which one of these is not like the other

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Status
Not open for further replies.

talloulou

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Apr 12, 2005
Messages
2,467
Location
Washington
My son got this wrong today and I thought his reasoning was pretty funny.

Which one of these is not like the other?

Below that there were four words

cat dog cow wolf

The correct answer was wolf. My son circled the word cow. I asked him why he circled the cow...He said there are tons of wild cats, and he has heard of wild dingo dogs, and he knows wolves are wild. But he never heard of a wild cow. It made me laugh. I explained to him that cats, dogs, and cows are all domesticated animals and the wolf is wild. Then he went off talking about how you could train a wolf to be a pet if you got it when it was very young. I still don't know if he understands why he got the answer wrong but at least school is challenging him after all






:p
 
I was going with cow as well, since felines and canines are hunters and carnivores. Perhaps the question was less involved on the child's level. I'd say your son was correct but not in the context of the questioner's guideline.
 
FWIW, I think your son's answer and logical reasoning is just as valid as the official correct answer.

I would have chosen cow too for the same reason as JChillin - the others are carnivores.
Also, among the four animals in that group, only cows ruminate and they don't have toes nor claws.
 
I used to teach school and I see where the "correct" answer comes from, but to be honest, my first thought was cow as well. Were they learning about farm animals or anything like that or was this just kind of a random thing?
 
I think it's unanimous that your son was right. I'd have to go with the cow as well.
 
well... you could go with wolf, since thats te only one not domesticated, but i would have thought of cow 1st

oh, but i guess you already said that :?
 
:(

I went with cat because it was the only one without an "o" in it.


but, to me, these types of questions can have more than one "right" answer. If he says cow and gives a legitimate, and correct, reason behind it and I were grading papers I would mark it as correct with the reason given. After you give him credit for his answer, give him the answer you were looking for and explain it to him. There is often more than one correct solution to problems in life. I think that's as important to learn as many other leasons.
 
BillyZ said:
:(

I went with cat because it was the only one without an "o" in it.
OMG it's amazing how many different trains of thought one could take before answering that question :p
 
kimberly said:
I used to teach school and I see where the "correct" answer comes from, but to be honest, my first thought was cow as well. Were they learning about farm animals or anything like that or was this just kind of a random thing?

It was just a worksheet full of which one of these is not like the other questions....

but it's funny the stuff my son has trouble with. For example the other day he had a homework sheet that pictured 6 chain links on the side of the paper. Then there was a list of things that you were supposed to measure against the chain link and then decide if the object was longer, shorter, or close. He listed everything as shorter or longer and nothing as close. I told him the pencil looked "close to" the size of the 6 linked chains. But he didn't like the "close" option. Everything was longer or shorter. He understands the concept of "equal" but doesn't like the concept of close.

Luckily his teacher (the substitute I was worried about) is awesome. I just hope he likes his actual teacher when she comes back.
 
Give the school hell for this, it discourages intellegent/creative thinking....I had it out with a local school board a number of years ago when I found out that they had language arts tests that asked what certain poems meant (or what the author was saying), and these questions had a single correct answer.
 
I came up with wolf since it has 4 letters.

What is the "real" reason wolf is correct (did I miss it)?
 
Toirtis said:
Give the school hell for this, it discourages intellegent/creative thinking....I had it out with a local school board a number of years ago when I found out that they had language arts tests that asked what certain poems meant (or what the author was saying), and these questions had a single correct answer.

Well it wasn't a big deal really....so I don't feel the need to give them hell...yet :p :p Maybe in the future over something that seems like a bigger deal.

I remember having an argument with my third grade teacher over adding an s to the word people. The teacher was saying that people would never be peoples because people was already plural. But I had seen peoples and peoples was in the dictionary so I fought for the fact that you could add an s. The teacher was giving a basic lesson on plural vs singular but I just got stuck on the fact that people could be peoples in certain cases. I'm sure I drove the poor teacher crazy making a mountain out of a molehill and completely disrupting the point of her lesson. I'm hoping my son doesn't drive his teachers too crazy. God bless them, lord knows they aren't paid enough.
 
OK. Not hell, but you should encourage him to talk with his teacher about his reasoning. I thought it was outstanding and he did a very good job with it. No, not a "you're wrong teacher!!" approach, but a rational discussion would be in order.

As mentioned before, he should be encouraged to know there may be more than one right answer sometime, and further, that he should be able to speak his mind ans ask for intelligent discussion.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom