Re: [Phys-l] Ca mandates 8th-grade algebra test

["John Clement" <clement@hal-pc.org>]

My estimate comes straight from the Lawson Piagetian test published in his
book.  75% of the honors students do exhibit proportional reasoning while
only 25% of the regular students exhibit proportional reasoning.  Since the
really low students do not take physics 30% is a reasonable estimate for
proportional reasoning.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX

> John,
>
> I would venture to guess that the students in your private prep school
> probably are more likely to be at the formal operational level than those
> in average public schools, so your 30% estimate may be a bit high.
>
> Mark Shapiro
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
> According to Shayer & Adey students need to be at the formal operational
> level to be able to understand a 3 variable equation such as F=ma.  Since
> only about 30% of US students are capable of understanding proportionality
> when they are seniors in HS, algebra is literally impossible for most
> students even in HS.  Pushing advanced abstract concepts down to lower
> grades is absurd when students do not understand proportional reasoning or
> conservation reasoning.
>
> Incidentally the 30% figure comes from my testing of students in a college
> prep private school in Houston.
>
> If this seems a bit late on the topic, it is because I have been on a
> river
> boat tour of Russia for 2 weeks.
>
> John M. Clement
> Houston, TX