Counterintuitive Fall 2024

Content Descriptions

-Exploring the Standards-Based Grading System

-The Cases Against Grades

-Comparing Grading Systems

– Minimum Grading Method

-Different Grading Techniques

Working Hypothesis 1:

If grades are necessary to measure student’s academic capabilities, the standards-based system is the most effective since it only focuses on academics.

It seems counterintuitive that there are grading systems that focus on other areas besides academic achievement. If colleges mainly base their acceptances off of academics, then it doesn’t seem fair that grades would be distorted by anything other than academics-by things like participation and behavior grades. The standards-based system also rates people on their mastery in a subject. Wouldn’t colleges like to know if we excel in one subject in particular, especially when looking at what major we apply for?

Purposeful Summary: Advantages of Standards-based grading

The standards-based grading system is a system in which only mastery in course subjects is measured. This method encourages students to move from learning simple concepts to understanding complex concepts. The standards-based grading system does that because it only measures academic success. The system works by providing an overall grade for each class, but also provides a grade for how well the student mastered the course based on its standards. Supporters of this system say that the traditional system is unreliable since its criteria is vague. They also say that this system is better since grades cannot be affected by other factors that don’t including mastering the subject.

Spencer, Kyle. “Standards-Based Grading.” Education Digest 78.3 (2012): 4-10. Education Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 20 Feb. 2017.

Working Hypothesis 2:

Grades in school serve no purpose, and can actually do more harm than good.

It seems counterintuitive that America’s education system is based off of earning grades rather than learning. In the A-F letter grade system used in most schools in, the focus of most students is to earn a high grade. Memorizing material for a test simply to get a good grade, and then forgetting the material right after the test is not a good way to learn. Long-term learning has to be a priority. The focus should be creating a society where education brings out creativity, and teaches us to become critical thinkers and innovators. In other words, America’s education system should teach the importance of learning instead of performing.

 Purposeful Summary: Grades are Ineffective

Current grading systems in place are not affective. Having a letter or number scale grading system takes the focus of students off of learning, and more on what grades they’re receiving in a certain class. Grades also create the problem that students will choose the easiest way out when projects are assigned to get a good grade. For example, students will pick a topic they know the most on when choosing so it is easier to earn a better grade. Student-teacher conferences and narrative assessments could be a possible replacement for the grading system. These would provide summaries of student progress in writing or in person. This way, the progress of students can still be measured, just not through a number or letter grade system.

Kohn, Alfie. “The Case Against GRADES.” Educational Leadership 69.3 (2011): 28-33. Educational Administration Abstracts. Web. 6 Feb. 2017.

Topics for Smaller Papers

(Definition/Classification Argument)

Use this paper to explain the different grading systems and the thought processes behind them. Make it clear why educators have such different mindsets when it comes to grading.

Purposeful Summary: Comparing Grading Systems

When teachers and school districts discuss which grading methods to use, the first important step is decide the purpose grades. Decide on what grades should mean, and what message they should convey to students. Questions like which grading scale to use, how often to report grades, how many grades to combine, and how to combine them will ineffective to discuss first.  First ask every member what grading practices they believe in. For example, the standards-based grading system focuses on “what students learn, not what earn,” while other practices are the other way around. After a conclusion is decided on, then secondary issues can be talked about.

Brookhart, Susan M. “Starting The Conversation About Grading.” Educational Leadership 69.3 (2011): 10-14. Educational Administration Abstracts. Web. 6 Feb. 2017.

Purposeful Summary: Different Grading Techniques

Teachers have different preferences when it comes to grading. Some prefer to have grading system that includes behavior and participation. It focuses on more areas than a standards-based grading system, which only focuses on academics. Although it focuses on more areas, this system can be seen as unpredictable since it takes away from students academic achievements in different subjects. Other teachers prefer to use the standards- based grading system, since they believe it’s more predictable and expectations are more clear. They also think this system is better because colleges accept students mostly on their academic achievements, so they think it’s important to not have grades affected by things other than academics.

Allen, J. D. (2005). Grades as valid measures of academic achievement of classroom learning. The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and I, 78(5), 218-223.

Purposeful Summary: Minimum Grading

The implementation of minimum grading can have many positive effects on students. Minimum grading in some school systems is not submitting any grades below a 50. For students who are inconsistent struggle in some areas, but thrive in others, this system works best for. This increases motivation and self-worth in students. For example, if a student gets a zero on an assignment they forgot to turn in, and had one very low test grade in the beginning of the year, they won’t lose all hope in still achieving a good grade for the class. They will be motivated to still try to get a good grade, as opposed to giving up and not caring about the class anymore

Carey, Theodore, and James Carifio. “Minimum Grading, Maximum Learning.” Principal Leadership 11.7 (2011): 42-46. Education Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 20 Feb. 2017.

(Cause/Effect Argument)

 Grades in high-school are important, but not in college. Colleges avidly look at high-school grades, GPA’s, and test scores. When applying for jobs, recruiters could care less about college grades.

In this paper I will explore:

-why is this the case?

-Then, why should high-school grades matter if college grades don’t?

(Rebuttal Argument)

Counterarguments:

There is no motivation for students to do well without having a number/letter grading system or no motivation for students to become a well-rounded student with the standards-based system.

Everyone will have to follow a standard-based system or no letter/number system in order for it to work.

It’s impossible to measure a student’s academic success without using the traditional letter/number system.

Current State of the Research

I have to do more research to see which hypothesis works best. Regardless of which one I use, my definition/argument paper can still work through the different grading methods. The cause/effect argument might have to change depending on what else I discover. Goals for future research would be to find sources for my cause/effect argument and to find better counterarguments.

Content Descriptions:

• Mindset of recruits during boot camp
• Positive approach vs. negative approach
• Belittle causes positivity?
• What motivates the recruit? Being yelled at or showing off success to family?

Working Hypothesis:

While unknown to those outside of the military community, the defeat and belittlement that recruits are subject to build up a positive mindset within the recruit. While this sounds counterintuitive, some sense may be made of this. From the outside, it would seem as though repetitive belittlement and defeat would initiate a coping mechanism of shutting down and losing touch with inner emotions. After experiencing the world of basic training, recruits discover that just the opposite is true. The negative environment surrounding the recruits causes a shift in the thought process for those strong enough to make it through the training. Those who make it through basic training adopt a mindset that takes them out of the present. Instead of harping on how horrible their life is in the present, recruits turn their mind to how great it will be to graduate. They think about how proud their significant others, parents, and siblings will be when they first see them in their uniform. These thoughts cause an influx of positive emotions that get the recruits through the worst of the worst situations.

Second Hypothesis:

Basic recruit training for the United States Military is definitely a hellish one. To be effective, the military puts its recruits through rigorous training that is hard to imagine. With that being said, the military sets strict standards to weed out the ineffective soldiers. Relentless drill sergeants harping on every failure gets the recruit used to failure. With this kind of harsh treatment, the soon to be soldiers learn that with the fewer mistakes made, the less punishment will be received. Considering the world of the military, mistakes could be deadly, so this would make sense as to why it was the training goal of our military.

Topics for Smaller Papers:

Definition/Classification: The theory of self-efficacy is explained as the belief of one’s own ability to successfully accomplish something”. “Efficacious people set challenging goals and maintain strong commitment to them.” This theory is one of many and has theories that go against it. That being said, this theory remains at the top for those who study health behavior because of how many times it has seemed to have been proven right.

Cause and Effect: The negative experience that recruits go through lead directly to positive thoughts. Not positive thoughts about where they are or what they are doing, but positive thoughts about the future. When being called every name in the book and being told that they can do nothing right, there is very little to be positive about. Yet those who are successful in completing Basic Training find something. They find their motivation to finish. The constant belittlement causes recruits to think about how amazing it will be when their significant other will see them in uniform. They think about how proud they will be to shake their fathers hand or how exciting it will be to hug their mother. They think about how proud they will be to dawn their black beret or how accomplished they will be when they can finally call them self a soldier. Anytime the recruit is suffering through more aching punishment, they think those thoughts to give themselves a positive mindset. In the end, the harsh negativity provides the recruit the tools to motivate them-self with positivity.

Rebuttal: While it is said that recruit training rids the recruit of their emotions through constant belittlement, I would argue just the opposite. Having experienced this training myself, I even assumed that I would come out heartless and fearless due to the sheer fact of being surrounded by failure and harsh conditions. What I did not account for, was the deep connection I made with myself while coping with the struggle. When I was yelled at or punished, I did not try to erase my feelings so I wouldn’t feel bad. Instead, I thought 8 weeks into the future and imagined my girlfriend seeing me on the parade field in my dress uniform. I though of how proud she would be of my accomplishment and how I would be able to tell her about all of the things I overcame while away. These thoughts gave me the adrenaline I needed to get through each of the horrible situations I encountered.

Current State of Research Paper:

As of right now, I feel very good about my paper. I will be doing creating my survey soon and then I will distribute it to those who qualify. It seems that it may be hard to find outside sources but after I conduct my survey, I may be able find some sources that further explain the outcome of my survey. Other than that, I am excited to study more about my hypothesis. From the data I have collected so far, it seems that my original thoughts were correct about recruit training. This will become clearer as I research more.

Organized Content Descriptions:

MailOnline, Jenny Awford for. “No man is an island: British DIY Robinson Crusoe builds his own floating paradise off the coast of Mexico out of 150,000 recycled bottles – and now he’s found his Girl Friday!” Daily Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 07 Nov. 2014. Web. 06 Feb. 2017.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2825071/British-DIY-Robinson-Crusoe-builds-floating-paradise-150-000-recycled-bottles.html

Summary: There is a man in Mexico who has constructed his own island. He has made it out of layers or plastic bottles, sand, and topsoil. The recycled bottles have bene strung together so that the Island floats. He has a house, air conditioning, and even a hot tub on his floating paradise. Well after some time on his island by himself, he has found a woman to live with him. It’s a true Adam and Eve story.

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Hoshaw, Lindsay. “Afloat in the Ocean, Expanding Islands of Trash.” New York Times. 10 Nov. 2009. Web. 06 Feb. 2017

http://www.greenrock.org/images/stories/new_york_times_article.pdf

Summary: A gyre is a term for a swirl or vortex caused by ocean currents. In one of these gyres off the coast of Hawaii, there is something called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This garbage patch is a mass of collected garbage. Be it cans, bottles, styrofoam, or tiny bits of plastic, it is all collected together in a mass that is roughly the size of Texas. The patch is harmful to surrounding wildlife, and must be dealt with.

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Kaiser, Jocelyn, Jocelyn Kaiser, and Science18 Jun 2010 : 1506. “The Dirt on Ocean Garbage Patches.” The Dirt on Ocean Garbage Patches | Science. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Feb. 2017.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/328/5985/1506.full

Summary: The great pacific garbage patch has been called a “trash vortex.” It is not the mucky collection of bulky garbage that many believe it is. Mostly it’s pellets of plastic. This is caused by the plastic breaking down in the ocean. The result is many animals dying from eating these pellets, thinking they are plankton or some other food.

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Marks, Kathy, and Daniel Howden. “The world’s rubbish dump: a garbage tip that stretches from Hawaii to Japan.” Http://agriculturedefensecoalition.org/. N.p., 5 Feb. 2008. Web. 19 Feb. 2016.

http://agriculturedefensecoalition.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/9R_2008_Pacific_Ocean_February_5_2008_Floating_Garbage_Dump_Floating_in_Pacific_Independent_UK.pdf

Summary: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is mysterious. The garbage floats just below the surface, making it impossible to see on satellite imagery. While the patch stretches from between Hawaii and California, almost to Japan. There are stories of boats passing through the patch for over a week. The patch is a tough problem because we are unsure of exactly where it starts and when it ends, due to its near invisibility.

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Campbell, Colin. “Rank record: Mr. Trash Wheel gathers 1 millionth pound of trash from Jones Falls.” Baltimoresun.com. N.p., 20 Oct. 2016. Web. 19 Feb. 2017.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-trash-wheel-million-20161020-story.html

Summary: The trash wheel is a paddle powered raft that floats around the Inner Harbor of Baltimore city. It is designed to clean up waterways. Last October, Mr. Trash Wheel picked up is one-millionth pound of trash. Since this, they released another Trash Wheel into the waters. These trash wheels have cleaned up the harbors in tremendous ways.

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With these sources I have gathered enough evidence to show that the island idea may not be as simple as I had thought. The debris is mostly small pieces of plastic, not bottles. This has caused me to change my hypothesis slightly. Instead of proposing turning the trash patch into an island, I am proposing different unorthodox ways of cleaning it up. I have realized two things, one is that I do not know nearly enough about the island process, and I need to do more research. The other thing is that the garbage patch cannot be cleaned up by traditional ways. The trash wheel idea came to me when I was thinking about different ways to clean out the trash. In Baltimore they made this solar powered paddleboat that cleans up the harbor. This idea could be mortified slightly to save our oceans.

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My working hypothesis is

-The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a stain on the ocean that must be cleaned. It is too big and too unstable to be dealt with in a traditional way.

I know this hypothesis is somewhat broad, but it is not my final version. I don’t want to completely abandon the bottle-island idea. I think that whole idea is counterintuitive, and perfect for this paper. The flipside of that, however, is that it is also very improbable. Not all of the garbage in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is capable of being strung together into a buoyant island. Most of the garbage is small pieces of debris that could never be collected into one mass.

Maybe the true solution lies in between both of these ideas. Maybe the trash could be collected with a trash-wheel-ish device, and the bottles could be separated out and recycled.

The point of this paper should be that the trash patch is too big of a problem not to be dealt with. It’s time we took care of it, and set measures to ensure that it does not happen again.

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Smaller papers do lie within this topic.

For example, an entire essay could be written on Richart Sowa and his island of bottles. He has a house and trees on his recycled island. He even talks about future ideas, such as an air conditioning system using the rise and fall of the tides. He is a very eccentric and intelligent guy, and he deserves his own essay.

Another paper could be written on past efforts to clean up the great pacific garbage patch. People have tried to take nets through the garbage patch and recycle the trash, but experts still say that cleanup is impossible. The current consensus is that the patch is too big, and it would be too expensive to clean it up. It is simply too big, and too expensive of a job. (That’s where Mr. Trash-wheel could be of service. He is very inexpensive.)

Mr. Trash Wheel could also be the topic of his own paper. Since being deployed in may of 2014, he has cleaned up 367,930 plastic bottles, 459,427 polystyrene cups, 8,905,600 cigarette butts, 6,394 glass bottles, 251,217 plastic bags, and 338,079 chip bags. In other words, Mr. Trash Wheel has cleaned up a ton of garbage. The difference that he has made in the waters of Baltimore is very noticeable, and he gave my hometown quite the needed facelift.

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Current State of Research:

Right now, I am trying to do as much reading as I can on these three subjects. I am reading countless articles on the effects of plastic on sea life, the amount of pollution in the water, the rate at which the patch is growing, etc.

I have not listed any of these as sources because there are so many. I just read whatever articles I can find, and I will list sources when I know which of those articles/books are the best. Since my topic is kind of in a nebulous state, doing specific research for sources can be somewhat challenging.

I want to narrow down my topic, and get an actual idea of what this paper will be, but that takes time. In class we discussed how changing a topic is not a bad thing, and that’s kind of exactly what I did. I thought I had a bulletproof idea at the beginning, then realized that I actually knew nothing on this subject, so I am currently trying to change the hypothesis into something that I can actually write about with confidence.

-I shouldnt spend a lot of time adding irreleveant information to my white paper.

-Constantly add meaningful information to the white paper by the end of the semester we need 5000 words that we will later trim down to 3000 words for my final paper.

-We have to form good round in depth ideas, that we can explain well enough.

-When we read we see someone’s point of view, it either agrees or contradicts with our point of view. When the author suggest an idea contrary to our beliefs we begin to argue you it and resist because it goes against our personal ideas.

-Start writing while reading our sources and the process will begin. We have to always be able to explain why.

-Collect a few sources we begin to develop a hypothesis.

-When reading a source argue it and summarize it.

-Find a complex angle on the topic and see if it works if it doesn’t try and find another angle.

-The most important part in this whole process is getting writing on paper and try multiple angles.

-Summaries should draw conclusions. The summaries that tell you what to know rather than to find out what I know.

It is 2017 and Polio still exist. Since 1988 efforts have been made by the World Health Organization to eradicate Polio. The numbers have been cut down very drastically going from thousands of cases a day to only 100 recorded in 2015. The question then arises has the effort to eradicate polio hit a wall?  There has been a reduction of 99% of cases of Polio since efforts started. The last countries to have yet to eradicate polio are Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria. The obstacles faced in these countries include lack of basic health infrastructure, also many of these countries are currently involved in civil wars or other internal problems making it very difficult to reach these places with vaccines. With that I believe that the solution to this is resolving issues in these countries to allow people to begin vaccinating in those countries.

White Paper

-Its a preliminary paper to try out new ideas.It is a collection of purposeful summaries.It is a place to try out introductions.

-It is the next stage in the development of the final paper.

White Paper:Why We Have Polio

-The White Paper is a worked in progress, it is by no means supposed to be a finished, perfect copy

-It is supposed to be sloppy

-The goal is to have 4,000-5,000 words, so by the end of the semester, we can trim to 3,000

-When we have to tell someone else what the idea is,that is when we know about the topic

-When we read, we resist or agree with he text which gets us nowhere, all we have done is tell ourselves why that writer is wrong

-we one think when we are writing, it is useless to split up the composition process into stages if the other steps we are not writing

-We need to start writing about our sources as soon as we find them

-We do this so the last step is not writing, its cutting

-We need to look for the angle that surprises and the reader when  looking for sources

-In a practice opening, we need to use the sources to help define the angle we our taking

-Often the angle is should be, the opposite of what people would assume it would be

-For example: This generation is not ready to eradicate polio, the backing was if one baby doesn’t get vaccinated, the disease could spread rapidly. Since it is not completely gone, the is an opportunity for the disease to spreadSo it is not the average normal take in the issue, but there is something backing it  up to support the unusual claim

-For the summary, it needs to draw conclusion. So instead if saying, the article says who gets polio and what it does, write about who gets polio and what it does. Then give examples to back the claim, for example polio is transmitted from poop to mouth. Thatch happen in innocent ways, and is why polio spread can be rapid.

-mix a collection of quotes, gather purposeful summaries and organize them into a pattern. Sources are valuable and necessary for the white paper

-another example was the measles outbreak. How measles are not dead, because there was an outbreak in California. They thought it was eradicated in the U.S, however on child had it and spread it to other children at the playground. This goes hand and hand with the polio not being eradicated claim.

REASEACH CHALLENGE: How many children caught the disease because of the incident in California.

A Practice opening example:

“To rid the world with polio forever, we will have to paralyze 250 children”, this is a counterintuitive claim

– To be successful,  make sure its an argument that can be proved in 3,000 words

Practice Opening

The world is too fragmented and mistrustful to ever join in a truly global effort, even to eradicate a dreaded disease.

Eradicating polio, unfortunately it is too difficult for countless reason to achieve this goal. where we have seen great strides her in the United States, around the world the epidemic is still very possible. Vaccinating everyone in the world is very costly and difficult to do, so if something happens, the disease can spread rapidly.Once one child has it, it can be spread to other very quickly. By the process of poop to mouth is how polio can be extracted, so one child’s feces and be picked up by a fly. That fly  can then land on food, then the disease can be spread. Another way it can spread, even here in the U.S. is by people simply not getting vaccinated. If one child has it, it can be spread through all the children whose parents didn’t want them to get vaccinated. Unfortuantley, the world is too fragmented and distrustful to ever join in a truly global effort, even  to eradicate a dreaded disease.