Monday, July 31, 2000
Some questions require sophisticated reasoning
Educator says many adults get stumped
By Debra Jasper
Enquirer Columbus Bureau
Imagine that as part of a school project, you place a rock weighing exactly two kilograms on top of a bare hill. The rock stays there for 10 years.
After 10 years, no person has touched the rock. What do you expect the rock to weigh?
A. Less than two kilograms. B. Exactly two kilograms. C. More than two kilograms. Give a reason for your answer.
If you are unsure, you can comfort yourself with the knowledge that it's not only 9-year-olds who struggle with such questions on the fourth-grade proficiency test.
“I've had a lot of adults look at me and say, "I don't know the answer,'” said Bonnie Fitzharris, a curriculum supervisor at Fairfield City Schools.
Ms. Fitzharris puts the rock question and other sample questions from the fourth-grade proficiency test into a test with questions from grades six, nine and 12. Then she gives them to adults at community meetings.
The result? “A lot of people can't tell the difference between questions on the fourth-grade test and the other tests,” she said. “And they all say the same thing, that this is a hard test.”
The fourth-grade test requires a certain level of sophistication to correctly interpret many of the questions - a sophistication many 9-year-olds don't possess, Ms. Fitzharris said.
“We're not opposed to testing and accountability, but let's be fair about it,” she said.
By the way, if you are wondering how much that rock would weigh, the right answer could be any of the three choices, depending on your reasoning ability.
An acceptable answer, for example, could be “more” if you can explain that moss might have grown on the rock, “less” if you can discuss erosion, or even the “same” if you can explain the meaning of a “vacuum effect.”
“All of the answers could be correct but you have to have a scientific basis for them,” Ms. Fitzharris said. “That's a lot for a 9-year-old. This is not the test people think it is.”
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