Here's a long answer to a short question...
We have the first exam coming up Tuesday, so some student frustration was
due to needing to know the "right" answer now. My
intended right answers were D the hammer for humans and B young
cockroaches for the second question. I agree on your disagreement
point and said to the class that, aside from the upcoming exam, it's more
informative to examine how choices relate to the material to deepen
understanding, communicate with others, improve critical thinking skills,
etc.
Some info from our text relevant to these choices:
"Analysts attribute our success to two evolutionary
adaptations: a complex brain and strong opposable thumbs that allow
us to grip and use tools better than the few other animals that have
thumbs. This has enabled us to develop technologies that extend our
limited senses, weapons, and protective devices."
"Some cockroach species can go for months without food, survive for
a month on a drop of water from a dishrag, and withstand massive doses of
radiation." (note this wasn't one of the choices given)
"They can usually evade their predators and a human foot because
most species have antennae that can detect minute movements of air,
vibration sensors in their knee joints, and rapid response times.
"In only a year, a single female Asian cockroach (prevalent in
Florida) and its young can add about 10 million new cockroaches to the
world."
A couple of groups stuck with an infant for question 1, since if you
can't reproduce you can't survive as a species. Opposing points
(mine and another couple of groups) were yes, but in comparison to other
species, we're not that great at reproduction; tool use really sets us
apart. One student felt that since humans are able to overpopulate
the earth, that must be key to our evolutionary success. (And that
is important, but without our technology (medicine, drinking water
treatment) the human population would be much smaller than it
is.)
Then moving on to the second question, the teams that preferred infant
for humans, switched to the cockroach leg (since the "right"
answer wasn't young on #1). Those couple of groups appeared more
frustrated or perturbed than others - if reproduction wasn't the correct
answer for humans, then, they reasoned, it couldn't be for cockroaches;
the correct answer must be something more specialized, i.e., the
leg. They asked, how would you choose the answer for another
species - another group (and I agreed) answered "it depends on the
species." As you might predict, that wasn't what they wanted
to hear!
For the short term, I'll try to reinforce the ideas that came up Tuesday
with more questions along these lines and also use some questions with
more obvious answers to help raise confidence in the 2 groups that had
the frustrating day. Overall though, I plan to keep trying to come
up with questions to challenge their understanding and promote some
disagreement among the teams.
Thanks to all who responded with similar experiences as well as thoughts
on fostering independent thinking without too much confusion and the
value of cognitive conflict!
Beth
At 03:17 PM 2/9/05 -0500, you wrote:
I
don't know that it's a bad thing that there's a lack of agreement
and lots of discussion about the best answer. As long as the
students are using the course material to think about and address the
question and doing so correctly, does there need to be one right
answer?
I sometimes have topic specific
assignments that ask for a best answer and if there're are
different responses give, we discuss the pros and cons of each.
Sometimes they ask... which is the 'right' answer and I say, there is no
one 'right' answer. The right answer will likely differ for each
person and situation. That way I set them up for their work with
case studies and concept mapping where there will be no one 'right'
answer but some answers that are better than others.
I'm curious though... which is your
'intended' right answer and why? Karla
From: Team Learning Discussion List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Elizabeth Carraway
Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2005 4:20 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: question frustration!
Dear TBL list users:
I've been using some aspects of TBL in an introductory level (200)
environmental science course for almost 2 years. For the first time
I now have a Tuesday-Thursday time slot and am using more in class team
exercises. Today, we discussed 2 questions I made up based on
material from the chapter on evolution and biodiversity. I thought
they were pdg questions, but some of the class (and me a bit) were
frustrated by the discussion and the inability of me (and groups that
agreed with me) to convince a couple of "hold-out" groups what
the best answer is.
If ensuring discussion warrants it, I'll identify the choices involved in
the gridlock. But, I'd like to start by just repeating the
questions and ask for opinions, feedback, etc. about the questions - what
am I missing??? BTW, there are 6 groups - 4 of 5 people and 2 of
6.
1. Which is the best symbol or exemplification of human evolutionary
success?
A. Apple
B. Infant
C. An elderly person
D. Hammer
2. Which is the best symbol or exemplification of cockroach evolutionary
success?
A. Exoskeleton
B. Young cockroaches
C. Elderly cockroaches
D. The cockroach leg (note: from the course text: the
cockroach leg is highly sensitive to vibration, enabling them to escape
under the baseboard before we're able to squash them
underfoot!)
Beth Carraway
Elizabeth R. Carraway, PhD
School of the Environment
Clemson University
342 Computer Court
Anderson, SC 29625
[log in to unmask]
www.ces.clemson.edu/ees
Office: 864-656-5574
Fax: 864-656-0672
Pendleton office:
864-646-2189 (phone)
864-646-2277 (fax)