Chronology | Current Month | Current Thread | Current Date |
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] | [Date Index] [Thread Index] | [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] | [Date Prev] [Date Next] |
Yes, your statement is correct. We are not exactly an elite school. Thewith
evidence is that we have an almost average student body. The main
difference is that we do not have the very lowest students, or students
severe LD. We can only make accomodations, and do not have any specialon
programs for LD students. We have students in low level courses such as
algebra 1/2, C, and Chem. Com. I do not have the statistics for the US at
my fingertips, but Shayer&Adey mention that England graduates about 20%
formal thinkers, and I suspect that the US is within the same ballpark. I
have 50% of the seniors in my class so I truly have a wide range of
students. My thinking skill range is similar to that of the entire senior
class with mainly the very lowest students at scores below 2 (out of 12)
removed. Some of the high scoring students take Anatomy and Physiology
rather than physics. Indeed the A&P class last year had as many high
scoring students as I had in physics.
As to how much gain other schools get in thinking skills for students who
take physics, I can not say, as I have not seen any published data. I have
seen some data for the raw score at another HS, but with a slightly
different test (10 question test), instead of the 12 question published
test. Their data looks comparable to ours, but they do not pre and
posttest. They are using Workshop Physics or Real Time Physics depending
the class. Does anyone else have data on the Lawson test?only
Actually I give the evaluation sometime in Jan., so my data is actually
for 1 semester. My total gain is probably higher, but only somewhat due toconvinced
senioritis. I also give the Force & Motion Evaluation (Tufts U, Thornton),
and I have gotten up to 66% normalized gain <g>=0.66. I am firmly
that the maximum gain in thinking skills only happens with reformedpedagogy
where the students are fully engaged, but I have little proof of thisstart
assertion, as I have no control data. Would a devotee of the conventional
lecture method be willing to give the test pre and post and then report the
scores to me???
In England schools that use Thinking Science in the equivalent of middle
school show even greater gains in thinking skills. Some schools which
with an intake below the national average, have an output of up to 70%their
formal thinkers. See "Really Raising Standards" by Shayer&Adey. Also
evidence is in an Innodata monograph at
http://www.ibe.unesco.org/International/databanks/Innodata/inograph.htm see
Adey, Philip.