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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