Reply #16: By using it in the environment it will actually be used in.

[Jim__]

If you put a lot of emphasis on tests, then people will teach and/or learn mostly for the test. I have a technical job. But there's all kinds of knowledge about my job that I don't have at my fingertips. I'm sure most college kids who've just had a class in the subject have more of that knowledge at hand than I do. But, I doubt any of them could outperform me because of that knowledge. I can acquire the knowledge as required by referring to the literature - a half hour of research will tell me what I need to know. But, my bet is that I can apply that knowledge better than those college kids - because I have years of experience in applying this type of knowledge.

In my experience, tests are on these, mostly, trivial facts. Let the students work on a project and explain to the teacher what they're doing in a non-pressure situation. I think they'll learn better, retain more, and learn what it is they really enjoy doing. School should mimic the working environment as much as possible. Now, I think the school environment is extremely different from the work environment.