Dot points, dot points = Boring (1 Viewer)

[MasterOfDisgyis]

This thread is very opinionative and may not reflect some peoples views; but I am entitled to this opinion. I hope some teachers are reading this thread as well (those teachers guilty of this).

What is it with DOT BLOODY POINTS? Some teachers use the dot points as the basis of every lesson. Every lesson just becomes boring and useless. It is almost like they want to teach the bare minimum and expect that students will do very well. Well, it simply doesn't work like that.

In my opinion, the dot points from the board of studies should come secondary to the teaching of the content of a topic. Here is an example of dot point (boring) teaching:

HSC Biology -

• understand the role of enzymes in metabolism and describe the factors that influence enzyme activity.

That is what the class is given at the start of the lesson, and that is what forms the emphisis of the lesson. Point is, students haven't even learnt about enzymes to begin to answer that dot point. What happens is that students then just go to the text book, read a little bit on enzymes and then just do a little summary to answer that dot point. Nothing is understood by the student, and nothing is remembered. It becomes a waste of time.

A better form of teaching would be for the teacher to prepare a class in which the structure of enzymes are explained, how they work, why they're needed, examples of what they do. After that, the student should then do the 'dot point' for homework.

 

[beccaxx]

dude
the questions 4 the exams come straight from the dot points!!!!
learn them!!!!!!!!

 

[MasterOfDisgyis]

dude
the questions 4 the exams come straight from the dot points!!!!
learn them!!!!!!!!

I'm not in an English class. I really don't care about how to answer an IDENTIFY or EXPLAIN question. Thats all useless unless you know the content.

I have had two biology teachers. In year 11 the teacher didn't use the dot points as the basis of their teaching and the class on average got above 80% in the half yearly and yearly exam (for year 11). We got a change of teacher and her whole teaching style is around the fucking dot points and in the half yearly and trial exams (for year 12) people got way less on average compared to year 11 than they did in their year 12 half yearlys and trials.

I am very well aware that the exam is based on the dot points. But I am also aware that larning isn't about memorising slabs of information which you don't understand (thats dot point teaching and learning *cough* *cough* memorising).

 

[Rafy]

The HSC exams require you to know the meaning of Identify and Explain etc etc.

The questions are based from the dot points so learn them

If you dont understand something ask your teacher to clarify!

Work with the system.

 

[MasterOfDisgyis]

The HSC exams require you to know the meaning of Identify and Explain etc etc.

We should all know this by now. We shouldn't have to go over it again and again and again in class. Its a biology class, we're there to learn about biology.

The questions are based from the dot points so learn them

As I said, I am well aware of this. But if the dot points (memorising) is all someone is going to learn, they'll FAIL because it is not enough for them to get a full understanding.

In my biology class, lots of people couldn't even answer a basic question on ultra violet light from the sun and why it causes skin cancer. WHY? Because it was not taught properly. The link between ultra violet light and genetic mutations was not understood because the dot points don't allow for students to think and make connections like that.

I got the question right, because when I was in year 10 we had a person from the university teach us science (at TAFE) because we had to use the university science labs as the TAFE had none. I made the link between genetic mutations and ultra violet light due to the fact that the universities put used petri-dishes with bacterial colonies under ultra violet light to kill them before burning them.

Now thats what a little bit of extra knowledge (on top of the dot points) does.

If you dont understand something ask your teacher to clarify!

And get a lecture on the dot points? To go to dot point #2? No thanks. Ill go and do my own study because its more worth while. I'm lucky that I personally have access to material from the local university (library borrowing rights which allows me to borrow video's etc).

Work with the system.

No, ill have a go at the system when I know it is not working. The system is worse than it was before. Teachers have become McDonald's workers that have become technicians in a scientifically managed environment (taylorism).

You don't need to know much to be a teacher these days. Just follow what the Board of Studies says.

 

[MasterOfDisgyis]

Oh, and its worth noting that dot point teaching isn't preparing students for university learning. And before all the 'uni students' come and say "I know more than you", ill just state that I have done a few full fee paying subjects through uni (thats why I have borrowing rights). I have never been in a lecture that they just teach dot points. Lectures are actually a lot more stimulating than that.

 

[Casmira]

studying for chemistry is the easiest to do for any other subject, they basically give it away what they're going to ask you, i mean seriously, you know that for example "Identify..." so you know that you only need to go as indepth to name it during study

take a subject like BS, or SDD where they just give you essentially a list, you don't know whether to spend paragraph upon paragraph, or a line ... and you'll really never know but luckily for SDD most questions are at least a describe so you need indepth for everything ... BS is another story but thats why i no longer do it

 

[MedNez]

The problem with the new HSC is the reliance on the Silly bus (read as: syllabus). The exams are based on exact dot points with different values or key words. Therefore people can't just 'know' the content, you can develop answers to each dot point, and be ready to answer them come the exam. It's good and bad.

Good because we know (mostly) what we have to learn.

Bad because it's a test of memory, not intelligence.

 

[Casmira]

the only way they can realy test you is just stretching a describe question to an analyse/assess/evaluate etc...

 

[Emma-Jayde]

HSC exams = Straight from syllabus = dot points = course content

Which means that you have to know them.
Why not try learning what you're summarising from the text book.
That's the general idea of summarising something, to learn it.

And, if you're only learning the dot points, you aren't learing any useless information that you will never possibly need in an exam.
If you know the dot points, you will know everything you need to know for the HSC.

Dot point teaching was not designed to prepare us for uni learning. It was designed to prepare us for the HSC exams.

Stop complaining. The dot points are the course content. Your teacher probably sees that there is not point in teaching any other way.

 

[Zali]

'As I said, I am well aware of this. But if the dot points (memorising) is all someone is going to learn, they'll FAIL because it is not enough for them to get a full understanding.'


Of course they would fail because the dot points dont give you an answer they tell give u guidelines on the depth of knowlege u need for the topic.

the HSC is written on the dot points so good luck not learning them

 

[Dreamerish*~]

It is unnecessary to be so repetitive about the glossary, and everyone gets extremely annoyed when the teachers are going over it for the 43728946372486th time instead of biology or chemistry, or whatever it is.

However, like you said - we should already know them by now. With terms such as explain and assess we can shape and structure our responses.

The dot points are a concise, organised way of showing you what is studied, and what you need to know for an exam. Without them we would probably be either learning a crapload of stuff we don't need, or missing a few points, or both.

 

[Shell]

my bio teacher is absolutely useless. Really. she has no fucking idea about anthing she 'teaches'. She's a dot point teacher, as you can probably guess. Every lesson goes like this:

thousands of sheets and bookets are placed on the front desk, and students walk up and collect all the sheets.

then the teacher writes a dot point on the board and we answer it.

The other day i was doing a past paper, multiple choice, and i came across a question i wasnt sure about. so i asked her, and her face was hilarious. She pulled this really disgusted face. Her top lip actually curled. and she said "umm i forget. I'll have to look it up". what a fkn useless lump of shit.

Another time i asked her whats the difference between an allele and a gene, and this is how it went: "umm an allele is an expression of.... of a..... wow... look at that catarpillar!!!" and pointed out he window to this MASSIVE crawling caterpillar. lol admitedly, the caterpillar was really interesting, and we brought him in and looked at him, but i never found out the answer. She is so hopeless

 

[er12345]

While dot points are indeed boring, they really are the way to go in the HSC for phys/chem/bio

Many top performers in these subjects go through it dot point by dot point. I did that myself and didn't do too bad at all in phys/chem.

Besides, in uni, sometimes you would just love to have dot points, if only to set a limit on what you need to know and guide your study.

I don't believe that you should judge your teacher too much on her dot point method. IMO it wouldn't be too bad at all, even though it would be indeed boring.

 

[Slidey]

I'm ambivalent. The exam is based on the dotpoints, but then, learning shouldn't be about doing well in exams. Then again, whoever said the HSC was about learning?

 

[helper]

The teacher needs to refer to the dot points, so you are aware what is going to be examined. However, the teacher also should be relating the different points together, to give you a cohesive understanding of the topic. Including relating back to the context.