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> Was surprised to have that learning moment in the middle of the exam and not prior… I sat my first exam for a university course I was teaching last year. I t

> Was surprised to have that learning moment in the middle of the exam and not prior… I sat my first exam for a university course I was teaching last year. I thought I needed to introduce some new ideas, so the students wouldn't be bored doing it. From the evaluations, not all students agreed...

nerdponx 5y ago
"Bored" is the absolute last thing on anyone's minds during an exam! I always hated when my instructors put "important" results that we have never seen before on an exam. It was like adding insult to injury if I didn't know how to solve it. It was different on homework assignments, because usually that you had time to work through the problem in detail and have the "aha" moment, without stress and time pressure.
- tfigment 5y ago
  My intro to Physics prof did this. First exam, average was like 35%. I was in top 3 at like 70%. He got into trouble because he also said no grading on curve and most of class complained to his dept head.
  - hinkley 5y ago
    We had a physics professor who did the same, except he did grade on a curve. My 38% was a B-. I don’t think we had three people above 70%. #1 was an outlier and might have hit 70. The guy I studied with sat behind me, and at one point one of us started stress laughing. Then it was two of us in the middle of a lecture laughing like our gun just jammed while the horror movie cereal killer was almost within striking distance. There were a lot of pissed off people in class for the next couple of weeks.
- kwhitefoot 5y ago
  > hated when my instructors put "important" results that we have never seen before on an exam. You would have hated my 1977 quantum mechanics final; not a single question that had been directly covered in the course. Really sorted out those who had been paying attention from those who thought that memorization was enough.
  - iratewizard 5y ago
    It doesn't seem like many universities do it like that at all anymore. MIT's old comp sci curriculum used to be great. I've since seen them replace teaching fundamentals on lisp with python. My guess is that python is taught so that they can stuff their curriculum with buzzwords.
    - KMag 5y ago
      If I recall correctly, the stated reasoning is that most software construction today relies heavily on combining libraries, and the batteries-included nature of Python allows them to get to this point earlier in the semester. Also, using Python makes more of the material directly transferable to upper-level machine learning and big data subjects. As far as buzzwords, I think the weight of "MIT" is much heavier than any buzzwords that could be attached. (Though, I'm biased.)
    - danadannecy 5y ago
      The current version of the class you are referring to actually includes an assignment to implement a lisp interpreter in python, which you might find interesting. https://py.mit.edu/fall21/labs/lab09 https://py.mit.edu/fall21/labs/lab09
coupdejarnac 5y ago
This is why I have nightmares about undergrad engineering. Professors and TAs lose perspective when they teach the same material repeatedly and think they need to make things interesting. No, your job is to communicate abstract ideas clearly, which is apparently an extremely rare skill.

nerdponx 5y ago

"Bored" is the absolute last thing on anyone's minds during an exam! I always hated when my instructors put "important" results that we have never seen before on an exam. It was like adding insult to injury if I didn't know how to solve it. It was different on homework assignments, because usually that you had time to work through the problem in detail and have the "aha" moment, without stress and time pressure.

tfigment 5y ago
My intro to Physics prof did this. First exam, average was like 35%. I was in top 3 at like 70%. He got into trouble because he also said no grading on curve and most of class complained to his dept head.
- hinkley 5y ago
  We had a physics professor who did the same, except he did grade on a curve. My 38% was a B-. I don’t think we had three people above 70%. #1 was an outlier and might have hit 70. The guy I studied with sat behind me, and at one point one of us started stress laughing. Then it was two of us in the middle of a lecture laughing like our gun just jammed while the horror movie cereal killer was almost within striking distance. There were a lot of pissed off people in class for the next couple of weeks.
kwhitefoot 5y ago
> hated when my instructors put "important" results that we have never seen before on an exam. You would have hated my 1977 quantum mechanics final; not a single question that had been directly covered in the course. Really sorted out those who had been paying attention from those who thought that memorization was enough.
- iratewizard 5y ago
  It doesn't seem like many universities do it like that at all anymore. MIT's old comp sci curriculum used to be great. I've since seen them replace teaching fundamentals on lisp with python. My guess is that python is taught so that they can stuff their curriculum with buzzwords.
  - KMag 5y ago
    If I recall correctly, the stated reasoning is that most software construction today relies heavily on combining libraries, and the batteries-included nature of Python allows them to get to this point earlier in the semester. Also, using Python makes more of the material directly transferable to upper-level machine learning and big data subjects. As far as buzzwords, I think the weight of "MIT" is much heavier than any buzzwords that could be attached. (Though, I'm biased.)
  - danadannecy 5y ago
    The current version of the class you are referring to actually includes an assignment to implement a lisp interpreter in python, which you might find interesting. https://py.mit.edu/fall21/labs/lab09 https://py.mit.edu/fall21/labs/lab09

coupdejarnac 5y ago

This is why I have nightmares about undergrad engineering. Professors and TAs lose perspective when they teach the same material repeatedly and think they need to make things interesting. No, your job is to communicate abstract ideas clearly, which is apparently an extremely rare skill.