I don’t think the problem is cheating. I think the larger problem is that all students are asked to do the same thing, but they are asked to do it individually. Testing is meant to bring all children under one umbrella, but at the same time we expect children to be individuals? Sometimes in the interest of fairness, we have stripped children of their ability to think. Tests don’t actually teach students to think because we expect a certain answer, and students know this. Students are taught that there is a “right” and a “wrong” answer and that there is only one way to get to this answer.
Students wouldn’t need to cheat if we gave them more collabarative work and more inquiry based work (where there is not just one “right” answer). I think that we should create more tests where students must work together (because this is what happens in life), and teach them to solve problems where there is not just one “right” answer. Students can’t cheat if there are no more multiple choice tests or generic worksheets with fill in the blank answers.
The end of this video below is particularly important for teachers to hear…
