Brandon Keim
Science

Students Deserve Extra Credit for Hard Sciences, Say Curriculum Docs

Physics, chemistry and other science courses are far more difficult than the humanities — so difficult, in fact, that students should be given extra credit for taking them. So say experts from the Curriculum, Evaluation and Management Centre at Durham University. The findings seem self-evident to anyone — i.e., a certain science journalist — who’s […]

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Physics, chemistry and other science courses are far more difficult than the humanities -- so difficult, in fact, that students should be given extra credit for taking them.

So say experts from the Curriculum, Evaluation and Management Centre at Durham University. The findings seem self-evident to anyone -- i.e., a certain science journalist -- who's ever crammed for days just to scratch out a C-minus in trigonometry, but contradict the conclusions of Great Britain's national testing agency.

In February, the Qualifications and Curriculum authority announced that humanities-tracked students needed less study to ace their A-levels than those taking hard science courses. Nevertheless, the QCA recommended against leveling the academic playing field with a sliding achievement scale that assigns greater merit to scholastic science achievements.

By treating all exams as equally difficult, said CEM director Robert Coe, schools are short-changing themselves and their students.

"If universities and employers treat all grades as equivalent they will select the wrong applicants," said Coe in a press release. "A student with a grade C in Biology will generally be more able than one with a B in Sociology."

This in turn encourages students to take soft humanities rather than hard sciences, leaving the U.K. and its students poorly positioned in a science-fueled global economy -- a concern that could also apply to the United States.

But is a weighted grading system really the answer? I suspect that students will be less motivated by curricular incentives than a dose of reality: just show them what the average English major makes after graduation.
Achieving top grades in science subjects more difficult, proves research [press release]

Image: L.E. MacDonald

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