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New UK Initiative - Make Science Easier

Posted by Zonk on from the all-those-equations-just-get-in-the-way-of-the-science dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Examiners in the UK have been told to make science 'easier'. From next year 70% of the paper must consist of 'low demand' questions in the form of multiple choice or similar answers. Currently this type of question makes up some 55% of the test. When the recent A level results were announced, with even more students in the UK getting A grades than ever before, educators were congratulating themselves on improved teaching. 'Jim Sinclair, the Joint Council for Qualifications director, emphatically denied that the changes would lead to a rise in the number achieving grade C - the top grade in the foundation tier. Future results would depend on how the marks were allocated. Dr Sinclair added that the changes would help to stop children being turned off by science.' Even still, it's hard to see the benefit from future science students passing by guessing."

7 of 423 comments (clear)

  1. So now we know... by jpellino · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    .. what W will be doing when he leaves office - moving to England to be closer to his buddy Tony, and being the figurehead for this effort.

    --
    "Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
    1. Re:So now we know... by JamesRose · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      You do know "Tony" is actually now the NATO diplomat for middle eastern issues.

    2. Re:So now we know... by IBBoard · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Yeah, and I can't quite see Gordon being quite so friendly with Bush.

      Bush: Religious, Christian, American, believes that makes him better than the English because America is a proud nation.
      Brown: Religious (Presbitarian, IIRC), Christian (branch of - see previous), Scottish, believes that makes him better than the English because...well, just because he's Scottish, no other explanation needed.

      See, no similarities at all :D

      (Note: the above is an attempt at a joke based on the fact that both are religious and not English. I don't know their actual opinions of the English)

  2. I bow to the new master of Satur^W Satyr^W Satire by Tipa · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    .... lol ....

    I haven't laughed so hard all morning....

  3. Re:Typical slashdot elitism. by jimstapleton · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    (1) that post was obvious troll - I've seen the same thing c&ped two or three times already.

    (2) You can easily ask numbers how they feel. Ex. my account number is a happy number (yes those exist, check out Wikipedia)

    Ok, 2 was a bad joke, but please don't feed the trolls.

    --
    34486853790
    Connection too slow for X forwarding? Try "ssh -CX user@host"
  4. Re:Typical slashdot elitism. by olivercromwell · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Wow, talk about painting with a wide brush. If you find that fellow students who study the sciences are elitist, and you dislike it when they take the pi** out of you, stop associating with them and focus on your own gaols. No sense bitching about something you have no control over. Furthermore, if you are actually attending a college, as opposed to a collage (and I imagine inserting yourself into a collage might be very difficult) I suggest you spend more attention to composition, grammar and spelling.

  5. Re:Typical slashdot elitism. by eddymoore · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    A good engineer won't tell you x sounds better than y, but they'll strive to make what you hear sound just like what was originally played. A unity transfer function isn't 'mightier--then-thou', it's a unity transfer function. It's episteme. As for the rest of your diatribe, it's just guff. Enjoy your PhD, and maybe try working on some of those 'grammer and spelling skills that are lacking in the technical' before you secure tenure at which ever prestigious institution it is that'll have you.