Academic Integrity

I gave my honors chemistry II students a lab practicum for their mid-term exam on Friday. I divided them into of three students per group (assigned randomly) and gave the groups two problems to solve and write up (in a format similar to the one I require for lab notebooks) during the 90-minute exam.

Problem #2 on the exam was:

You are given a sample of an unknown compound, which is soluble in water. The compound is an electrolyte with a van’t Hoff factor, i=2. Determine the boiling point elevation of a solution of the compound, and use your data to calculate the molar mass of the compound. The boiling point elevation constant for water, K_b = 0.512^oC/m.

As has been the case all year, I did not give them an explicit procedure; part of the task is designing the experiment. The details, such as specific amounts of chemicals to be used, are left up to each individual group. My job is to give helpful hints or suggestions if the kids appear stuck, and to intervene if it looks like they’re about to do something dangerous.

The directions explicitly stated:

This is an open book, open notes exam. You and your lab partners may use any reference materials you like, including any notes and papers you may have. You may discuss the experiment and what you include in your writeup with the members of your own group, but not with other groups. If you need a piece of lab equipment or apparatus that is not already provided, feel free to ask for it; any reasonable request (at Mr. Bigler’s discretion) will be granted.

What Happened

It appears that three of the groups shared their data with each other instead of doing their own separate experiments, which was explicitly against the instructions. At one point during the experiment, I even reminded the apparent combined group of nine that each group had to do its own experiment, and that conferring with other groups was equivalent to cheating on the mid-term.

When I started grading the write-ups, the numbers were absolutely identical. The statistical probability that three separate groups of students would randomly end up choosing beakers off the shelf that had the exact same tare weight, put in exactly the same mass of compound, and measure exactly the same boiling point elevation (measured and reported to the same insufficient number of significant figures) is effectively zero.

The real problem is what to do about it. I don’t think this is a gray area. The instructions stated explicitly that the groups were not to confer. The students were warned during the exam that conferring with other groups was cheating. They turned in identical data sets, which would be statistically impossible without conferring. The student handbook states explicitly that the penalty for cheating is a zero on the assignment and parental notification for the first offense, and stronger penalties for subsequent offenses.

Prior Response from Administration

However, last year, when some of my students copied each other’s lab reports, the administration didn’t exactly back me up.

In response to last year’s incident, I sent letters home to the parents, stating that the students copied each other’s lab reports, that the students would be given a grade of zero, that the incident would be documented in the students’ permanent academic records, that they would be ineligible for National Honor Society, and that there could be athletic consequences, such as loss of team captaincy.

The administrators’ response was to tell me that the letter was inappropriate, on the following grounds:

• Our policies say nothing about barring students from National Honor Society. True, but the NHS advisor sends the list of names around for commentary, and an incident of cheating pretty much guarantees that a student won’t get in.
• Our policies say nothing about barring students from athletics because of cheating. Also true, but coaches do ask for progress reports, and have benched students in the past because of academic- or classroom-related issues.
• We don’t document cheating in students’ academic records. Um, how is it possible to enforce the rules regarding second and third offenses if there’s no documentation?
• The reports weren’t copied word-for-word. Students don’t realize that it’s cheating if it’s not word-for-word, so it’s not appropriate to give them a zero. This is a crock of bullshit. First of all, the English teachers I’ve spoken with at school have told me explicitly that the students are taught that they need to cite references, even when paraphrasing. Second of all, I told the students at the beginning of the year that they needed to cite any materials they used, including each other’s lab reports. Third of all, the paragraphs were almost identical. The differences amounted to substituting synonyms for two or three words per paragraph.
• (Referring to the content of one of the lab reports.) This student’s abstract contains way too much detail. Maybe you need to spend more time teaching them how to write a proper abstract. Don’t even get me started on how many ways this comment was inappropriate in this context…

Present Concerns

I’m not looking forward to going in to school on Monday and telling the administration that:

1. I observed nine students during my Chemistry II mid-term exam apparently collaborating on one of the experiments. The instructions explicitly stated that this was not permitted. When I observed the students in question apparently collaborating, I told them to separate into their own groups and reminded them that discussing the experiment with other groups during the exam was equivalent to cheating.
2. These nine students handed in write-ups with identical data sets, which would be statistically impossible without collaborating.
3. According to the student handbook, I am therefore required to give all nine of them (half of the class) a grade of zero on their midterm and notify each of their parents.

Given that the administration will almost certainly not back me up this time either, the question is, do I talk to the administration first, or do I just send the letters to the parents and put the zeroes on their report cards, because once the letters are sent and the parents are notified, the administration has a lot fewer options?

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