Can We Prevent Students
from Googling Answers to
Their Homework?
Professor Debora M. Katz
Annapolis MD
Why I got interested in the question
• 3-10 reviewers per chapter
• Asked for Cramster Proof problems
Chegg
Membership
• Started in 2003
• Now called “Chegg
Study” (purchased in
2010)
Easy to find when words are interesting
“An undersea earthquake or a landslide can
produce an ocean wave”
What about a boring problem?
“A jet plane is cruising”
You can get free solutions
“A jet plane is cruising”
Was 2.12
Ooops Wrong Problem…
Why would a student cheat?
Extrinsically motivated
• Angell, 1928 “…principal cause must be
found in the feature of undergraduates
to appreciate the value to themselves
of serious and conscientious intellectual
effort and achievement.”
The task is too difficult
• No-win test
Cost/benefits are too great
• Do great have a great life, do poorly
have a bad life. No middle ground.
Extrinsically motivated
• Grade motived students engage in
shallow or strategic learning
• Tend to cheat because they don’t see
the value in learning the material. They
only want to get a good grade, not a
good education.
• Performance oriented vs. mastery
oriented.
The task is too difficult
• Star Fleet Academy’s no-win training. Kirk
reprogrammed the simulation.
• British psychology experiment: Children
tasked with throwing a Velcro ball
cheated.
• When learners lack the confidence in their
ability to complete the task or believe the
task is unfair, they are likely to cheat.
Cost/benefits are too great
• When nothing else matters but one test,
people cheat.
• Eupolos offered bribes to other boxers
• Chinese taking the Civil Service test,
bought essays, used cheat-sheets, and
communicated with one another.
• Punishments including death could not
prevent cheating.
Why would a student cheat?
• Poorly motivated
• Low expectation of success
• High stakes riding on
performance
Poorly Motivated
• Death threats don’t work.
• Help students to see the
relevance of physics.
• Use Case Studies:
• Traditionally used in medical,
business and law
• A student working on a case
study is in the role of practitioner.
• Like a practitioner, the student is
motivated to learn and sees the
relevance of the subject matter.
• schools.
Case studies woven into every
chapter of my book
See Chapter 3, Pgs. 60, 63, 74, 78, 83
Cengage Learning
Student-Created Case Studies
Evaluating
Projectile
Penetration of the
M4 Sherman
Can a Swing Bag
Rip?
Do Skullcrushers
Live Up to Their
Name?
Cengage Learning
Skateboarding
Accident
Stakes are too high
• If homework counts for a
large portion of their
grades, they are more
tempted to cheat.
Can we prevent students from Googling
answers?
Their Reasons
Our Solutions
• Extrinsically motivated
• Homework challenge is so great
they think it is unfair (no-win
scenario).
• Stakes are too high
• Help them see the relevance of
physics (Case Studies)
• Give them a hand up. Choose
a book with on-line support so
they don’t turn to Google.
• Keep homework grades a small
fraction of their overall grade
Reading list
Cheating Lessons James M. Lang
Cheating in School What We Know and What We Can Do Davis,
Drinan and Bertram-Gallant
The Honest Truth about Dishonesty Dan Ariely
Academic Dishonesty Whitley and Keith-Spiegel
THANKS!
Debora Katz
[email protected]