If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post (even in Discussion), then it goes here.
Notes for future OT posters:
1. Please add the 'open_thread' tag.
2. Check if there is an active Open Thread before posting a new one.
3. Open Threads should be posted in Discussion, and not Main.
4. Open Threads should start on Monday, and end on Sunday.
In the last open thread Lumifer linked to a list by the American Statistical Association with points that need to be understood to be considered statistically literate. In the same open thread in another comment sixes_and_sevens asked for statements we know are true but the average lay person gets wrong. As response he mainly got examples from the natural sciences and mathematics. Which makes me wonder, can we make a general test of education in all of these fields of knowledge that can be automatically graded? This test would serve as a benchmark for traditional educational methods and for autodidacts checking themselves.
I imagine having simple calculations for some things and multiple-choice tests for other scenarios where intuition suffices.
Edit: Please don't just upvote, try to point to similar ideas in your respective field or critique the idea.
I've often considered a self-assessment system where the sitter is prompted with a series of terms from the topic at hand, and asked to rate their understanding on a scale of 0-5, with 0 being "I've never heard of this concept", and 5 being "I could build one of these myself from scratch".
The terms are provided in a random order, and include red-herring terms that have nothing to do with the topic at hand, but sound plausible. Whoever provides the dictionary of terms should have some idea of the relative difficulty of each term, but you... (read more)