When pretesting...
Once your students are clearly aware the pretest is NOT for a grade, you must convey that they do not guess at answers. It is better to leave a question blank, than to get it correct by guessing. This establishes a true base.
Timothy,
Good point about how to effectively use pretesting. If not used correctly it turns students off and is of no value. Your method makes sure there is value there for the student effort.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I use pretesting in my capstone class, they take a exam the first day to see ow much information they have retained. It helps to show the areas they need to study more. I don't tell them it's not graded until after they have taken it.
Sheri,
As a user of pretesting I see great value to the results that you get as well as helping you to shape your instructional delivery to meet the needs of the current group of learners.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Most of the seasoned students know the pre-test does not count for a grade so they dont read it and mark ansures, the information is of no value to the instructor nor the student, is the pre test a usable item with older seasoned students?
Roy,
With seasoned students I place value on the pretest. I let them know the point value associated with the pretest in relation to getting the course started. I do this since they are seasoned students and I have a certain level of expectation from them. It doesn't take long for the word to get out that students need to answer completely all of the questions of the pretest and that the instructor will be scoring them. Then they start to have value to the students and the instructor gets the information that is needed.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I agree. A lot of my math students leave questions blank, and I congratulate them on being open to learn (or in some cases relearn) the materials covered by these problems. It's certainly better then when someone wildly guesses an answer, usually not a helpful strategy with math!
Richard,
Good strategy plus the students by leaving the blanks have given you a great opportunity to focus on the question related to the blank and reinforce the math concept they missed or don't understand. This is such a targeted growth opportunity for them.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
