A pedagogical experiment of giving bonus points based on oral exams in an introductory physics course is described. The orals covered the questions on a written exam that had just been graded and returned to the class. Although the performance of most students on the oral exams was fair at best, the value of bonus point orals would appear to be considerable, even though it may not be applicable to large classes and have other important disadvantages.

Topics
Speech communication, Educational aids, Educational assessment, Teaching, Journal
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Although I surmise that the granting of extra credit for all kinds of work or effort is not uncommon in physics, there appears to be little evaluation of the idea of extra credit in physics courses. A search of the databases for The Physics Teacher and The American Journal of Physics yielded no articles that evaluated the concept of extra credit. This absence suggests that when extra credit is assigned, it is not given for pedagogical reasons, but instead as an expedient, for example, a means of allowing students to avoid suffering a penalty for missed work, or as a morale booster for the class as a whole.

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See for example, a list of web sites for programs in communicating across the curriculum maintained by the University of Pittsburgh, ⟨www.cxc.pitt.edu/cxcwebsites.htm⟩⁠.
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Although Dr. Wyss considers himself to be “somewhat informed” about the state of introductory physics education in Italian universities, his opinions are not necessarily authoritative.

© 2007 American Association of Physics Teachers.
2007
American Association of Physics Teachers
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