LaTrine Jakscoon
10-28-2008, 02:11 PM
One test asked pupils to study a pendulum swinging on a string and investigate the factors that caused it to change speed. A second involved weights on a beam.
In the pendulum test, average achievement was much the same as in 1976. But the proportion of teenagers reaching top grades, demanding a ‘higher level of thinking’, slumped dramatically.
Just over one in ten were at that level, down from one in four in 1976.
In the second test, assessing mathematical thinking skills, just one in 20 pupils were achieving the high grades – down from one in five in 1976.
Professor Shayer said: “The pendulum test does not require any knowledge of science at all. It looks at how people can deal with complex information and sort it out for themselves.” He believes most of the downturn has occurred over the last ten to 15 years.
http://www.bnp.org.uk/2008/10/is-third-world-immigration-and-multiculturalism-causing-the-decline-in-uk-youth-brainpower/
That book looks interesting....I might order myself a copy.
In the pendulum test, average achievement was much the same as in 1976. But the proportion of teenagers reaching top grades, demanding a ‘higher level of thinking’, slumped dramatically.
Just over one in ten were at that level, down from one in four in 1976.
In the second test, assessing mathematical thinking skills, just one in 20 pupils were achieving the high grades – down from one in five in 1976.
Professor Shayer said: “The pendulum test does not require any knowledge of science at all. It looks at how people can deal with complex information and sort it out for themselves.” He believes most of the downturn has occurred over the last ten to 15 years.
http://www.bnp.org.uk/2008/10/is-third-world-immigration-and-multiculturalism-causing-the-decline-in-uk-youth-brainpower/
That book looks interesting....I might order myself a copy.