The NumWorks graphing calculator [LWN.net]

The NumWorks graphing calculator

Posted Oct 9, 2017 15:45 UTC (Mon) by giraffedata (guest, #1954)
In reply to: The NumWorks graphing calculator by anselm
Parent article: The NumWorks graphing calculator

In my school, shoes with track spikes were absolutely no problem for the PE tests,

What were your PE tests like? Were you graded on how fast you ran?

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The NumWorks graphing calculator

Posted Oct 15, 2017 22:10 UTC (Sun) by anselm (subscriber, #2796) [Link] (1 responses)

Were you graded on how fast you ran?

Basically yes. There was an official table from the state education ministry that converted timings into grades. To add insult to injury, the official table was blatantly sexist – for example, for some track lengths the same time meant a dismal grade for a male student but an excellent grade for a female student, even though for the distances in question the respective world-class times for men and women are very close together.

The NumWorks graphing calculator

Posted Oct 16, 2017 13:11 UTC (Mon) by mathstuf (subscriber, #69389) [Link]

Your PE class consisted of world-class runners? Anyways, while the best of the best may be close, it does not imply that their respective bell curves align. Or were the goal times very disparate for the distance?

Anyways, that sounds odd. I feel that we'd do it more by effort in the US. I can walk a 12 minute mile, but others can't even run that (for various reasons). I do not deserve the same grade for slacking off if they're giving it their all to get the same time. There are benchmarks for special mention, but I believe those are set up at some percentile of times across the nation (per sex) and are more descriptive than prescriptive.

How did your grading system deal with handicaps such as crutches (temporary injuries), wheelchairs (for longer-term afflictions), and the like?