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On Tue, 04 Oct 2011 09:02:50 +0100, Invisible wrote:
> I don't know about other countries, but here the entire educational
> system seems to be focused on meeting targets and out-competing other
> schools. Measuring whether the pupils at your school understand the
> scientific method is hard; measuring whether they know Snell's Law is
> easy.
No. Measuring whether your pupils understand the scientific method is
time consuming, not hard.
Memorizing a formula is not difficult for most people. Being able to
apply that formula in a real world situation (knowing that it applies,
and which formula applies) is harder because it requires cognitive
abilities and reasoning.
I remember arguing with my physics professor about this when I was at
university. I was taking engineering physics as a computer science
student (and so was in a programme that represented < 10% of the students
in the class) and we were required to memorise formulas for the exams.
I maintained that it was more important for me to know how to use the
formula, as in a situation where I would be developing a simulation used
to train pilots (as a concrete example), I'd be verifying the formula to
use before coding it using a reference, just to be sure it was right
because it is a high stakes situation that requires the formula be
correct.
But my use case, had I continued down that career path, would be to need
formulas infrequently, since once it was in code, it could be part of a
reusable library so I wouldn't *have* to remember it.
Of course, in the prof's mind, this was wrong, and as a result, I didn't
recall the formula when it came time to take the exams, and I failed the
course.
But to this day, I know I was correct in my use case analysis and what
was important for me as a CS student was knowing *when* to use the
formula, not *what* the formula was.
> (Yet another example of how competition is always a bad thing.)
When one deals in absolutes, one is usually wrong or being hyperbolic.
Jim
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