Thoughts on the Test

Maybe you heard we took the test using google forms.  Overall, it went really well.  One of the best features of giving the test online is the amount of viable data I receive.  Not only that, but it's all created for me.  For someone who always seems to be pressed for time, this is a huge bonus.

Let me give you some examples:

-This chart shows us that the majority of students know their continents and oceans.  I say majority because this is only one continent from one class.  Most classes had 2 or 3 students who missed 2 or 3 continents and/or oceans.  But overall the students knew their stuff.  At any rate, all the kids from this class could tell me where Africa is.

Similarly, almost all my students aced that latitude and longitude portion of the test.  Again, there were about 3 or 4 students who still don't get it.  This data helps me see that clearly, and maybe I can work with them during lunch or after school to find out what the problem is.

More students missed these next questions about ancient civilizations.  But, that may have been because they needed to know multiple components to be able to answer each question - more like math than social studies.

When I saw this one, I had to look twice.  If you're saying 76% got it right... sorry... 76% of my students got this one wrong.  So today, we spent a lot of time on questions like this one.

And then, you get questions like this one...  This tells me at least 4 people had given up by this point.  Or they didn't read the questions, and were just clicking.  Or maybe both.  Maybe they saw the throw away answer and thought I'd think it was funny if they answered that way.  I don't know.  For the record, Mr. Krescmar is a teacher.  ...I knew that answer sounded familiar...



If you want the extra credit for reading and discussing the blog today, discuss the difference between cultural borrowing and cultural diffusion.  Discuss how you did on the test.  Discuss any of the other questions we went over in class - maybe the one about private business ownership.

When you're done discussing, find a scrap of paper and write the difference between cultural diffusion and cultural borrowing.  Then, have the adult you discussed it with sign it.  Turn it in tomorrow.  See you then.

(If you have facebook or twitter or whatever, and are friends with others who are also my students, you could remind them that this is an easy way to get some extra credit.  If any of them come up to me tomorrow and tell me they did the extra credit because you reminded them, I'll give you some sort of treat for helping them out.)

*Also, apologies for spelling Mr. Krecsmar's name wrong, not once - but twice.  Hopefully he doesn't grade on spelling.  Maybe I'm just ethnocentric against Hungarians.  Bonus bonus points if you write a p.s. at the bottom of your extra credit and give me a definition for "ethnocentric."*