On reality not matching theory (no cheating or stupidity involved).
In one lab early in the semester, the experiment was simple. Drop round beads of various sizes into a column of glycerin, and use a stop watch to measure how long it took for the bead to drop 10 cm intervals, most of the way down the column.
If I recall correctly, the theory we were given claimed we should get nice angled lines that curled up on the end. Our actual lines were shaped correctly, mostly, but were off, by a mysterious constant. Checking with other groups (and maybe the instructor) we learned that was “normal” and we were supposed to explain it.
Late in the semester, our lab groups each had to design our own experiment to further explore transport phenomena. One group did something involving not the glycerin but the column that had held the glycerin. Their experiment didn’t work, but they did talk about the theory of wall effects. They were questioned as to at what point wall effects become a problem–right about the same ratio of diameter of bead to tube that we’d had for the early experiment. I got the distinct impression that next year’s students might just have to calculate wall effects for their experiment.
I’ve seen a few collaborative efforts brought up after exams, the excuse that “we didn’t realise you couldn’t do it like that in this country” wears thin after a while…
In lab, early in the semester we did an experiment. When we graphed the results, we had these nice lines–actually, I think they were mostly straight lines. When we calculated the results based on an equation we were given, we got straight lines–but they didn’t line up with our results. We were puzzled. Professor said, “It’s ok, it’s normal, but can you give me some theories why they don’t line up?”
Two months later, one group did a different experiment involving the same principle. They decided that wall effects(see below) might be a factor in their experiment. When they presented it to the class, the professors realized, or perhaps just had the students announce to the class, that wall effects explained why the lines didn’t line up. The way they said this made me think that next year’s class might have more equations to solve.
Short Explanation of Wall Effects by analogy:
Imagine you are trying to walk through a tunnel from Point A to Point B. If the tunnel is the width of a football field, and there are no other people walking in the tunnel, you can walk as quickly as you want to walk. No wall effects. If the tunnel is only 3 feet wide, and you don’t want to touch the sides, you will walk more slowly because there isn’t as much space for you to walk and not touch the sides. That’s wall effects.
*Was short, then I looked at the length of the two posts. Oopsie.
I forget the equation, but the column we were using was not wide enough to ignore the wall effects in our experiment. I’m not sure whether the professors knew this or not.
If that doesn’t help, tell me what you don’t get and I’ll try to explain it again. Though I really don’t think it’s worth it. It’s just one of those things that stick in my brain, even though the useful stuff has fallen out.
There will now be a pop quiz. Books on the floor, baseball caps reversed, cell phones off. You may not answer your phone during the quiz. Without consulting your notes, explain wall effects. Then describe one real-life circumstance in which it would be useful to understand wall effects. Spelling does not count. You may begin.
Class this morning…we’re well over halfway home…I’m sitting at my seminar table with the kiddies when an unfamiliar face walks in…and is looking very confused. Finally, he makes his way down to where we are sitting.
Now, I should note that I am just a couple years older than most of my students and can sort of “blend in” if you don’t know to look for me.
I ask him, “Can I help you?”
“Yes,” he said, “I need to talk to the person in charge–the professor.”
“That would be me.”
“Can we talk out in the hall? This is personal.”
At this point, I was kinda concerned and replied, “I’m…I’m very sorry, I’m very embarassed, but I don’t recognize you. Are you one of my students?”
“Yes.”
The rest of the story gets longer and worse, but later on, in my office, he claimed he had been to the first TWO classes (and I think he also claimed this to my Vice-Chair).
Of course, my attendance records do not bear this out.
I have a very tiny advanced seminar, and a/p is 25% of their grade. I feel that I have to have records of attendance in case anyone wants to know how their A/P grade was calculated or challenge that grade. I also make notes to myself on who talked in class and what they said so I can cover the participation part as well. Given the small number of students, this is all very painless. I don’t include attendance in the grade for my larger classes.
I attended to small universities. 90% attendance was mandatory at both in all classes.
I’m sure you can picture the eyerolling the professors managed during attendance taking in the large seminar classes. Not that it helped with sluffing or anything. Depending on how many classes you take, you can sluff a class a week and still get your 90% in.
I could never understand cheating at any level but most especially at college. Most of the professors have at least eight years of higher education under their belt along with years of instruction and grading of those papers and tests. The odds are against you.
I actually ended up dropping orgo in the end, but in my accelerated chemistry days (our university had two chem classes, one three quarters long, and one two quarters long), it was not unusual for scores around 50% to be the top of the class. I particularly remember once scoring 35% on a test and that brought my overall grade up to a B. And these were not a bunch of idiots taking the class, either, I can assure you.
Today my TA handed an exam over to me, as it was so bad and out there that she wasn’t sure what to do with it. This was a student that had accosted each of us the day after the exam at a symposium reception asking if this had been standard for our department’s exams, as it was really hard, etc. Now, I started reading the exam, and aside from her essays making no sense and not having much to do with the questions, the writing style seemed odd. “Hmm,” I thought, "if this were a term paper I’d check this phrase, for example, on a search engine to make sure it wasn’t plagiarized. She couldn’t possibly have. . .
Well, I’ll be damned. How did she do THAT?! Big chunks of artists’ biographies lifted word for word from Britannica online,and other bits from other websites. In the exam booklet I handed out (I mark them so that I’m certain they didn’t bring one with). So. . . either she printed this crap out and copied from a carefully hidden pile of paper (it would have had to be pages and pages of text to sift through for useless garbage text on a particular topic) or she was managing to work a Blackberry or OQO or something. Any thoughts? I’m thinking she probably worked it on her lap under a skirt or something that could cover up when I or the TA headed back in that direction.
I’m so busting this one. So obnoxious. One day pleading about how hard the exam was, the next day showing up to class 20 minutes late, not taking a single note, and (TA reports) spending the whole lecture texting and eating a sandwich. And now we discover this. So rich.
To give him credit, when a handful of my returning students managed once again to fail the lab section (although, this time they managed to fail through their own sterling lack o’ effort as opposed to actual cheating), when it became clear where things were going (after the third quiz they managed to tank) he came in, we discussed the situation, and he bought me dinner and told me “If they can’t manage to pass on their own merits, fail 'em. They’re good ball players, but they think they’re owed good grades - nobody’s owed good grades.”
If they’d tried even a little, they could have squeaked past. The test was viciously hard, but easily passable. The quizzes were a cakewalk (deliberately so - they were written so that any third-grader who’d actually read the day’s lab in advance could pass them). The final was designed so that that self-same third-grader could manage to pass it - but the questions got tougher in geometric progression, so to actually get an A, you had to be good.
God knows, some of their teammates weren’t good students - but they actually did the work and tried. Those ones passed. Hell, one of them got one of the elusive A’s. I was so proud - I’d spent well over 100 hours tutoring that guy in the weeks before the exam. Tutoring any other student could have availed themself of. He’s a pediatrician now - I get a card on my birthday from him every year.
A nine minute test??? I didn’t have enough time! In my country we do things differently and I was still in bed at the time of the test. Can’t I do it again?
I just thought everyone would love to know that today, during an activity on latitude and longitude, in which students (9th graders, approximately 15 years old) were to approximate the center of the United States and give its coordinates, six young ladies chose a location that was roughly in northern Saskatchewan. The boy next to them gave them a strange look and informed them that their location was not even IN the U.S., let alone the center of it. It seems they tried to approximate the center of North America, which I could have almost accepted as a simple error, except that the next thing out of one of their mouths was
“Well it doesn’t matter, because since we own Canada it is technically a part of the United States anyway. It might as well be the 50th state.”
I see. That’s not too weird, then. My teacher at Northwestern purposely made his tests much harder than the level he was teaching at. He even told us so before exam time. Why he did it this way, I don’t know, perhaps to scare students (the classes were known weedouts), but IIRC he never expected a student to score much higher than 70% on his tests. There were tests where 50s were the highest scores, but he wasn’t too concerned as the tests were designed this way.
I’m sorry, that quiz was due on the 6th and today is the 8th. No, there is no extra credit you can complete to make it up. The quiz was an extra credit activity. No, I don’t owe you an opportunity to make up extra credit. No, it doesn’t matter that you were only a few minutes late. You weren’t here when I gave the quiz.
