tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7678620.post2538615953483448777..comments2020-12-26T16:22:30.830+00:00Comments on Into The Machine: Education's Future - Mass Production, or Networked Knowledge?Scribehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08757616056135886893noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7678620.post-35793500693738206392008-05-19T20:34:00.000+01:002008-05-19T20:34:00.000+01:00My son just got a 100 in reading comprehension on ...My son just got a 100 in reading comprehension on the MEAP. (The MEAP is a set of standardized tests used to torture grammer school kids in the US, supporting "No Child Left Behind"). As i can't stand the MEAP, i'm left at a loss about what exactly i should be feeling just now.<BR/><BR/>My objections to the MEAP are basically that they're supposed to test the teachers. I'm sure all of you are interested in having your career depend on the performance of random 5th graders. Now imagine that your 5th graders are Special Ed... And, these tests generally test to failure. Well, they have to, right? Because otherwise they'll clip off the performance of the best students. But testing to failure is still failure.<BR/><BR/>So here's a 5th grade test of math. What is two thirds of three quarters? An astounding fraction of adults can't do it. I refuse to mark on a curve. Score zero if you get it wrong. Score one if you can do it with a calculator. Two if you can do it with just paper and pencil. Three if you can do it in your head. <BR/><BR/>For the record, in word problems, "of" means multiply. So half of a dozen is twelve over two, which reduces to six. In the test problem, multiply two by three and three by four to get six over twelve, which reduces to one half.<BR/><BR/>In school, i was really, really good at math, and it showed in homework, but really pretty awful at tests. There are people who are the reverse. So what do tests measure?Stephenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03934169832326108710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7678620.post-31599623287911152592008-05-16T10:20:00.000+01:002008-05-16T10:20:00.000+01:00The relationship between measurement and mechaniza...The relationship between measurement and mechanization is absolutely central to the subject of your blog.<BR/><BR/>For my part, I am particularly interested in the fatal flaws that frustrate and condemn the measurement/mechanization project, even on its own terms. For example, the same people who are pushing "numeracy" and "SATS" in primary schools are bemoaning the fact that fewer students want to read mathematics and science at university (not enough to fulfil the "demands" of industry, or even to cost-justify the existence of some top-rated science departments), but it doesn't seem to occur to them that these two machines are somehow connected.Richard Veryardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04499123397533975655noreply@blogger.com