I do not mean for this thread to be a discussion of whether or not students should show work on an exam, whether they should be docked points for just "seeing" an answer and writing it down, whether using a calculator is fine, etc. etc.
Rather, I want to know if there are good, detailed, and clear ways to get across your requirements/opinions/policies about "showing work" so that your students will...
- Understand what is expected of their writeups on both homeworks and exams, in terms of how they will be graded
- Follow along with why you expect them to show what you ask of them (at least enough to buy into it for the context of the course)
- Feel like they are being accurately and fairly assessed on their knowledge and implementation of techniques (or whatever is relevant for the course)
For responses to these queries, I'm looking for specific details about things you have tried, and an idea of how successful they were. This might include a standard "disclaimer" or "prompt" you put on every exam. Or, this might include a common, repeated discussion you have with your classes that reminds them about your policies.