Re: testing vs. teaching

[Arlyn DeBruyckere <arlynd@HUTCH.K12.MN.US>]

Some additional thoughts.

It was said

> The discussion of the recent PSAT question
> 6. METER : DISTANCE ::
> (a) ounce : pound
> (b) gram : weight
> (c) container : liquid
> (d) size : height
> (e) boundary : periphery
>
> has missed a couple of important points:
>
> 1) The ETS is in the testing business, not the teaching business.  They
> don't much care whether the students learn something, learn nothing, or
> even "learn" misconceptions during the test.
>
> 2) Under the rules ETS sets for its testing game, the customer is supposed
> to choose the *best* answer.  The best answer need not be a perfect answer.
>  From a testing (not teaching) point of view, you can make a strong case
> that you measure something important when you ask the customer to choose
> the least of evils.
>
> Specifically, on a test where you know there are no "least of evils"
> questions, you can quickly plow through the test by crossing out all the
> options that contain significant misconceptions.  In contrast, if there are
> "least of evils" questions, you have to work much more carefully.

Respectfully, if a student has been in my class this is NOT the least of the
evils, but the greatest.  I have to wonder how many of the 10% that got the
question wrong recognized this problem.  In my class this is the greatest of
the evils.  The only thing that I can imagine that would be a greater evil than
saying that grams (or kilograms) are weight is not putting any units on the
measurements.  I find that I must do this to correct the misconception that
students have.

Also:

"It will be difficult to change the ETS when EVERY can of food on the
supermarket shelf lists it's weight in both grams and ounces (or kg
and pounds). US society as a whole has a LONG way to go before our
'Physically Correct' (PC) opinions become mainstream."

The food on the supermarket lists both grams and ounces because of a federal
law passed in the 1970's.  ( The Metric Conversion Act of 1975 was enacted in
order to set forth the policy of the United States to convert to the metric
system.)  ETS is under no such restriction and as supposedly educated persons
should not be continuing to encourage the misconception.

And:

"Since my son is a high-school senior, and has taken several
standardized exams in preparation for application to colleges, he and I
have discussed some of the exams and exam questions he has encountered.
 He told me that he encountered "errors" in some questions and this
made him angry."

Put me in this camp.  If I were taking this test I would argue that there is no
correct answer and that any of the other answers would be better than this
one.  I would argue that size:height have as much of a connection as
gram:weight.

If the response had been "I understand your concern and acknowledge that the
question is misleading.  We regret that this question has perpetuated the
misconceptions of weight and mass." I would have ended my crusade.  But instead
I get the quote that Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary gives as a
definition of gram "the weight of a gram under standard gravity." I think I
need to expand the crusade to the dictionary publishers.  Somewhere I was
taught that defining a word using the same word is not a definition.  How can a
gram possibly be the weight of a gram?

--
Arlyn DeBruyckere
Hutchinson High School