Author Archives: Milan Deon Smith

Cheating lesson part 3

Cheating lesson part 3 correlates with cheating lesson part 2. In this article the author uses a Columbia University student who is doing research on cheating as more evidence to why there should be more quizzes. Columbia student William J Bowers used a survey to see how many college students have cheated at least once in college . The results showed that 75 percent of college students admitted to cheating at least once.  Author James M. Lang suggested that in order to reduce that number teachers should give students multiple quizzes on the topic that they are learning. He insist that not only will this reduce the amount of cheating but will also help the students learn something. Being the fact that students repeatedly read over there notes it negates them from actually learning and or remembering what they studied after they took the test. Adding more quizzes can be another and more interesting way for students to study besides reading over their notes. The authors protest that a teacher who only gives 3 total exams can put pressure on the student which would cause them to cheat because the stakes are so high. Which is why he insist on there being more quizzes.

Cheating lesson part 2

Cheating lesson part 2 is quit different from the first article cheating lesson part 1. Cheating lesson part 2 talks more on world wide cheating. James  M. Lang uses psychologist George M. Diekhoff’s research on students in Japan as more evidence to support his theory and solution. The results from Diekhoff’s research somewhat contradicts what Lang stated in his first article. Psychologists George M. Diekhoff discovered that the amount of cheating in Japan was a greater number than the amount of cheating in the U.S. He also realized that the students who were caught cheating were not just young students but older students too. He uncovered the reason of such high rates of cheating as well, because students in Japan have higher stakes than American students. Students in American have many opportunities to still pass a class even if they fail a test  or two, because teachers tend to give the students many homework assignments, quizzes , test, and projects. Although, Japan students do not have those same opportunities.  They typically have one to two exams and that’s it. Which adds more pressure for them to think that they have to do extremely well. The pressure is also what drives the student to cheat. This information caused Lang to redesign his solution on how to reduce cheating. He now says that yes teachers should rework the learning environment but if the  teachers does not want to change the rigor of the curriculum they should at least add more quizzes with information that will help them with their main exam. Not only will this minimize the number of cheating, push the students to still want to try hard to succeed ,  but also it will help the students learn more.

Cheating lesson part 1

Cheating Lesson Part 1 talks about the different forms of cheating. James M. Lang  uses Behavioral theorist Dan Ariely’s research on cheating and Princess Alice as examples to emphasize the amount of cheating that goes on . The article also gives great insight on who cheats , their reasoning for cheating, and elaborates ways they can reduce the amount of cheating that happens. For example, he talks about students who cheat in colleges. He goes into detail about why the students cheat, because of “the structure of the learning environment”  such as the curriculum requirements. He then protest  how not  only teachers but students too  can minimize cheating , by focusing more on the learning environment. In other words, teachers and students should have a better relationship with each other, the rigor of the curriculum should be somewhat more manageable, and the amount of testing and assignments given should be a more generous number. These changes should be very effective Lang proclaims.