The Dangers of Criteria-Based Grading

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Mr. Bigler

This year, I taught at a charter school that uses criteria-based grading.  To describe the system briefly, the learning objectives of each subject are broken down into individual criteria, called benchmarks.  For each assessment (test, assignment, etc.), every question or item on a rubric is tied to a benchmark.  The student receives a separate grade of 1 (low fail), 2 (high fail), 3 (proficient), or 4 (advanced) for each separate benchmark.  The student’s grade in the course is the percentage of benchmarks the student has passed (with a grade of 3.0 or better).  A grade of 70% or higher is passing.

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Inquiry is Not “One Size Fits All”

Posted on May 30, 2011 by Mr. Bigler

Inquiry is most definitely not a “one size fits all” paradigm.  Teachers can and should adjust the level of scaffolding based on the academic abilities and experience of the class.  I do this all the time. Continue reading →

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Reading Comprehension, Math, Science, and History: Related Skills

Posted on May 28, 2011 by Mr. Bigler

About a week ago, I was talking with a colleague who teaches history. (I teach my honors physics class in his classroom, so he is often working at his desk while I teach the class.) After my class was over and before his class came into the room, I commented on how many of my students have significant difficulty keeping track of where they are in a multi-step problem that involves algebra. He remarked that he observes the same thing with reading comprehension in history.

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Presenting at ChemEd 2011

Posted on April 22, 2011 by Mr. Bigler

My workshop proposal for this summer’s ChemEd 2011 conference has been accepted, so I will be presenting a workshop entitled Converting Existing “Cookbook” Laboratory Experiments to Inquiry Format at this year’s conference.

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A Video Game Approach to Learning

Posted on March 18, 2011 by Mr. Bigler

On 3/18/2011 9:36 AM, Stanley Latesky wrote:

If only someone would develop a video game approach to learning, the majority of our new generation of students would initially be excited about attending class.

In my own way, I’ve done this, with a fair degree of success. Continue reading →

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Posted in Philosophy | Tagged | 1 Comment

Requiring Chemistry?

Posted on February 17, 2011 by Mr. Bigler

On 2/16/2011 11:49 AM, James Guzinski posted to the ChemEd-L discussion list:

I just read in Science, Vol 331, 28 January 2011, p. 405, that “Biology will be the only high school science class for 21 to 25% of U.S. high school graduates…”

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Throwing Technology at Problems in Education

Posted on February 6, 2011 by Mr. Bigler

There was a recent request on the AP-Chem discussion list for information about using technology in inquiry-based experiments. There is a widespread myth in education that throwing technology at a problem will make it better. The assumption behind the myth seems to be that acquiring more data with less effort will enable students to learn the concepts better by doing more data analysis.

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Learned Confidence

Posted on November 18, 2010 by Mr. Bigler

…is the closest phrase I can come up with that could be the antithesis of learned helplessness.

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“Fault” Is a Swear Word

Posted on October 18, 2010 by Mr. Bigler

In my classroom, “fault” is a swear word. I don’t let my students use the words “fault” or “blame” because assessing blame takes up time and effort and doesn’t solve anything.

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Questions that Don’t Have Neat Answers

Posted on October 2, 2010 by Mr. Bigler

One of the first topics in Chemistry I is states of matter and chemical vs. physical properties.  Pretty much every sample of matter is either a solid, liquid, gas, plasma, or unknown.  Similarly, the properties of matter fit neatly into the categories of chemical, physical, both, and unknown.

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