By Beatriz Ramos Jiménez
Last semester, I watched one of my students flip over her test, glance at the grade, and drop it straight into the trash. No hesitation. No pause to read the comments or reflect on her mistakes. She had already decided: the grade was the only thing that mattered.
This wasn’t a one-off. I saw it happen again and again—students treating assessments like verdicts instead of opportunities to grow. It got me thinking: What if the problem isn’t just how students respond to feedback, but how we deliver it?
Beatriz Ramos Jiménez is a science educator on the Big Island, Hawai‘i. She is passionate about sustainability, student-led projects, and helping young people see themselves as scientists.
