ELN 122 Lesson 2 Blog 2 Training vs education

Describe what the difference is between training and education as it pertains to assessment.
Training is task oriented. For example, when studying the unit on symmetry students will be asked to draw and cut out symmetrical shapes. They will be making objects.  When the students make objects they have to have basic hand eye coordination and dexterity skills. Assessing the students would involve questions like: Can they use a scissors, can they use a ruler, a protractor or a compass? Do they know left, right, backwards, up or down? Can they trace a pattern? Can they use a mirror? These are all mathematical tasks that must be accomplished in order to make a symmetrical object. I would walk around and asses how each student is performing the task, guiding where necessary. The mechanics of the project would be good for collaborating in groups.
Sometimes when assessing skills informally in this situation, I have to realize that maybe the student who is awkward with scissors is a left handed person using right handed scissors. Maybe a student who is blind in on eye has no depth perception. Maybe a student only has one arm or hand will take longer. Maybe a student is dyslexic. Maybe a student is color blind. Everyone of these situations has happened to me in my classroom.
Education is a foundation for more learning and problem solving. In order to make a symmetrical object the student learns what symmetry means. They learn orientation is important. They are learning there are types of symmetry:vertical, horizontal, rotational even circular about a point. They learn which objects can tile and those that don't. They make decisions and categorize objects. A summative assessment is given on a high stakes test that is given once a year because symmetry is a state standard. However, students can practice with formative tests at the end of each lesson. As the concepts get more abstract for instance, graphing a shape on graph paper rather than drawing freehand uses conceptual reasoning.
The students can be trained to draw the objects, but they need to be educated on how to interpret a position of the object in a 2-demnsional framework on a graph.