No More Optional Provincial Exams - Only Five Left

Comment

Comment by Megan Ryan on September 12, 2011 at 7:55pm

I,too, wS sad to see the Prov. Exam disappear. I do not think the exam forced teachers to " teach to test". Rather, teachers were required to teach the curriculuum to an appropriate depth. I believe that the exam was a standard that I used to measure the knowledge and critical thinking skills of my students. As a teacher, I used the exam results to help me plan how to better meet the needs of my students. The exam was only one form of assessment used in my course, but I liked the idea that it was a standard. In my opinion, the exam was not one that required memorization. Most questions required an understanding of the concepts of the course, and an ability to apply that understanding to problem-solve. As a bonus, being part of the marking team was an excellent Pro-D activity that gave me the opportunity to discuss chemistry and teaching with colleagues from across the province. I'm sorry to see the exams cancelled.

Comment by patrick hayden on September 6, 2011 at 7:08pm

Does the change mean that first year university instructors will have to deal with a wide range of students who took Chemistry 12 (for example)? Will the universities follow suit by offering courses that follow the same track of experience?

Comment by Chris Toth on September 2, 2011 at 11:32am

Here is an interesting and thoughtful response to the recent press release from the Ministry regarding provincial exams. I think it might sum up how many of us are feeling.

http://lexiconic.net/wheatfromthechaff/archives/950

Comment by Chris Toth on August 31, 2011 at 8:21pm

I would agree with that.

Perhaps there is more we agree upon than disagree.

Comment by Chris Toth on August 31, 2011 at 5:40pm

I'm surprised that you apparently consider the chemistry 12 provincial exam to be a test that required students to "spend countless hours memorizing material to be regurgitated". That exam, particularly lately, focussed largely on problem-solving and real-world applications and had very little to do with memorization. Indeed, any student approaching the course simply as a content-only, memory-based subject inevitably would either drop out or change their mind very quickly (whether they only had half of one or not).

Many sciences do have a healthy measure of content - and chemistry is no exception - but it has to be that way. That doesn't mean, however, that any standardized testing platform must be all about memory. There may be subjects that fall under that indictment, but chemistry 12 certainly isn't one of them. And doing away with the provincial exam will not remove the content imperative from chemistry 12 because the curriculum remains the same.

Chemistry is most definitely a science that lends itself to real life and real interest and real world applications. It isn't, however, particularly in high school, a subject that asks a student to focus primarily or rely on memory. I would be both surprised and disappointed if any senior chemistry teacher approached it that way - whether there was a provincial exam available or not; I know that I never met one. Furthermore, the existence of standardized tests doesn't force any teacher to simply "teach to the test".

Chemistry 12 can be, and has been taught as an inquiry-based, engaging, and applicable subject, particularly when focussing on problem-solving - even with the provincial exam in place.

I believe that "getting rid of the books" will not benefit any students with serious ambitions regarding post-secondary science and "inquiry, innovation and experience" are not mutually exclusive to a standardized testing platform. 

Although standardized testing does have its limits and its place, there were very good reasons that mandatory provincial exams were in place for so long in BC and those reasons haven't gone away.

This is certainly a topic that evokes strong feelings for many of us. Perhaps we can simply agree to disagree.

 

 

Comment by Chris Toth on August 19, 2011 at 2:47am

Hi Lionel,

All spinning aside, I (and I suspect the majority of my colleagues on the chemistry 12 provincial exam marking committee will likely) consider this a big mistake and a step back to circa 1983. I have never considered mandatory provincial exams as a "threat" and such a view seems to me to minimize their value. Our education system when it included mandatory grade 12 exams was the envy of most jurisdictions in North America. Sadly, that is no longer the case, and this decision will, I suspect, ultimately contribute to an even further erosion of our graduates' ability to compete and succeed in their post-secondary endeavors.