Which way is better?

I'm grading this weekend. Woo-hoo. Actually, it's not too bad. One thing I'm noticing is that the students are tending to do one of two things in their answers to questions from Chapter 1. Either 1) they are answering the questions by going to the book and "quoting" the book thus demonstrating to me that they can find the information, or 2) they are trying to demonstrate their (very weak) understanding by coming up with new and exciting examples to answer the questions. I'm not sure which is the better way for them to go. The ones who "copy" from the book (I don't consider it plagiarism at this point because they are quoting and citing) may be able to use their answers as a tool to think with and further understand the answer better. The ones who are making an effort and trying to be creative might actually be setting themselves up for problems later if they think their answers are good and study their own answers. Sometimes they are saying things really incorrectly or in a controversial (to the field) way.

I'll have to note all this too them.

I have one student who is brilliant--off-the-charts brilliant. I hope I can keep this student engaged. I will be working on it. It will be a fun challenge.