HOW, WHEN, AND WHERE GRADE LABORATORY NOTEBOOKS?' J. C. M~RTSNSEN, PRINCETON HIGHSCHOOL, PRINCETON, ILLINOIS
HOW?-Assuming that we are all agreed on the fundamental purposes and functions of the laboratory notebooks, we may a t once proceed to ascertain how we may best realize these aims and purposes in our current educational practice. There can be no doubt that the grading of notebooks is of the utmost importance. To require a written record of a student's laboratory experiences and then not to evaluate the result is the unpardonable sin of the lazy teacher. So, granting the imperative need for a proper grading of notebooks, we may well inquire into the best method of grading them, as well as to the most expedient time and place for so doing. In our inquiry into the grading of this major phase of our science teaching, we are ever mindful of the ends to be achieved. We must have in mind a definite ideal, an attainable standard, as a part of which a written record of an observed phenomenon may well be expected. to articulate. To particularize on this point, let not any science teacher think hut that a student's laboratory technic, ideals, and attitudes will be faithfully reflected in his written record and in his drawings, and frequently will find expression in his reaction to related situations out in life experiences. Herein lies the teacher's opportunity to mold character and to build for the future. Thus we find in the grading of notebooks almost a divine imperative, "to grade note books properly and conscientiously" and thereby: (1) Inspire love of truth, not half truths, which foster dishonesty of thought and action. (2) Compel pupils to think well. (3) Stimulate a desire to know and understand, through: (a) keen observation, (b) careful analysis and correlation, (c) wise judgments and deductions, (d) definitely organized self-expression in a notebook.
And yet this ideal must be a flexible and progressive standard. A notebook representing the record of a series of laboratory performances of ten years ago, no matter how well performed, or how well recorded, should not today be acceptable as a first-class response. We are making epochal history in the realm of science in these days. Ten years makes ancient history of our science textbooks, and unless we as teachers of science keep pace with modern scientific progress we must not complain when our students classify us with the fossils of the carboniferous era. Grade * Paper delivered at a meeting of the Illinois Association of Chemistry Teachers, Nov. 19, 1926.
VOL.4, No. 7 How, WHEN.AND WABREGRADELABORATORY NOTEBOOKS?
893
notebooks, then, in the light of what the boy and girl of 1926 knows, as a matterof course, without any undue emphasis on pure theory, ancient or modern. Expect muchfrom the boy andgirl, and let them know you are depending on them for great things. Then check up on them. But when? WITEN?-Every day! If notebooks are graded daily, right habits of laboratory practice, thinking, and recording can be fostered. The line of least resistance always leads down. We must know what our boys and girls are thinking. Are they "stalling?" Are they doing just enough to "get by?" Or are they honest and conscientious? The notebook will tell, and the teacher should know daily. Is the student in the lower part of the curve losing hope and about ready to give up trying because there was something he didn't understand? The notebook will reflect this condition. Is the teacher losing his grip on the confidence of his pupils? Where better regain it than through the notebooks, and this cannot be done if the grading of the notebooks is sporadic and uncertain. WIIEREQ-The old saying "strike when the iron is hot" may well be written "grade while the ink is wet." It is of very little value to a student to see red ink over an exercise which he has forgotten aU about and has lost interest in. There may be some arguments against grading notebooks during the laboratory period but the advantages far outweigh these. The student is working; his interest is a t a high pitch; and the teacher is in the background. From there he controls the situation, recreates and vitalizes natural phenomena until the student thrills with understanding and responds with normal self-expression. Shall the teacher retire a t this point and wait until the enthusiasm has died out before accepting or rejecting the student's response? Why not grade his notebook then and there and give him the benefit of a fresh opportunity to correct his error? Is it likely that the electrons of youthful understanding and enthusiasm will continue to flow after the warming incandescence of the teacher's interest has been turned off, until such time as he shall again see fit to act on the merits of their efforts? Obviously such a policy invites distrust, carelessness, and dishonesty in the student and negatives any positive good that might otherwise be achieved through the use of notebooks.
