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OK, Mark, here's another opinion. I'm not sure why you think the new
Informatics subject will require us to teach database for most of
the year. And you say that students loathe database. My students see
the value of database and the power of queries with respect to
issues such as data mining and privacy rights. Energising.<br>
<br>
You have written that 3 of the 4 Outcomes will be on database. Well,
the first Outcome is required to use database. But not the other.
The next part is a SAT which is much, much different from Outcomes.
<br>
<br>
It's exciting because students can do research and find a hypothesis
and then work out, with the data collected, whether it is wrong or
right. To present all the findings, a wide range of software tools
can be used. I would certainly be teaching spreadsheets to crunch
numbers. My students would be learning how to deal with quantitative
data AND qualitative data. Some students will be using software I do
not know how to use but they have learned from their other subjects.
This is much different from anything we have had in the past. <br>
<br>
And I know what you tend to do when folks present an opinion which
is different from yours: you slam it vigorously in this public
forum. There are times when I enjoy reading your bombast because it
cloaks the truth especially when it comes to dissecting final
examinations. But to be hung out and dried is no fun. Debate,
however, is beneficial. Perhaps this is why folks are mute. And so
I expect you to comment on this post and reduce it to worthlessness
with low-level analogies such as unwrapping condoms. And you will
poke further fun because I have chosen the wrong verb or misused a
semicolon.<br>
<br>
Back to the SAT. Not only will I be teaching spreadsheets but
perhaps also Photoshop when my students gather primary evidence to
support or deny their hypotheses. Most likely I will also be
teaching HTML5 and CSS3 to write forms and to present findings. Some
teachers may choose many data visualisation tools to examine the
data and to present the information. <br>
<br>
<b>No long lists of restricted tools and functions. At last!!! Now
that is exciting. </b><br>
<br>
Maggie Iaquinto<br>
Teacher, Yeshivah College<br>
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