Subject: Final Exam Question From: "William J. Rapaport" Date: Sat, 12 Dec 2009 09:26:55 -0500 (EST) A student writes: "Can we use a calculator on the final?" No calculators or any other kind of electronic device. The student continues: "Also, did you announce that we don't have to memorize the names of the rules for logical inference? Does that mean there will be no such questions on the final, or can we just write out the rules instead of their names?" I will supply you with a list of the rules; you should refer to them by name. However, there will be other questions on the exam where you will be expected to know the definitions of various terms, as is indicated on the documents "What should I study for the final exam" and the Course Summary, both of which are available via links on the Directory of Documents as well as on the syllabus. This means that you should memorize them. Some of you have complained that "in the real world" people can always look things up. This is true, but misleading. It takes longer to look things up than to have them memorized for easy access. There is even recent cognitive-science evidence for this: "Memory is the cognitive process of *first* resort", according to Willingham 2009 (see references at the end of this message). And the "old study method" of "close the book; recall; write it down" "still works", according to Glenn 2009. References: Glenn, David (2009), "Close the Book. Recall. Write It Down.", Chronicle of Higher Education 55(34) (May 1): A1,A8; online at: http://chronicle.com/free/v55/i34/34a00101.htm Willingham, Daniel T. (2009), "Why Don't Students *Like* School? Because the Mind Is Not Designed for Thinking", American Educator 33(1) (Spring): 4-13 (see the sidebar on "How Can Learning Facts Make Thinking More Enjoyable--and More Effective?"); online at: http://www.aft.org/pubs-reports/american_educator/issues/spring2009/index.htm --sidebar online at: http://www.aft.org/pubs-reports/american_educator/issues/spring2009/WILLINGHAM(2).pdf#page=5