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Effective HS Physics (was Statistics / more ...)



At 09:16 PM 1/2/02, Dan MacIsaac responded to this:
> It is not PC to mention it, but an important predictor of
> academic test results is that old faithful, the IQ measure.
> This measure is designed to be normally distributed.
> A high school may expect to see student results in general that are
> reasonably normal, even if test results are not 'marked on a curve'
> [i.e. transformed to a normal distribution] for this reason alone.

Brian:

Check out Gould's book "The Mismeasure of Man" IQ is a very cooked statistic
(as you say, "designed" for statistical reliability), but after reading
Gould's book I rather believe it measures very little about actual
intelligence (whatever that means). If you really want an indicator for
predicting student success, try SES. If you are looking to predict success
in college physics, look for whether the HS physics teacher used no text.
(after Sadler's recent _science education_ article)
Dan M

Dan MacIsaac


I hope that if one party mentions a non-PC predictor of academic success (IQ)
and another party responds with a PC predictor of academic success (SES)
then a reasonably conscious third party may see a statistical connection
between the two measures.
Moreover: what red-blooded American could be against socio-economic
status? And a relevant question: Is SES normally distributed?

But I really hoped someone would pick up on your no textbook proposition -
it is so intuitively appealing. The *next* time someone asks for a
physics book recommendation (an almost monthly event, I sometimes think:)
I hunger to read that someone is advising:
- "dump it in the round file: list the physics topics you have something
interesting to talk about - and go for it!"



Brian Whatcott
Altus OK Eureka!