One of my all time favorite quotes regarding children is the following:
If we don't stand up for
children, then we don't stand for much.
-Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president
of the Children's Defense Fund
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Testing for Intelligence
I believe that it is important to measure all aspects of a child. Because learning and aptitude may change through life, just measuring a child’s linguistic or problem-solving performance at one given time doesn’t give a clear picture of what the child may be capable of.
Unfortunately, standardized tests are aimed at children who are strong in linguistics. A child has to be able to read the questions, internalize and understand what is being asked, and answer them. They don’t take into account a child that may understand the material but need to express it through another way. A perfect example of this is when I taught eighth grade science. We were studying the states of matter and I allowed my students to demonstrate in any way they chose what they learned. Some chose to write, some drew, and others chose to “act” the states out as a group. The important thing was that I could assess which students understood states of matter and which didn’t. Had I assessed this with a traditional “paper & pencil” test, some of these students may not have been able to demonstrate their knowledge.
Howard Garner and his multiple intelligence theory show that children can be intelligent in many different ways. They may be stronger in logical-mathematical thinking, musical, spatial, or bodily-kinesthetic. Only through performance assessments (such as the one I described above) can you truly measure what a student has learned.
In France, the "baccalaureat" used to be a narrow examination with focus on humanities and mathematics. But as French schools became more diversified, it has become a differentiated with 28 different options and 23 different sets of questions. At age 15 to 16, students begin a three-year, specialized course of study. The exam includes essay-type questions in the core subjects (history and geography, French, and philosophy) and students take additional exams in their area of concentration (philosophy and liberal arts, economics and social sciences, or mathematics and the sciences). Some subjects, usually languages, also include oral exams.
Unfortunately, standardized tests are aimed at children who are strong in linguistics. A child has to be able to read the questions, internalize and understand what is being asked, and answer them. They don’t take into account a child that may understand the material but need to express it through another way. A perfect example of this is when I taught eighth grade science. We were studying the states of matter and I allowed my students to demonstrate in any way they chose what they learned. Some chose to write, some drew, and others chose to “act” the states out as a group. The important thing was that I could assess which students understood states of matter and which didn’t. Had I assessed this with a traditional “paper & pencil” test, some of these students may not have been able to demonstrate their knowledge.
Howard Garner and his multiple intelligence theory show that children can be intelligent in many different ways. They may be stronger in logical-mathematical thinking, musical, spatial, or bodily-kinesthetic. Only through performance assessments (such as the one I described above) can you truly measure what a student has learned.
In France, the "baccalaureat" used to be a narrow examination with focus on humanities and mathematics. But as French schools became more diversified, it has become a differentiated with 28 different options and 23 different sets of questions. At age 15 to 16, students begin a three-year, specialized course of study. The exam includes essay-type questions in the core subjects (history and geography, French, and philosophy) and students take additional exams in their area of concentration (philosophy and liberal arts, economics and social sciences, or mathematics and the sciences). Some subjects, usually languages, also include oral exams.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)