Optical Depth): use a Hoberman sphere covered in Christmas lights to show how spherical radiating clouds can appear ring-like.  On the EBRB's [[private:ebrb:stellar_evolution|Stellar Evolution]] page, there's a worksheet called 'Limb Brightening: "Hoberman Planetary Nebula" Demo.' +
-    * Physics has some, but it's kind of a pain to check them out, but some are good for section and some are good for full lecture. +
- +
  
 ===== Multiple Choice and Free Response Questions (40 min) ====== ===== Multiple Choice and Free Response Questions (40 min) ======
  
 +   - (5 min) Come up with either a multiple choice or free response question for the class you're teaching for and write it down on a piece of paper. Also think about what learning objectives it tests and what level of learning it probes.
 +   - (6 min) Trade your questions with a partner. Have them attempt to answer the questions or at least determine what learning objectives were being probed, what level of learning it targeted, and what would have constituted as an "acceptable answer." Once you have gone over each other's questions, discuss in your small groups what you liked about the question and offer improvements to flesh it out further. Some questions to consider (perhaps project on the board):
 +       - For both: 
 +           * Is the wording clear?
 +           * What concepts are being tested?
 +       - For the multiple choice:
 +           * Is there clearly only one correct answer?
 +           * Are there any obvious throw-away answers?
 +           * Are you able to rule out any response because of the wording alone (i.e., are there hints in the structure)?
 +       - For the free response:
 +           * Does part B test the small conceptual/procedural knowledge as part A?
 +           * What if students cannot solve part A? What does that imply for part B?
 +           * What sort of responses might students give under the pressures of an exam setting?
 +   - (6 min) Come back as a class and discuss.
 +         * Did you learn anything surprising? 
 +         * Is this easy? (Unfortunately, NO!)
 +         * What part of question writing did you find the most difficult? 
 +   - (20 min) Go through question example slides as a class exercise.  
 +         * MC Summary
 +           * Test what you teach and teach what you test!
 +           * Write short, clear questions and solutions.
 +           * All answers should be of a similar tone and length.
 +           * Avoid throw-aways, double negatives, etc. 
 +           * Be sure to not suggestively word your responses.
 +           * Exams should have a variety of difficult and easy questions. Some easier questions at the start of the exam can enhance motivation.
 +         * FR Summary
 +           * Test what you teach and teach what you test!
 +           * Write clear prompts. Be explicit about what you want students to provide (no core dumps).
 +           * Multiple parts should test multiple ideas, not the same idea again and again. 
 +           * Solutions should require novel ideas, not a summary of material in the prompt. 
 +         * Reminder about timing: always take your own quiz/test/exams. Your students will take 2-3x longer than you will.
  
-   - (20-25 min) Go through question example slides as a class exercise.   
  
 **Some notes on multiple choice questions:** **Some notes on multiple choice questions:**
  
-Despite their outward appearance, these questions are actually inherently nonobjective. Grading an essay exam is subjective to the personal feelings of the grader, compared to running a Scantron through a machine. Grading written problems falls somewhere between the two. This is only partially correct, "grading" a Scantron is completely objective, but the subjective aspect of multiple choice questions comes in the creation of the item (the question), the response (the correct answer), and the distractors (the incorrect choices). If everyone in the class was to write a question about the Doppler Effect, we would see a range of different questions and a range of ideas probed. That is subjective. +Despite their outward appearance, these questions are actually inherently nonobjective. Grading an essay exam is subjective to the personal feelings of the grader, compared to running a Scantron through a machine. Grading written problems falls somewhere between the two. This is only partially correct: "grading" a Scantron is completely objective, but the subjective aspect of multiple choice questions comes in the creation of the item (the question), the response (the correct answer), and the distractors (the incorrect choices). If everyone in the class was to write a question about the Doppler Effect, we would see a range of different questions and a range of ideas probed. That is subjective. 
  
 The ultimate goal of testing is to measure what the students actually understand, and the process of interpreting the meaning of a student's response to a MC test is a subjective one. There are three major issues behind writing these sort of questions: The ultimate goal of testing is to measure what the students actually understand, and the process of interpreting the meaning of a student's response to a MC test is a subjective one. There are three major issues behind writing these sort of questions:
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 Is short, to the point, and clear. You might be tempted to elaborate on small points that are not the main conceptual item that is being tested, but care must be taken. For example, Is short, to the point, and clear. You might be tempted to elaborate on small points that are not the main conceptual item that is being tested, but care must be taken. For example,
  
->> You forget that the star Betelgeuse is a red giant (a very luminous star in the top right of the HR diagram with relatively low surface temperature) and apply the method of spectroscopic parallax---a comparison of the star's apparent magnitude, estimated from the HR diagram, and its absolute magnitude---to determine its distance from Earth, which can be considered the sam as its distance to the Sun because the Earth-Sun distance is negligible given the scales involved. The true distance from Earth to Betelgeuse is actually...+>> You forget that the star Betelgeuse is a red giant (a very luminous star in the top right of the HR diagram with relatively low surface temperature) and apply the method of spectroscopic parallax---a comparison of the star's apparent magnitude, estimated from the HR diagram, and its absolute magnitude---to determine its distance from Earth, which can be considered the same as its distance to the Sun because the Earth-Sun distance is negligible given the scales involved. The true distance from Earth to Betelgeuse is actually...
  
 In an attempt to be completely clear, the stem has become more difficult for most students to understand!  In an attempt to be completely clear, the stem has become more difficult for most students to understand! 
  
-Over the years, students have learned that when novice faculty includes choices such as "all of the above", these are frequently the correct answer. It's easier as a test writer to write correct statements than to come up with plausible sounding incorrect statements. Also, students have also learned that the longer answers are usually the correct answers. You can avoid these situations by making sure your choices are all of similar length, contain a similar amount of scientific vocabulary, and ensure that an equal number of choices (A), (B), etc. are correct on the overall test. +Over the years, students have learned that when novice faculty include choices such as "all of the above", these are frequently the correct answer. It's easier as a test writer to write correct statements than to come up with plausible sounding incorrect statements. Also, students have also learned that the longer answers are usually the correct answers. You can avoid these situations by making sure your choices are all of similar length, contain a similar amount of scientific vocabulary, and ensure that an equal number of choices (A), (B), etc. are correct on the overall test. 
  
 == Concepts == == Concepts ==
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      * Test the material emphasized - Exams should reflect the fact that students should know the big concepts really well, as opposed to knowing a bunch of smaller concepts only peripherally.      * Test the material emphasized - Exams should reflect the fact that students should know the big concepts really well, as opposed to knowing a bunch of smaller concepts only peripherally.
      * Keep questions short and to the point - Students should spend the majority of their test time thinking and answering/writing, **NOT** reading.      * Keep questions short and to the point - Students should spend the majority of their test time thinking and answering/writing, **NOT** reading.
-     * Edit questions for clarity - Clear questions tend to be shorter and if anything is ambiguous it confuses and slows down students and makes it harder for you to grade it fairly.  Have someone else take your exam to give some feedback.  If you're taking an exam for someone else, be critical and think about possible ambiguities.+     * Edit questions for clarity - Clear questions tend to be shorter. If anything is ambiguous, it confuses and slows down students and makes it harder for you to grade it fairly.  Have someone else take your exam to give some feedback.  If you're taking an exam for someone else, be critical and think about possible ambiguities.
      * Don't write a long test - Keep it concise, to the point, and clear!  The rule of thumb is your average student will take double or triple the time it takes a GSI to complete the exam.  Also, 90% of your students should finish the exam completely in the allotted time.      * Don't write a long test - Keep it concise, to the point, and clear!  The rule of thumb is your average student will take double or triple the time it takes a GSI to complete the exam.  Also, 90% of your students should finish the exam completely in the allotted time.
   * Quizzes vs. Homeworks   * Quizzes vs. Homeworks
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        * Make the questions easy to grade!  Don't give students the opportunity to 'core-dump' for a problem: be very specific about what you're looking for in these questions.        * Make the questions easy to grade!  Don't give students the opportunity to 'core-dump' for a problem: be very specific about what you're looking for in these questions.
      *  Can be more time-consuming than MC questions, depending on the overall length of the exam.      *  Can be more time-consuming than MC questions, depending on the overall length of the exam.
 +
 +
 +=====Break (5 minutes)=====
 +
 +
 +=====Rubrics and Grading (30 min)=====
 +
 +====Activity====
 +
 +  * Activity in groups of 3. Each group receives the same free response question.
 +  * (5 minutes) Have each group develop a key and rubric for the question.
 +  * (5 minutes) Give each group one student response to that question (three different responses, one for each group). Have each student grade the quiz based on that rubric individually. 
 +  * (10 minutes) Have students compare your grade with others in the group and discuss. 
 +  * (10 minutes) Discuss as a class and recap the main ideas of grading as a class:
 +        * Reading some responses first is important
 +        * How to handle erroneous info
 +        * The most important part of grading: **Grade fairly and consistently for ALL students**.
 +        * Try not to look at student names while grading anything
 +        * Grade in blue or green (not red!)
 +        * GRADE WHAT YOU TEACH AND TEACH WHAT YOU GRADE
 +
 +==== Notes from Past Years====
 +
 +=== Free-Response Quizzes and Exams===
 +    * Most questions should have 1 and only 1 correct answer (matching, fill in the blank, put in order, //etc.//).
 +    * Paragraph or few sentence responses or plotting can be uglier.
 +    * Try to give partial credit where you can.  **Always** give points for correct steps even if the final answer's wrong.  If they get the final answer but their steps or logic to get there is wrong, give them some points, but not too many.
 +    * Obviously if they screw up part (a) by a factor of 2, but carry that extra factor through parts (b) through (f) and get everything else right (while including the factor of 2), they should **only** lose points on part (a).  Also, stress this fact to your students so they don't get frustrated if they can't do (a), but the rest are doable (maybe even tell them to make up an answer to use for later parts, or in the question say 'use 5km for the rest of this question if you don't get part (a)').
 +    * In longer answers, you should usually reward for correct information more than you punish for incorrect information.  With that said, if they say something really wrong or even contradictory to the rest of their answer, they should be penalized a decent amount.
 +    * Hopefully on your quizzes and exams you stress to students that they must write clearly and explain their steps and logic clearly.  If you can't read their writing or understand what's going on, **you should usually assume it's wrong.**
 +    * Be suspicious: If you see similar, very wrong answers, flag the tests and compare their answers to other questions. Hopefully you can look out for cheating while the quiz/exam is actually going on, but you won't be able to see everything.
 +    * Talk (probably through e-mail) to students in your section(s) who performed very poorly (grades of less than 40% or 50%).  They may be too shy to ask for help even if they know they need it!
 +
 +
  
 =====Homework===== =====Homework=====
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   - Peer visits are assigned. Meet up for discussion with both the person who visited you and the person you visited by 9/20. Bring a completed {{:peergsivisit.pdf| Peer Visitation Worksheet}} to class on 9/20.   - Peer visits are assigned. Meet up for discussion with both the person who visited you and the person you visited by 9/20. Bring a completed {{:peergsivisit.pdf| Peer Visitation Worksheet}} to class on 9/20.
   - Draft a full length quiz and detailed grading rubric for the quiz. Bring TWO copies to class next week.   - Draft a full length quiz and detailed grading rubric for the quiz. Bring TWO copies to class next week.
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