On 06/04/2003 04:24 PM, Larry Woolf wrote:
> Perhaps the test preparers should at least use different pictures
> instead of words to eliminate some of the possible misinterpretations
> of the original meaning of their words.
Well, that depends.
-- It depends on whether the test is aimed at
fourth-graders, or tenth-graders, or college
seniors, or ....
-- It also depends on whether we want to prepare
kids for soft, comfy, conformist, feckless lives,
or whether we want them to think outside the box
now and then.
Those two points are somewhat related; there are
many college seniors who can't think outside the
box, which is a big problem. The same low level of
performance when observed in fourth-graders isn't
quite so alarming. (Although maybe it should be;
I know some seven-year-olds who are tremendously
active, independent thinkers, which makes me
wonder why the others are not. But I digress.)
=========
As physicists, we like to think that physics-style
thinking is good preparation for many other fields.
But that's over-reaching a bit.
Einstein said that the Lord is subtle but not
malicious. That is, mother nature is not out to
get you. If you're doing a physics experiment,
and the "usual assumptions" turn out to be not
valid, then you get to rejoice because you
discovered something new.
In contrast, if you're riding in a spacecraft
and the "usual assumptions" turn out to be not
valid, you've got a big problem.
Similarly, suppose you've built a security
system. You're not up against mother nature;
the opponents _are_ out to get you. To make it
secure, you have to think outside the box and
question all your assumptions. Conversely, suppose
you're trying to crack the bad guy's system. You
aren't likely to do it by thinking inside the box.
The typical "standardized multiple-choice" system,
as Hugh eloquently pointed out, rarely rewards
and often penalizes out-of-the-box thinking.
There are many types of thinking: shades of gray:
...conventional / original / eccentric / perverse...
and I'm not recommending one extreme over the
other. It takes high-level judgement to know what
type of thinking is needed in a given situation.
Surely locking people into the conventional extreme
is bad.
So what are we going to do about it???
In your classes, do you set up situations where
out-of-the-box thinking is appropriate? Necessary?
Is it part of the routine procedure? Does it
get rewarded? Can you share some examples?