tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6758601466070271713.post1423576829263602111..comments2023-10-20T05:37:10.668-07:00Comments on Maths Education and all that!: Assessing students up to age 14 - A better future. Part 1 - key components of the way forwardRebecca Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15973235163335279852noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6758601466070271713.post-84926396536467119222012-06-13T00:45:29.244-07:002012-06-13T00:45:29.244-07:00Consider:
If you weigh a pig in Kgs and it has to ...Consider:<br />If you weigh a pig in Kgs and it has to weigh X Kgs before you can sell it then you have to check as it grows up how many Kgs it weighs.Now is weight of the pig the best measure of the "value" of a pig, is not taste more important? We know what the pig eats and the life it leads influences the taste so we could check what it eats and how it lives. Find another way of assessing the "value" of the pig and you can change how you assess it as it grows up. Problem, you do not know how good the pig tastes until ... well until :-( <br /><br />Sometimes you do not know the value of something until it is used or applied. Many employers and even Universities claim that GCSE and GCE examinations do not accurately suggest how good a student is in a particular subject. We get calls for "going back to basics" and "to drive up standards" and suggestions that the examinations are too easy. All of this ignores the fact that the GCSE or GCE examination is a very poor way to assess the value of the learning. In the same way as the weight of the pig, although easy to assess, is not the best way of finding out how it tastes. <br /><br />In today's world I suggest it is not what you know but what you understand, what you can learn for yourself and how you apply it that counts. We need problem solvers, creative insight and communication skills. All easily developed by mathematics if you assess its "value" in a different way. <br /><br />Just how much does a GCSE weigh anyway?<br /><br />Kev<br />Director at Advocating CreativityKevinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10130719477221070232noreply@blogger.com