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-2 votes

Real-World Problems for Teaching Extrema and Derivative Tests in STEM Education

FThe Problem: Given a specific volume, find the dimensions of a cylinder that minimize its surface area. This optimization problem is crucial in designing objects like Le Grand K, where the goal is to ...
Humberto José Bortolossi's user avatar
3 votes

Is it a good idea to give partial points in grading

There are lots of good answers already, but I'll add one thing that works from my experience: add points, don't subtract them. Polya's principles include understand the problem, devise a plan, and ...
Matthew Leingang's user avatar
1 vote

Real-World Problems for Teaching Extrema and Derivative Tests in STEM Education

A Google search showed several that I bet won't satisfy you (fence enclosing, box making). I think you'd have to trawl through a lot of textbooks and look at end of chapter exercises and extract the ...
guest troll's user avatar
7 votes
Accepted

Dominance of connectives: Why do we teach this?

This shouldn't be taught, and those exercises are pointless. There is clearly no intrinsic value in introducing and memorizing precedence of operations. If there is a point, it either is that we would ...
Arno's user avatar
  • 956
3 votes

Is it a good idea to give partial points in grading

I not only award partial credit when grading, but I actively encourage the students to "dispute" it and I guarantee that the grade won't be decreased after review. I've been applying this ...
Javier's user avatar
  • 131
4 votes

Dominance of connectives: Why do we teach this?

I think we all agree that there is a commonly accepted precedence to, say, arithmetic operators, and that it's common to write things like $3x^2$ without parentheses and expect it to be understood. (...
Daniel R. Collins's user avatar
10 votes

Dominance of connectives: Why do we teach this?

When I see exercises like this, I often find that it teaches students to make assumptions about symbolic statements that may not be there - in a real world situation, if a statement is ambiguous, I ...
Leo Ell's user avatar
  • 101
3 votes

Is it a good idea to give partial points in grading

Another reason I like partial credit on tests is it reduces student nervousness. They may have the right approach but be completely stuck bringing it home. With partial credit they know they got those ...
Owen Reynolds's user avatar
5 votes

Is it a good idea to give partial points in grading

I use a binary grading system. A few tips to help students accept a partial-credit-less grading system: Offer full credit if the student makes a mistake that does not affect their demonstration of ...
TomKern's user avatar
  • 4,072
9 votes

Is it a good idea to give partial points in grading

In my experience, binary credit on sub-problems is the way to go. Once you open the door to interpretation on partial credit, you get your time burned by pointless debates (pun intended) with ...
Justin Skycak's user avatar
17 votes
Accepted

Is it a good idea to give partial points in grading

Is it a good idea to give partial points in grading? In my opinion, yes because it makes the grading more fair. Do you give partial points when you grade? Yes. I set a criterion and adapt it according ...
Pedro's user avatar
  • 1,402
13 votes

Is it a good idea to give partial points in grading

I always allow the possibility for partial credit. Unless the problems are quite simple, there will be a good amount of room between a perfect solution and a solution that deserves no credit. If you ...
user1149748's user avatar
2 votes

How would you prepare students for "Alice and Bob" Putnam problems?

To give your students well rounded training, I suggest you use puzzles from as many different sources as possible. As an example, here are some problems you might use (they are from Leningrad ...
Will Octagon Gibson's user avatar
3 votes

How to make Calculus II seem motivated, interesting, and useful?

I am teaching Calc II for the first time in many years and I am again finding it a pleasure. I'm having fun, and I believe my students are also, with regions in the plane that are unbounded but have ...
Jim Hefferon's user avatar
2 votes

How would you prepare students for "Alice and Bob" Putnam problems?

All games with numbers: teach them to start with very small numbers, like here with n=3,4,5 may be some more they find a rule and then only they start to generalize and prove.
trula's user avatar
  • 429
1 vote

How can I help a student who has a "wrong" kind of enthusiasm?

On a practical level, give extra credit assignments about things she is enthusiastic about. Give generous partial credit on these assignments for original ideas that don't necessarily work out. Let ...
Kostya_I's user avatar
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