Somewhere, in another post, I claim that total marks is a poor indicator of the component skills that a student has. Marks is a poor tool to provide positive feedback to students. However, recently I discovered that we can use marks, not as a indicator of learning but, to motivate students. To do this, we should give-up idea of using marks as a means of evaluation. This is how it started...
I told my students (age 11-12) that they can even score more than 100 % marks in my Maths tests. This was unheard-of. In a society where people are obsessed by extra half and quarter marks, it was unbelievable that I was offering more than 100 % marks. My tests have bonus questions along with the standard exam questions. Children could get extra marks by finishing the normal paper and then also solving bonus questions. Many started pushing themselves to get bonus marks. Some even got 110-130 % marks.
I played another psychological trick in one exam. I said everyone gets 100 % marks to start with. Then for every mistake I removed some marks. The thought that, every one started with 100 % marks - alone made them more relaxed. Rather than earning marks for correct answers, they would lose marks for wrong answers. So make sure you don't lose what you have. Isn't it great that at this age they are still so naive.
This got me thinking of more ambitious marking-schemes. I floated a linear scheme - for every two questions that they will do correctly in a row, they will get 2 bonus marks. For three questions correct in a row 4 bonus marks. For all 10 questions correct in a row, they get 180 % marks ! I could see their eyes opening wide. Why not a non-linear reward scheme. Double the reward for every question they do correctly in a row (2**N). The students started calculating how much marks-profit they can make.
Someone asked me if there would be negative marks for getting a question wrong in a row. Well, I could give both reward and punishment - depending how motivated my class is or is-not. For a moment I felt like giving them a lecture on basics of game theory. But its clear to me that such Value Added Marks, can be used to motivate children to do more sums correctly. I am tempted to try my linear-bonus scheme for the final Maths test.
Of course, the marks still won't reflect component skills of a student, but they would definitely represent the motivation of students. If the aim of teaching Maths is to motivate them to do Maths, and do it correctly - then who cares about absolute marks.
I told my students (age 11-12) that they can even score more than 100 % marks in my Maths tests. This was unheard-of. In a society where people are obsessed by extra half and quarter marks, it was unbelievable that I was offering more than 100 % marks. My tests have bonus questions along with the standard exam questions. Children could get extra marks by finishing the normal paper and then also solving bonus questions. Many started pushing themselves to get bonus marks. Some even got 110-130 % marks.
I played another psychological trick in one exam. I said everyone gets 100 % marks to start with. Then for every mistake I removed some marks. The thought that, every one started with 100 % marks - alone made them more relaxed. Rather than earning marks for correct answers, they would lose marks for wrong answers. So make sure you don't lose what you have. Isn't it great that at this age they are still so naive.
This got me thinking of more ambitious marking-schemes. I floated a linear scheme - for every two questions that they will do correctly in a row, they will get 2 bonus marks. For three questions correct in a row 4 bonus marks. For all 10 questions correct in a row, they get 180 % marks ! I could see their eyes opening wide. Why not a non-linear reward scheme. Double the reward for every question they do correctly in a row (2**N). The students started calculating how much marks-profit they can make.
Someone asked me if there would be negative marks for getting a question wrong in a row. Well, I could give both reward and punishment - depending how motivated my class is or is-not. For a moment I felt like giving them a lecture on basics of game theory. But its clear to me that such Value Added Marks, can be used to motivate children to do more sums correctly. I am tempted to try my linear-bonus scheme for the final Maths test.
Of course, the marks still won't reflect component skills of a student, but they would definitely represent the motivation of students. If the aim of teaching Maths is to motivate them to do Maths, and do it correctly - then who cares about absolute marks.
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