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The Physics Teacher -- April 2011 -- Volume 49, Issue 4, pp. 225

Cramster: Friend or Foe?

Michael Grams

South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD

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Recently when teaching a first‐semester calculus‐based physics course for engineers, I was perplexed by a particular group of students. These individuals were able to solve nearly every homework problem assigned from the end‐of‐chapter exercises in our textbook, and in some cases were able to do so using methods that we had not covered in class. However, they were unable to explain the steps in their solutions and when given similar problems on exams they performed very poorly. I became suspicious that these students were submitting homework solutions that were not their own, and a quick Internet search confirmed my fears. These students had been plagiarizing their homework assignments from a website called Cramster (www.cramster.com). In this article I would like to discuss the website, what some of my previous students and fellow educators think about it, and also consider whether or not Cramster could be useful in helping students learn physics.

© 2011 American Association of Physics Teachers

KEYWORDS and PACS

Keywords

calculus, physics education, teaching, Web sites

PACS

PUBLICATION DATA

ISSN

0031-921X (print)  

Publisher

$abstract.society.value is a Member of CrossRef American Association of Physics Teachers

ARTICLE DATA

Digital Object Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.3566032

  1. Anne Marie Chaker, “Do study sites make the grade?” The Wall Street Journal, www.WSJ.com, April 9, 2009.
  2. Lisa W. Foderaro, “Psst! Need the answer to No. 7? Click here,” The New York Times, www.NYTimes.com, May 18, 2009.
  3. www.cramster.com/sign-up/educator.aspx.
  4. Peter Simones, private communication.
  5. See the work done by Ken Heller's group at the University of Minnesota, groups.physics.umn.edu/physed/Research/CRP/crintro.html
  6. William M. Carroll, “Using worked examples as an instructional support in the algebra classroom,” J. Educ. Psychol. 86 (3), 360–367 (1994).
  7. Fred Paas, Alexander Renkl, and John Sweller, “Cognitive load theory and instructional design: Recent developments,” Educ. Psychol. 38 (1), 1–4 (2003).
  8. Alexander Renkl and Robert K. Atkinson, “Structuring the transition from example study to problem solving in cognitive skill acquisition: A cognitive load perspective,” Educ. Psychol. 38 (1), 15–22 (2003).
  9. David Hestenes, Malcolm Wells, and Gregg Swackhamer, “Force Concept Inventory,” Phys. Teach. 30, 141–151 (March1992)PHTEAH000030000003000141000001.
  10. David P. Maloney, Thomas L. O'Kuma, Curtis J. Hieggelke, and Alan Van Heuvelen, “Surveying students' conceptual knowledge of electricity and magnetism,” Am. J. Phys. 69 (S1), S12–S23 (July 2001)AJPIAS0000690000S1000S12000001.



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