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EHE News
Tips for Teachers
Research-Based Advice from Educational Psychologists Eric Anderman and Lynley Anderman
Eric Anderman
Lynley Anderman
Reducing academic stress that leads to cheating
- Focus on mastery of material
- When students are evaluated based on demonstrating that they truly know and understand the material, they are less likely to cheat.
- Vary the use of paper and pencil tests to evaluate students. Try other methods, such as demonstrations, portfolios, etc.
- Emphasize that you value demonstrations of personal improvement and true understanding of material, not just memorization and recitation.
- Avoid publicly displaying students' grades
- Grades should be handed out privately rather than posted publicly.
- Re-evaluate criteria used for giving academic honors. Honor rolls don't have to be based solely on achievement of certain grades. Students can be honored for improvements (e.g., moving up from a "C" to a "B") rather than just for high achievement (getting an "A").
- Don't overuse incentives
- Cheating is more likely to occur in classrooms where excessive rewards (e.g., getting out of doing an assignment, candy, special privileges) or punishments (e.g., no recess) are used.
- Decrease anxiety around testing
- Don't worry your students excessively about exams.
- Use positive language when talking about testing (e.g., "The test on Friday will be a great opportunity for you to demonstrate what you have learned"), as opposed to language that produces anxiety (e.g., "If you don't do well on Friday's test, some of you are looking at summer school").
Improving social climate in the classroom
- Communicate equal expectations and participation for all students
- Emphasize that learning requires active student involvement and interaction. Making errors, monitoring one's performance and progress, and correcting errors are integral parts of the learning process.
- Communicate explicitly that you believe all students can learn and show improvement.
- Call on all students equally even for the more difficult questions.
- Stay with a student even if she/he is not providing a correct answer immediately. Provide hints or use scaffolding.
- Prepare students to be called on at any time. Help them learn to contribute sensible answers or justify their comments.
- Communicate respect for students personally and as learners
- Maintain warmth, kindness, and respect in class interactions and emphasize that all students do the same.
- Deliver feedback in a positive, supportive, respectful manner.
- Be clear that laughing at others' mistakes is not acceptable.
- Praise students for correcting their own mistakes.
- Provide opportunities for autonomy
- Grant students some degree of responsibility within the classroom. Allow opportunities to make choices and decisions provided they remain on task and do not distract others.
- During seat-work, allow consulting with another student, eating a snack, or getting up to sharpen a pencil.
- Allow students to choose the order of class activities from selections on a list.
- Ask students to manage their time and whether they will work alone or with others.
- Invite students to choose their work partners.
- Encourage students to choose what to write in their journals.
- Grant students some degree of responsibility within the classroom. Allow opportunities to make choices and decisions provided they remain on task and do not distract others.
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