Croc maths question
Discussion
I am no maths genius but this does not seem to be that hard for a Higher. Unless I am not properly understanding the question!
First two questions (a i and ii) simple algebra (with x = 20 and x = 0) and the third one (b) just differentiation?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-34476699
I heard earlier they reduced the pass mark to 34% - I mean 34% ? do you get a pass just for turning up ? Jeez ! No wonder Im experiencing so many youngsters leaving school and entering the workplace and they can hardly read or write, but have a screed of 'Passes' in various subjects.
drgav2005 said:
ViperPict said:
Indeed. I had a student in Uni not know how to calculate percentages and a science graduate not know that gravitational acceleration was 9.81 m/s^-2!
9.81 m/s^2 or 9.81 ms^-2...there, fixed it for you ;-)
I think the major issue with the original croc question was that it was totally different from any of the questions the students had been given in the run up to the exams. (One of the issues with the new exams has been a lack of exemplars). I heard the entire SQA Maths team (over 300 years teaching experience) had quit months before the exams in protest at how the new CfE qualifications had been implemented. It could be argued that the new team's questions were proving how clever they were rather than allowing the pupils to show what they had learned... I know of a lot of cases where pupils simply cracked under the pressure in the exam and walked out. Hopefully this year's exams will test the pupil's knowledge more fairly... 34% as pass mark in an exam shouldn't be repeated!!!
LOVING the viper by the way!!!
drgav2005 said:
I think the major issue with the original croc question was that it was totally different from any of the questions the students had been given in the run up to the exams. (One of the issues with the new exams has been a lack of exemplars).
And if the candidates are so dependent on questions fitting a template - then that implies they are not actually learning how mathematics is applied or how it relates to the real world - but just the mechanics of the process of solving or differentiating equations.
Dryce said:
One of the persistent problems I've seen with maths ability of graduates is the inability to understand how to apply what they were taught.
And if the candidates are so dependent on questions fitting a template - then that implies they are not actually learning how mathematics is applied or how it relates to the real world - but just the mechanics of the process of solving or differentiating equations.
Fair comment, however, you have to realise that most of these pupils have been the guinea-pigs for both the new N5 exams in 2014 and the new CfE Higher exams in 2015. Some of these students will be the first cohort to sit the new CfE Advanced Higher exams in 2016. The amount of material they need to cover in these (N5) courses over 1 year is similar to what they needed to cover in 2 years at standard grade. So no major surprises that they are only getting time to learn the mechanics of the process, rather than in-depth learning or how to apply to unfamiliar situations. I know in the new Higher and Advanced Higher Physics courses there is material that I didn't cover at degree level Physics 25 years ago so the courses have not been dumbed-down.And if the candidates are so dependent on questions fitting a template - then that implies they are not actually learning how mathematics is applied or how it relates to the real world - but just the mechanics of the process of solving or differentiating equations.
It's not about getting the questions to fit a template per se, it's about testing the pupils on what they have learned. In many cases the documentation from the SQA on what they want in the course was / is so vague that pupils had not been taught that info... one of the reasons the original maths team resigned en masse in protest. Also, remember the chief of the SQA, Roderick Gillespie, responsible for the new CfE curriculum resigned weeks before the first set of exams in March 2014. Coincidence?
drgav2005 said:
Fair comment, however, you have to realise that most of these pupils have been the guinea-pigs for both the new N5 exams in 2014 and the new CfE Higher exams in 2015. Some of these students will be the first cohort to sit the new CfE Advanced Higher exams in 2016.
I've asked a number of colleagues about the Croc question - it seems that at least some of the people who did their highers three or four decades ago have some sort of idea as to how to solve a question the likes of which they hadn't seen before.drgav2005 said:
It's not about getting the questions to fit a template per se, it's about testing the pupils on what they have learned. In many cases the documentation from the SQA on what they want in the course was / is so vague that pupils had not been taught that info...
It's about being able to apply what you have learned.I think the problem is 'what they have learned' is to solve a templated problem by process - not how to apply a solution to a problem and solve it.
So the implication is that an 'A' higher pass means you can do the same job as a modern calculator that can integrate or differentiate. But it doesn't mean you know how to apply that to a real problem. Which means chances are with a real problem you're likely to be stumped - whether you have the calculator or not because you actually don't understand how to apply the process.
I'm not sure how this can be a problem to fret about in the education system as it's not as if the core material needed has changed - so it sounds like they've taken something that sort of worked and broken it - and possibly broken it again in several iterations.
Their solution every time they have a problem? Lower the pass mark! Act like there isn't a problem.
Edited by Dryce on Monday 9th November 13:27
ViperPict said:
Indeed. I had a student in Uni not know how to calculate percentages and a science graduate not know that gravitational acceleration was 9.81 m/s^-2!
I remember it from days of Advanced Maths( possibly known as Dynamics) as 32 ft/sec/sec/ ,where calculators were not invented and slide rules not allowed. All we ANCIENT Higher students to help us was Logs to base 10,( of course). We survived. I'm getting on a bit, but a few(more like a good few) years ago, I returned to college, to meet a lecturer my age, with a group of teenage students. His task for the day- get the students to see if the result from the calculator was right. He removed All the calculators and set a simple question, with answers within a range. The idea was to see if the students could work out if the value arrived at on the calculator was reasonable .None could Predict what to expect. Then again, on my course ,I was AMAZED to find out that in the final exam, on the maths test, we'd be given a sheet to tell us what the differential/integral of common functions were. In my day- this was expected knowledge. e.g differential of x times x was 2x. And dt/dy = dx/dy* dy/dt. As uncle Bulgaria says - SIMPLES. My mind boggles as to how my hard won 196X Higher has dis integrated into this farce today. Gassing Station | Scotland | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff