Stephen Downes

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Re: Chinese Students Know More Science Facts But Neither Group Especially Skilled In Reasoning

Emma Duke-Williams, January 31, 2009

More science facts than who ;)

Having read the article, though it was based on US students, I guess it could apply to most Western countries.

I guess the worrying aspect is that the reasoning skills are pretty similar - which suggests that the US (and, I presume, UK too) students are loosing out at the school level - fewer facts & no better at reasoning.

Of course, there are many other aspects - such as the time they've spent in school to that point, social skills, how selective the school was etc., etc., [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]

This article demonstrates the paucity of that approach?

Anymouse, February 2, 2009

"This article demonstrates the paucity of that approach."

I do not completely get what you mean here. Having read the article, I would say that the 25% score of American students on 'understanding of electric forces, circuits, and magnetism' puts a shame on American education. You can learn scientific reasoning, but what is the content of your reasoning which such a low score? [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]

Re: Chinese Students Know More Science Facts But Neither Group Especially Skilled In Reasoning

Stephen Downes, February 2, 2009

> I do not completely get what you mean here.

What I mean here is that merely focusing on "understanding of electric forces, circuits, and magnetism" is tantamount to leaving people uneducated, and that people advocating this as a test of student educational outcomes are misrepresenting what it means to be educated. [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]

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