Skip to main content
Academia

You are not logged in. Your edit will be placed in a queue until it is peer reviewed.

We welcome edits that make the post easier to understand and more valuable for readers. Because community members review edits, please try to make the post substantially better than how you found it, for example, by fixing grammar or adding additional resources and hyperlinks.

21
  • 161
    +1 for "other students likely got this question right using the same incorrect reasoning... [but you can't] identify these students" Commented Jan 23, 2019 at 15:22
  • 25
    I'd say "the whole point" of any test is to grade a students understanding of the material. It was decided ahead of time that a yes/no answer was good enough to determine that understanding, but now this student has given us clear evidence that they do not understand something. That makes the answer wrong. As far as the other students, all we know is that they got the right answer. They presumably understood. They also understood the question didn't ask for further explanation. Commented Jan 23, 2019 at 19:32
  • 9
    The last paragraph is pretty sharp. Commented Jan 24, 2019 at 2:56
  • 12
    @Alexander I wouldn't take that specific example (or say 'one student has put...'), because it effectively embarrasses or shames that student in particular (who went above and beyond to explain why), when more than one could have the understanding wrong, perhaps for differing reasons. It's simpler to simply (re)introduce the topic of why Mars is retrograde, and if asked why, simply say that based on the test results you feel students need a refresher. Commented Jan 24, 2019 at 14:29
  • 32
    @JPhi1618 : You say "That makes the answer wrong." This is incorrect. It makes "that a yes/no answer was good enough to determine that understanding" wrong. Since the defect is in the assessment method, the corrective action is to improve subsequent assessments. Commented Jan 27, 2019 at 16:34