Education research: pre-instruction survey conversation

"Calvin and Hobbes" by Jim Watterson
March 14, 1993

Previously discussed was a recommendation that pre-instruction surveys (such as the FCI, MPEX, SATA, or SPCI) should be administered as students walk into the first day of class, without instruction or discussion of the course the students are in (however, course and section information is already written on the whiteboard).

However, some exposition is made to motivate why these students are about to take these surveys, other than to receive a nominal amount of class credit.

The classic Calvin and Hobbes learning cartoon (above) is shown to the class, but instead of focusing on what is put into the jars and Calvin's brain, students are told that it is important to determine what is already in the jars and Calvin's brain before they are filled—are they all really empty before being filled?

The (tongue-in-cheek) reason given to the students for pre- and post-instruction surveys is that the instructor gets paid depending on how much students learn during the semester. Paid, that is, right "here" (instructor points to his heart). Students chortle. Surveys are then handed out.

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