Theory of Knowledge - Course Companion for Students Marija Uzunova Dang Arvin Singh Uzunov Dang

a range of issues, from economic and
On
policy to teachers’ salaries and
environmental
reform, measurable things inform
curriculum
data-driven decision-making as well as
both
and explicit value judgments. Without
implicit
there can be no data, no data-
measurement
goal-setting or evaluation, and no
informed
analyses—all elements that
cost-benefit-style
expression in the methodology of many
find
science disciplines.
human
knowledge associated with measurement
The
a huge effect on the world, for example
has
inform action in the world as well as to
to
evaluateit.
is, therefore, very important to consider what
It
can and cannot measure: what gets left
we
of the picture, what we assume to fill the
out
and what has disproportionate influence
gap
because it is readily measurable. That
simply
is more measurable and quantifiable
which
as business profit, students’ grades and
(such
growth) may be perceived to be more
economic
or come to guide decisions and actions
important
The phrase “assessment drives
regardless.
for instance, is widely used and heard
learning”
education. It posits that students and teachers
in
focus on what they are tested on, especially
will
the consequences of assessment are significant,
if
the detriment of important things that are not
to
This is important because while content
assessed.
quite easily assessed, skills and habits of mind
is
not. are
2005 and 2007, researchers at
Between
Medical School of the University
StGeorge’s
London found that when the weighting
of
anatomy in the curriculum was increased,
of
showed dramatically increased
students
to learn anatomy; motivation was
motivation
and learning in medicine may be
Teaching
assessment-driven due to the high
particularly
and consequences of passing or failing
difficulty
school.
medical
IB TOK teachers are known to
Anecdotally,
this at workshops and conferences, and
lament
speculate what would happen if their subject
to
worth more than 1.5 points out of 45.
was
would be short-sighted and a cliché to
It
the ills of summative assessment in
exaggerate
It exists for good reason, within the
education.
context and constraints of education
particular
worldwide. Claims that “assessment
systems
killing creativity” are sensationalistic and
is
benefit from more scrutiny, and nuance.
would
it is also worth considering what
However,
systems tend to assess, what is
education
and the implications of this for
assessable,
now to examples from government
Turning
consider the Human Development
policy,
(HDI), a people-centred measure of
Index
development. Reflecting on the
economic
of the HDI, Nobel Laurate Amartya Sen
origins
a conversation with fellow economist
recalls
III. Methods and tools
III. Methods and tools
III.4 What we measure matters
powerfully affected by weighting.
What we measure aects what we do, and better
measurement will lead to better decisions, or at least
dierent decisions.
(Stiglitz quoted in Gertner 2010)
teaching, learning and knowledge.
MahbubulHaq.
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