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I'm interested in what other teachers do to get digital natives to use the technology between their ears. I find that my students will simply google or copy someone else's work long before thinking on their own. For example, recently we did a lab where I checked that part of the data table was filled out before the lab. By last hour, I had several students who not only had what I expected but had all of the data for the lab when they hadn't done the lab yet. When I called them on this I was told "It's already on Group Me". They call this "Using our resources" when they're called on this. They don't consider it cheating.
How do you motivate your students to THINK before they google or just copy a friend's answer? It seems that technology is replacing thinking.
a. Do something different than what the "book" says.
b. Do it by hand. Record by hand. Analyze by hand. Plot by hand.
and,
if they really filled out the data table before they had even done the lab, then give them a zero. They didn't do the work. And they plagiarized. Their boss will have no problem firing them later on, so they can learn now or learn later.
a. Do something different than what the "book" says.
b. Do it by hand. Record by hand. Analyze by hand. Plot by hand.
and,
if they really filled out the data table before they had even done the lab, then give them a zero. They didn't do the work. And they plagiarized. Their boss will have no problem firing them later on, so they can learn now or learn later.
Guess that's why I'm not a teacher.
I'm already doing this. I require a hand written outline for every paper they do and require them to turn in their printed sources with the portions they use in the paper highlighted. I require them to turn in an electronic copy of the written portion of each lab and run it through a plagiarism checker.
Next year I'm planning on using good old fashioned carbon paper. I'd LOVE to have the carbonless lab books but they're $20/student and the school will never go for that. I'm going to require that they turn in a carbon copy of their data table the DAY OF THE LAB. I'm also going to figure out how to change things each hour as much as possible.
I also require hand drawn graphs, which they and their parents HATE. I'm told I'm too old school. The problem is if I let them use a computer I get 75 copies of the same graph done by one student. They do not consider it cheating to use someone else's work and providing the work makes you popular.
I agree that their boss will fire them. I fear that too many of them will learn the hard way.
I'm looking for ways to get into their heads. They really do think that googling = thinking and they think the person who finds the answer first on google is smarter than the others. I'm sure their thinking processes are different than mine because of their dependency on technology. I use technology to enhance thinking. They use it in place of thinking. Unfortunately, the government, schools and parents are pushing for MORE technology as if technology will be the savior of education when the only thing that is happening is the people who sell technology are getting very rich while our kids get dumber and more dependent on said technology which means ever MORE sales in the future for those who sell the technology. I cannot believe that people don't see they're being sold down the river here but reality is these are the kids I must teach.
Last edited by Ivorytickler; 06-13-2015 at 09:16 AM..
I'm already doing this. I require a hand written outline for every paper they do and require them to turn in their printed sources with the portions they use in the paper highlighted.
Next year I'm planning on using good old fashioned carbon paper. I'd LOVE to have the carbonless lab books but they're $20/student and the school will never go for that. I'm going to require that they turn in a carbon copy of their data table the DAY OF THE LAB. I'm also going to figure out how to change things each hour as much as possible.
I also require hand drawn graphs, which they and their parents HATE. I'm told I'm too old school. The problem is if I let them use a computer I get 75 copies of the same graph done by one student. They do not consider it cheating to use someone else's work and providing the work makes you popular.
I agree that their boss will fire them. I fear that too many of them will learn the hard way.
I'm looking for ways to get into their heads. They really do think that googling = thinking and they think the person who finds the answer first on google is smarter than the others. I'm sure their thinking processes are different than mine because of their dependency on technology. I use technology to enhance thinking. They use it in place of thinking. Unfortunately, the government, schools and parents are pushing for MORE technology as if technology will be the savior of education.
My daughter told me about something similar that happened in one of her college classes (where the students just shared data instead of doing their own work as was required). The professor gave the students who just copied the work from others zeros on that assignment and the students involved were irate. He told them that it was plagiarism and pointed out where it said in his syllabus that any plagiarized work would receive a zero.
My daughter was shocked when many of the students who were involved, mostly seniors in college, either did not know what "plagiarism" meant or insisted that "copying all the information from someone else" was just "good research" and not cheating. The professor did not completely back down, but there was so much pressure on him that he allowed the students to individually redo the assignment for partial credit (rather than let the zeros stay in their grades).
I feel for you. We had a new employee a couple years ago. Gave him a routine task, something that required thinking, but was repetitive from things that had been done before. He turned in a single sheet of garbage and was proud of it until I gave it back and told him to do it over. When I asked him if he had researched how to do the task, he said no and asked where. I told him "you might try the library." (note, as a lab we have an excellent research library and staff on site).
Turns out he had gotten through college with an engineering degree without having to spend much time in the library. Had to show him there was a whole world of knowledge that has not yet been put on line.
Recently visited the new Florida Polytechnic University. They are quite proud of their virtual library. This whole university is built on the concept that everything you need to know is on Google.
This is not the children's fault. Younger teachers are teaching students this strategy. Instead of allowing the students to figure out the problem on their own by breaking down all the steps first, they are taught "problem solving." "Problem solving these days means finding a good youtube video without taking the time to see what the mistake was made or solving the problem independently. True story. Last week, I observed a group of prospective teachers interviewing for a job. First, they had to submit a writing sample before they were called in for the interview. They were handed a pen, clipboard, and the paper to write their essay. They stared in disbelief that they had to write something on the spot using paper and pen. They pulled out their smartphones and were clearly looking up information to help them with this very general essay. I saw some using their phones as dictionaries to help them with spelling, clearly defeating the purpose of this writing test, which wasn't being supervised very carefully. Forget about the penmanship. Messy half print/half cursive. This was for a kindergarten job, BTW.
This is not the children's fault. Younger teachers are teaching students this strategy. Instead of allowing the students to figure out the problem on their own by breaking down all the steps first, they are taught "problem solving." "Problem solving these days means finding a good youtube video without taking the time to see what the mistake was made or solving the problem independently. True story. Last week, I observed a group of prospective teachers interviewing for a job. First, they had to submit a writing sample before they were called in for the interview. They were handed a pen, clipboard, and the paper to write their essay. They stared in disbelief that they had to write something on the spot using paper and pen. They pulled out their smartphones and were clearly looking up information to help them with this very general essay. I saw some using their phones as dictionaries to help them with spelling, clearly defeating the purpose of this writing test, which wasn't being supervised very carefully. Forget about the penmanship. Messy half print/half cursive. This was for a kindergarten job, BTW.
I can totally picture that happening.
I have personally heard both students and parents say that learning spelling in school is completely unnecessary because of spellcheck on computers. Heck, I have heard HS students say many times "Why do I need to learn (whatever the subject) because I can just look up anything that I need to know any time on my phone." There was a recent thread on C-D about a helping a child who had handwriting problems. Several people responded that there was absolutely no need for anyone to learn handwriting and one person wrote that he hadn't written anything in years. Sheesh!
My daughter told me about something similar that happened in one of her college classes (where the students just shared data instead of doing their own work as was required). The professor gave the students who just copied the work from others zeros on that assignment and the students involved were irate. He told them that it was plagiarism and pointed out where it said in his syllabus that any plagiarized work would receive a zero.
My daughter was shocked when many of the students who were involved, mostly seniors in college, either did not know what "plagiarism" meant or insisted that "copying all the information from someone else" was just "good research" and not cheating. The professor did not completely back down, but there was so much pressure on him that he allowed the students to individually redo the assignment for partial credit (rather than let the zeros stay in their grades).
They do not consider using the work of others with permission as plagiarism. They consider it "Using our resources". I have to be VERY clear that I expect every student to do their own work and then I still have to go to great lengths to enforce that because they'll copy anyway. In their minds if they have the permission of the other person it's ok.
Written work can be run through a plagiarism checker and my students learn quickly that the penalties are steep for not getting through the checker but data is an uphill battle. They just share data rather than do the work themselves. They consider this just doing their homework together. Next year I'm planning on making the penalties for copied data, when I an show it's copied that is as I know I only catch about 1 in 40 as it's just impossible for me to cross check the data from 75 lab reports as severe as the penalties for plagiarism. I'm going to start by having my students sign an oath saying they will do their own work and use their own data and that they understand that the penalties for not doing so will be severe and then I'll spell out the penalties.
I'm going that cell phones be turned in on lab days and I'm going to require that each student turn in to me a carbon copy of the lab data collected on the lab day. I'm also going to change things about the labs as much as possible between hours. This will not stop it though as they simply do not consider it wrong to copy someone else's work if they have their permission. They actually consider me to be in the wrong because I'm trying to make them do their own work as I'm denying them the resource of working with their peers. They just don't see copying as cheating.
I feel for you. We had a new employee a couple years ago. Gave him a routine task, something that required thinking, but was repetitive from things that had been done before. He turned in a single sheet of garbage and was proud of it until I gave it back and told him to do it over. When I asked him if he had researched how to do the task, he said no and asked where. I told him "you might try the library." (note, as a lab we have an excellent research library and staff on site).
Turns out he had gotten through college with an engineering degree without having to spend much time in the library. Had to show him there was a whole world of knowledge that has not yet been put on line.
Recently visited the new Florida Polytechnic University. They are quite proud of their virtual library. This whole university is built on the concept that everything you need to know is on Google.
I find this attitude terrifying. Digital natives can be lead by the nose easily by just putting the information you want them to believe on the internet. They do not think about what they find on the internet. They just run with it. I made the mistake of giving in and letting students find graphs on line for the various periodic trends rather than graph them by hand this year. EVERY group that had one trend had an incorrect graph. It was a graph of atomic size mislabeled as third ionization energy they found on line. When I told them to redo the assignment, WITHOUT FAIL, they turned in another incorrect graph. They didn't have the sense to look at the data I GAVE THEM to see that it didn't fit the graph they printed.
Next year I'm going to start this lesson with a challenge. I'm going to give them the data and the graphs that are on line including the incorrect one and ask them to determine which one is wrong and explain why it's wrong. I know that only my first chemistry class of the day will actually do the assignment. The rest will come in already knowing the answer and learn nothing but I will have taught 1/3 of my classes something.
Fortunately for me I tenured this year. That means I can go back to graph paper and pencils and have the union support me if my admins and parents complain that I'm not using the great savior of education; TECHNOLOGY. I can stand my ground now and insist my students do their own work. I've had to back down so many times over the last 5 years in situations of blatant cheating because admins wanted me to. Tenure doesn't mean much but it's nice to know I'm owed due process before I can be fired now.
If I had it my way I'd unplug our schools. I'd install cell phone blockers (can't do this as it's denying someone a service they pay for) and I'd go back to the old fashioned card catalog and READING books and magazines to find what you need. Another pet peeve of mine is they do not READ what they find on line. They just copy and paste what looks like what they want. Then they shake and edit every 4th word to get past a plagiarism checker. I had a student turn in a lab report that had a conclusion that was clearly not for the lab we did. She couldn't understand why I gave her a zero for the entire lab. I told her that if she didn't learn enough from the lab to know that the conclusion she had "written" didn't fit the lab she deserved a zero. She did a good job of editing the conclusion to get past the plagiarism checker but it was still easy to find the original source on line because of the concepts that we did not do that were in the conclusion.
Technology was supposed to make our jobs easier but it's making them way harder as now we have to come up with all kinds of creative ways to stop students from using technology to cheat.
Last edited by Ivorytickler; 06-14-2015 at 08:57 AM..
They do not consider using the work of others with permission as plagiarism. They consider it "Using our resources". I have to be VERY clear that I expect every student to do their own work and then I still have to go to great lengths to enforce that because they'll copy anyway. In their minds if they have the permission of the other person it's ok.
Written work can be run through a plagiarism checker and my students learn quickly that the penalties are steep for not getting through the checker but data is an uphill battle. They just share data rather than do the work themselves. They consider this just doing their homework together. Next year I'm planning on making the penalties for copied data, when I an show it's copied that is as I know I only catch about 1 in 40 as it's just impossible for me to cross check the data from 75 lab reports as severe as the penalties for plagiarism. I'm going to start by having my students sign an oath saying they will do their own work and use their own data and that they understand that the penalties for not doing so will be severe and then I'll spell out the penalties.
I'm going that cell phones be turned in on lab days and I'm going to require that each student turn in to me a carbon copy of the lab data collected on the lab day. I'm also going to change things about the labs as much as possible between hours. This will not stop it though as they simply do not consider it wrong to copy someone else's work if they have their permission. They actually consider me to be in the wrong because I'm trying to make them do their own work as I'm denying them the resource of working with their peers. They just don't see copying as cheating.
The science department of one of our local HSs has both the student and their parent sign their no plagiarism/no cheating policy at the beginning of each school year for each science class. The teacher keeps the original and the student keeps a copy in the front of their science notebook/folder. If the student still has their copy at the time of the final exam they get bonus points added to their grade. I asked one of the teachers how many students in his class usually still have the paper at the end of the semester and I was told, almost 100%. He said that it really cut down on cheating.
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They do not think about what they find on the internet. They just run with it. I made the mistake of giving in and letting students find graphs on line for the various periodic trends rather than graph them by hand this year. EVERY group that had one trend had an incorrect graph. It was a graph of atomic size mislabeled as third ionization energy they found on line. When I told them to redo the assignment, WITHOUT FAIL, they turned in another incorrect graph. They didn't have the sense to look at the data I GAVE THEM to see that it didn't fit the graph they printed.
