Wasn’t a Math Seminar this Friday
February 12, 2012 § Leave a comment
But i always have to make it a point to post something funny and with our 1st exam right around the corner. Found a bunch of websites with funny things you SHOULDN’T do on any exams. Take a break from studying and read a couple. Good luck – Chris
71 THINGS TO DO ON AN EXAM YOU KNOW THAT
YOU ARE GOING TO FAIL
1. Get a copy of the exam, run out screaming “Andre, Andre, I’ve
got the secret documents!!”
2. Talk the entire way through the exam. Read questions aloud,
debate your answers with yourself out loud. If asked to stop,
yell out, “I’m SOOO sure that you can hear me thinking.” Then
start talking about what a jerk the instructor is.
3. Bring a Game Boy. Play with the volume at max level.
4. On the answer sheet find a new, interesting way to refuse to
answer every question. For example: I refuse to answer this
question on the grounds that it conflicts with my religious
beliefs. Be creative.
5. Run into the exam room looking about frantically. Breathe a
sigh of relief. Go to the instructor, say “They’ve found me, I
have to leave the country” and run off.
6. 15 min. into the exam, stand up, rip up all the papers into
very small pieces, throw them into the air and yell out “Merry
Christmas.” If you’re really daring, ask for another copy of the
exam. Say you lost the first one. Repeat this process every 15
min.
7. Come into the exam wearing slippers, a bathrobe, a towel on
your head, and nothing else.
8. Come down with a BAD case of Tourette’s Syndrome during the
exam. Be as vulgar as possible.
9. Bring things to throw at the instructor when she’s not
looking. Blame it on the person nearest to you.
10. As soon as the instructor hands you the exam, eat it.
11. Every 5 min. stand up, collect all your things, move to
another seat, continue with the exam.
12. Turn in the exam approx. 30 min. into it. As you walk out,
start commenting on how easy it was.
13. Get the exam. 20 min into it, throw your papers down
violently, scream out “Screw this!” and walk out triumphantly.
14. Arrange a protest before the exam starts (ie. Threaten the
instructor that whether or not everyone’s done, they are all
leaving after one hour to go drink.)
15. Show up completely drunk (completely drunk means at some
point during the exam, you should start crying for mommy).
16. Comment on how good the instructor is looking that day.
17. Come to the exam wearing a black cloak. After about 30 min,
put on a white mask and start yelling “I’m here, the phantom of
the opera” until they drag you away.
18. If the exam is math/sciences related, make up the longest
proofs you could possible think of. Get pi and imaginary numbers
into most equations. If it is a written exam, relate everything
to your own life story.
19. Try to get people in the room to do a wave.
20. Bring some large, cumbersome, ugly idol. Put it right next
to you. Pray to it often. Consider a small sacrifice.
21. During the exam, take apart everything around you. Desks,
chairs, anything you can reach.
22. Puke into your exam booklet. Hand it in. Leave.
23. Take 6 packages of rice cakes to the exam. Stuff at least 2
rice cakes into your mouth at once. Chew, then cough. Repeat if
necessary.
25. Walk in, get the exam, sit down. About 5 min into it, loudly
say to the instructor, “I don’t understand ANY of this. I’ve
been to every lecture all semester long! What’s the deal? And
who the hell are you? Where’s the regular guy?”
26. Do the entire exam in another language. If you don’t know
one, make one up!
27. Bring a black marker. Return the exam with all questions and
answers completely blacked out.
28. Every now and then, clap twice rapidly. If the instructor
asks why, tell him/her in a very derogatory tone, “the light bulb
that goes on above my head when I get an idea is hooked up to a
clapper. DUH!”
29. From the moment the exam begins, hum the theme to Jeopardy.
Ignore the instructor’s requests for you to stop. When they
finally get you to leave one way or another, begin whistling the
theme to the Bridge on the River Kwai.
30. After you get the exam, call the instructor over, point to
any question, ask for the answer. Try to work it out of him/her.
Next section submitted by Jeremy Willis
31. Bring a pillow. Fall asleep (or pretend to) until the last
15 minutes. Wake up, say “oh geez, better get cracking” and do
some gibberish work. Turn it in a few minutes early.
32. If it is a math/science exam, answer in essay form. If it is
long answer/essay form, answer with numbers and symbols. Be
creative. Use the integral symbol.
33. Make paper airplanes out of the exam. Aim them at the
instructor’s left nostril.
34. Bring cheerleaders.
35. Bring pets.
36. Do the exam with crayons, paint, or fluorescent markers.
37 Walk into the exam with an entourage. Claim you are going to
be taping your next video during the exam. Try to get the
instructor to let them stay, be persuasive. Tell the instructor
to expect a percentage of the profits if they are allowed to
stay.
38. Do the entire exam as if it was multiple choice and
true/false. If it is a multiple choice exam, spell out
interesting things (DCCAB. BABE. etc..).
39. Arrange a protest before the exam starts (i.e. Threaten the
instructor that whether or not everyone’s done, they are all
leaving after one hour to go drink)
40. Go to an exam for a class you have no clue about, where you
know the class is very small, and the instructor would recognize
you if you belonged. Claim that you have been to every lecture.
Fight for your right to take the exam.
41. Upon receiving the exam, look it over, while laughing
loudly, say “you don’t really expect me to waste my time on this
drivel? Days of our Lives is on!!!”
42. Bring a water pistol with you. Nuff said.
43. Start a brawl in the middle of the exam.
44. Bring a friend to give you a back massage the entire way
through the exam. Insist this person is needed, because you have
bad circulation.
45. Bring cheat sheets FOR ANOTHER CLASS (make sure this is
obvious… like history notes for a calculus exam… otherwise
you’re not just failing, you’re getting kicked out too) and
staple them to the exam, with the comment “Please use the
attached notes for references as you see fit.”
46. When you walk in, complain about the heat. Strip.
47. Bring balloons, blow them up, start throwing them around
like they do before concerts start.
48. Play frisbee with a friend at the other side of the room.
49. Get deliveries of candy, flowers, balloons, telegrams,
etc… sent to you every few minutes throughout the exam.
50. During the exam, take apart everything around you. Desks,
chairs, anything you can reach.
51. Complete the exam with everything you write being backwards
at a 90 degree angle.
52. Bring a musical instrument with you, play various tunes. If
you are asked to stop, say “it helps me think.” Bring a copy of
the Student Handbook with you, challenging the instructor to find
the section on musical instruments during finals. Don’t forget to
use the phrase “Told you so”.
53. Answer the exam with the “Top Ten Reasons Why Professor xxxx
Sucks”
54. Make Strange noises… get people to stare… look at the
person next to you as if he\she did it.
55. Write a short story about your childhood, or an experience
that you once had. If you can’t think of anything, make something
up. Be creative. End the story with “I just thought I should tell
you.”
56. Wear a mask or costume, pretend that you really DO think
that you’re someone else.
57. Play loud music.
58. When you turn in your test, take all the ones under it and
throw them away or keep them or put your name on some of them.
Do it casually, as if that’s what you are supposed to do after an
exam.
59. Dress like the professor.
60. Cross-Dress.
61. Borrow a friend’s Video taping equipment and set up a lot of
lights and a camera around your desk. Call out instructions to
imaginary people who are supposed to be working the equipment.
62. Two words: Plastic Explosives.
63. Bring food or Drinks, pass them out to the class as if
you’re supposed to be giving samples for a fund raiser. Use the
words “Would you buy something like this if we had a bake sale?”
It doesn’t matter if they are baked goods or not.
64. Trip people as they walk by your desk.
65. Read all the questions out loud like Rain Man.
66. Walk around the room and ask people if there is anything
that you can help them with. Speak loudly stutter and spit. Make
a show of it.
67. Make several origami animals out of the test papers.
Re-enact scenes from your favorite soap opera with them.
68. In the middle of the test, have a friend rush into the
classroom, tag your hand, and resume taking your test for you.
When the teacher asks what’s going on, calmly explain the rules
of Tag Team Testing to him/her.
69. Use Invisible Ink instead of printer ink to answer the whole exam.
70. Order catering. The catering company should come in about
halfway through the test, and should include at least three
waiters, eight carts of food, and five candelabras.
71. Stand up after about 15 minutes, and say loudly, “Okay,
let’s double-check our answers! Number one, A. Number two, C.
Number three, E….”
Math Lecture (EGMA)
February 4, 2012 § Leave a comment
Early Grades Mathematics Assessment (EGMA)
Assessing mathematics in context: The development of an approach to adapting and implementing EGMA across country contexts.
Presentation given by
M. Alejandra Sorto
Texas State University
Feb 3,2012
This was a project created to help assess and assist countries in need of aid, The United State gives money to poor countries in order to help development. A government program United States Aid for International Development (USAID) funds a lot of projects for development. They decide what developments are efficient with research in order to decide whether it works or not. For years they have been in Latin American and have been having difficulty helping the children and a primary reason being the means by which they are tested. What they find out are early ages the children cannot pass test because they are not necessarily at the level educationally to even be properly tested. They started to think about ways to help the children in response to low literacy rates be properly evaluated.
In response they developed a way to evaluate orally, so the children can respond and understand mathematics in their own languages. This is now done in a lot of different countries. So the job is how to we take this and process it to every country from the English dialect. This particular workshop was conducted in Nicaragua in order to help adapt this particular method. Alejandra Sorto from Texas State university to teach the workshop by RTI international.
What is EGMA- Why EGMA?
Studies show early grades determine overall success. What we teach and what is learned in early age k-2 we determine and agree what the school basics are. The set of skills should be common but vary greatly in comparison of US and other countries.
EDMA was developed not by the idea of measuring but to fulfill criteria along with task they wished to accomplish. This would be done by the teaching predictive power. Predictive power established in a younger age then help lay the foundation to later benefit the child so they can move from one digit to two digit and build off of that. Basically by giving a child a strong early start to math from which can later be built upon it.
Countries that participated in this project are Kenya, Liberia, DR Congo, Malawi, Rwanda, Mali, Nicaragua, Morocco and Zambia.
The overall format of the assessment to be given verbally and visually to a child have a set criteria as to which means they will be tested and how. EGMA has a basic format that determine knowledge. The following categories are from which the primary format which tends to very depending on the country.
Oral counting fluency
One to one correspondence
Number naming fluency
Quantity discrimination
Number line estimation
Missing number
Word problems
An application protocol was created in which a tester apply to the student. The test is formatted whether to talk and speak on certain problems along with a stopwatch time limit. There are also criteria to stop if the child is not making significant progress. For instance if they stop for 5 or more seconds there will be no progress, or if they miss to many. In number identifying students are asked to take their given chart and read through them as the tester verifies the answers. For the quantity students are given an example and the tester knows how to respond depending on their answer. The word problems are very basic in order for the children to identify addition subtraction or comparison. Children are given things to help them with counting but sometimes the problem tend to be difficult for the children with literacy problems
In Nicaragua the also wanted a geometry edition of the test as well but a conflict with that is an error the classification of as a square or rectangle. That was later discovered and re evaluated. Also section that tested basic Division and Subtraction skills.
Upon meeting the requirements for each country is where the problem seems to arise. With so many languages translating these methods can cause confusion. For example Spanish-speaking countries tend to speak different dialects of Spanish so each version depending on location must be properly adopted.
Results for Nicaragua
Randomly 34 elementary along pacific, 618 2nd grader, 621 3rd graders and 585 4th graders at an average of 15 minutes per test. The results show a separation in levels that are not bad because ideally math skills tend to increase by grade. Correlations show that a certain number is harder or easier at the same rate among all the students.
Next step is to examine data, implements core EGMA in several contexts, furthermore examine post data to ensure that instructional package is related to target skills, continue task specifics validation, and EGMA validity as a whole.
By processing and evaluating data the advancements are possible in addition to a country specific learning program. Currently research is being conducted to determine students compression of comparison and understand relations. The current methods being researched include.
Comparing three objects- Grab two objects and place them together and observe, which one is taller, then hide one and grab another and ask them to compare the middle one to compare and transit relations.
Test with box of chalk,-Ask to count chalk In box. If the same box or multiple packages all have the same amount of chalk in them. Then how many chalk are totally in all the packages. Similar to algebraic thinking in which the children must sub what they know and come to a solution
Spatial reasoning- give children a square with circles and then estimate how many squares you would need to box in all the circles given to the child. Another one is to have a incomplete grid and cover up a part. Ask the student to estimate how many total square units must be in the covered part.
Estimate area of a square with different colors inside of it. In comparison to red vs blue. How much of the square is composed of what and to make more of a challenge do not make one of the squares a equal part.
Chris Casillas 