Thinking and Understanding from Writing

Many concepts in physics and engineering courses cannot be understood easily. Although powerful computers with advanced software can generate fancy animations, students still cannot grasp these concepts without spending time reflecting on them. In the past, homework was the tool used by instructors to challenge students and enforce their learning. Unfortunately, now many students can bypass this challenge and directly go to the solution manual for answers, which is widely available from the internet. One way to nudge students reflecting on the concepts and theories is writing a weekly summary. Unlike the homework, the summary cannot be copied from other sources easily. We asked students to submit their summary through Turnitin, an effective plagiarism check software. When they submit their summaries, they can see by themselves how much percent is plagiarized, which will deter them from the practice of copy and paste. The effectiveness of this approach was assessed in two different ways. The first assessment was a direct questionnaire, and most students considered it very helpful for them to understand the concepts and theories in writing the summaries. The second assessment was a concept inventory test, which was part of the final exam. The test result demonstrated that there was a strong correlation between the scores of the two sections on conceptual questions and problem solving.