Reimagining: Final Exam Week

Physics Alive

During final exam week, student activities groups across the nation provide experiences that will help reduce student stress. But in this episode, the spotlight is pointed at the high stakes, cumulative exams themselves, and the flurry of late semester assignments that generate these stress loads. Let’s reimagine final exam week. Are traditional final exams really a meaningful and appropriate way to end the academic year or can we create a finale that sends students off in grand style? Let’s consider some alternatives and why we might want to try something new.

Articles and web links from the episode:

Sleep and Final exam performance

• To Study or to Sleep: How Seeing the Effect of Sleep Deprivation Changed Students’ Choices

Two-stage exams

• Physics Exams that Promote Collaborative Learning

Kelly O’Shea’s Collaborative Lab Practicum

Epic Finales

• Should Colleges Rethink Final Exams in the COVID Era? Some Profs Try 'Epic Finales'
• Final Exams or Epic Finales
• Experiential Education on the Edge: SETI Activities for the College Classroom

Karinda Barrett’s Concept Mapping finale

General alternatives to traditional testing

• Berkley Center for Teaching and Learning
• And many others!