7) Diagnosing Common Patterns of Student Thinking

When reviewing for a test about Reconstruction, students were tasked with reading about different Southern states and the Jim Crow Laws, or Black Codes that were passed by southern politicians. After reading the laws of 3 particular states and taking notes regarding what rights are being infringed upon, students were tasked with writing what southern state they thought was the worst out of the 3 on the back of their paper. The majority of students in 3rd hour picked Louisiana, when asked why the reasoning was based on how they felt about the rights in which were being infringed upon and not the Black Codes themselves.