March 8, 2005

Outside the Tick Box

Story by Neil Stoneham
One of the biggest bugbears for many teachers is assessment. Aside from being a time- and energy-consuming exercise usually carried out after a long day at school, there is much debate as to exactly how teachers should assess student progress in a way that is constructive.

Traditionally, exams have been seen as the most important indicator of student performance. But ever since ideas such as multiple intelligence theory (see cover feature) have been discussed in educational circles, the status quo has been challenged by those who dare to think outside the box.

Some argue that exams are geared too heavily towards academically minded students. This would be fair enough if all students were academic. Of course, human beings are much more complex and research, as well as common sense, shows us that any given school community will contain students who respond to a variety of different learning styles. This includes the way that students show what they have learned and, importantly, how they can adapt that knowledge to achieve a greater understanding of the world around them.

Exams can facilitate this to some extent but only when students are challenged to use the knowledge they have gained rather than remember a set of facts or statistics.

In countries such as the UK and the US, modern examinations are designed to test students not only on their knowledge but also on their abilities to use that knowledge productively. This is an important step forward, although it has not yet stemmed the culture of passing exams in order to attain high grades rather than to be equipped with appropriate skills — for those who are not academic, at least, the exams tend to become an end in themselves, rather than engaging them seriously in the substance of their education.

People like Howard Gardner, whose theory of multiple intelligences has featured in our last two cover stories, are pushing for a much more flexible approach to assessing and valuing student skills. One of Gardner’s major schemes is called Project Zero — a Harvard research group who has been investigating learning processes in children and adults since 1967.

One of the most innovative areas of Project Zero’s research is in looking at alternative ways of assessing very young children through hands-on activities. Termed Project Spectrum, researchers have come up with a number of meaningful assessment activities, such as playing a bus game or telling a story with a storyboard. These have worked particularly well in schools housing under-privileged kids, for whom the academic approach is often demoralising.

The point is that it is perfectly feasible to measure learning through means other than the written word. That is not to say that exams become redundant but, instead, are supported by assessment methods that appeal to the various different intelligences. As Howard Gardner says, “You can get a feeling for children’s intelligences simply by having an environment which gives them lots of opportunities to use them.”

Traditionalists sometimes mistakenly view multiple intelligences theory as an overtly liberal philosophy. They suggest it naively implies that everyone is equal and that failure is not an option. But this misses the point. Our skills and “smartness” can be measured in a number of areas in which we may be weak or strong.

The break from tradition comes from how we value those intelligences. Why, for example, should someone who is good at science be considered superior in intelligence to an excellent artist or football player? Supporters of multiple intelligence theory might simply answer that it shouldn’t. Others may suggest that some intelligences should be viewed a superior to others because they are harder to excel in.

Whatever your point of view, it’s easy to see that assessment methods here in the Thai national system, and to a lesser extent in the international system as well, are biased in favour of students who are strong in academic intelligences.

Whether that will change depends on having people with the vision, will and power to change not only the system but everyone else’s perspective as well. And that must surely be someone who is very intelligent indeed!

We are interested in hearing your views on this issue. Please email them to neils@bangkokpost.co.th.

Read our other cover stories here.

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