-
Archives
- December 2019
- July 2018
- October 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- November 2016
- September 2016
- May 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- November 2015
- October 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- March 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- May 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
-
Meta
Author Archives: Sally Jordan
The case of units and variables
I’ve talked about students’ difficulties with units before – on 10th and 15th March 2011. In addition to the deeper problems that students encounter, they frequently give the incorrect case when writing abbreviations for units. When they write Kg instead … Continue reading
Posted in case, mathematical misunderstandings, units
Tagged case, mathematical misunderstandings, units
Leave a comment
Errors in finding the gradient of a graph
Consider the simple question shown below: This question is generally well answered, but when students make a mistake, what do they do wrong?
BODMAS, BIDMAS, BEDMAS
More on simple arithmetic skills that people don’t always understand as well as they think they do, leading to difficulties at a later stage. In the OU Science Faculty we use the mnemonic BEDMAS (others use BODMAS or BIDMAS) to … Continue reading
Throw away the handouts
I was at a meeting in Bristol yesterday ‘Using assessment to engage students and enhance their learning’. Much of the discussion was on the use of peer assessment (and plenty of interesting stuff), with a keynote from Paul Orsmond, considering student and … Continue reading
Problems with fractions
I’ve been aware for some time that Open University science students have problems with fractions (and many things that express themselves as difficulties in other areas e.g. working out units, simplifying algebraic expressions, have their origins in poor understanding of the … Continue reading
The significance of rounding and significant figures
I now find myself chairing the production of two new Open University modules, so writing course materials ought to take priority over writing this blog. That’s a pity, because there’s so much assessment-related that I want to reflect on. As a compromise, I’ve … Continue reading
Open-ended and multiple-choice versions of the same test
I’ve just read an excellent paper. It’s rather old, so old indeed that I might have been one of the ‘first year secondary school pupils’ involved in the evaluation! (though I don’t think that I was). The full reference is: Bishop, … Continue reading
The testing effect
This will be my final post that picks up a theme from CAA 2011 , but the potential implications of this one are massive. For the past few weeks I have been trying to get my head around the significance of the ideas I was … Continue reading
Posted in conferences, testing effect
Tagged CAA 2011, CAA Conference, John Kleeman, Roddy Roediger, testing effect
6 Comments
Are we assessing what we think we are?
In the past week (when I should have been working at Open University summer school, but got sent home ill) I haven’t felt up to doing a great deal, but I have managed quite a lot of reading. I’ve also … Continue reading
Poor quality assessment – inescapable and memorable
David Boud famously said ‘Students can, with difficulty, escape from the effects of poor teaching, they cannot (by definition if they want to graduate) escape the effects of poor assessment.’ Boud, D. (1995) Assessment and learning: contradictory or complementary? In … Continue reading
Posted in quality
Tagged assessment design, David Boud, Physics World, poor quality, quality
Leave a comment