testing+the+learning+outcomes

An interesting discussion popped up on Victorian ICT teachers' mailing lists in October 2007.

Roland Gesthuizen wondered: //It is worth reading the India hole-in-the wall experiment. When so much can be taught without any formal IT education, we should stop teaching the bleeding obvious and concentrate on using the time and money for us to teach what they cannot learn on their own. http://www.greenstar.org/butterflies/Hole-in-the-Wall.htm

I can relate to the part that describes how kids invent their own terminology. When I was a kid, I didn't have a word to describe a cash-register. Until I was old enough to handle money, we called it a "bing-zing" (ala noise). I am also curious about |the ideas and models[|Disk World by Terry Pratchett] .. bubbling about in their minds of my students to describe how Internet or programs work, something beyond the fast peddling imps of//

And further (also from Roland), considering some 'big questions' around which some ICT lessons could be framed: //Can you tell me about your planet and your place in it? If you came back to school in 20 years time, what would changes would you see? Can you still open your homework files? If you had a penfriend in Africa, what changes could you expect? Imagine a school surrounded by mine fields, no electricity and a hand cranked laptop. What would you learn? What do you think about introducing new technology to the native people of the pacific islands, what will they think of us? Should we throw your old computer into landfill so we can have some better ones? Golly, has the bell gone yet? Now run outside, kick a ball and soak up some sunlight, we can tackle world peace tomorrow.// There's also a list of interesting questions (not all ICT) on [|http://members.ozemail.com.au/~macinnis/scifun/whatif.htm]

The curriculum specifies guidelines in which students are supposed to be competent on a skill, absorbed information, and knowledgeable in the area of study - what are the different ways that we can test these 'learning outcomes'?

With the metaphor of a software testing environment, do we:

1. Ask the student questions directly about the computing topic? 2. Provide scenarios and let them explore possible solutions? 3. Allow creative thinking and making them explore what the problem, solutions, and recommendations would be?

[|(mabulencia] 11/6) __

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