Pakistan Test Victory Over Australia At Last!

Pakistan finally defeated Australia in a test match after a string of 13 consecutive defeats over 15 years! The last Test cricket win Pakistan enjoyed was against New Zealand back in December 2009.

The three wickets win comes at a crucial time when the Pakistani nation really needs it to boost their sagging morale. Appropriately, the young Pakistani captain Salman Butt, who led the team for the first time after Shahid Afridi abruptly retired from test cricket, told the BBC that "we dedicate this win to the people of Pakistan who would have loved to have come and watched us playing at home.

"We remember them and hopefully we'll be back soon playing in Pakistan."

"It was really nerve-wracking towards the end and I think my young team did a great job," added 25-year-old Butt, who was grateful Australia captain Ricky Ponting chose to bat first in helpful bowling conditions on the opening day.

"He would bat on a river as well I think, he bats everywhere!

"It looked good to bat but Mikey [former West Indies fast bowler Michael Holding] told me you look up at Headingley not at the pitch and I think he was right."

Prior to this test match, Pakistan won two consecutive T20 matches against Australia, and then lost the first test match mainly due to irresponsible bating by Pakistan's middle order. The first test loss came in spite of Pakistan's superior bowling attack led by Mohamad Aamer, Muhammad Asif and Umar Gul in both matches. And Pakistan's middle order batsmen appeared to be very tentative and lost their wickets in quick succession to score the last 40 runs to win the second test.

Cricinfo.com commentator Andrew Miller captured the essence of the fourth day well with the following words:

"The margin of victory looked more comfortable than it felt, and that's putting it mildly. The eventual difference between the sides was the wicketkeeper, Kamran Akmal, whose 13 from 26 balls was as close as Pakistan came to a composed fourth-day performance. That said, had Akmal been given out caught in the gully with five runs still required, who knows what miracles might have transpired. Mike Hussey's low scoop was turned down by the TV umpire, but after Mohammad Aamer had edged another four to balance the books, Akmal slammed another chance which Hussey this time plucked to his left.

After Akmal's fall, the winning run was scored by Umar Gul to make history by breaking the losing test spell for Pakistan against Australia.

Regardless of how Pakistan's win came, I expect it to have an extremely positive effect on Pakistanis' psyche under the circumstances. Let's hope that this Australia-Pakistan encounter is followed by wins in all three formats against England in England, a formidable challenge indeed given how well England have recently been playing.

Here's a video clip of Pakistan's celebration after win against Australia:



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Pakistan Beat Kiwis, Draw Test Series

After a string of 12 test match losses over the last three years, Pakistan won convincingly today against New Zealand by 141 runs at the Basin Reserve in Wellington. Pakistan's bowling attack, the Akmal brothers superb batting performance and patient scoring and leadership by Mohammad Yousuf were crucial in winning.

Ross Taylor's valiant second innings stand that added 97 runs couldn't save the Kiwis from defeat. In the end, Pakistan 264 (Kamran Akmal 70, Vettori 4-53, Tuffey 4-64) and 239 (Yousuf 83, Umar Akmal 52, Martin 4-52, O'Brien 4-66) beat New Zealand 99 (Asif 4-40, Kaneria 3-6) and 263 (Taylor 97, Asif 5-67, Kaneria 3-94) by 141 runs

Pakistan's terrible test cricket performance has been in sharp contrast to its successes in T20 matches, including the World Championship.

As always, Pakistanis owe their test win to the great bowling attack led by Asif and Kaneria. The win came in spite of the lackluster Pakistani fielding with over half dozen dropped catches, particularly in the second innings.

Pakistan's first test win in three years coincided with neighboring India achieving the top ICC rank for test cricket. Before their 2-0 victory over Sri Lanka in the recently concluded home series, India were ranked third with 119 points after Sri Lanka and chart-toppers South Africa (122). The two consecutive innings victories in Kanpur and Mumbai earned India five points, taking them two clear of South Africa, while Sri Lanka slipped below Australia to fourth place. England and Pakistan occupy the fifth and sixth places respectively. Pakistan also ranks 6th in ICC ODI rankings while Australia and India occupy number 1 and two spots.

In recent international tournaments, India have been sent home early during 2009---T20 in England and ICC Trophy in South Africa.

While Pakistan won the T20 title in England, Indians couldn't even make the semis. In ICC trophy, India were eliminated early while Pakistan defeated India and made it to the semi-final.

In terms of the history of India-Pakistan cricket encounters in all three formats, Pakistanis continue to have an edge over their Indian rivals:

Tests ODI Twenty20

Matches played 59 118 3
Won by Pakistan 12 69 1
Won by India 9 45 1
Draw/Tie/No result 38 4 1


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Teaching Facts Versus Reasoning

International math and science test results have consistently shown for over a decade that Asian students from China, Japan, Singapore and Korea perform better than American students. In spite of such results, the US continues to excel in scientific and technological innovation as measured by the number of Nobel prizes and number of international patent filings. Most of the recent breakthrough innovations have come from the United States. Six of the top ten highest ranked universities are in the United States. There is only one Silicon Valley in the world and it is in the United States. This valley represents more of a state of mind rather than a physical place. Why is it? Do Americans focus more on scientific reasoning than facts and content? Is there greater focus on rote learning in Asia? Do Americans foster more creativity and greater exploration? Does freedom of expression in America encourage more questioning and better reasoning? Though it does not clearly answer these questions, a new study recently done at Ohio State University tries to shed some light on the question of learning facts versus reason. Here is a report of this study:

Newswise — A study of college freshmen in the United States and in China found that Chinese students know more science facts than their American counterparts -- but both groups are nearly identical when it comes to their ability to do scientific reasoning.

Neither group is especially skilled at reasoning, however, and the study suggests that educators must go beyond teaching science facts if they hope to boost students’ reasoning ability.

Researchers tested nearly 6,000 students majoring in science and engineering at seven universities -- four in the United States and three in China. Chinese students greatly outperformed American students on factual knowledge of physics -- averaging 90 percent on one test, versus the American students’ 50 percent, for example.

But in a test of science reasoning, both groups averaged around 75 percent -- not a very high score, especially for students hoping to major in science or engineering.

The research appears in the January 30, 2009 issue of the journal Science.

Lei Bao, associate professor of physics at Ohio State University and lead author of the study, said that the finding defies conventional wisdom, which holds that teaching science facts will improve students’ reasoning ability.

“Our study shows that, contrary to what many people would expect, even when students are rigorously taught the facts, they don’t necessarily develop the reasoning skills they need to succeed,” Bao said. “Because students need both knowledge and reasoning, we need to explore teaching methods that target both.”

Bao directs Ohio State’s Physics Education Research Group, which is developing new strategies for teaching science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. For this study, he and his colleagues across the United States and in China decided to compare students from both countries, because the educational systems are so different.

In the United States, only one-third of students take a year-long physics course before they graduate from high school. The rest only study physics within general science courses. Curricula vary widely from school to school, and students can choose among elective courses.

In China, however, every student in every school follows exactly the same curriculum, which includes five years of continuous physics classes from grades 8 through 12. All students must perform well on a national exam if they hope to enter college, and the exam contains advanced physics problems.

“Each system has its strengths and weaknesses,” Bao said. “In China, schools emphasize a very extensive learning of STEM content knowledge, while in the United States, science courses are more flexible, with simpler content but with a high emphasis on scientific methods. We need to think of a new strategy, perhaps one that blends the best of both worlds.”

The students who participated in the study were all incoming freshmen who had just enrolled in a calculus-based introductory physics course. They took three multiple-choice tests: two which tested knowledge of physics concepts, and one which tested scientific reasoning.

The first test, the Force Concept Inventory, measures students’ basic knowledge of mechanics -- the action of forces on objects. Most Chinese students scored close to 90 percent, while the American scores varied widely from 25-75 percent, with an average of 50.

The second test, the Brief Electricity and Magnetism Assessment, measures students’ understanding of electric forces, circuits, and magnetism, which are often considered to be more abstract concepts and more difficult to learn than mechanics. Here Chinese students averaged close to 70 percent while American students averaged around 25 percent -- a little better than if they had simply picked their multiple-choice answers randomly.

The third test, the Lawson Classroom Test of Scientific Reasoning, measures science skills beyond the facts. Students are asked to evaluate scientific hypotheses, and reason out solutions using skills such as proportional reasoning, control of variables, probability reasoning, correlation reasoning, and hypothetical-deductive reasoning. Both American and Chinese students averaged a 75 percent score.

Bao explained that STEM students need to excel at scientific reasoning in order to handle open-ended real-world tasks in their future careers in science and engineering.

Ohio State graduate student and study co-author Jing Han echoed that sentiment. “To do my own research, I need to be able to plan what I’m going to investigate and how to do it. I can’t just ask my professor or look up the answer in a book,” she said.

“These skills are especially important today, when we are determined to build a society with a sustainable edge in science and technology in a fast-evolving global environment,” Bao said.

He quickly added that reasoning is a good skill for everyone to possess -- not just scientists and engineers.

“The general public also needs good reasoning skills in order to correctly interpret scientific findings and think rationally,” he said.

How to boost scientific reasoning? Bao points to inquiry-based learning, where students work in groups, question teachers and design their own investigations. This teaching technique is growing in popularity worldwide.

Ohio State is exploring inquiry-based learning in its physics classes. Here students use hand-held electronic devices called clickers to answer multiple-choice questions during lectures. They work together to answer questions, and professors use the clicker interaction to guide student learning towards a more investigative style. The department is also adopting an inquiry-based curriculum for undergraduate physics courses.

Bao and Han’s coauthors on the study included Jing Wang, Qing Liu and Lin Ding of Ohio State; Tianfan Cai and Yufeng Wang of Beijing Jiaotong University; Kathy Koenig of Wright State University; Kai Fang of Tongji University; Lili Cui of the University of Maryland at Baltimore County; Ying Luo of Beijing Normal University; and Lieming Li and Nianle Wu of Tsinghua University.

This research was supported by the Department of Physics at Ohio State.

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Will Pakistan Test Obama?

"Mark my words. It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking," said Barack H. Obama's running mate Joseph Biden last Sunday in Seattle, Washington.

"Remember I said it standing here. if you don't remember anything else I said. Watch, we're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy. And he's gonna have to make some really tough -- I don't know what the decision's gonna be, but I promise you it will occur. As a student of history and having served with seven presidents, I guarantee you it's gonna happen," Biden continued.

Biden is often described as a "gaffe" machine. So, it is not strange to see that it is Joe Biden, of all people, who "promised" the world of an "international crisis" that will "test the mettle" of his young running mate within six months. What a gift to the McCain campaign at this moment when Obama is enjoying double digit lead over McCain.

As expected McCain campaign jumped on it. "The next president won't have time to get used to the office. We face many challenges here at home and many enemies abroad in this dangerous world," John McCain said. "We don't want a president who invites 'testing' from the world at a time when our economy is in crisis and Americans are already fighting two wars."

McCain said it was even "more troubling" that Biden suggested supporters stick by Obama if the actions he takes are wrong or unpopular.

"Senator Obama won't have the right response, and we know that because we've seen the wrong response from him over and over during this campaign," he said.

While Biden did not elaborate on the likely scenarios that will test Obama, McCain's running mate Sarah Palin thinks Obama's Pakistan stance and the potential international crisis there that could be one of the test scenarios for Obama. Other crisis scenarios for young Obama include situations in Iran, Georgia, Iraq and Joe Biden's mouth!

Here's what she said in Reno, Nevada on Tuesday:

He told Democrat donors to mark his words – that there were “at least four or five scenarios” that would place our country at risk in an Obama administration. Thanks for the warning, Joe!

He didn’t specify what all those four or five scenarios will be, but for clues, let’s review the Obama foreign policy agenda.

Our opponent wants to sit down with the world’s worst dictators. With no preconditions, he proposes to meet with a regime in Teheran that vows to “wipe Israel off the map.” Let’s call that crisis scenario number one.

Senator Obama has also advocated sending our U.S. military into Pakistan without the approval of the Pakistani government. Invading the sovereign territory of a troubled partner in the war against terrorism. We’ll call that scenario number two.

He opposed the surge strategy that has finally brought victory in Iraq within sight. He’s voted to cut off funding for our troops, leaving our young men and women at grave risk. He wants to pull out, leaving some 25 million Iraqis at the mercy of Iranian-supported Shiite extremists and al Qaeda in Iraq. By his own admission, this could mean our troops would have to go back to Iraq. Crisis scenario number three.

After the Russian army invaded the nation of Georgia, Senator Obama’s reaction was one of indecision and moral equivalence – the kind of response that would only encourage Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine next. That would be crisis scenario number four.

But I guess the looming crisis that most worries the Obama campaign right now is Joe Biden’s next speaking engagement. Let’s call that crisis scenario number five.

The real problem is that these warnings from Joe Biden are similar to his earlier assessment of Barack Obama. It wasn’t so long ago that he said Barack Obama wasn’t up to the job, and that, quote, “the presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training.”

The same Joe Biden said he would be honored to run on the ticket with John McCain because, quote, “the country would be better off.” And here we have some common ground. I want a president who spent 22 years in uniform defending our country. I want a president who isn’t afraid to use the word “victory” when he talks about the wars we are fighting. I want a president who’s ready on Day One. I want a president with the experience and the judgment and the wisdom to meet the next international crisis – or better yet to avoid it. I want John McCain as our commander-in-chief.

I believe there will be massive challenges on diplomatic, economic and national security fronts regardless of who is elected to the While House this November. The new president will not have much of a honeymoon period. If the new president does not hit the ground running, no amount of expert advice will suffice. The new president will require both judgment and experience to respond quickly to potential crises.