Hi! My name is Antonietta Altilio and I am a senior at Montclair State University. I am a Math Education major looking to finish my degree by May 2014. I have always been passionate about teaching and making a difference in children's lives and in the ways they view Math.
Thursday, September 26, 2013
"History of Technology in Mathematics"
The invention of the Scantron eliminated the hassle of grading multiple choice exams.
As a future math teacher would you use Scantron's in your classroom? I would not because for math I think that students need to show their work to explain how they got the answer that they did. Also by showing their work they will be able to earn partial credit.
I agree with you Michelle. I probably won't use scantrons in my future classroom, because of the fact that Math is a subject where showing work is important. However, I might use scantrons if I were to ever give a multiple choice test because it would save a lot of time when grading. However, I may also ask the students to show their work on another piece of paper and then grade that as well.
You can also give a test that is half multiple choice and half open-ended. This way the students will have a chance to earn half credit. The multiple choice questions could be questions that do not allow students to earn half credit.
Scantron's did make teacher's lives easier in terms of the speed of grading. However, I feel that scantron are so impersonal. The students are just bubbling in circles and not really expressing their ideas and thoughts. But I do like your idea of using the scantron and having students use a seperate sheet of paper to show their work. This way, and especially in your content area, you will be able to check for understanding and if students are actually grasping the concepts of the problems.
I don't think teachers should depend on using scantron's devices that marks the marks for mistakes because sometimes it doesn't work very well. But I do agree that using scantron's does help in many ways such as saving time.
Michelle, that is a good point. Math teachers, as well as English teachers (need to involve myself here) shouldn't use scantrons in their classrooms. In both fields students to too express what they are thinking, whether it be show work, or actually explain their thought process. While it is nice for teachers just to put a piece of paper through a machine, it is unfair to the students.
I agree with most of you that Scranton doesn't really allow students to show their work, or express their thinking. If scantrons are not useful in assessing students' thinking, then why do standardized tests such as the SAT or Praxis use scantrons? I always do not see why that is the case because you can always make an educated guess what the answer will be. We are all required to take the SAT to get into college and I do not think it accurately measures our math skills, since the math portion is all multiple choice questions. I don't see the purpose why some teachers still use scantrons in their classrooms.
Antonietta, this is a great picture you chose, as it is something that almost all of us have been subject to in our past student live's! All of us have had experience with taking a test that was to be graded by a Scantron machine! I think that this machine is a GREAT technological device that allows teachers to easily and swiftly have a test be graded, rather than having to hand grade all the tests ourselves as teachers. Unfortunately, the questions do have to all be multiple choice questions, but this is still a very useful technology in my opinion.
As a future math teacher would you use Scantron's in your classroom? I would not because for math I think that students need to show their work to explain how they got the answer that they did. Also by showing their work they will be able to earn partial credit.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Michelle. I probably won't use scantrons in my future classroom, because of the fact that Math is a subject where showing work is important. However, I might use scantrons if I were to ever give a multiple choice test because it would save a lot of time when grading. However, I may also ask the students to show their work on another piece of paper and then grade that as well.
DeleteYou can also give a test that is half multiple choice and half open-ended. This way the students will have a chance to earn half credit. The multiple choice questions could be questions that do not allow students to earn half credit.
DeleteScantron's did make teacher's lives easier in terms of the speed of grading. However, I feel that scantron are so impersonal. The students are just bubbling in circles and not really expressing their ideas and thoughts. But I do like your idea of using the scantron and having students use a seperate sheet of paper to show their work. This way, and especially in your content area, you will be able to check for understanding and if students are actually grasping the concepts of the problems.
ReplyDeleteI don't think teachers should depend on using scantron's devices that marks the marks for mistakes because sometimes it doesn't work very well. But I do agree that using scantron's does help in many ways such as saving time.
ReplyDeleteMichelle, that is a good point. Math teachers, as well as English teachers (need to involve myself here) shouldn't use scantrons in their classrooms. In both fields students to too express what they are thinking, whether it be show work, or actually explain their thought process. While it is nice for teachers just to put a piece of paper through a machine, it is unfair to the students.
ReplyDeleteI agree with most of you that Scranton doesn't really allow students to show their work, or express their thinking. If scantrons are not useful in assessing students' thinking, then why do standardized tests such as the SAT or Praxis use scantrons? I always do not see why that is the case because you can always make an educated guess what the answer will be. We are all required to take the SAT to get into college and I do not think it accurately measures our math skills, since the math portion is all multiple choice questions. I don't see the purpose why some teachers still use scantrons in their classrooms.
ReplyDeleteAntonietta, this is a great picture you chose, as it is something that almost all of us have been subject to in our past student live's! All of us have had experience with taking a test that was to be graded by a Scantron machine! I think that this machine is a GREAT technological device that allows teachers to easily and swiftly have a test be graded, rather than having to hand grade all the tests ourselves as teachers. Unfortunately, the questions do have to all be multiple choice questions, but this is still a very useful technology in my opinion.
ReplyDelete