Multiple Choice. Following on from my new thread a few moments ago, there are many exams which are multiple choice. If there are 10 questions and you know the answer to one question then you will immediately answer that question. You then look at the others and realise that you do not know the answer to any of them. You answer them anyway in the hope that you might guess correctly. If you get, say, three of them right (by luck) then you have scored 40%. That is not too bad a score, but it proves nothing at all. I would be glad to have some view on this bit of nonsense. My daughter (who is, normally, a teacher - qualified!) didn't agree that the results were totally inconclusive. I think that a proper examination ought to be problem solving with marks given for fresh imagination and new ways to solve problems - or is that only for the advanced examinations?
Well, if you just want to know the informatin, then multiple choice is the way to go. But problem solving will not help you bvery much with facts. :bunny:
The point is that the examinee has guessed 30% of his answer and his true answer should be 10% and not 40%. If he had been really lucky he might have got 90% and a prize, perhaps, for sheer guesswork. Problem solving calls for a knowledge of the facts which goes far deeper so that you know the facts inside out. I suppose the truth of the matter is that the examinations in which multiple questions are used are fairly elementary. The really difficult examinations require problems to be solved.
True, Philip but what you are looking for is Logical Thinking which is not something normally taught in our schools...Our children are taught to be cogs in the industrial machine and to think alike and like little robots to perform in our factories, etc... That is why in standardized testing one finds that even if you answer a question correctly based on a different interpretation of a question, it is still wrong if it is not what the teacher wants...this teaches children to think "inside the box" and not make any intuitive jumps...eg. Q. Pick the one that doesn't belong. Answers: ant, aardvark, antelope and bear. The teacher may want the children to pick "ant" because that is the only insect listed but some children would pick "bear" because that is the only name starting with a different letter. A totally logical, correct answer but they would be marked wrong and this teaches children to keep within certain parameters in their answers.. That is why so many countries frown upon parents teaching their children...and why Germany initiated our public school system 150 years ago....to irradicate individualistic thinking...That is why home-schooling has become a popular option for some North American parents...we want our children to be able to logically understand what is going on and not blindly accept an idea simply because a celebrity or newspaper columnist states that one should think a certain way!
Well, there is no real way to know that this hypothetical person guessed on 3 of them, and chances are, that if they get 90% on this one, and the next three are 30 or 40%, then you will have a better idea about it. Like i said earlier in my typo-ridden post (too late to edit it now grrrrr:angry It really depends on the test. The problem solving with help you go deeper, but logical thinking is not taught in schools as much, like Book said. *carefully checks his post for those darn typos*
True. The teachers flat out tell you that they are teaching to the tests, and nothing else. They push the info sometimes too fast for the kids to get it all in. One time my son had the equivelant of 16 pages of math homework in one week because they were falling behind schedule getting in the math. That is rediculous. I am seriously thinking of keeping him home for school next year.
There is really only one question. It is how in many answers were the examinees lucky. Were they lucky 90% of the time, in which case they know virtually nothing about the subject, or weren't they lucky at all - in which case they can be quite good. I agree with the points made. Keep the children to a particular schedule tested in what appears to be a completely foolproof way and you have a population who no longer think for themselves. It also saves you having good teachers because anyone can mark a test paper on a multiple choice basis, so long as the answers are already laid out. Understanding is unnecessary. The english language used to be written in old fashioned, old English, writing, with the object that no-one could understand it. The church believed that you should keep people ignorant, and I have the feeling that they still do. If you can understand a problem question - a real problem question, and not a made up farce - then you may well know your subject properly, but it will need a really good teacher to mark the paper. I taught a group accounts for one evening school night. The Chartered Accountant who normally taught them had left abruptly. After a couple of hours, at the end of the class, I asked them how they thought I did. They said that I was much better than he was because now they understood and previously they did not.
It's time to put on your war bonnet, Ala. Marie recently Failed an algebra test. Simply because she worked the problem out in a different manner than the teacher taught. The teacher said even though the answers were correct, they were worked out wrong, therefore she gave her a "0". So I couldn't resist, I totally humiliated her in front of her students by saying she was wrong in doing that if she didn't state that the kids were to work them out in a specific manner before the test was given. I then proceeded to take and solve on the board one of the equations and get the right answer in three different ways. Then to prove a point, erased the equations and wrote out another on the board and challenged her to solve it. After a couple of tries, she said it was not solvable. I then asked for a volunteer to come up and give it a try. The student who came up took a few minutes, but did arrive at the correct answer to her amazement and the teachers chagrin. I then showed them two more ways to solve it. I explained to the teacher that all students are individuals and should be given the freedom to use the method they know and understand the best.
dont anyone get bored of reading these novel sized replies?....*sigh* i do....im so clueless....so sue me!
