Jennifer Selinger – Head of Science

View from the Kleinlehrer Family Science Building

We are in the middle of assessment and reporting time in the Kleinlehrer Building. The students can be seen muttering to themselves as they run through the information they crammed into their heads the night before the test or clutching their notes as they head into an in-class research task. They have been measuring, observing and applying in practical tests, orating in oral tasks and scribbling frantically in formal exams.

It is interesting to think about studying for assessments as a concept. Of course the vast majority of us need to sit down before a test (preferably WELL before) and commit facts to memory that we encountered some time ago, noted as interesting, important and/or relevant to the topic at hand and then promptly forgot. However a good task in Science is not designed merely to be a vehicle for the learner to provide information laboriously lodged in their short-term memories. Much of this information could be easily accessed elsewhere – after all, Mr Google knows everything and can be found everywhere. While there is still a place for people keeping some key pieces of information in their heads, there is no doubt that this is not useful if the learner can’t use that information in some way.

Students often complain that a test did not cover what they learnt. Part of the problem, I think, is that they don’t recognise that in asking them the tricky question, or posing the real-life problem, we ARE asking them about what they learnt. We are just not asking about it directly. Instead we are expecting them to provide us with evidence that they have not only absorbed the information but also understand how to use it. This is pretty hard to do!

So back to the idea of studying. When the students first encounter the information that they need to apply, they do it in a context provided in the classroom. This usually is a way of both assimilating the information and using it in a form that makes it easier to remember. This is true study!  Concentrating in class is the best way to make sure that the study a learner does just before the test is only about reminding themselves of content they already understand – really the only true way to study for Science.