Teaching writing and critical thinking in large political science classes
Teaching writing and critical thinking in large political science classes
In the interest of developing a combination of teaching techniques designed to maximize efficiency and quality of instruction, we have experimentally tested three separate and relatively common teaching techniques in three large introductory political science classes at a large urban public university. Our results indicate that the (short-answer) skeleton essay approach in large classes does not provide any significant benefit over full writing assignments or even a lack of writing assignments. Essay and multiple-choice testing techniques produce similar results, though both types of testing have their strengths and weaknesses. We conclude that using a blend of the two testing techniques may be the best approach.
155-165
Franklin, Daniel
f7264f70-d22f-4e19-8b88-8d847f397226
Weinberg, Joseph
e066d5d6-9b79-41e0-9918-6cfb512f399f
Reifler, Jason
426301a1-f90b-470d-a076-04a9d716c491
2 May 2014
Franklin, Daniel
f7264f70-d22f-4e19-8b88-8d847f397226
Weinberg, Joseph
e066d5d6-9b79-41e0-9918-6cfb512f399f
Reifler, Jason
426301a1-f90b-470d-a076-04a9d716c491
Franklin, Daniel, Weinberg, Joseph and Reifler, Jason
(2014)
Teaching writing and critical thinking in large political science classes.
Journal of Political Science Education, 10 (2), .
(doi:10.1080/15512169.2014.892431).
Abstract
In the interest of developing a combination of teaching techniques designed to maximize efficiency and quality of instruction, we have experimentally tested three separate and relatively common teaching techniques in three large introductory political science classes at a large urban public university. Our results indicate that the (short-answer) skeleton essay approach in large classes does not provide any significant benefit over full writing assignments or even a lack of writing assignments. Essay and multiple-choice testing techniques produce similar results, though both types of testing have their strengths and weaknesses. We conclude that using a blend of the two testing techniques may be the best approach.
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Published date: 2 May 2014
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Local EPrints ID: 497194
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/497194
ISSN: 1551-2169
PURE UUID: 036a8afe-7d25-4fd5-854e-311eb1464ba6
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Date deposited: 15 Jan 2025 18:05
Last modified: 21 Jan 2025 03:15
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Author:
Daniel Franklin
Author:
Joseph Weinberg
Author:
Jason Reifler
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