??? Is this for real, Dennis? If it is, I c-a-n-n-o-t b-e-l-i-e-v-e the education of our future generations is in such poor hands!... :-( The only consolation I can find from this survey is that *American* people fared better in SI than they did in their own system! He, he, he... Had the public known about this and probably they'd have some second thoughts about adopting the SI after all (I hope...)... Marcus On Mon, 27 Nov 2000 10:35:12 Dennis Brownridge wrote: >In case anyone is interested, here are the other detailed results of the >test we gave to all our students and faculty in 1998. The numbers are the >percentage of respondents who knew the CORRECT answer. The first number is >students (grades 7-12, but mostly 9 through 12), and the second number is >faculty. (All but two of our faculty were native Americans; those two were >young Canadians, who scored poorly on both the SI and WOMBAT questions). >The questions are shortened. In the original wording on the actual test, >most of the conversion-factor questions were phrased as fill-ins so they >couldn't guess. The others were multiple choice. For the wombat units with >odd or decimal conversions, we accepted as "correct" any answer that was >remotely close to the actual value (e.g., for gallon, we accepted any value >from 225 to 250 cubic inches; for bushel, any value from 2000 to 2500 cubic >inches; for nautical mile, any value between 6000 and 6100 feet; for acre, >any value from 43 000 to 44 000 square feet; for troy ounces in a pound, any >value from 14 to 15). But they still got them wrong. > >Using a ruler > >1. measure a specified line to nearest millimeter with a metric ruler: 65% >83% >2. measure a specified line to nearest 1/16" with an inch ruler: 20% 73% > >SI questions > >3. kilo = thousand or 1000: 65% 67% >4. milli = 0.001 or 1/1000: 69% 73% >5. mega = million: 62% 67% >6. liter (L) = 1000 milliliters (mL): 64% 73% >7. gram (g) = 1000 milligrams (mg): 61% 67% >8. kilogram (kg) = 1000 grams (g): 54% 70% >9. kilometer (km) = 1000 meters (m): 56% 57% >10. cubic meter (m3) = 1000 liters (L): 19% 20% >11. meter (m) = 100 centimeters (cm): 60% 77% > >WOMBAT questions > >12. mile (statute or land) = 5280 feet: 31% 63% >13. pound (avoirdupois) = 16 ounces: 49% 13% >14. cubic foot = 1728 cubic inches: 14% 37% >15. nautical mile = 6076 feet (approximately): 0% 0% >16. U.S. quart = 32 fluid ounces: 6% 50% >17. U.S. gallon = 231 cubic inches: 0% 0% >18. acre = 43 560 square feet (approximately): 0% 0% >19. ton (short) = 2000 pounds: 33% 53% >20. U.S. bushel = 2150 cubic inches (approximately): 0% 0% >21. pound (avoirdupois) = 14.6 troy ounces (approximately): 0% 0% > >Understanding quantities; a sense of scale (both SI and wombat) > >22. the quantity of matter is called mass: 64% 67% >23. the kilogram is a unit of mass: 22% 37% >24. the liter measures volume: 79% 77% >25. a typical adult man is about 75 kg: 56% 63% >26. the distance to Phoenix (an hour's drive) is about 100 km: 50% 77% >27. the temperature of freezing water is 0 0C: 70% 80% >28. the temperature of freezing water is 32 0F: 56% 87% >29. 1 liter of water is 1 kilogram: 18% 17% >30. a U.S. gallon of water is about 8.3 pounds: 0% 3% > > > Angelfire for your free web-based e-mail. http://www.angelfire.com
