Testing and Loss
I remember a big project we did when I was in 6th grade. We were in teams, each responsible for creating our own cultures. We had to name our people, and then to give them music, a language, art, foods, customs, and even a government. Then we had to create artifacts of our culture, and then our team was sent out to bury the artifacts in a remote corner of the playground. In the following weeks we learned about archaeologists and the work they do discovering lost cultures. Then we were sent to discover another group’s culture, and see what we could learn about them by digging up their artifacts.
What did I gain from this experiment? What standards and objectives could the teacher document? Did this learning activity correlate with higher scores on my tests, with greater gains for the school on average? Were my SAT’s and ACT’s higher as a result of the project? I really can’t say, but I threw myself into the project, talking about it on weekends and over holidays as we created and learned. I watched PBS specials about archaeologists with new interest, and have maintained my interest into adulthood.
Sadly, my daughter has yet to participate in a holistic learning experience like this. She spends her days in classrooms, participating in a strictly-mapped curriculum, practicing FCAT test-type questions, in preparation for The Assessment. Indeed, many schools are “… at risk of becoming testing centers instead of schools,” as Maine-Endwell Superintendent Joseph F. Stoner recently stated.
Did we prepare for tests when I was sitting at the little desk? I’m sure we did, but I have no specific memories of those activities. Yet I can wrap my mind around every detail of our archaeological project, or our colonial fair, or our Indian village re-creation.
I wonder what memories my daughter will take from her schooling.
Create a free edublog to get your own comment avatar (and more!)
September 5th, 2007 at 6:27 am
She will remember all the things she did with the teachers who made learning an adventure, not a chore.