From: P Yager <pkyager@newcastle.net.au>
Subject: RE: Topics for discussion-Science
Date: Thu, 1 Jan 1998 16:51:24 +1100
Stephanie Wong on Sunday, December 28, 1997 wrote: > - Too much writing makes things boring, therefore causing loss of = interest > by the students. > - Too much activities slows things down a lot. But what is the purpose of the writing? Do you think students actually = understand better what they write or read in a text, without activities? = Have they really *learned* it or can they simply regurgitate the = necessary scripts for a test, without real understanding? These = questions have occupied a lot of my thought in recent months. Craig, I = like your ideas. I would be interested in the thoughts of the list. <snip> >I think activities (projects) tend to benefit the lower-marked = students. I think activities (projects) benefit all students, by understanding = through doing, adding interest, and applying what is learned. We all = seem to focus on marks at the expense of the learning outcomes. >This helps to boost up their mark. It tends to hurt higher-marked = students >because it is hard to get a high mark in a project. Tests, on the = other >hand, are simple to get high marks as long as you know the material. = So >testing knowledge is better with tests. What we are actually saying here is that what is measured in a test is = more valuable then what is measured by a project. Is this what we = really believe? By "higher-marked students" you seem to mean those who = score high marks in a test, and that they are somehow better; that the = students who score high on projects should not do better overall than = those who score high on tests. On the other hand, do we have to use marks from a project for grading = the students? Can the project be the teaching/learning strategy we use = to convey knowledge/understanding of material which will later be = assessed by a pen and paper test? I don't wish to sound critical of your comments Stephanie, but I do mean = to challenge our conventional way of doing things. I am trying to work = out how we stimulate greater interest in science amongst our students. = This interest is reported to be declining, in many/all education = systems. We need to examine the way we do things to turn this around. = Any thoughts from the list? Regards, Peter.