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Michael Shayer is a very reputable researcher, and these findings were out
several years ago. The findings are very firm, so the real question is
where does the problem come from?
Other research has found that the level of thinking is increased by using a
learning cycle approach in education, and that standard didactic teaching
does not improve the level of thinking. Since NCLB has increased the amount
of didactic teaching and extensive use of review instead of exploration, it
is likely to contribute to this problem. Note that this research was done
in the UK which already had a program similar to NCLB that did not work.
Schools have been cutting out things that did not relate to the tests, so
things like music, recess... have been going away. But recess is one of the
few places where students can develop executive functioning according to
other research. It does not develop in the standard classroom.
Remedial programs at colleges have managed to improve thinking by exposing
students to physical experiments and measurement, while standard didactic
review courses have had extremely limited success. Look at the program by
Robert Fuller for evidence.
Shayer, Adey and Yates have developed a program called Thinking Science that
has been successful. You can find an article on the Web, or read Really
Raising Standards which recapitulates their '92 published research in JRST.
TV has been around a lot longer, and was already being watched by the
generation in 76, so it is not likely to be the important factor.
As to increases in test scores there is so much cheating going on, and the
tests are very dumbed down. Look at the miracle school in NC where they
found a huge number of erasures on student scantrons so they retested the
students with state monitors. The scores went down dramatically.
It is very difficult to prove that the testing is the factor, but if you
look at what the testing is forcing teachers to do, you might agree that it
is a very strong factor.
John M. Clement
Houston, TX
Laura Clark, Daily Mail UK - Bright teenagers are a disappearing
breed, an alarming new study has revealed. The intellectual ability
of the country's cleverest youngsters has declined radically, almost
certainly due to the rise of TV and computer games and over-testing
in schools. The 'high-level thinking' skills of 14-year-olds are now
on a par with those of 12-year-olds in 1976. The findings contradict
national results which have shown a growth in top grades in SATs at
14, GCSEs and A-levels.
The intelligence of Britain's youth is being dumbed down, which
experts say is down to television and video games. Posed by model.
But Michael Shayer, the professor of applied psychology who led the
study, believes that is the result of exam standards 'edging down'.
His team of researchers at London's King's College tested 800 13 and
14-year-olds and compared the results with a similar exercise in 1976.
The tests were intended to measure understanding of abstract
scientific concepts such as volume, density, quantity and weight,
which set pupils up for success not only in maths and science but
also in English and history.
One test asked pupils to study a pendulum swinging on a string and
investigate the factors that cause it to change speed. A second
involved weights on a beam.
In the pendulum test, average achievement was much the same as in 1976.
But the proportion of teenagers reaching top grades, demanding a
'higher level of thinking', slumped dramatically.
Just over one in ten were at that level, down from one in four in 1976.
In the second test, assessing mathematical thinking skills, just one
in 20 pupils were achieving the high grades - down from one in five
in 1976.
Professor Shayer said: 'The pendulum test does not require any
knowledge of science at all. 'It looks at how people can deal with
complex information and sort it out for themselves.'
He believes most of the downturn has occurred over the last ten to 15
years.
It may have been hastened by the introduction of national curriculum
testing and accompanying targets, which have cut the time available
for teaching which develops more advanced skills.
Critics say schools concentrate instead on drilling children for the
tests.
'The moment you introduce targets, people will find the most
economical strategies to achieve them,' said Professor Shayer.
A study found the high-level thinking skills of 14-year-olds are now
on par with a 12-year-old in 1976. . .
Professor Shayer believes the decline in brainpower is also linked to
changes in children's leisure activities.
The advent of multi-channel TV has encouraged passive viewing while
computer games, particularly for boys, are feared to have supplanted
time spent playing with tools, gadgets and other mechanisms. . .
Previous research by Professor Shayer has shown that 11-year-olds'
grasp of concepts such as volume, density, quantity and weight
appears to have declined over the last 30 years.
Their mental abilities were up to three years behind youngsters
tested in in 1975.
His latest findings, due to appear in the British Journal of
Educational Psychology, come in the wake of a report by Dr Aric
Sigman which linked the decline in intellectual ability to a shift
away from art and craft skills in both schools and the home.
Dr Sigman said practical activities such as building models and
sandcastles, making dens, using tools, playing with building blocks,
knitting, sewing and woodwork were being neglected.
Yet they helped develop vital skills such as understanding dimension,
volume and density.
Last month an Ofsted report said millions of teenagers were finishing
compulsory education with a weak grasp of maths because half of the
country's schools fail to teach the subject as well as they could.
Inspectors said teachers were increasingly drilling pupils to pass
exams instead of encouraging them to understand crucial concepts.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1080791/Dimming-How-
brainpower-todays-14-year-olds-slipped-radically-just- generation.html#