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Sunday, December 9, 2012

What went wrong with this quiz? « JD2718

What went wrong with this quiz? « JD2718:


What went wrong with this quiz?

I have been doing math with kids for a while. Sixteen years paid. And more before that.
Why did this system of linear equations take kids more than triple the time I anticipated?
Writing good questions for the classroom, designing homework, making tests and quizzes. And when I offer a question, I expect a response. Sometimes I set up a mistake, prepared to talk about it. Sometimes I introduce a small twist, to take something that is easy for the kids, and make it challenging. I chose problems to drive conversations, knowing in advance where we are going. Sometimes I set up compare and contrasts (but I never call them that). Why is number three so much harder than number two, even though they look the same.
For tests, I know which skills I am looking for. I can avoid complications from tangents that I don’t mean to