Computer Graded Qualitative Analysis Experiments Grading laboratory experiments and recording these grades have always been time-consuming, tedious tasks to which neither lecturer nor laboratory instructor looks forward. With this in mind, work was begun on a number of eomvuter Droerams which would made ntudents' emenmental results and record their grades in such a way that final lab averages Guld be calculated by computer. The first of theseprograms, IONS, for qualitative analysis laboratory has been completed and tested for two years in our freshmen laboratories. The student, upon completion of his or her experiment,, punches the following information an to a standard IBM card. 1) absence or presence of ions (up to sixty)-& "1" punch denotes presence of an ion and a "0" punch or no punch denotes absence of an ion. 2) experiment number 3) sample number 4) student number The program, instructor's data (correlation of sample number to sample contents), and student's data are fed into the compnter. The computer checks each student's card, determines the number of ions reported correctly, and calcnlktes t,he student's grade, based on the percentage of the correct determinations. The computer output consists of two printed list8 and a deck of punched cards. The first printed output lists the student numbers in ascending order, the experiment number, and the grade (in percent). This list is posted in thelab to inform students of their grades. The second printed output lists the student numbers in alphabetic order, name, experiment number, and grade. This is a grade book copy. The third output is a deck of cards punched with student number, experiment number, and grade; these grade cards are collected during the semester and are used in a summation program to give the st,udenls7final laboratory grades. The efficiency of the system is ultimately determined by the ability of t,he students to punch their own data cards and the availability of keypunches. Most students learn to punch cards quickly and accmately when they realize that their accuracy affects t,heir grade. The Wright Parta-Punch has been found to be an economical and effectiveway of providing keypunches in the freshman laboratory. They are more than adequate far punching a single data card. An alternative method has been developed for the student to generate computer compatible data. The information which was punched on the card is mark-sensed on a modified IBM 1230 form of our design; the IBM 1230 Optical Mark Sense Scoring Reader reads the information and generates a deck oi sbudent data cards which can be handled as above. This method of data generation is useful when class size or lack of keypunch equipment would make the student-punched card method impractical. The freshman stndent?~punching of his data. card is used as the first step in his introduction to computers and computing. The second step is his utilization of pru-written programs and subroutines for problem solving, and the third, the writ,ing of a. simple program. The program, IONS, and others on which we are currently working, have been written far the IBM 1130 computer. The authors would be pleased to send more detailed information concering this program, including a printout of the program, to any interested colleagues. The authors wish to acknowledge the assistance of the following students in the preparation of this program: Jam= Barner, Diane Fisher, Jeanne Kelley, and Donald Mente.
Volume 46, Number 7 0, October 7 969
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