I went through some English answer scripts of students. I found that some students have written on different aspects of the topic which the lecturer did not ask for (i.e deviation). The lecturer justly wrote under each of the essays, ‘‘deviation’’. From this, you can deduce that deviation is as a result of misunderstanding/ lack of understanding of the question asked. Misunderstanding then becomes the ultimate cause for the deviation. But what actually has brought about the misunderstanding? (NB: The causes could be listed under either i. anti-penultimate or ii. penultimate)
Teaching, learning
Dear Dennis,
There is no reason to suppose that there is only one reason for such deviation. However their general underlying cause is doxastic conservativeness and a strong tendency to make inferences from prior knowledge. Look especially at "the Moses illusion" and related work.
Also worth considering is the possibility that students who simply failed to pay attention or failed to understand are then writing non-topic material simply in an effort to fill space rather than admit the earlier failure.
@ Prof Oddson,
Great and wonderful contribution! Regarding your first point, I wonder if it is not culture which is leading to this conservative behaviour. Well note but I wish I knew the allusion you termed ''the Moses illusion''.
Here is a chapter you have available to you
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228704893_Moses_illusion_Implication_for_human_cognition
Probably the best experiment work was done by B Hannon and Daneman. (2001 or so).
Is this an effect of culture? Like most things it is certainly influenced by it. The willingness to change opinions, express ignorance, or even to engage with the material presented are certainly variable between individuals and between cultures.
Good luck.
Article Moses illusion: Implication for human cognition
This is really encouraging! The first time I had an answer to a follow up question! I am thankful. Recapitulation of your first point: Aspect of culture (anti-penultimate cause); misunderstanding/ lack of understanding (penultimate cause); deviation (ultimate cause). I still invite more answers from colleagues.
This morning, my son was trying to bully me with a riddle. He said, '' You are given an ambulance to go and quench fire, when you go where will you start quenching the fire from?''. I told him his riddle was wrong because ambulance is not used to quench fire. I thought he used the wrong vocabulary. I now realize he was not wrong after all, but he was trying to test my intelligence through Moses illusion. Thank you for teaching me. When he comes from school I will call him ''Moses illusion man''. This will make him curious. I will then explain the term to him using his riddle. Thank you again Prof. and enjoy your day.
In some cases, I think that they students do not pay as much attention to the instructions as they should. They begin with a superficial understanding of the assignment and never consider the instructions from the teacher in detail. This often leads them in the wring direction.
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