Re: [Phys-l] Pres. Obama to eliminate testing portion of NCLB

[Joseph Bellina <inquirybellina@comcast.net>]

There is a sense in which all science is really about sorting.  What things are similar and what are different and how do we use names to encode those ideas.  The process is very concept driven as John's paragraph on mushrooms shows.  The history of biology is filled with that kind of discussion.
Sadly in a mc environment things get trivialized.  Wouldn't a wonderful question be something like:

Discuss whether or not a mushroom should be considered a predator.  Please explain your reasoning.

joe

Joseph J. Bellina, Jr. Ph.D.
Retired Professor of Physics
Co-Director
Northern Indiana Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Collaborative
574-276-8294
inquirybellina@comcast.net




On Aug 8, 2011, at 6:40 PM, John Clement wrote:

> The definition would seem to be something that kills other living things to
> eat them.  A mushroom is classified as a detrivore because it feeds on
> detrius or things that are already dead.  I would assume a Venus flytrap is
> considered a carnivorous plant.  A herbivore eats parts of plants, but the
> plants usually regrow.  A mushroom is by no stretch of the imagination a
> carnivore.  The definition of carnivore is probably traditionally a living
> thing that eats living animals, but it may have been extended.  These sorts
> of definitions can be slippery.
>
> Yes, a lot of the tests are just using memorized definitions, some of which
> are ambiguous.  If you are an MD and need to ask the nurse for a scalpel,
> you can not ask for the whatchamacallit, but some of this stuff is just
> naming mania and does not develop better thinking.
>
> John M. Clement
> Houston, TX 
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu 
> > [mailto:phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu] On Behalf 
> > Of chuck britton
> > Sent: Monday, August 08, 2011 4:55 PM
> > To: Forum for Physics Educators
> > Subject: Re: [Phys-l] Pres. Obama to eliminate testing portion of NCLB
> >
> > As one who is totally unschooled in the biological sciences I 
> > have to ask:
> >
> > Can any plant be classified as a predator, or does the definition 
> > preclude that?
> >
> > I've always been fascinated by the Venus Flytraps that grow near here.
> >
> > So much science testing seems to be based on somewhat 
> > arbitrary definitions.
> > .
> > At 4:03 PM -0500 8/8/11, John Clement wrote:
> > > And of course there is the problem of stupid questions.  The 
> > state tests are
> > > full of them.  The most memorable questions that I recently 
> > discovered is
> > > the following:
> > >
> > > On a biology question the answer was that "a mushroom is a predator".
> > >
> > > One wonders who they get to write and check the questions.  
> > This example was
> > > supplied to me by a biology teacher who was aghast at it.
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