Quote:
Originally Posted by Molten
I'm a bit of a special case in these situations. I've always preferred tests over projects as far back as I can remember tests. I see tests as a strategy game. Figure out what the teacher will put on it and you succeed. It is about what to spend time on studying and actually understanding. For me, tests are the best motivator to learn. Projects usually devolve into alot of work for just a little bit of gain. I know that I'll do projects when I get a job but those projects will be using what I have learned. I just don't learn very well from projects. I really hope that school evolves to help students like David, but I also hope they don't forget students like me. Everyone learns best in their own way and often when a teacher tries to make things better for most, it makes things worse for me. I don't mean to be self-centered in pointing that out, but I certainly appreciate when teachers make it an optional change on a student by student basis. It'll be hard to take this into consideration, but it will be all the more worth while in the long run.
Jason
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And your first paragraph illustrates the fact that there can never really be a "one size fits all" type of education. I know that each system has flaws. I know plenty of students that just studies to get an A on the test. My rote memorization skills are sub par, so I personally have to get the conceptual aspect before I can use the equations. It gets to the point that most teachers just say: "here is the equation, plug the numbers in and calculate the answer". Sure, that works, but does anyone in the class have any idea why that is that? No one in the class, even the teacher, had any idea how to derive the trig derivatives. Now, Richard Feynman is just a great guy, here is another quote from him: "You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you're finished, you'll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird... So let's look at the bird and see what it's doing -- that's what counts. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something."