Re: [Phys-l] What's the point of teaching to the test whenit's questions are incorrect?

["R. McDermott" <rmcder@gmail.com>]

New York has had Regents exams at the end of the school year for as long
as I can remember; my own having been taken as far back as 1962.  By and
large, they have been of good quality and have covered the subjects very
well.  

An introductory (Regents) physics course would consist of mechanics
(less torque and rotational dynamics), light (including geometric
optics), electricity (static and dc circuits), magnetism (including
electromagnetism), nuclear (which was kind of shared with chemistry),
and solid-state (very limited).  Recently, solid-state was discontinued,
along with electromagnetism and nuclear (ceded to chemistry), and the
standard model has been added.  I've never really felt "limited" in what
I can teach, and have gone well beyond the Regents test with classes
that were capable of more.  The existence of a test does not preclude
going beyond that test.  It is true, however, that the existence of a
test serves as a guideline for teachers, especially inexperienced ones,
so the nature of the test then becomes all important.
 
Imo, there is nothing wrong in teaching to a GOOD test.  The "less is
more" trend, plus the expansion of enrollment to a wider population of
students (which is partially the reason for "less is more") has done
more to limiting what is taught than having a standardized test per se.
Personally, I suspect that our (USA) "all in one year" philosophy is
flawed, so what follows is flawed as well.

Teach what you want; if your course is a good one, the test should not
be an issue.

On Fri, 2009-03-20 at 13:14 -0400, Tim.Odonnell@CelinaSchools.org wrote:
> Can't speak for the others, but all testing has done is limit what I 
> teach. I teach to the test and most other teachers that I know do too. 
> There are a lot of topics I used the teach (magnetism for example), 
> but since it's not covered on the test, it went away. My students pass 
> the parts of the test I'm responsible for and I guess that validates 
> what I do; still I feel they are missing out.
> Tim O'Donnell
> Instructor of Physics and Chemistry
> Celina High School
> 715 East Wayne Street
> Celina, Ohio 45822
> (419) 586-8300 Ext 1200 or 1201
> odonnt@celina.k12.oh.us
>
> "Chance only favors the prepared mind." - Louis Pasteur
>
>
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