On 26 September Chris Green wrote [snip]: > ... I was teaching a history of psychology > course in one of Canada's premier acdemic institutions a few years ago, > starting with Ancient Greece. As I was laying in basic backgound, I was > puzzled by the blank stares. It gradually dawned on me that most of the > students had no idea where Greece was. So the following week I gave them > a map of modern Europe including the country boundaries and asked them > to fill in the names of the countries. The avg. score was between 3 and > 4 (out of over 20). Now, the fact that some couldn't get Bulgaria or > Romania didn't surprise me. But that nearly no one could get even > Germany came as a shock. England and Italy were the only really sure > bets. France and Spain were at around 50%. Everything else was much > lower...
Chris, Some clarification please. When you say that "England" was identified on the map of Europe, do you actually mean that Britain (i.e., England, Wales and Scotland) was 'identified' as "England"? -:) Did most of the students exclude Ireland from "England"? Allen Esterson Former lecturer, Science Department Southwark College, London http://www.esterson.org/ > Yes, it's the case all over. I was teaching a history of psychology > course in one of Canada's premier acdemic institutions a few years ago, > starting with Ancient Greece. As I was laying in basic backgound, I was > puzzled by the blank stares. It gradually dawned on me that most of the > students had no idea where Greece was. So the following week I gave them > a map of modern Europe including the country boundaries and asked them > to fill in the names of the countries. The avg. score was between 3 and > 4 (out of over 20). Now, the fact that some couldn't get Bulgaria or > Romania didn't surprise me. But that nearly no one could get even > Germany came as a shock. England and Italy were the only really sure > bets. France and Spain were at around 50%. Everything else was much > lower. ---------------------------------------------------------- Tue, 26 Sep 2006 15:17:18 -0400 Author: "Christopher D. Green" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Spellings Releases Plan for Higher Ed > Michael Scoles wrote: > > > 1) Most students in my undergraduate statistics class has had > > some college-level math class. On their first exam, which I had them > > take without a calculator, over one-fourth of them could not get the > > mean of 4 numbers, because the sum was 26! (Five of them said 6.2, > > and one admitted that she new it was a little over 6, but didn't know > > what to do with the, "2 that was left over.") > > etc... > > Yes, it's the case all over. I was teaching a history of psychology > course in one of Canada's premier acdemic institutions a few years ago, > starting with Ancient Greece. As I was laying in basic backgound, I was > puzzled by the blank stares. It gradually dawned on me that most of the > students had no idea where Greece was. So the following week I gave them > a map of modern Europe including the country boundaries and asked them > to fill in the names of the countries. The avg. score was between 3 and > 4 (out of over 20). Now, the fact that some couldn't get Bulgaria or > Romania didn't surprise me. But that nearly no one could get even > Germany came as a shock. England and Italy were the only really sure > bets. France and Spain were at around 50%. Everything else was much > lower. The little piece of Turkey sticking in from the right side of the > map was often labelled India or China (and we wonder why the peoples of > Central Asia despise us so). > > > But then, I'm an advocate for charter schools, so my opinion is suspect. > > > > Yes, especially considering that charter school do not increase > students' academic performance: > http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/education/july-dec04/charter_8-18.html > (but do enhance the ability of parents to strongly constrain the kinds > of intellectual materials to which their children are exposed). > > -- > Christopher D. Green > Department of Psychology > York University > Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 > Canada > > 416-736-5115 ex. 66164 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://www.yorku.ca/christo > ============================= --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=english
