‘Science just ain't science anymore’
IT IS no surprise that yet again, student achievement in maths and science is declining.
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Kids of today are no less capable than kids of yesterday, so what is going on?
First, a curriculum that fails to educate in how science uses mathematical skills to establish the scientific knowledge upon which our society is built.
Believe it or not, there is more to an app than the latest twitter post.
Compound that with professional standards for teachers that require only “tick and flick” and anecdotal evidence of one’s professionalism; standards that also do not require teachers to update their knowledge about any scientific view of learning; indeed such knowledge is taboo in the teaching world.
On the whole, the science curriculum does not instil students with the sensation that a better future can be created with science and professional standards have subjugated professional liberty to leaderless managerialism.
I see a mini-dark age on Australia’s scientific and technological horizon.
Stephen Tynan
Leeton
Don’t park in front of own business
I READ the letter in The Irrigator on March 14 about the parking issues in the CBD.
I could not agree more.
When I was a 15-year-old boy working at Steven Bros Menswear in Pine Avenue (now Liv’s Hair and Beauty), Mr Stevens insisted his staff park their cars behind the shop.
This was three cars, one motorbike and my push bike.
Parking out the front was for our customers’ convenience as the customers paid our wages.
Saturday loading from 9am to noon I got five shillings in 1957.
Business owners and employees park in front of your shops at your own cost.
Greg Miller
Leeton
Top of the crop
AN AUSTRALIAN-FIRST app, NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) Drought Feed Calculator, has gained national and global traction with an estimated 9000 downloads since its release in October 2014.
The universal appeal of the livestock feed app is reflected in the number of downloads recorded across Australia, India, United States, Brazil, Turkey, Mexico, South Africa, Pakistan, Egypt and Italy.
Designed for use in the paddock, the app is popular with producers who use it to develop well-informed and cost efficient feed strategies.
NSW farmers managing livestock following recent bushfires have benefited from the app, which was used to calculate feed rations to maintain stock.
This February, the app was downloaded on 200 android and 250 apple devices and we expect those numbers to increase if conditions continue to deteriorate across NSW.
Users can develop full feeding rations for sheep and cattle by calculating daily feed requirements of dry, pregnant, lactating and growing animals, in tough times and plenty.
The app can calculate the total amount of feed required per head and for a mob of animals, over a selected period of time. It provides estimated energy, protein and dry matter values for 71 different feeds, including hay, grain, silage and alternative feeds.
Feed quality varies and the Drought Feed Calculator really comes into its own when producers can use feed test results. Laboratory tests, such as those available from the NSW DPI Feed Quality Service give producers the most accurate value of available feed.
Geoff Casburn
Sheep development officer
NSW DPI