Nice people thread part 4 - sugar and spice and all things

michaels

Correct although I can see where the confusion could have arisen. :rotfl:

lostinrates wrote: »

I assumed sister.

JonnyBravo

silvercar wrote: »

How to annoy your parents by DS2, age 17.5:
Step 1: Wander slowly around the house, (his father's) iPad in hand, watching videos of Richard Dawkins debates.
Step 2: (After requests to turn it down/ off): Wander slowly around the house, (his father's) iPad in hand, earphones plugged in, watching videos of Richard Dawkins debates. Consequently not answering when talked to and randomly bumping into things.
Step 3: discuss religion at every opportunity, even when irrelevant to the conversation. The answer always being "and some people truly believe there are fairies at the bottom of the garden, doesn't make them right."

I'd be rather pleased that he's clearly got his head on right, is being intellectually stimulated and clearly thinking about something new to him. Hence his interest in discussing it.
Cant imagine either of ours doing that. Too busy on ******* facebook or reading Heat etc.

sss555s

LydiaJ wrote: »

The year after that, we asked for a "mains electric appliance". One girl put "electric chair - because it's supposed to electrocute you and wouldn't work if it was earthed".

:rotfl:

That's shocking :eek:

JonnyBravo

sss555s wrote: »

:rotfl:

That's shocking :eek:

:doh:

He's here all week folks.

sss555s

JonnyBravo wrote: »

:doh:

He's here all week folks.

There's loads more where that come from

Unfortunately I'm booked out for today and paying work comes first :beer:

GDB2222

silvercar wrote: »

Step 3: discuss religion at every opportunity, even when irrelevant to the conversation. The answer always being "and some people truly believe there are fairies at the bottom of the garden, doesn't make them right."

The majority of people in the census put some sort of religion down, but how many of those actually believe? I don't blame DS2 for confronting you over this. What is baffling is why you find it unsettling?

GDB2222

LydiaJ wrote: »

Our year 9 end-of-year internal exam used to have a question on it about earth wires and fuses in plugs. The final part asked kids to name an appliance that didn't need an earth wire, and explain why one wasn't needed. We were looking for them to answer "hair-dryer", or "plastic kettle", or something like that with no metal casing to earth. Lots of them put "gas cooker - doesn't need an earth wire because you don't plug it in".

Actually, gas pipes are meant to be earthed, and that should earth the cooker. The poor woman who died from an electric shock from her metal spice rack (which someone had screwed into a mains cable in the wall) had her foot touching the cooker.


The next year, we asked for an "electric appliance" that didn't need an earth wire. They put things like "torch - because it runs off batteries".

Quite right, too.


The year after that, we asked for a "mains electric appliance". One girl put "electric chair - because it's supposed to electrocute you and wouldn't work if it was earthed".

I was in charge of moderating the year 9 exam that year. I considered carefully whether to allow the answer, and eventually annotated the mark scheme to say not - "While it would be unfair to disallow this answer merely for being macabre, electric chairs operate at a voltage of nearly 2.5kV, so cannot be considered to be mains appliances."

I disagree on that. Electric chairs run off a transformer that's connected to the grid, via what could well be similar to a normal domestic connection, albeit a bit beefier to take the current. Now, think of all the appliances that you would have allowed that include a transformer, usually stepping down the voltage, such as a mains-connected radio. Our gas cooker generates a high voltage spark to ignite it, so there's one operating at far more than 2500v. Your response really does not distinguish adequately between the electric chair and those domestic appliances.


After that, we changed it to ask for a "domestic mains electric appliance" and the question then discriminated properly between those who understood which appliances need earthing and those who didn't. Then we changed the scheme of work so mains safety is no longer a year 9 topic....

Setting exam questions, even just within school, is more complicated than one might think.

Besides that, her answer showed excellent lateral thinking skills. What can you do to track down that poor girl and put things right?

GDB2222

Oh, I seem to be in challenging mode this morning. I suspect that's because I am feeling guilty, as I should be getting on with my work and this is a displacement activity. Not fair to take it out on the nice people, sorry.

silvercar

GDB2222 wrote: »

The majority of people in the census put some sort of religion down, but how many of those actually believe? I don't blame DS2 for confronting you over this. What is baffling is why you find it unsettling?

The motivation is 100% wind-up. Not serious debate. We've had the same discussions over and over. I dont mind discussions on atheism.
Plus he has a uni form to complete and exams in January, far better to discuss economics.

LydiaJ

GDB2222 wrote: »

Besides that, her answer showed excellent lateral thinking skills. What can you do to track down that poor girl and put things right?

1) Yes I know gas pipes are earthed. I'm not surprised that kids in year 9 didn't, though.

2) I take your point about electric chairs being run off a transformer that gets its power from the grid, although I bet it doesn't get plugged in with a standard plug, and I think it's stretching the word "appliance" rather. I agree that the answer showed lateral thinking.

However I still don't think it deserved a mark. The question had already given credit for explaining what an earth wire is for, and how it works. We teach these kids to wire plugs, and we want them to know what they need to know to be safe. That includes teaching them that things with metal cases should be earthed, but things without anything conductive on the outside don't need to be. That's what this part of the question was supposed to examine. This girl had been taught this, but had clearly forgotten about it, or she would not have needed to think laterally to such an obscure example. Therefore she does not get the mark for knowing that there's no need to worry if you buy a plastic hair dryer and find it has no earth wire.

Oh, and I'm with silvercar on the "fairies at the bottom of the garden" comment. Anybody who keeps repeating the same single sentence as though it's the answer to everything is bound to be annoying. And it's facile to suggest that all religious belief is obviously at the same intellectual level as belief in fairies at the bottom of the garden. There's a debate to be had, but that sentence on its own isn't it.