As our social science for teachers major is being phased out, it looks like we won't need an assessment exam in the social sciences. Still, I'd like to get a sense of where your students stand in disciplines other than history. In 2008, More than 14,000 college students took a "Civil Literacy" test sponsored by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. According to ISI, students didn't do so well. The average college freshman got about 50% of the questions right. Seniors did only a bit better, averaging 54% on the quiz. Harvard seniors were the nation's best, averaging 69% on the survey. Can you do better? Take the quiz at the link below and find out! Did you do better than the average freshman? Better than the average senior? Better than the average Harvard student? Better than Harry the talking hand? (Harry got 58/60 right, as did Professor Jon Schaff). What do you think of the quiz? Is this stuff students should really know, or does it seem like trivial pursuit? You can post your score here along with your comments on the exam or you can e-mail me you score separately.
http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/resources/quiz.aspx
Some of you might find amusing the video here:
http://www.country1011.com/2013/11/18/are-you-smarter-than-a-harvard-student/
I got a 69% on the test - so in line with Harvard graduates. For the most part, I think the things on the test are things people should know. The questions I got wrong for the most part were the economic questions about the market and business. While that stuff is important, I don't think it is as necessary to know as some of the founding principles like the Declaration and Constitution. Those are things we learn from an early age in school and are things we sort of take for granted. Overall I think I could have done a little better if I took my time and thought about some of the questions a little more.
ReplyDeleteI earned a 73% and was shocked I was right on some of the questions. Unfortunately, most young people today don't have the answers to these questions. I don't think it is educators missing the mark on teaching these important facts. I feel it is something we may learn and over time don't use so we forget the information. Maybe a better way to teach these facts would be through song and rhyme. Have a story go along with it and more students would retain the history. I guess it depends on a person's goals in life if this info is needed. It should be set aside by any means. There are ways to draw students in and make them want to learn.
ReplyDeleteI got an 84% on the test and like Jaclynn was shocked I got some right, while disappointed (more ashamed) I got some wrong. I like the test though. It's very straightforward and is an easy way to measure what the students know. I do think it consists of stuff that people should know. I may be a bit biased since I'm a history major, but most of it is pretty basic American history or economics. I don't believe people need to have an in-depth knowledge of everything, but the basics are nice. I like to know the basics of as much stuff as I can, while only going in-depth on the things I really like. I know a little about a lot of stuff, but only a lot about a little stuff.
ReplyDeleteI got an 84% on the test. I was fairly surprised that I did as well as I did on the test. I was shocked at the table provided and the end of the quiz that showed the average score of elected politicians. I believe that most of these facts are important to know and understand. I really enjoyed taking this quiz.
ReplyDeleteI got 72 percent i feel like the content was good for the questions and most of them seamed applicable although 1 or 2 may have been more of a "trivial pursuit" question most of them had to do with foundations of Government and Historical documents.
ReplyDeleteI got a 69% on this test. The test itself was a comprehension test, in which we had to pull material from years gone by. The material was based on basic principles of government. It also pulled in many historical documents and court cases into the mix. I feel if we given some prep time, we would have scored higher. Even though most should have been covered in previous classes, some of the material was new to me. The economic questions threw me off the beaten path, as I got them all wrong. Other then that it was a simple mistake of mixing up the facts. Some of the questions indeed could have been pulled from a game like Trivial Pursuit.
ReplyDelete