The other night, my son was working on writing a few sentences for a school assignment. If you haven't followed along, he's in first grade; It was after dinner. He was at the table, my wife was upstairs with my youngest son to help him get bathed and ready for bed, and I was washing the dishes.
"Daddy, how do I spell dinosaur?"
"Daddy, how do I spell older?"
"Daddy, how do I spell paleontologist?"
As I continued to answer him with correct spellings, the thought came crashing through: why don't I just give him my phone and let Siri help him?
This has been our barometer of good questions, hasn't it? After all, if Google, Siri, or Alexa can answer the questions we have posed on our test, then clearly we are asking low-level questions and should not assess students on them.
People have even voiced their perceived support of the idea, with blog posts in favor of it and even a bit of dissent that is worth reading:
"Daddy, how do I spell dinosaur?"
"Daddy, how do I spell older?"
"Daddy, how do I spell paleontologist?"
As I continued to answer him with correct spellings, the thought came crashing through: why don't I just give him my phone and let Siri help him?
This has been our barometer of good questions, hasn't it? After all, if Google, Siri, or Alexa can answer the questions we have posed on our test, then clearly we are asking low-level questions and should not assess students on them.
People have even voiced their perceived support of the idea, with blog posts in favor of it and even a bit of dissent that is worth reading:
Yes, my son can ask Google, Siri, Alexa, or a plethora of other services to help him with his spelling. He can also ask Wolfram, a calculator, or even Google for answers to his math facts.
There are plenty of times where I will search online for the solution to a problem, yet it can also be a hindrance to me getting there quicker, more efficiently, or with a more unique approach. Knowing that I can find an answer online doesn't make the question invalid; it makes it accessible.
However, knowing how to graph a line helps me graph a system much more efficiently. Knowing how to estimate a square root helps me find a diagonal and a hypotenuse. Knowing how to add decimals helps me efficiently complete a bunch of tasks.
What I don't want from these tweets and thoughts from respected people online is that your test shouldn't be Google-able. I want my children to be curious, yes, and I also want them to know how to spell without carrying a dictionary, compute without the dependence of a calculator, and problem-solve without the need for the Internet.
My hope is that you want the same for your children and students.
Happy "Go ahead... Google it" Fishing
There are plenty of times where I will search online for the solution to a problem, yet it can also be a hindrance to me getting there quicker, more efficiently, or with a more unique approach. Knowing that I can find an answer online doesn't make the question invalid; it makes it accessible.
However, knowing how to graph a line helps me graph a system much more efficiently. Knowing how to estimate a square root helps me find a diagonal and a hypotenuse. Knowing how to add decimals helps me efficiently complete a bunch of tasks.
What I don't want from these tweets and thoughts from respected people online is that your test shouldn't be Google-able. I want my children to be curious, yes, and I also want them to know how to spell without carrying a dictionary, compute without the dependence of a calculator, and problem-solve without the need for the Internet.
My hope is that you want the same for your children and students.
Happy "Go ahead... Google it" Fishing
RSS Feed
