On visiting my doctor recently for a health check, I was encouraged to have a ‘live blood analysis’. For those who haven’t experienced such an event, it is where an expert practitioner takes a small finger prick of blood and completes a ‘live’ analysis of your blood’s (and of course, your) well being. Whilst you sit and watch the event on a large screen TV. An amazing experience to see your own blood cells swimming about at all levels of magnification. And having a commentary as to what it all means for your health. The only thing missing was the popcorn and comfy cinema seat!

The expert looks for all sorts of pointers in your blood as a measure of health – including the shape of cells, the thickness of their ‘walls’ and way their move through the plasma. Fascinating stuff. But a bit daunting when the oddly shaped and stuck-together cells move onto the screen. They tell a not-so-good story – so you don’t want to see too many of these guys!

It got me to thinking how incredible it would be if we could get children to undergo a similar ‘live’ test for learning – and look for immediate signs as to how kids are performing. Not in comparison to each other like so many formal assessments but simply by asking them to articulate their learning, demonstrate what they know (rather than test them on what they don’t know) and help them grow their love of learning. The only benchmark should be of their own making and their personal progress mapped against this, not compared with the rest of the kids in the class let alone the rest of the kids in the country.

What benefits are there to be had from comparing my blood to that of someone else? None whatsoever. The same is true for children’s learning.

@admin [+]December 17th, 2010, 15:11