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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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On my psychiatry rotation in med school, we would ask patients the following question during the initial interview: "How are a bicycle and an airplane alike?" The overwhelming majority of the psychiatric patients would answer, "Uh...they both got wheels!" It was depressing how few people replied with a more abstract answer. ("They are both modes of transportation.")
On a whim I asked the question to an acquaintance who is mildly mentally retarded and also has Tourette's Syndrome. He immediately replied with gusto, "Both!" and elaborated no further.
My friend's four year old daughter was coming home with her mother and they saw that the pickup truck of a friend of her dad's was in the driveway. "It looks like Mike is here," her mom said. "Yes," the girl replied, "his car is in the driveway." "Well...it's a truck isn't it?" her mother gently corrected her. The girl sighed and replied in a slightly irritated voice, "Well, it is a vehicle."
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
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old hand
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old hand
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"How are a bicycle and an airplane alike?" I would spontaneously answer: they are easily crashed 
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Joined: Aug 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Sometimes test makers assume that the answer is obvious--to themselves at least
When my middle child went for his pre-kindergarten screening the tester asked "What's wet?" and got the answer "Water."
Next was "What burns?" - A. "Fire."
Finally - "What bounces?" Gleefully: Tigger!"
Examiner looks inquiringly at my wife, chaperoning, who nods affirmatively (as anyone who knows Disney's Pooh should). Makes no difference, the book says the right answer is "a ball," and to this day the record shows INCORRECT for that item.
Didn't keep him out of kindergarten somehow, and he even survived the rest of his schooling. Or maybe it's that they survived him.
Makes me want to go back and re-read John Holt's How Children Fail again.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Kids often do think differently than adults do--and, of course, some adults think differently than most other adults do! This wasn't a test, but validates what WW and wofa said: my son was 4, and we were at a friend's house. He asked for a drink; she got it, held it out of his reach, and asked him, "What's the magic word?" (Trying to prompt him to say Please, of course.) He responded, "Abracadabra". It fit his experiences.
I am pretty rusty, but I know the ability for abstract thinking is used as an indicator for whether someone needs psychological/psychiatric help, and what kind.
most kids today don't even play jump rope, or clapping games,(or even counting out games for who will be it, in Tag) and don't know the songs and words to them. Yes, and I find that very sad. Not so much at the loss of these games in particular, but at the loss of so much valuable social interaction. Children learn social skills during play that they will need in adult life, and I'm afraid they're not going to get it being isolated with "interactive" toys. Computers for infants? Come on! One of the biggest regrets I have with the way my children were raised is their lack of neighborhood playmates. There were always at least half a dozen potential playmates for me; but there was only one other set of siblings that were possible playmates for my kids when they were of a good age for play, and those two were hellions--not behavior I wanted my kids to emulate. My kids had each other, and had friends from school come over, but that's not like the daily fun/fighting/interaction with neighborhood friends. I STILL remember when I got mad during a game of basketball (such as we kids could play) and stormed away, announcing that well, then, I just wouldn't play. I was utterly taken aback that the game went right on and that they continued to have fun without me!
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Wordwind: I think you missed my point completely and then proceeded to make it yourself.
It wasn't a standardized test with correct and incorrect answers. (In fact I never used the words correct or incorrect in my post.) It was a verbal interviewing technique to discern the sophistication of the thinking of the subject. I found it depressing how many people seemed locked into a mode of concrete thinking. Many such people lack the intellectual ability to do well in this world, and are easily manipulated by others (advertising, politcal campaigns, propaganda, etc), and I find that depressing.
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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WW, do you realize what a wonderful gem you are? The world needs a million teachers like you. Don't blush! 
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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In reply to:
I love the 'Tigger' answer for 'things that bounce.' Perfectly correct. The problem wasn't with the response; the problem was with the test--and with the test designers' and evaluators' inability to be ntelligent interpreters. There is no reason that 'Tigger' should not have been viewed as an intelligent and correct response.
Yes, I agree, and in fact it irks me a bit that you felt like I needed this explained to me. But, as I have not yet had my morning's coffee, perhaps I will see your kind explanation with a little more humor later in the morning.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Consuelo, I thought it; you said it. WW, how come you're not beaten down by the paperwork and the clip-board brigade like most other teachers I know? Your spirit must transcend it. Don't ever be defeated.
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