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Veritas Session - Technology

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Veritas Session - Technology

by reply2spg » Wed Aug 04, 2010 11:10 am
In one study engineering students who prepared for an exam by using toothpicks and string did no worse than similar students who prepared by using an expensive computer with sophisticated graphics. In another study, military personnel who trained on a costly high-tech simulator performed no better on a practical exam than did similar personnel who rained using an inexpensive cardboard model. So one should not always purchase technologically advanced educational tools.

Which of the following principles, if valid, most helps to justify the reasoning above?

(A) One should use different educational tools to teach engineering to civilians than are used to train military personnel.
(B) High-tech solutions to modern problems are in effective unless implemented by knowledgeable personnel.
(C) Spending large sums of money on educational tools is at least as justified for nonmilitary training as it is for military training.
(D) One should not invest in expensive teaching aids unless there are no other tools that are less expensive and at least as effective.
(E) One should always provide students with a variety of educational materials so that each student can find the materials that best suit that student's learning style.

No OA

IMO E
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by DanaJ » Wed Aug 04, 2010 9:36 pm
I'd actually go for D here.

The structure of the argument concerns presenting two cases in which subjects trained with inexpensive tools did as well as subjects using high tech materials. The conclusion drawn here is that buying advanced technology for training purposes is not always justified.

A might distract you from the core of the argument by appealing to the fact that the two examples in the stimulus are either about military or civilian actions. This is indeed true, but they are similar (and not different, like this statement suggests) because they both include instances where low-tech learning tools were just as effective as high tech tools.

B is not an option here simply because the question of implementation is not discussed: we're only talking about learning tools for students/military personnel.

C is again distracting, just as A, since it indeed draws a parallel between military/civilian actions. However, you should recognize that this parallel (and the argument itself, actually) is originally about the effectiveness of educational methods (i.e. expensive stuff vs. cheap stuff) and NOT about civilian vs. military (as this statement suggests).

D is in in sync with the argument, I believe, because it simply highlights what this particular question is about: the discussion of expensive vs. cheap in educational tools (in whichever field). If it's possible to get the same results with cheaper stuff, then investing in more expensive equipment is not always the best option - this, BTW, is a rephrasing of the argument - and D provides an extra push for this.

E is definitely out of scope here since learning styles (or diversity of learning styles) of particular, individual students are not mentioned anywhere.
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by paes » Wed Aug 04, 2010 10:47 pm
IMO B
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by debmalya_dutta » Thu Aug 05, 2010 2:40 am
I would go for D here..

Can you please recheck OA ?
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by thephoenix » Thu Aug 05, 2010 8:07 am
D for me as well
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by Brian@VeritasPrep » Thu Aug 05, 2010 12:28 pm
Hey everyone,

This question asks you to strengthen the conclusion that "one should now always purchase technologically advanced technical tools".

Our job is to find a principle that would support that idea. That's a little tricky, I think, because the principles read a little like conclusions, but keep in mind that the question stem requires us to strengthen the existing conclusion - "don't always buy high-tech tools".

Choice D, the correct answer, is a principle that says "don't purchase expensive tools unless there aren't any cheaper options". Because the premises say that there are cheaper options - toothpicks and string, cardboard, etc. - then we know that, in some cases, there is a cheaper option that is less high-tech, and therefore we can prove the conclusion:

(D) If there are cheaper options, use those; (premise) there are cheap, low-tech options for education; --> Conclusion: One should not always purchase high-tech educational tools.


Choice E actually weakens the conclusion - it says that "we should always have a variety of educational options", which supports the idea that we should high-tech, low-tech, and many options in between.
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