The APPENDIX contains a forward regarding a report on the Swedish SAT
[from AERA's general discussion list
<http://lists.asu.edu/archives/aera.html>]. This report seems
especially timely considering the present controversy regarding the
US SAT [see, e.g., Atkinson (2001)]. Perhaps the US SAT could benefit
from a similar expert appraisal.
"In connection with its 25th anniversary in 2002, it was decided to
conduct an expert appraisal of the . . . (Swedish SAT) . . . test.
The aim was to allow leading international experts in the field of
testing . . . (John Fremer, Educational Testing Service, Princeton;
David Lohman, professor of education at the University of Iowa; and
Werner Wittmann, professor of psychology at the University of
Mannheim, Germany). . . to study the national university aptitude
test and assess whether it could still be regarded as an effective
instrument for selection and also make concrete recommendations about
its future."
WITTMANN-WITTMANN-WITTMANN-WITTMANN-WITTMANN-WITTMANN
Much can be learned in this regard. . . .(pedagogical renewal). . .
from the movement in the United States, which is called physics
education research (PER). HERE NEW FORMS OF SCIENCE EDUCATION CALLED
PEER INSTRUCTION, INTERACTIVE ENGAGEMENT, SOCRATIC DIALOGUE
INSTRUCTION etc. HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED DEMONSTRATING IMPRESSIVE EFFECT
SIZES AS REGARDS CONCEPTUAL THINKING FOR PHYSICS AND NON-PHYSICS
MAJORS AS WELL. Hake (2002) gives an overview about these
developments; the leading groups are around Eric Mazur (Harvard), Joe
Redish (University of Maryland), David Hestenes (Arizona State) and
the Hellers (Univ. of Minnesota) just to name a few. I also noted
that Jonte Bernhard a former member of the National Council of Higher
Education, now at Linköping University, participates in that
movement. . . .
The challenge for pedagogical reform and renewal is whether there are
any chances to attract and educate students to a satisfactorily
degree in areas where their profiles do not perfectly correspond. .
.(to the tilted ability and aptitude profiles discussed above). . . .
Education in natural sciences and the related derived applied
technologies gain more and more importance in biology, medicine, and
even social sciences. These students do not necessarily have the
quant-tilted profile, which fits best to the existing curricula in
classical natural sciences. THE PER MOVEMENT DEMONSTRATES THAT IT IS
POSSIBLE TO EVEN TEACH CONCEPTUAL THINKING TO A BROADER COHORT OF
STUDENTS USING INTERACTION, SPATIAL/FIGURAL VISUALIZATION, AND OTHER
ACTIVITIES.
WITTMANN-WITTMANN-WITTMANN-WITTMANN-WITTMANN-WITTMANN
So US physics education research (PER) is receiving international
(even if not national) attention.
Atkinson, R.C. 2001. "Achievement Versus Aptitude in College
Admissions: Students should be selected on the basis of their
demonstrated success in learning, not some ill-defined notion of
aptitude," "Issues in Science and Technology Online," Winter:
<http://bob.nap.edu/issues/18.2/atkinson.html>: "Fortunately, today
we do have an analysis of the SAT's value in admissions decisions.
Because our students have been taking the SAT I . . . (an "aptitude"
test). . . and the SAT II . . . (an "achievement" test). . . for more
than three decades, UC is perhaps the only university in the country
that has a database large enough to compare the predictive power of
the SAT I with that of the achievement-based SAT II tests. UC
researchers Saul Geiser and Roger Studley have analyzed the records
of almost 78,000 freshmen who entered UC over the past four years.
They concluded that the SAT II is, in fact, a better predictor of
college grades than the SAT I. The UC data show that high school
grades plus the SAT II account for about 21 percent of the explained
variance in first-year college grades. When the SAT I is added to
high school grades and the SAT II, the explained variance increases
from 21 percent to 21.1 percent, a trivial increment."
Hake, R.R. 2002. "Lessons from the physics education reform effort."
Conservation Ecology 5(2): 28; online at
<http://www.consecol.org/vol5/iss2/art28>. "Conservation Ecology," is
a FREE "peer-reviewed journal of integrative science and fundamental
policy research" with about 11,000 subscribers in about 108 countries.