PD Paper 13-14 Ron Zamir

1
Do extra credit assignments in mathematical physics enhance

student performance on assessments?

Written by Ron Zamir

June, 2014

Extra credit assignments are offered in my mathematical physics courses each week of the school year.
By completing one extra credit assignment, students can earn up to 2 points towards their lowest exam grade.
When the quality of a students written answer is better, more of the two points is earned.

The extra credit assignments are on a variety of topics which fall into 6 main categories:

1) Solving advanced physics problems
2) Learning about a new topic that was not covered in class
3) Making a poster about the life of a famous physicist
4) Physics SAT 2 preparation
5) Learning about current events in physics
6) Designing an experiment to solve a physics problem

I primarily give these assignments to provide other opportunities for learning besides what is offered in class.
Usually the extra credits are challenging and are designed to enhance the interest of students who want to go
beyond what is commonly offered.

I have always been interested to know whether the extra credit assignments I offer enable students to do better
on assessments such as exams, lab reports, and the final exam which is given at the conclusion of the course.

Since 2013-2014 is my 8
th
year of teaching at SAR high school, I had 8 years of data about student performance
in my 11.31, 11.41, and 12.41 mathematical physics (MP) courses which I could statistically analyze to draw
some conclusions about this question. The .31 and .41 courses were taught with the same level of difficulty, but
the .41 course moved at a faster pace and covered more topics.

I focused on two indicators of students overall performance. These were

1) A students year end average, with points earned for extra credit subtracted out.
2) A students mark on the final exam.

The year end average grade was determined by averaging the end of term grade earned in both terms.
Each individual semester grade was calculated by the following scheme:

50% 3 4 exams
50% about 10 lab reports

The additional credit that students would have received in their test average from extra credit was subtracted out
so that no additional points were earned in the calculated average from extra credit.

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To begin the analysis, I took two large classes (over 20 students) and graphed:

the total amount of extra credit points that each student earned for the year (in blue), along with
their year end average (with extra credit subtracted out) (in yellow), as well as their
final exam grade (in red).

These graphs are shown below.

Below is a graph showing data about the year end results for the 2011-2012 MP 11.31 class which had 22
students.
The blue curve shows the total number of extra credit points earned by each student.
The yellow curve shows each students year end average with extra credit points subtracted out.
The red curve shows each students grade on the final exam.

For this particular class, the final exam had a total possible grade of 102.

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There are places in the graph (for the first 6 students) where there is a strong correlation between the total
amount of extra credit points that students earned over the course of the year and their year end average and
final exam marks. There are other places in the graph where a student did very little extra credit but scored very
well (this is seen for students 7, 12), and also places where a student did much extra credit but did not score
very well (this is seen for students 10, 13).

To obtain a more objective measure of how extra credit performance was correlated to the year end average and
final exam results, I calculated two correlation coefficients (one for the extra credit and year end average data,
and one of the extra credit and final exam data).

A correlation coefficient is a number between -1 and 1 that describes how closely two sets of data mimic each
other in their upward and downward trends. A correlation coefficient of 1 indicates that the two sets of data are
completely correlated. When one set of data increases, the other increases in proportion. A correlation
coefficient of 0 indicates that there is a random correlation between the data. A correlation coefficient of -1
indicates that when one set of data increases, the other set of data decreases in proportion.

The correlation coefficient between students individual performance on extra credit and a students year end
average (with extra credit subtracted out) for the 2011-2012 MP11.31 class was 0.47.

The correlation coefficient between individual performance on extra credit and a students final exam mark for
the 2011-2012 MP11.31 class was 0.48.

This indicates that there is some correlation but not a complete correlation.

So that I could compare these findings to those of other classes, I focused on the MP12.41 class which was run
the same year (2011-2012). I chose to look at another class in the same year so that the teaching that they
received was comparable. The graph comparing individual extra credit marks, individual year end average (with
extra credit subtracted out), and final exam marks is shown below. The total possible grade on the final exam
was 100 for this particular class.
4

Here there is even less of a correlation between individual extra credit performance, and individual year end
average and final exam marks.

The correlation coefficient between individual performance on extra credit and individual year end average
(with extra credit subtracted out) was -0.04.

The correlation coefficient between individual performance on extra credit and individual final exam marks was
-0.15.

These results indicate a random correlation between the sets of data.

It is important to point out that the MP12.41 class did less extra credit overall than the MP11.31 class.
The MP 12.41 year end extra credit average was 15 points per student while the MP 11.31 year end extra credit
average was 20 points per student which is a 25 percent difference. In the case of MP 12.41, the lower amount
of extra credit that they did would make the effect of extra credit less significant.

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I also explain these results by observing that some weak students will do much extra credit as a way to improve
their average, but their overall results on assessments could still be weak. Other students are strong and are
satisfied with the high marks they are earning. They may not see extra credit as something which will be useful
for them. They may wish to concentrate their time on subjects that they are weaker in.

So while I have not done an exhaustive study, I would like to conclude from these two graphs that extra credit
performance on assessment results for an individual student are weakly correlated.

However, when I compared the average amount of extra credit that a class does over one year with the mean
year end average and mean final exam grade of the class as a whole, there was a very strong correlation.

The graph below shows:
the average amount of extra credit results that a class earned in one year (in blue), and
mean year end average results with EC subtracted out (in yellow), and
mean final exam marks (in red) for all 11
th
grade classes that I taught from 2006-2007 to 2012-2013.

The classes were labeled according to the year that the classes began. So the first class which took place from
2006 2007 is called 2006.

The level of the class was as follows:

2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012 MP11.41
2010, 2011, 2012 MP11.31

The 11.31 class is shown as a dot in between two years except for 2011 during which the only MP11 class that
was run was 11.31.

The correlation coefficient for mean extra credit and mean year end results is 0.65.
The correlation coefficient for mean extra credit and mean final exam results is 0.79.
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These are higher correlation coefficients than when data was compared student by student. I conclude from this
data that if a class overall does a large amount of extra credit, it will be likely that that class overall will have
better assessment results.

A classes overall completion of extra credit is an indicator of the classes work ethic and interest in the subject.
It makes sense that classes which do much extra credit can have better assessment results.

Interestingly, when class results are compared in the 12 grade, there is still a significant correlation between
mean extra credit points earned in one year and mean year end average, but less so on mean final exam marks.

The 12 grade graph is shown below.

For each year, the results for a single MP12.41 class is shown.
For the 12
th
grade, the correlation coefficient for mean extra credit points earned in one year, and mean year end
course average with EC subtracted out is 0.85.
The correlation coefficient for mean extra credit points earned in one year and mean final exam results is 0.25.

The mean extra credit done by the 11
th
grade averaged over all 7 years was 26 points per student with a standard
deviation of 8 points, while the mean extra credit done by the 12
th
grade averaged over all years was 13 points
per student with a standard deviation of 5 points. So the effect of variations in extra credit is more pronounced
in the 11
th
grade.

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As part of this study, I made two questionnaires about extra credit which I gave to students in my MP11.41 and
MP12.41 classes this year (2013-2014). The first questionnaire was given in late October, 2013. In this first
questionnaire, I asked students to rate the first 6 extra credit assignments from 1 to 10 (1 being poor, 10 being
excellent) in terms of their effectiveness in increasing their

1. interest
2. mastery, and
3. motivation

for physics.

The top 2 types (from the list on page 1) of extra credit for each of the categories listed above were as follows:

11.41 (2013-2014) Questionnaire 1
Which EC assignment interested you the most? Average student rating
1. Challenging problems related to everyday life. (8.0)
2. Design an experiment to solve a problem. (7.7)

Which EC assignment increased your mastery the most?

Which EC assignment increased your motivation the most?

12.41 (2013-2014) Questionnaire 1
Which EC assignment interested you the most?



The top two types of extra credit assignments that were seen by students to be effective in increasing their
interest, mastery, and motivation were:

Challenging problems related to everyday life, and
Design an experiment to solve a problem.

8
I then wrote two new extra credit assignments which were even more advanced assignments in these two
categories. These were offered to students in November and December, 2013. Then in early January, I asked
students to rate the next 12 extra credit assignments (numbers 7-18) in terms of their effectiveness in increasing
their interest, mastery, and motivation for physics.

The results were:

11.41 (2013-2014) Survey 2
Which EC assignment interested you the most? Average student rating
1. Very advanced problem solving related to everyday life. (8.3)
2. SAT 2 practice (8.3)

2. Advanced problem solving (8.3)

2. SAT 2 practice (8.2)

12.41 (2013-2014) Survey 2
Which EC assignment interested you the most?
2. Advanced problem solving related to everyday life. (8.2)



The students chose the extra credits I had newly introduced as their favorites with even higher ratings than in
the first survey.

This showed me that if you poll students to find where their interest lies, you can increase their interest,
mastery, and motivation by introducing course materials that peak their interest.

The two questionnaires that were given to students are included on pages 10 -14.

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Conclusion

From this study, which used 8 years of data from my mathematical physics classes, I conclude that there is a
correlation between student performance on extra credit assignments and year end results such as course
average and final exam grade. This correlation is even higher when mean year end extra credit results for a class
are compared to class means for year end average and final exam marks.

The effect of completing extra credit on assessment results is more pronounced when a class does more extra
credit in a school year. Usually, the 11
th
grade completed more extra credit work each year. The 11
th
grade
results for correlation between average extra credit done in one year, and mean year end average and final exam
marks were higher than in the 12
th
grade.

If students are polled to determine their interest in a particular type of extra credit assignment, student interest
can be increased by introducing extra credit materials that they final useful and interesting.

10
Extra credit Survey 1
Mathematical Physics 11/12

So far in mathematical physics, six extra credit assignments have been offered which are described below.

EC 1 Summarize two current events articles in physics and list the branches of physics that are needed to
understand them.
EC 2 Learning about how differential calculus applies to motion graphs.
EC 3 Challenging problem solving in 1d motion.
EC 4 Devise an experiment to find the fastest horizontal velocity that you can throw a ball.
EC 5 Challenging problem solving in 2d motion.
EC 6 Challenging problem solving in constrained motion.

In the table below:

1. Check off which extra credits you did.

2. Rank the extra credits that you did in terms of how interesting they were to you.
(10 is most interesting, 1 is least interesting).

3. Rank the extra credits that you did in terms of how effective they were in allowing you to gain mastery of
physics. (10 is most helpful, 1 is least helpful).

4. Rank the extra credits that you did in terms of how much they increased your motivation to learn more about
physics (10 is most helpful, 1 is least helpful).

Check
the
box if
you
did
this
extra
credit
Rate the extra credit in
terms of its interest to
you.

(10 is most helpful,
1 is least helpful)
terms of its usefulness in
allowing you to better
master the material.

1 is least helpful)
increasing your
motivation to learn
more about physics.

1 is least helpful)
EC 1 (current events)
EC 2 (calculus)
EC 3 (1d problems)
EC 4 (2d experiment)
EC 5 (2d problems)
EC 6 (CM problems)

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5. Describe in words what makes an extra credit assignment interesting to you.

6. Describe in words the qualities an extra credit assignment should have so that you can gain more mastery of
the course material in this course.

7. Describe in words the qualities an extra credit assignment should have to increase your motivation to learn
more about physics.

12
Extra credit Survey 2
Mathematical Physics 11/12

So far in mathematical physics 18 extra credit assignments have been offered, 12 of which are described below:

EC 7 Challenging problems about friction.
EC 8 Making a poster about the life of Atwood.
EC 9 Challenging problem solving in circular motion.
EC 10 Finding out how astronomical distances were first found.
EC 11 Making a poster about the life of Ptolemy.
EC 12 Reading and problems that involve both energy and circular motion.
EC 13 Design an experiment to find the mass of an Iron sample using a spring.
EC 14 Poster of a famous female physicist.
EC 15 Analysis of a 4 car velcro collision.
EC 16 Problem involving two students jumping off of a train car.
EC 17 SAT 2 problems in mechanics.
EC 18 Current events in mechanics.

In the table on the following page:

1. Check off which extra credits you did.

2. Rate the extra credits that you did in terms of how interesting they were to you.
(10 is most interesting, 1 is least interesting).

3. Rate the extra credits that you did in terms of how effective they were in allowing you to gain mastery of
physics. (10 is most helpful, 1 is least helpful).

4. Rate the extra credits that you did in terms of how much they increased your motivation to learn more about
physics (10 is most helpful, 1 is least helpful).
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1.
Check
the
box if
you
did
this
extra
credit
2.
terms of its interest to
you.

1 is least helpful)
3.
allowing you to better
master the material.

1 is least helpful)
4.
increasing your
motivation to learn
more about physics.

1 is least helpful)
EC 7 (friction problems)
EC 8 (poster of Atwood)
EC 9 (circular motion
problems)

EC 10 (Astronomical
distances)

EC 11 (Poster of Ptolemy)
EC 12 (Problems involving
energy and circular motion)

EC 13 (Designing an
Experiment to find mass of
Iron using a spring)

EC 14 (Poster of a famous
female physicist)

EC 15 (4 car velcro
collision)

EC 16 (2 students jumping
off of a flatcar problem)

EC 17 (SAT 2 problems in
mechanics)

EC 18 (Current events in
mechanics)

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Answer the following questions about all of the extra credit assignments that you have done so far in this course.

5. Describe in words what makes an extra credit assignment interesting to you.

6. Describe in words the qualities an extra credit assignment should have so that you can gain more mastery of
the course material in this course.

7. Describe in words the qualities an extra credit assignment should have to increase your motivation to learn
more about physics.

PD Paper 13-14 Ron Zamir

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Do extra credit assignments in mathematical physics enhance

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