![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/lencho\/files\/2018\/08\/tahakythumb-300x245.jpg\")
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\u201eVezmi si do r\u00fak jednu pali\u010dku a prelom ju. Teraz s vezmi dve a sk\u00fas ich prelomi\u0165. Nakoniec sk\u00fas prelomi\u0165 naraz tri pali\u010dky. Su tak\u00e9 pevn\u00e9, \u017ee sa ti to nepodar\u00ed. Vidi\u0161? Jedna pali\u010dka je slab\u00ed, ale ked s\u00fa tri spolu, s\u00fa siln\u00e9. Nikdy nezabudni spolupracova\u0165 s priatelmi!\u201c*<\/em><\/p>\n There recently appeared an article in the Slovak Daily SME titled \u0164ah\u00e1kom sa u n\u00e1s st\u00e1le dar\u00ed. ( \u2018Crib notes are still with us\u2019; 12.2.2007, Weekend section). The thrust of the article is that Slovak students pou\u017e\u00edvaju \u0165ah\u00e1ky (cheat on examinations, e.g., by using crib notes) more than students in other countries. But what does it really mean that Slovak students cheat more than other students? According to the article, to cheat, students do one of two things when they are working on a problem: i) they communicate with their classmates, or ii) they consult notes or other reference material they have brought with them.<\/p>\n Now from a certain standpoint it may not seem like such a problem that students collaborate, prepare notes, and consult reference material to gain information to solve problems. In fact, the research and collaboration model has been put foward in some circles as one of the major goals of education. So why are notes and classroom discussion viewed as a problem in a Slovak context? Doesn\u2019t it boil down to the bare fact of the teacher\u2019s interest in not wanting it to happen? Such reluctance might reflect a culture of assessment in which it is most likely that exam questions ask students to repeat information that they have been assigned. If tests simply are an indication of the students\u2019 ability to replicate what has been lectured or assigned to them, then allowing students to consult one another and their notes would reduce the exam situation to an exercise in stenography. Such exams test primarily the students capacity to memorize. But in a computerized world where information is ever more readily available, is it really important to test a student\u2019s store of information? The human memory is a relatively weak and unreliable tool in comparision to today\u2019s information technology. If we move from a content-oriented pedagogy, to one that prizes above all skills and proficiencies, then it is not the amassing of information that is the ultimate goal of education, but rather the nurturing of an ability and disposition to access and make the best use of information.. Now if examinations tested thinking skills, then crib notes could serve as an enhancement that would permit the teacher to test higher order thinking skills, make more challenging questions, and get more interesting results. This uncovers another assumption about exam taking where \u201ccheating\u201d can occur, and that is that these exams are meant in part to probe students\u2019 limitations\u2013exams as instruments of diagnosis. Alternatively, examinations might be viewed as a learning tool, constituting a very special situation in which students are highly motivated (especially in high-stakes exit and entrance exams) to use all the resources available to create the best result.<\/p>\n And what about students relying on their classmates to solve their problems? This is only a problem if the students are working on the same problem. So if students have their own distinctive set of problems, which ask them to employ logical methods to infer or extrapolate results framed with appropriate qualifications, then any collaboration would be subordinate to the individual agendas of each of the collaborators, again a desirable result if the intention is to create a learning-rich environment leading to the highest quality outcomes.<\/p>\n How to stop cheating? One answer is to have the teachers and institutions build towards a different type of test, one which relates students with other students and teachers as partners working to maximize the quality of product of everyone\u2019s efforts, not as potential adversaries.<\/p>\n Quoted from the column \u201eMasahikov\u00fdmi o\u010dami\u201d in the Weekend Edition of SME 24.2.07. The English translation is as follows: \u201cTake in your hand a single stick and break it. Now take two and try to break them. Finally try to break three sticks at once. They are so strong, that you are not able. Do you see? One stick is weak, but when there are three together, they are strong. Never forget to work with your friends!\u201d The picture appearing in this blog is taken from the SME article on cheating in schools.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201eVezmi si do r\u00fak jednu pali\u010dku a prelom ju. Teraz s vezmi dve a sk\u00fas ich prelomi\u0165. Nakoniec sk\u00fas prelomi\u0165 naraz tri pali\u010dky. Su tak\u00e9 pevn\u00e9, \u017ee sa ti to nepodar\u00ed. Vidi\u0161? Jedna pali\u010dka je slab\u00ed, ale ked s\u00fa tri … Continue reading