I just got back from teaching freshman chemistry for nursing majors where I handed back their recent Exam. Which they bombed. I don’t know who was more unahappy about that - me or them. I seriously wanted them to get the material and do well, and I took pains to let them know exactly what they needed to go about doing in order to do well. I hoped, rather optimistically, that they would step up and knock it out of the park. It even seemed that the questions I would ask in class were coming along nicely, and they would chime in with good answers - they seemed to be getting it. Maybe paper is quite different than voice. And maybe those that were silent were just clueless.
The problem is that only a small fraction of the class even attempted the on-line review problems, and an even smaller fraction even turned in the homework problems. And no-one came to my office to get help. Furthermore, it’s obvious that people don’t read the text or even go over the in-class example problems, let alone those in the book. I’m at a loss about what to do given those kinds of things.
In the meantime, I’m having them re-work the problems they missed on the Exam - this will count as much as two quiz grades. The material is important enough that they need to get it one way or another.
My thoughts on this? Well, as I explained to them:
Listen and take notes in class. Read the chapters. Work through the examples in the text and in class. Do the homework problems. Do the online review. If you don’t do these kinds of things, how can you expect to learn what you don’t already know? And you might as well learn it before the Exams, since you’re going to have to redo what you missed afterwards anyway, only for a LOT less credit.
It’s your responsibility to actually learn – I can’t learn it for you and beam it into your head, I can only guide, point, explain and prod. It’s up to you to do what it takes for you to learn and truly understand the material.
