Many Ways to Show What You Know
bbin娱乐平台 classes wrap up today, and we start exam week on Monday. We think of exams as a chance for students to show what they know. What skills have they picked up and honed? What new knowledge have they acquired? How have they synthesized months’ worth of readings, themes, and problems?
How do you do that? Our teachers have taken a flexible and creative approach to exams. Some departments give a sit-down, two-hour exam. There is a lot students can demonstrate in that format. The style is predictable and familiar. It is also good practice for what they will see in some of their BU courses and beyond. Some courses have moved to in-person, one-on-one interview formats – most commonly in history classes, but recently in geometry as well. In dialogue with students, teachers probe a range of topics spanning the semester’s content and requiring students to flex their critical thinking muscles. Others assign papers, knowing that there is no better way to hone your writing than by practice. Still others have offered up avenues for projects – showcases for content mastery, creativity, and sometimes collaboration. The end result is a week that gives students multiple ways to show what they know, some playing more to a given student’s strengths than others. The variation from day to day adds some color to the week and creates chances for more flexibility in terms of time; some students find time to get lunch with their friends (and even do some holiday shopping) between exam days. And while exam week may never be everybody’s favorite, some students say that they kind of like it.
Wishing all of our students good luck next week!