Grading writing assignments without investing an inordinate amount of time

CHED 422

Ike Shibley, ias1@psu.edu, Division of Science, Penn State Berks, Tulpehocken Rd., Reading, PA 19610
Many teachers do not include written assignments as part of a course grade because they do not feel qualified to grade the assignments. Writing can be a critical component of student learning in a variety of chemistry courses and grading these assignments can be accomplished by any chemistry teacher. Several styles of grading will be presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of grading written work in a science course without a large time commitment. Several types of writing assignments will be presented to explore the variety of ways that writing can be used to facilitate thinking. Because writing often helps students to think more clearly, an argument will also be made for including ungraded writing as well.