For Mathman

[bronxgirl]

http://nytimes.com/2004/04/13/health/13ADOL.html

I think you'd enjoy this article in the NY Times. It states that you're better at using both sides of your brain than those of us who suffered through freshman calc and never wanted to see a derivative equation again...

 

[Rgirl]

Don't tell Mathman that, Bronxgirl. He'll just get big hemispheres.
Rgirl

 

[cborsky]

Why didn't they include girls in the study?

 

[bronxgirl]

No idea why not. You'd have to ask the principal investigator...

 

[Rgirl]

Because girls already know how to use both their hemispheres, especially if they have a really good pair.

Or because the investigators are male math whizzes--which is not entirely a joke. I used to analyze published research, eight hours a day, five days a week, and there are so many where they researchers don't even try to hide their biases. Then there's the whole game of which studies get media attention and how the results are presented by the media. Basically, if you want to say there's scientific proof that donkeys fly, somewhere you'll find a study in a scientific journal that says they can--or I should say, that there is support for the hypothesis that donkeys can fly. Of course, it will probably be funded by the International Donkeys Can Fly Federation.

Seriously, girls are more likely to be verbal whizzes. I wonder if a similar study based on SAT verbal scores has been done or is being prepared. It would make an interesting comparison, though I don't think you can draw any real world conclusions from this study, from using female math whizzes, or male or female verbal whizzes.
Rgirl

 

[bronxgirl]

I've also discovered that where an article is published may be influenced by whom you know will be the revieweres (assuming you've bothered to submit it to a peer-reviewed journal)

 

[dorispulaski]

Rgirl, you are so right.

It reminds me of the old definition of a drug.

A drug is that substance, which when fed to a rat, produces a published scientific paper.

dpp

 

[Rgirl]

Hey, Doris! I LOVE that one! A definite classic and as they say, great comedy is all about truth. Of course the only research jokes I can remember are the obscene ones.
Rgirl

 

[Mathman]

All right! Now we're in my bailywick. Bailywick is to candle as gaol is to Big Ben. Oh, those SAT verbal questions.

Bailiwick. OK, I never said I could spell.

Actually, as to the two-hemisphere test itself, where letters of the alphabet are presented to one or to both eyes, I would fail that one miserably. I have to cheat at the eye doctor's exam (I've memorized the fact that the first letter is E, hee hee.)

About SAT scores, my best friend in college had perfect SATs -- 800 in mathematics and 800 in verbal. He didn't get into the college of his choice (Swarthmore) because of the then-prevalent quota system against Jews.

There is a movement afoot to make drastic changes in the SATs, calling for a three section test (Readin', Riting' and 'Rithmetic), including an essay. The new exam will supposedly test what you learned in school instead of trying to determine scholastic "aptitude." BTW, the test has already dropped the name "Scholastic Aptitude Test" -- now SAT does not stand for anything, it's just the name of ther test -- because of the difficulty in deciding what that could possibly mean and how it could possibly be tested.

Critics of the new plan fear that it will exacerbate differences in performance between good schools and bad and between rich ones and poor. But the test reformers say that would be good, since it would force bad schools to get better and even provide a curricular blueprint for doing so.

When this thread was first posted, I gave myself a little IQ test:

(1) Do you remember your password to read the N.Y. Times on line?

(2) How many days did it take, after you clicked on, "I forgot my password, please send it by email," before you thought to look for the reply in your spam folder?

Mathman

 

[Pati]

Because girls already know how to use both their hemispheres, especially if they have a really good pair.