James Elwick
I'm interested in how knowledge is shared and trusted, and the emergence of what we like to call a "meritocracy." I study "knowledge infrastructures." These include boring topics like assessment, certification, and tutoring, exciting topics like cheating (on tests and on scientific research), and emerging topics such as the use of AIs / LLMs in assessment.
I've written two books.
One, *Making a Grade* (2021), is a history of the emergence of 'standardized' testing and its infrastructure in the UK and its empire between 1845 and 1894. It focuses not just on how exams were administered, but also on how candidates crammed and even cheated on these exams, and recreates an 1874 animal physiology exam administered by "Darwin's Bulldog," T.H.Huxley. It was taken by 6834 candidates.
The other, *Styles of Reasoning,* (2007) is a history of the life sciences in the thirty years before Darwin (focusing on the history of neuroscience, reproduction, and morphology, situating these fields in their cultural context), that tries to understand why people like A.R. Wallace thought Herbert Spencer knew more about evolution than he did. What all these fields had in common was a debate over biological individuality. This was forgotten about after 1859. This wasn't just because of Darwinism but because new biologists such as T.H. Huxley seized control of the means of reproducing new biologists, in schooling and examinations.
I've written two books.
One, *Making a Grade* (2021), is a history of the emergence of 'standardized' testing and its infrastructure in the UK and its empire between 1845 and 1894. It focuses not just on how exams were administered, but also on how candidates crammed and even cheated on these exams, and recreates an 1874 animal physiology exam administered by "Darwin's Bulldog," T.H.Huxley. It was taken by 6834 candidates.
The other, *Styles of Reasoning,* (2007) is a history of the life sciences in the thirty years before Darwin (focusing on the history of neuroscience, reproduction, and morphology, situating these fields in their cultural context), that tries to understand why people like A.R. Wallace thought Herbert Spencer knew more about evolution than he did. What all these fields had in common was a debate over biological individuality. This was forgotten about after 1859. This wasn't just because of Darwinism but because new biologists such as T.H. Huxley seized control of the means of reproducing new biologists, in schooling and examinations.
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Books by James Elwick
Written with humour, Making a Grade looks at how standardized testing practices quietly appeared, and then spread worldwide. This book situates mass exams, marks, and credentials in an emerging paper-based meritocracy, arguing that such exams often first appeared as "cameras" to neutrally record achievement, and then became "engines" to change education as people tailored their behaviour to fit these tests. Taking the perspectives of both examiners and examinees, Making a Grade claims that our own culture’s desire for accountability through objective testing has a long history.
Papers by James Elwick
Book Reviews by James Elwick
Written with humour, Making a Grade looks at how standardized testing practices quietly appeared, and then spread worldwide. This book situates mass exams, marks, and credentials in an emerging paper-based meritocracy, arguing that such exams often first appeared as "cameras" to neutrally record achievement, and then became "engines" to change education as people tailored their behaviour to fit these tests. Taking the perspectives of both examiners and examinees, Making a Grade claims that our own culture’s desire for accountability through objective testing has a long history.