Read the Text II and answer the question that follow it.

Text II 

Read the Text I and answer the question that follow it.

Text I

Correspondence

Human genome editing: potential seeds of conflict 

    Recently, The Lancet published an important declaration regarding the necessity of regulating and legislating for human genome editing. We agree with their opinions that the human genome editing technology and resulting research can have both positive and negative effects on human society. The use of genome editing for research and commercial purposes has sparked debates in both biological and political realms. However, most of them have mainly focused on the effects of human genome editing on the patients themselves, and little attention has been paid to their offspring. 

    Several films, such as Gattaca and Gundam SEED, have addressed the conflicts that arise from human genome editing. Such conflicts not only exist within the generation who have experienced editing but are also transmitted to their offspring. For example, in these films, the offspring of people without genome editing felt a sense of unfairness regarding the inferiority of their physical (or other non-edited domains) status, whereas the offspring of people with genome editing grew up in a biased, discriminated against, and ostracized environment. They could have lived in peace with a strong and well regulated government; however, when the tenuous grip of government weakens, jealousy and resentment can lead to ruins. Although these scenes still exist in films, they might become increasingly plausible in decades to come. Using the concept of preparedness, access, countermeasures, tools, and trust, we should prepare legitimate human genome editing, establish access to deal with imminent or potential discrimination, develop countermeasures and tools for prevention and resolution of conflict, and entrust future generations with the responsibility to use them wisely.

    Bing-Yan Zeng, Ping-Tao Tseng, *Chih-Sung Liang    

Adapted from: www.thelancet.com, vol. 401, June 24, 2023 at https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0140-6736%2823%2901084-X

Read the text and answer the following question. 

Do you assess your students or do you just test them? 

[01] Assessment, evaluation, measurement, grades, tests, marks and so on. Different words to talk about the same issue. But, should they be used as synonyms? 

[02] There are some terms that we often use synonymously, but actually they are not. When you assess your students, regardless of whether you use a test or not, you evaluate all the information in order to measure it and grade them. 

[03] Let´s make it clear: 

-Assessment implies gathering information and observing progress. We can document attitudes, knowledge and skills. 

-Evaluation is the organisation of the data obtained during the assessment; for instance, using grids, checklist or diaries. 

-Measurement is the scale we decide to use in order to measure the evaluation. We measure by marks, ranks or scores, among others. 

-Grade is the number obtained in the measurement. 

-Testing is a measuring tool. We can use a test, an examination or a quiz to challenge the student´s ability or knowledge. 

[04] If you really want to assess your students and make it an active part of their own learning, promoting autonomy and metacognition, they have to know, from the very beginning, about the assessment, evaluation and grading criteria, as well as about the examinations, if there are going to be some. 

[05] Assessment should be a continuous process, gathering information in every lesson and getting to know our students more and more each day, both their personal and academic profile. In order to evaluate this data, we can use simple checklists, a classroom diary, grids or similar instruments, as well as the activities themselves. 

[06] When dealing with all of these tools you have to think carefully about how you are going to measure the information and how you are going to award the final grade. Moreover, you have to weigh up the benefits of testing your students with one or more quizzes and examinations. 

[07] As we all know, changes are possible, and in many cases necessary, in order to adapt your theory to the actual development of the lessons. Nevertheless, all these aspects should be planned and clear from the very beginning, both for you and for your students. It could also be interesting to make them clear to the families, for instance using a classroom blog in which you can publish your evaluation methods and criteria. 

[08] This could be a general example: 

[09] From this general proposal, we would develop a checklist with items relating to attitude: participation, collaboration, deadline accomplishment, attendance, and so on. This is a progressive assessment. 

[10] The activities should be corrected using different tools, depending on their nature. For example, it is not the same correcting a writing or a speaking activity (we can create grids for those, alone or with our students) than correcting a grammar exercise or a listening one (we can correct them using more traditional measuring scales or we could use peer evaluation). We would have to make all those criteria clear to our students before using them. 

[11] Quizzes can be used in order to prepare our students for the final examination. We can use new technologies in order to introduce them, with tools such as Kahoot, Mentimeter, Socrative or Google Forms, among many others. They can create their own quizzes and games, in groups or individually in order to challenge their classmates. 

[12] The final examination could be made up of more than one paper, for instance, we could divide it in two, or even in more items, in order to give them the opportunity to practise and avoid risking their final grade on just one exam. 

[13] Apart from the possibility of dividing the final examination in two parts, another option would be to divide it according to different skills, for example, on the one hand, a test having to do with grammar, vocabulary, reading and writing and, on the other hand, another having to do with speaking and listening. Flipgrid could be a very useful tool to carry out your oral examinations in a less stressful way. 

[14] Before I finish, although we haven´t given specific solutions to the complex problem of assessment, I would like to sum up with some general tips about the issue: -Necessity of an objective and continuous assessment. 

-Necessity of an objective and continuous assessment. 

-Use a variety of evaluation tools, not only for the exams, but also for the process: different types of activities, exams and corrections, to respond to every single student. That will make it less subjective. 

-Make the evaluation and marking criteria clear to your students. You can make them part of the process, for example creating grids or checklists together. 

-Introduce peer evaluation and self-asessment. 

-Be prepared to adapt your planning when necessary. 

[15] And remember, try to point out the positive aspects of your students´ achievements, don´t give them only feedback about their weak points, tell them about their strong points too and try to be quick in giving them back their exercises or exams results, otherwise they will have completely forgotten what they have written. 

[16] The more you get to know your students, the more accurate your assessments will be, enabling them to obtain higher marks in your evaluations, tests, activities or examinations. 

(Available at: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/professional-development/teachers/assessinglearners/magazine/do-you-assess-your-students-or-do-you Access on September 08, 2023) 

O texto IV refere-se a questão.

TEXTO IV³

³ Fonte:

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2017/07/24/business/24A RCTIC2/24ARCTIC2-jumbo.jpg

Future of jobs 

A survey conducted ______ 1 the World Economic Forum and published in May 2023 reveals that approximately 25% of jobs will ______ 2 significant changes in the next five years.

The report indicates that by 2027, 69 million jobs will be created, while 83 million jobs will be eliminated, resulting in a ______ 3 employment decrease of 2%. The survey incorporates input from over 800 companies that employ more than 11 million workers and utilizes a dataset of 673 million jobs. The report highlights technology and digitalization as the catalysts for both job ______ 4 and destruction.

Secretarial and clerical roles such as bank tellers and cashiers are expected to decline rapidly due to automation, while there will be a growing demand for experts in AI, machine learning, and cybersecurity.

Source (adapted):  https://www.newsinlevels.com/products/future-of-jobs-level3/

Two US banks collapse 

Last week, Silicon Valley Bank failed, and it left customers in a tough spot as the government took ______ 1 . 

The so-called bank run happened because there ______ 2 news that the bank couldn’t meet its deposit obligations. It means that it had invested the money in various things that weren’t making the money back. Typically, that’s the point where the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, ______ 3 insures deposits ______ 4 250,000 dollars, comes in. However, 98% of Silicon Valley Bank customers didn’t have 250,000 dollars but billions of dollars. The government announced that it would step in and secure the depositors, with US president Joe Biden ______ 5 that the US banking system was safe. 

Shortly after the fall of Silicon Valley Bank, regulators closed New York-based Signature Bank, too, citing systemic risk. Experts said that these stories would continue repeating themselves because many corporations were overleveraged in dollar debt.

After the collapse, European banks lost 100 billion dollars in value in a week, and despite tough regulations that should make a similar banking failure in Europe unlikely, the contagion is accelerating.

Source: https://www.newsinlevels.com/products/two-usbanks-collapse-level-3/