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THE COMPUTER AIDED LEARNING STUDY IN THE STATE OF ORISSA Joint Initiative of Government of Orissa and AZIM PREMJI FOUNDATION

JUNE 2010

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Table of Contents

Abbreviations Used ........................................................................................................................ 3

List of tables ............................................................................................................................................. 4

Summary ......................................................................................................................................... 5

Aim of the Study ............................................................................................................................ 9

Need for such a study ................................................................................................................... 9

Computer aided learning: the International Scene ................................................................ 10

Background of the Study ............................................................................................................ 12

Scope of the Study:..................................................................................................................... 13

Design of the Study..................................................................................................................... 13

Indicators for studying the Impact of Technology: ............................................................... 14

Components of the Study .......................................................................................................... 14

A diagrammatic representation of the Study .......................................................................... 16

Nomenclature of various parties to the Study ........................................................................ 16

Approach to Technology............................................................................................................. 16

CAL Study in Orissa ..................................................................................................................... 17

District & Sample Size ................................................................................................................. 18

Educational Profile of the District .............................................................................................. 19

Why was Nayagarh district chosen? ......................................................................................... 19

Sample Selection ......................................................................................................................... 20

Number of students at the time of sample selection ............................................................. 20

Profile of the Teachers................................................................................................................ 20

Timeline of Events ....................................................................................................................... 21

Baseline ......................................................................................................................................... 22

Tools used for Baseline: ............................................................................................................... 23

(a) Reading Ability Test (RAT): ............................................................................................... 23

(b) Competency–Based Achievement Test in Math and EVS .............................................. 27

Workflow of the tool development .............................................................................................. 27

Chalking out Assessable Curricular Competencies: .................................................................. 28

Development of a Common Assessment Framework: ............................................................. 28

EVS & Math assessment framework ........................................................................................... 28

EVS CONTENT DOMAIN ................................................................................................................ 28

EVS COGNITIVE DOMAINS .......................................................................................................... 30

MATHEMATICS CONTENT DOMAINS.......................................................................................... 32

MATHEMATICS COGNITIVE DOMAINS....................................................................................... 32

Blueprint Design: ........................................................................................................................... 34

Developing the Blueprint for EVS. ............................................................................................... 34

Question Distribution in EVS cognitive domains ....................................................................... 35

Developing the Blueprint for Math .............................................................................................. 37

Question Distribution in Math cognitive domains ..................................................................... 38

Item Development & Scoring Guides: ........................................................................................ 39

ITEM DEVELOPMENT IN EVS ....................................................................................................... 40

ITEM DEVELOPMENT IN MATH ................................................................................................... 45

Panel Review of tools:................................................................................................................... 46

Validation of the Competency-based Achievement Test in Math and EVS: ......................... 47

Field Testing of tools: ................................................................................................................... 48

(c) Teacher‘s attitude & self-efficacy ...................................................................................... 50

(d) ICT Tool ................................................................................................................................ 52

Administration of the Tests: Baseline Survey ......................................................................... 52

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Deployment of tools .................................................................................................................... 53

Results & Discussion ................................................................................................................... 54

Reading Ability Test ....................................................................................................................... 54

Competency Achievement Test in Math ..................................................................................... 57

Competency Achievement Test in EVS ....................................................................................... 59

TEACHER RESULTS AND ANALYSIS ......................................................................................... 62

Results of Teachers‘ Survey and ICT ....................................................................................... 65

Teacher Development Interaction (TDI) and On-Site Support ............................................ 66

First Teacher Development Interaction (TDI 1) ..................................................................... 67

Second, Third and Fourth Teacher Development Interactions (TDI 2, 3 & 4) .................. 72

Impact of Language support ..................................................................................................... 75

TDI 5 on Math and On-site support ......................................................................................... 76

Teacher Network Meetings ........................................................................................................ 82

Technology support..................................................................................................................... 86

Revision Games ........................................................................................................................... 87

Impact of the Study on Teachers ............................................................................................. 90

Reasons for pulling out of Orissa .............................................................................................. 91

Conclusions ................................................................................................................................... 91

References .................................................................................................................................... 93

Annexure 1 – Charts displaying RAT and CAT Results .......................................................... 95

Annexure 2 - Tabulated RAT & CAT data ................................................................................ 97

Annexure 3 – Teacher Tools .................................................................................................... 110

ICT TOOL ...................................................................................................................................... 110

Teacher Information & Perceptions .......................................................................................... 113

Teacher‘s Sense of Self Efficacy & Attitude ............................................................................. 116

Approach to Pedagogy: Classroom Scenarios ........................................................................ 118

Annexure 4: Reading Ability TEST: RAT ................................................................................ 125

Sample page of a Running RecordAnnexure 5 – CAT Tools ................................................. 136

Annexure 5 – CAT Tools ............................................................................................................. 137

Mathematics ................................................................................................................................. 137

Class 2 ........................................................................................................................................... 137

Mathematics ................................................................................................................................. 141

Class 3 ........................................................................................................................................... 141

Mathematics ................................................................................................................................. 145

Class 4 ........................................................................................................................................... 145

Annexure 6 – Classroom Observation themes and format ................................................. 150

SECTION I - Overall school observations at start of school ................................................ 150

SECTION II - Classroom Observation Themes ........................................................................ 151

Annexure 7 Curricular Competencies in Math and EVS ....................................................... 157

Abbreviations Used CAL: Computer Aided Learning CAT: Competency Achievement Test CRO: Class Room Observations E1: Experimental Group 1 (with technology) E2: Experimental Group 2 (without technology) EVS: Environmental Studies HT: Head Teacher MCQ: Multiple Choice Question RAT: Reading Ability Test TDI: Teacher Development Interaction TNM: Teacher Network Meeting

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List of tables Table 1: Summary of Meta-Analysis

Table 2: Educational Profile of Nayagarh District

Table 3: Number of students in the three classes

Table 4a: Question Distribution across content domains for EVS

Table 4b: Question Distribution across cognitive domains for EVS

Table 5a: Question Distribution in Math (Classes 3-5)

Table 5b: Mathematics Cognitive Domains expressed as a percentage as per baseline tools.

Table 6: Average of expressed sense of efficacy of teachers

Table 7: Conviction with which self-efficacy was expressed in E1, E2 and Control Schools

All the following tables appear in ANNEXURES:

Table 8: RAT & CAT data of all classes

Table 9: Reading Results Disaggregation

Table 10: Percentage of students who are able to read at different levels of accuracy and their

comprehension levels in classes 3, 4 and 5 separately

Table 11: In E1 Schools, percentage of children who are able to read and their accuracy levels

Table 12: In E2 Schools, percentage of children who are able to read and their accuracy levels

Table 13: No. of students tested on Competency Achievement in Math

Table 14: Overall achievement in Mathematics

Table 15: Performance in the content domain: number sense

Table 16: Performance in the Content domain: Patterns

Table 17: Performance in the Content domain: Measurement

Table 18: Performance in Cognitive Domains (Analysis confined to students who have given correct

answers)

Table 19: Number of students tested in EVS

Table 20: Overall achievement in EVS

Table 21: Performance in the Content domain: Social Science

Table 22: Performance in the Content domain: Life Science

Table 23: Performance in the Content domain: Physical Science

Table 24: Performance in the Content domain: Earth Science

Table 25: School wise achievement level in Math and EVS of E1 schools

Table 26: School wise achievement level in Math and EVS of E2 schools

Table 27: Teacher Attitude Analysis

Table 28: Number of teachers and their knowledge of computers

The Computer Aided Learning Project in Orissa

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Summary The Computer Aided Learning (CAL) Research project is a joint initiative of Government of Orissa and Azim Premji Foundation (a not-for-profit organization working towards improvement of quality of education in

government schools). The study emerged from the Foundation‘s experience of working with different states for the development and deployment of digital learning resources across 16 States in the country during the period

of 2002-2006. The study is being conducted in three States, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Puducherry.

This is a report of the Computer Aided Learning Study conducted in the state of Orissa.

The study aimed to explore if computer-aided learning can meaningfully impact classroom processes and

learning when deployed by enabled and empowered teachers. To test this, two experimental groups of 20 schools each (E1 and E2) were formed: in E1 schools, teachers would receive inputs in pedagogy as well as

technology, and in E2 schools, teachers would receive inputs in pedagogy alone. In addition, there was a

control group of 20 schools where no inputs at all were provided.

The study aims to systematically and scientifically explore the strength of technology in creating positive influences in the education process; more specifically, to enable the teacher to provide a multiplicity of learning

experiences. Hence, this research study encompasses a robust process of teacher preparation and support to the

teacher at the school and cluster level, with the help of a team of resource persons. Its components include Teacher Development Interactions, School Visits and Teacher Network Meetings.

A significant amount of data on the learning levels of students was obtained from the baseline survey. Its

objective was to gather data on the prevailing levels of competence of the students in areas like reading, comprehension, Mathematics and EVS. Questionnaires to gauge teacher attitudes and perceptions on the goals

and means of education also formed part of the survey. The baseline survey, in conjunction with the midline and

endline surveys, was intended to serve as a means of measuring the change instrumented by the CAL project in the experimental schools. The baseline data were used for three purposes.

a) To document the prevailing status b) To provide the backdrop and inputs to the Teacher Development Interactions.

c) To become the basis for providing need-based on-site support.

The study looked at: (a) Reading abilities of students, (Reading Ability Test, RAT)

(b) Competency in Math and EVS, (Competency Achievement Test, CAT) (c) Beliefs and attitudes of teachers.

(d) ICT Tool The Baseline Survey revealed that of the nearly 4000 students tested, approximately 70% were able to read

with different levels of accuracy and comprehension, while 30% were wholly unable to read. In the areas of

Mathematics and EVS, around 50% of the answers given by children were entirely correct, while 30% and an alarming 44% of the answers respectively were entirely wrong.

Given below are the broad results of the reading abilities of students in the three groups of schools:

There are slightly fewer students who are unable to read in E1 schools (29.71%) compared to students

in E2 and control schools (36% in E2 schools and 35% in control schools).

Students who are able to read with fewer errors (that is accuracy above 80%) show a slightly higher

comprehension level than students who show low accuracy levels in the E1, E2 and Control schools.

Students have a low comprehension level, irrespective of levels of accuracy, in all the three groups of

schools.

These results show that students by and large read with very little understanding. They basically decode the letters and words. Our classroom observation also shows that the emphasis is on decoding rather than

teaching for understanding. There is very little difference between E1, E2 and the control group of schools

both in the ability to read and comprehension levels.

Students who are able to read at higher levels of accuracy show more comprehension compared to

students who read at lower levels of accuracy. This trend is visible across all classes.

As students go from class 3 to class 5, their ability to read increases and correspondingly the number of

students who are able to read at higher levels of accuracy also increases.

The result throws up a very interesting relationship between ability to read with accuracy and the

comprehension. As students progress in class, they show increased ability to read, but there is a marked

and gradual decrease in comprehension.

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The focus of the CAL Study in Year One was therefore on supporting teachers to develop reading and writing

abilities of children. By the end of Year One, a large majority of teachers had developed competency in the following areas:

Identification and analysis of common reading errors

Grouping as a pedagogical strategy to address students with reading difficulties

By now, they were focussing less on grammar, i.e., form, and more on comprehension, i.e., substance.

The first year of the Study yielded several learnings for the Foundation that were to later influence both the processes of interactions with the teachers and the areas of focus in the Study. Firstly, a much clearer picture of

the levels of competency and receptiveness of the teachers emerged, and this knowledge was incorporated into the design of later interactions. Secondly, school visits attained a greater importance than planned, since they

were found to be the most influential in altering classroom practices. Thirdly, the technology component was

more seamlessly integrated into the design of the later interactions, which focused on Mathematics. The Study team has endeavoured to equip teachers with software tools that are highly pliable to adaptation. Conceptual

areas in which most teachers created resources were reading, memorisation of numbers and their multiples and common operations like addition and division. Teachers had to be supported very intensively in order to gain

proficiency in the use of these tools and operational procedures had to be repeatedly demonstrated by the study

team for the benefit of the teachers.

As part of the baseline survey, Competency Achievement Tests were also conducted in Math and EVS and the findings here were as follows:

Math - A comparison of the 3 groups shows that achievement in Math content domain is more or less similar

across all experimental groups (E1, E2 and C).

As students go from class 3 to 5, their achievement in patterns and measurement drops. The overall

achievement in Math reflects this decrease.

As students go from class 3 to 5, the percentage of wrong answers increases in class 5 in number,

patterns and measurement but not on operations.

When we look at the cognitive domain, one can see a drop in performance in questions relating to

knowledge of facts and procedures in class 4, whereas in questions requiring conceptual understanding

and reasoning, there is an increase.

In class 5, students have found questions requiring conceptual understanding and reasoning difficult.

EVS –

The maximum overall achievement in EVS has increased marginally from class 3 to 5.

The 3 groups of the Study do not differ in their achievement levels in any of the classes: 3, 4 or 5.

This pattern is uniform in all the content domains.

The achievement level in EVS centres around 42 to 51% – which is an average performance.

In all the 3 classes, students can broadly be divided into two groups, on the basis of their response

categories – the right and the wrong.

In the 3 classes, and in the 3 types of school, students achieve more in questions dealing with factual

knowledge than in questions that require reasoning and analysis.

All these together suggest that the pedagogy in these schools does not focus on non-rote learning. In reading, the emphasis is on decoding skills. As students go to higher classes, they master the decoding skills

but are not taught comprehension strategies. This explains the decrease in their comprehension levels. In Math and EVS, the achievement level suggests that there is ample scope for increasing the achievement

level. More importantly, here too, the focus of teaching is on solving routine problems and knowing facts and

procedures. So students answer without understanding. But when questions demand reasoning and analytical skills, students perform poorly.

From these results the inferences are: There is almost no difference in reading ability, Math and EVS achievement between E1, E2 and

Control schools.

In 95% schools, more than 50% students are able to read.

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In 83% schools, more than 50% students are able to read - at 80% and above accuracy levels.

In 100% schools, the total average comprehension level is within 50%.

As students go from class 3 to 5, their reading ability increases, but their comprehension level

decreases.

The average total achievement level in Math and EVS does not cross 60%.

In math, as students go from class 3 to 5, they have difficulties in patterns and measurement and in

the cognitive domain of conceptual understanding and reasoning.

In EVS, they do not seem to have any problem in any of the content domains; but performance in

reasoning questions is poor.

The teacher survey resulted in the following findings:

Teachers displayed an overall positive attitude towards teaching, learning and discipline.

They also indicated a curtailed view of knowledge as a finished good, certified by authority and closed to

investigation and interpretation.

Teachers have a limited conception of knowledge and do not believe that all children are capable of

absorbing such knowledge. The two are, in fact, related - the many different ways of knowing what children are capable of remains unrecognised, due to the belief that knowledge is only valid if it is

encoded in language that is sourced from a textbook.

By way of impact on teachers, the study reports that:

Nearly half the teachers are comfortable with using technology to supplement their classroom teaching.

They are devising new teaching tools utilising common computer applications such as Microsoft Word,

Excel and PowerPoint. A large majority of teachers have slightly altered their perception of language learning. They have picked

up the skill of analysing common reading errors and have become more sensitive to the needs of

learners, particularly those with reading and learning difficulties.

As regards, ICT tool, this was administered only to E1 school teachers, and the findings were as follows: The results show that knowledge of word processing is the maximum, followed by knowledge of basic operations

and spread sheets. In general, very few teachers have knowledge of technology.

In the Western context, where teachers are learner focused in their pedagogy technology is an add-on for enhancement of learning. In the Indian context, technology can be seen from another perspective. Here

pedagogy is teacher led. In such a situation, technology is compelling teachers to be more learner-centred because their ‗old ways do not work with technology‘.

Teachers have begun to have a deeper understanding of phrases like learner engagement, teaching for meaning, using technology as a pedagogical tool, grouping as a pedagogy, use of games/ stories/ songs for the purpose of

learning, building on existing knowledge of learners, learners constructing their own knowledge etc.,

Some teachers of Orissa have begun their journey of becoming creators of curriculum instead of its consumers. Currently this is a small number.

Even though it has been the objective of this study to gather data on several indicators related to classroom practices, the premature termination of the Study in Orissa has prevented us from doing so. As a result, we are

left only with anecdotal accounts and individual perceptions as measures of change. It was a further finding in this study that technology is best introduced to teachers in the context of teaching and not as a stand-alone

article of investigation in a training centre. It was observed that teachers enlisted technology as a teaching aid as

naturally as they would any other resource in their environment. While they certainly had to be supported in their efforts, integration of technology into their curriculum proved to be easier when compared to similar such

experiments documented in international research literature. Teachers were found to be more pliant to influence if their body of knowledge is inducted into the process of capacity building. When completely novel concepts

were introduced to them without inviting their inputs, absorption levels were low. It was only after intensive

interactions with individual teachers in which their teaching practices were understood by the researching team - and built upon - that a positive change in classroom practices was evidenced.

The study had to be prematurely terminated in the State because of non-fulfilment of two conditions critical to

ensuring effectiveness of computer aided learning. The study rested on the following conditions: a) One computer shared by three students.

b) A UPS that provides a back-up power of at least 3 hrs

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In addition to these, the study itself was based on a randomization – where the teacher profile was matched

across the three experimental conditions. Frequent teacher transfers, combined with the non-fulfilment of the critical conditions, vitiated the researc rendering it ineffective.

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Aim of the Study

The Computer Aided Learning (CAL) Research project aims to explore whether computer-aided learning can

meaningfully impact classroom processes and learning, when deployed by enabled and empowered teachers.

Need for such a study

The need for such a study comes from two sources: (a) the Foundation‘s experience in developing and deploying

digital learning resources and (b) computer aided learning across the International Scene.

Computer-aided learning (CAL) refers to the use of computers as a key component of the educational

environment. While this can refer to the use of computers in a classroom, the term more broadly refers to a

structured environment in which computers are used for teaching purposes. CAL can be used in a variety of

contexts - from conveying the foundational principles of mathematics to primary school children, to illuminating

the highly complex workings of the human body for the benefit of medical students. A CAL experience can either

be completely independent or it can be instructor/peer-supported. CAL tools can be static and non-collaborative

like CD-ROMs, or dynamic and interactive - like Instant Messenger clients and multi-player educational games.

The advent of the internet enabled both content and learning

processes to accommodate the needs, interests, proclivities, current

knowledge, and learning styles of the students.

Since 2002, the Foundation has developed about 124 digital learning

resources in curricular subjects and deployed it across 16 States. The

primary aim of developing these digital learning resources was to

make learning a joyful experience for children and thereby ensure

that they come to schools regularly. Teachers were given two days‘

training in the use of digital learning resources. This training dealt

with turning the computer on and off, inserting CDs, navigation, etc.

In 2006, an attempt was made to measure the impact of computer

aided learning (CAL). While the CAL programme of Azim Premji

Foundation has been running in several states and schools, attempts

to study the impact of technology on the learning of students did not

go through, because of certain issues which surfaced. Two such

important issues were: (a) Hardware and (b) Usage.

Hard ware Problems:

Many schools were not using computers because of issues

like inadequate power supply, delayed payment of bills, etc.

Some schools were not using computers because of hard

ware problems.

In some schools there were inadequate numbers of

computers. The child-computer ratio was highly imbalanced. [Many children sit at a single terminal.]

Usage problems:

Children see CD‘s but there is no integration of technology with the lesson.

The one-day training given to the teacher does not equip her to handle computers as a pedagogical tool.

The first virtual classroom

PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automated Teaching Operations) was the first (ca. 1960) generalized computer assisted instruction system, and, by the early 1970s, comprised some 1,000 terminals worldwide. Originally, PLATO was built by the University of Illinois and functioned for four decades, offering coursework (elementary–university) to UIUC students, local schools, and other universities. The PLATO project was assumed by the Control Data Corporation (CDC), who built the machines with

which PLATO operated at the University. CDC President William Norris planned to make PLATO a force in the computer world; the last production PLATO system was shut down in 2006, yet it established key on-line concepts: forums, message boards, online testing, e-mail, chat rooms, picture languages, instant messaging, remote screen sharing, and multi-player games.

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Because of infrequent usage, there was no data on the impact of technology on learning outcomes per

se.

An imbalanced Pupil-Teacher ratio (PTR) resulted in teachers having to send a few children at one time,

to view the CDs, without their knowing how to engage the remaining children who were not seeing the

CD.

The key learnings from this experience were that it was necessary to ensure certain factors, if computer aided

learning has to be effective. These are:

a) Technology should not be seen as divorced from pedagogy and learning.

b) The maximum number of children sharing one computer should not exceed 3.

c) There is a need for uninterrupted power supply for using computers.

d) The Teacher is the key person for use of technology.

e) Teachers must be trained in integrating technology with pedagogy.

These key learnings created a need for exploring the impact of Computer Aided Learning by putting the critical

conditions in place.

Computer aided learning: the International Scene

There is a general belief that computer technology allows educators many options for communicating,

facilitating, and enhancing teaching and learning. Despite the rapid development of computer technologies and

the increasing use of computer technologies to deliver instruction, the debate about whether or not media

enhance learning has continued unabated for the last 15 to 20 years. The central debate is around the

(un)importance of delivery systems and instructional methods. Proponents claim that computer technology

makes learning easier, more efficient, and more motivating (Schacter & Fagnano, 1999). They draw support

from research reports and reviews that show a positive learning advantage for computer-assisted instruction

when compared with traditional instruction (Fletcher-Flinn & Gravatt, 1995). Sceptics argue that if media studies

were conducted under rigorous controls, the ‗instruction method‘ and not the ‗media for instruction‘ would prove

consequential (e.g., Clark, 1983, 1994; Neal, 1998).

Findings from Twelve Meta-Analyses on Computer-Based Instruction

Instead of a thorough literature survey on the subject, we present a flavour of the status of research in the field,

using what is known as ‗meta-analysis‘. Meta-analysis, as a technique, is an integrative statistical analysis (or

reanalysis) of previous research as a means to answer new questions using old data (Glass et al., 1981). It

combines results from multiple similar individual research studies to generate a single effect size that illustrates

the treatment effect across all studies, so as to make studies comparable.

An issue in consulting a large body of literature is the varying ways in which the research reports the outcomes

of computer-assisted learning. In order to attempt to make sense from a diversity of types of statistics contained

in different reports, a measure is often used by researchers, that allows different types of information about

effects to be converted into a common measure of effectiveness, namely, an effect size. The use of effect

size allows us to combine results from multiple similar individual research studies (in this case concerning the

use of computer-assisted learning) to generate a single effect size that illustrates the treatment effect across all

studies. It provides a common expression of the magnitude of study outcomes for all types of outcome variables

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that, in this case, are achievement outcomes. It also allows a comparison of quite different types of innovations

in learning, like the use of reinforcement; parent involvement in the school and the use of peers in learning.

Effect size employs a continuum – where:

o zero means that there is no effect from introducing some innovation,

o while a negative effect indicates that the innovation has a decreased effect on achievement and

o a positive effect shows that an innovation has an increased effect on achievement.

It is calculated to determine the presence of a statistical difference in mean standard deviation units. There are

many possible ways to estimate effect sizes (for a review see Cooper & Hedges, 1994; Glass, McGaw, & Smith,

1981; Hedges & Olkin, 1985). There is the question of what is a reasonable effect size in terms of classroom

significance. This is a difficult one. Cohen (1977) provided the following ranges for mean effect size

interpretation:

o effect size (ES) .2 to .49 = small effect;

o ES .5 to .79 = medium effect, and

o ES .80 and above = large effect.

Tallmadge (1977) suggests that an effect size of .25 or more is educationally significant.

A percentile (or centile) is the value of a variable below which a certain percent of observations fall. So the

20th percentile is the value (or score) below which 20 percent of the observations may be found. Here, the last

column in the table below gives the percentile gain over the control group, thus showing the increase in the test

of achievement in the group that received computer aided instruction, over the control group.

Table 1: Summary of Meta-Analysis

Authors of Meta-

Analysis

Instructional Level Number of

Studies

Analysed

Average

Effect

Size

Percentile Gain

over Control

Group

Bangert-Drowns, J.

Kulik, & C. Kulik (1985)

Secondary 51 .25 10

Burns & Bozeman

(1981)

Elementary &

Secondary School

44 .36 14

Cohen & Dacanay

(1991)

Health Professions

Education

38 .46 18

Fletcher (1990) Higher Education &

Adult Training

28 .50 19

Hartley (1978) Elementary &

Secondary Math

33 .41 16

C. Kulik & J. Kulik

(1986)

College 119 .29 11

C. Kulik & J. Kulik, &

Shwalb (1986)

Adult Education 30 .38 15

J. Kulik, C. Kulik, &

Bangert-Drowns (1985)

Elementary 44 .40 16

Niemiec & Walbert

(1985)

Elementary 48 .37 14

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Roblyer (1988) Elementary to Adult

Education

82 .31 12

Schmidt, Weinstein,

Niemiec, & Walberg

(1985)

Special Education 18 .57 22

Willett, Yamashita, &

Anderson (1983)

Pre-College Science 11 .22 9

Note: Table excerpted from Kulik, James A. (1994)

Kulik (1994) conducted a meta-analysis of 12 Computer Based Instruction (CBI) meta-analytic studies

based on 546 individual studies. He reported average effect sizes ranging from .25 to .57, or between 10 and 22

percentile gain over a control group who performed at the 50th percentile. In addition, Kulik reports that

students learned more in less time when they received computer-based instruction, and that students liked their

classes more and developed more positive attitudes when their classes include computer-based instruction.

These findings suggest that students who engaged in CBI performed significantly better than students who did

not. However, CBI did not have positive effects in every area in which they were studied. As can be seen in the

above Table, achievement differed with educational level. At elementary level, effect sizes were greater, .37 to

.40, or between 14 and 16 percentile gain, whereas at secondary and college level, effect sizes were smaller, .25

and .29, respectively.

The implementation of CBI in special education seemed to be most effective, with effect size .57, or 22

percentile gain. This may be due to the effect of individualisation of the learning process to accommodate

students‘ learning needs. Similar to the findings of Niemiec and Walberg (1987), Kulik‘s findings suggest that

Computer Aided Instruction is more effective in improving achievement of younger students and students with

special learning needs.

The challenge for educators is that studying the relationship between computer technology assisted instruction

and learning outcomes has been complicated by changing emphases, resulting from the development of learning

theories, teaching methods, and technologies, as well as their differential impact on individual students.

However, to produce meaningful learning, it is necessary to have a clear understanding of which technologies

under what conditions are best suited to enhance learning and achievement of which group of students (Parr,

2000).

All the studies quoted above were conducted in learning contexts in the Western and/or developed world. The

impact of computer technologies in Indian classrooms is an area of much speculation and assumption, in lieu of

actual research. Very few studies have thrown up conclusive results on the subject, focussing merely on

technologies used and infrastructural deficiencies rather than learning outcomes (Pal, Pawar, Brewer, Toyoma,

2006).

This CAL study was conceptualised to fill this void of evidence.

Background of the Study

The Computer Aided Learning (CAL) Research Study was conceptualized in 2007 by Azim Premji Foundation (a

not-for-profit organization working towards improvement of quality of education in government schools) in

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collaboration with the Governments of Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Puducherry. The study emerged from the

Foundation‘s experience of working with different states for the development and deployment of multimedia

educational software during the period of 2002-2006. This experience of five years brought to the Foundation‘s

notice several parameters as critical success factors in the meaningful deployment of educational software - like

the integration of technology with classroom process and teachers‘ pedagogy, teacher development and

leadership. This is a report of the study in the state of Orissa only.

Scope of the Study:

The study is limited to classes 3, 4 and 5, and is designed to explore the following questions when technology is

used by enabled and empowered teachers:

How does technology influence student academic performance?

How has technology been used to improve basic reading skills?

How has technology been used to improve mathematics and problem solving skills?

How did technology develop higher order thinking and problem solving?

How did technology address the needs of low performing, at-risk, and students with learning disabilities?

How was technology infused into the curriculum and instruction effectively?

What strategies resulted in effective instructional applications of technology?

Design of the Study

There are three study groups comprising:

1. 20 of the schools forming a control group, where teachers do not receive any inputs whatsoever,

2. 20 schools forming an experimental group (E1) where teachers receive inputs in pedagogy as well as

technology, and

3. 20 schools forming an experimental group (E2) where teachers receive inputs in pedagogy alone.

Research Design

Experimental Schools (1) N= 20

Teacher development with pedagogical and technology inputs

Experimental Schools (2) N= 20

Teacher Development with pedagogical inputs only

Control Schools N= 20

No Inputs

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Indicators for studying the Impact of Technology:

Impact On Ways of measuring this impact

For Learners Learning Outcomes Achievement Tests –

overall achievement, as well as

achievement on specific thinking-based

questions and on concepts for which

we will use technology, as well as

questions asked by students – their

number and type

Attendance Head count

Attendance register - taken for one day

in every month

Overall increase in attendance

Impact On Ways of measuring this impact

For

Teachers

Reduced absenteeism Attendance registers

Increased punctuality School Visits

Sense of self efficacy and promoting

reflective practices

Teacher attitude surveys

Impact On Ways of measuring this impact

Classroom

Processes

Primacy to students‘ experiences

and expressions in teaching as well

as in the physical layout of the

classroom (that is, a learner-centred

classroom)

Classroom Observation

Encouraging questioning by children

Teachers connecting to child‘s

experiences, and designing &

integrating learning experiences

(with the teacher as a facilitator),

prompting and emphasizing

equitable distribution of resources

and treatment of students.

Components of the Study

The study aims to systematically and scientifically explore the strength of technology in creating positive

influences in the education process; more specifically, to enable the teacher to provide a multiplicity of learning

15

experiences. Hence, this research study encompasses a robust process of teacher preparation and support to the

teacher at the school and cluster level, with the help of a team of resource persons. Its components are:

TDIs: The component of teacher development and academic perspective building is termed Teacher

Development Interaction (TDI). The reason is, by the very design of the study, teachers come together

periodically and engage in evolving a constructivist outlook for reforming their own academic constructs and

enriching classroom processes. TDIs were designed for better teaching of the subject areas of language,

mathematics and EVS, in that order. Since meaning is encoded in the form of language, it was decided to

concentrate on improving reading levels first, before proceeding to the other subjects. Mathematics was handled

before EVS, since teachers expressed more concern about its teaching than about the illumination of any other

subject area.

On-site support: An important component of the CAL Study is the continuous provision of support to the

teachers who attended the TDIs. On-site support includes providing resources - both digital and non-digital -

contributing ideas for new classroom activities and hand-holding teachers during trials of new concepts/

methodologies in the classroom. Continuous and ongoing classroom observations (CROs) track the changes in

classroom practices resulting from these efforts.

Teacher Network Meetings: Teacher Network Meetings (TNMs) aim to create a forum for teachers for the

purposes of self-expression and development. Through the TNMs, teachers will – it was envisioned – begin to

perceive themselves as members of a community, united by common goals and operational difficulties, instead

of as disparate units working in isolation - as is commonly the case now. It is further envisioned that, once a

sense of community has been developed, shared ideas, reflections, learnings and difficulties will inevitably

become focal points of discussion and action. Additionally, such a forum, it is hoped, will incite in teachers a

larger sense of purpose about their chosen vocation and provide a much-needed boost to their collective

confidence.

16

A diagrammatic representation of the Study

Nomenclature of various parties to the Study

Teacher: A primary level government school teacher.

Student: A primary level government school student.

Volunteer: A college student who has been inducted into the study for a temporary period to support the study

process.

Facilitator/resource person: A member of the study team who is equipped to provide pedagogical inputs - in

a particular field of study - as well as technological inputs.

Research Team: The Study team comprising of resource persons/facilitators, field level co-ordinators and

documenters.

Approach to Technology

Most interventions [UNESCO. (2005) Information and Communication Technologies in Schools: A Handbook for

Teachers or How ICT can create new, open learning environments] in this area of education - i.e., integrating

technology into the classroom - endeavour to acquaint teachers with the theory and tools of technology first,

before attempting to introduce the same into classrooms. Elaborate training workshops are conducted for

teachers to orient them in the use of common operating systems, office tools, and special instructional software

packages. They are then supported to use these tools to elucidate concepts and theories in different subject

areas. The underlying assumption is that acquiring knowledge of technology is a necessary requirement before

the teacher can think of integration – i.e., using technology as a tool for learning.

17

In the CAL study, technology is viewed as a pedagogical tool similar to other Teaching Learning Materials, like

textbooks or blackboards, and so, teachers learn the use of technology in the context of their teaching. They are

not trained separately in tools but are compelled to familiarise themselves in the components or aspects of them

required to teach a particular topic or concept. Hence, teachers, begin to acquire technology as embedded in the

concept of integration, although the notion of integration is largely unconscious. This approach to technology

evolved in the course of the study but has now become integral to the way teachers are encouraged to interact

with technology.

CAL Study in Orissa

The Education Department of the Government of Orissa exhibited considerable interest in the proposal, due to its

growing inclination towards deploying technology in educational institutions. The Biju Patnaik Computer

Aided Education Project (BiCEP) is one such government initiative which aims to set up computer labs in

government schools and to provide the Multimedia Based Content CDs in Science, Mathematics, Computer

Literacy and English in Oriya. The state government and the Foundation signed a Memorandum of

Understanding (MoU) in January 2008, outlining the role and responsibilities of each in the implementation of

the Study.

Excerpted from the MoU between the Foundation and the Government of Orissa, signed 29 January 2008

The Government agrees among other actions, the following specific actions:

1. Support a focused implementation of the programme for a period of 2 academic years in mutually

identified schools in the state and to provide administrative and other required support as further

detailed in this MoU for the smooth implementation of the programme.

2. Jointly with the Foundation identify 60 schools – 20 schools for the purposes of experiment

1(technology plus Teacher development) and 20 schools for experiment 2 (only teacher

development) and 20 schools as Control Group

3. Provide and maintain the teacher pupil ratio at 1:30 throughout the period of experiment of two

years and to mandate that the identified class/standards/section would not have more than 30

children.

4. Agree that given the density of multimedia content available (which are mapped to competencies

of various classes) the implementation will be more specific to classes 3, 4 and 5. and hence, only

the said classes are selected for the research project. However, this does not preclude the initiative

covering the other classes.

5. Nominate a person representing the Government who would be a single contact point for the

Foundation on all issues related to the proposed research project.

6. Depute one person, who brings pedagogical skills on a full time basis, to the Foundation, for the

purpose of the project. He / she would join the Foundation team (of three other members) in

supporting schools and teacher.

7. Equip the school with the following hardware/furniture:

Adequate number of multimedia enabled computers per school to facilitate engagement with

content in one period to a complete class/standard/section of 30 children @ 3 children per

18

terminal. All the systems to be locally networked and one system to be supported by

modem/wireless devices/CDMA or GSM based Modems with internet connection.

UPS of adequate capacity having low voltage and quicker battery recharging capabilities, which can

provide back up of at least 3 hours.

Adequate furniture of specified design to support the deployment in computer room.

To ensure that the Hardware including batteries to have (at the least) three years onsite warranty

and the response time by vendors to maintenance issues to be specified and tracked. The

Foundation should be suitably authorised to represent and follow up maintenance related issues

with all the vendors.

8. Issue appropriate administrative orders to ensure attendance of teachers in trainings and refresher

courses during the academic year.

9. Pay TA/DA for the teachers and other functionaries who are required to attend development

programs or participate in the meetings.

10. Bear the printing expenses of large scale training or communication material.

The Foundation agrees to undertake the following actions:

Depute resource persons to facilitate teacher interaction and development for use of technology as

well as digital learning material.

Bear the cost of salary of the member deputed full time to the project by the Government.

Provide adequate copies of the digital learning material. Research gaps that exist in the

requirements and availability of digital learning material and develop suitable content or finalise

suitable pedagogic approaches to cater to the identified gaps.

Monitor the project through appropriate methods for such monitoring.

Bear the costs incurred to train the teachers of the identified schools over and above the TA/DA

paid by the Government.

Conduct research at their cost but with the support of Government.

Evolve methods of regular report generation and review by both the Government and the

Foundation.

Document the entire process and provide a comprehensive document at the end of the experiment

to enable initiation of suitable actions on the scaling up of the programme or otherwise.

Suitably redesign the multimedia content depending on the feedback and experience.

Both parties also agree that there will not be any limitations to share / use the knowledge created from this

experiment for further applications.

District & Sample Size

The Nayagarh district in the east of Orissa was chosen as the site of operation.

19

The Study is being implemented in the Nayagarh district

of Orissa, in three blocks, namely, Nayagarh, Odogaon

and Ranpur. The study reaches approximately 2900

children and 269 teachers spread over 40 schools.

Impactable group of students (E1+E2): 2838

Student Sample size (E1+E2+C): 4250

Impactable group of teachers (E1+E2): 269

Teacher Sample size: 408

(see table on following page)

Educational Profile of the District

The Nayagarh District is located towards the west of Puri district surrounded by Cuttack district in the North,

Phulbani district in the West, Ganjam district in the South and Khurda district in the East. It has a literacy rate of

70.5%, above both the state average of 63.08% as well as the national average of 64.84%. The gender literacy

gap of Nayagarh, standing at 25.1 percentage points, is, however, higher than the national average of 21.69

percentage points.

Table 2: Educational Profile of Nayagarh District

Indicators Level Percentage

Repetition Rate Primary 7.3

Upper Primary 3.1

Drop-out Rate Primary 2.45

Upper Primary 10.37

Gross Enrolment Rate Primary 99.7

Upper Primary 116.0

Net Enrolment Rate Primary 81.6

Upper Primary 69.0

Transition Rate Primary 79.26

Source: Website of the District of Nayagarh, http://nayagarh.nic.in/govtsection/ssa/ssa.html

Why was Nayagarh district chosen?

The following factors were responsible for the selection of Nayagarh as the district of operation:

1. Interest shown by the district

20

2. Non - BiCEP1 district

3. Representative sample of Orissa in terms of socio-economic groups

4. Less political interference than in other districts

5. Fewer education-related initiatives undertaken by Government than in other districts

6. Active district project functionaries

Sample Selection

After selecting the district, about 70 schools were chosen on the basis of:

infrastructure,

availability of a spacious room for computers,

class size,

number of teachers in school, etc.

This matched sample was then subjected to randomization and schools were allotted to the three types, namely:

1. E1,

2. E2 and

3. Control.

A total of 60 schools were thus sub-selected.

Number of students at the time of sample selection

Table 3: Number of students in the three classes

Type of Schools Class 3 Class 4 Class 5 Total

No: of

Students

No: of

Teachers

E1 424 467 641 1532

137

E2 326 333 647 1306

132

Control 329 338 745 1412

139

Total 1079 1138 2033 4250

408

Profile of the Teachers

The baseline survey sought to collect data on:

o teachers' educational qualifications,

o their beliefs about technology,

o their approach to pedagogy,

o their attitudes towards teaching and learning and

1 The Biju Patnaik Computer Aided Education Project (BiCEP) is a state government initiative to set up Computer labs in government

schools and to provide the Multimedia Based Content CDs in Science, Mathematics, Computer Literacy and English in Oriya.

21

o their perceptions of classroom discipline.

The following tools were enlisted in this effort (Please refer to Annexure 3 for these formats):

Teacher Basic Information and Perceptions Interview: Teachers were interviewed by volunteers to collect

information on their educational qualifications, years of experience, their views on the National Curriculum

Framework, their beliefs about technology and the aims of education. The interviews revealed the following:

1. On an average, the teachers in the Study have around 13 years of experience in teaching, of which

around half has been spent in the school in which they are presently teaching.

2. In terms of basic educational qualifications (not in the field of Education), 23% have passed the 12th

grade while 44% have a graduate's degree, either a Bachelors of Arts, a Bachelor of Commerce or a

Bachelor of Computer Science. Only 16% of teachers have a Post Graduate degree.

3. In terms of educational qualifications in the field of teaching, 26% of the teachers in the Study have a

Bachelor of Education while 55% have a TCH or a CT (TCH: Teacher's Certificate Higher Course; CT:

Certificate in Teaching).

4. 36% of teachers are aware of the National Curriculum Framework, of which only 15% have read the

document in full.

5. 81% of teachers claimed to prepare their own lesson plan in a written form but when asked for a copy

of the same, none were able to oblige.

6. Nearly half the teachers confirmed that they maintained a journal/diary but only 2 were able to display

the same to the interviewer.

7. Apart from the annual and mid-term examinations, most teachers administer their own tests throughout

the year to keep track of their students' progress. About 10% of the teachers testified to conducting

debates and encouraging essay-writing and music-making as components of students' assessments.

8. Nearly 80% of teachers have never used a computer. Of the remaining 20% who have, only 30% have

ever accessed the internet for either information gathering or for communication.

9. Even though 78% of teachers have never attended a training programme to use technology as

pedagogical tool, nearly all of them believe that technology can be used to facilitate the process of

teaching and learning better.

10. Asked about the aim of education, the largest percentage of teachers - 42%, considered the

development of a good/active citizen as being crucial while 9% of teachers averred the evolution of

critical/creative/inquisitive individuals as being most important.

11. When asked about their own role in society, 47% of the teachers considered themselves to be

facilitators while 6% considered themselves to be change agents.

Timeline of Events

Time Activities

January 2008 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) Signed

22

March – June 08 Collecting profiles of teachers and schools, matching them, selecting about 70 schools and

assigning them to E1, E2 and Control group using randomization.

June 2008 Project office and Project team in place

July 2008 Induction Training for Project Team

August 2008 Training volunteers and Collection of baseline data – RAT and Teacher tools

September 2008 Training members into classroom observation and drawing inference

October 2008 Teacher Development Interaction – I

October to

November 2008

Deployment of computers to E1 school (5 each ) – by the government

Preparation of Competency Achievement Test and validation

Dec 2008 Training volunteers and collection of data on Math and EVS ; First State level Review Meeting

Jan-Feb 2009 TDI – Planned but had to be postponed at the request of the State. So this time was used to enhance Class room observation skills.

March – June 2009

Preparation for Training teachers on Technology; preparation of school dossier; analysis of school-wise baseline results. Began training teachers on technology (May 2009)

April 2009 Head Teacher Meeting for sharing information and results of base line and updating on the

study and seeking their support

July 2009 9 batches of teachers were trained for TDI 2, 3 and 4: Language; ICT baseline data collection in E1 schools.

August 2009 Training teachers on the use of computers – in on-site support

On July 18th and July 19th: Head Teachers‘ Meeting; Meeting with BRCs / CRCs for providing

information on project

August 2009 - March 2010

School Visits for computer training and pedagogy inputs. Teachers of E1 Teachers were motivated to see the CDs and map it to the curriculum.

Six members together have made 158 school visits.

Oct 13th District, block and cluster level meeting – for updating on project and getting inputs

5 Day workshop on preparation of Math module in collaboration with the State

Dec 2009 Math TDI; BRC Meeting for sharing information on the Study and seeking inputs

Jan 2009 Resource generation workshop – preparing games for Math and language in Oriya

Refining curriculum maps; Preparation of teacher dossiers

Feb 2010 Second State-Level Review Meeting

Feb – April 2010 Preparation of board games, distribution to school, demonstration of games and observation of games.

Prepared 6 Math modules and prepared for 10 days‘ residential programme. Even though

dates were fixed in consultation with the State, the TDI had to be cancelled because of census enumeration.

Baseline

The baseline survey was conducted in August 2008 in the Experimental Schools 1, Experimental Schools 2

and Control Schools, amounting to 60 schools in all. Its objective was to gather data on the prevailing levels

of competence of the students in areas like reading, comprehension, Mathematics and EVS. Questionnaires to

gauge teacher attitudes and perceptions on the goals and means of education also formed part of the survey.

The baseline survey, in conjunction with the midline and endline surveys, was intended to serve as a means of

measuring the change instrumented by the CAL project in the experimental schools. It was also intended to

guide proposed interventions in the Study.

23

Tools used for Baseline:

The study looked at: (a) Reading abilities of students, (Reading Ability Test, RAT)

(b) Competency in Math and EVS, (Competency Achievement Test, CAT)

(c) Beliefs and attitudes of teachers.

(d) ICT Tool

The tools used for each of the above (as well as the underlying principles for development of these tools) are

described in this section, in the above sequence.

(a) Reading Ability Test (RAT):

One of the objectives of CAL is to increase the reading abilities of students. Since the study involved students of

classes 3, 4 and 5, the reading ability tool had to be in consonance to the reading levels expected from these

students. The RAT tools were designed to assess the ability of the children to decode the text, retrieve data,

interpret information and reflect upon what was read. The primary emphasis was on assessing the child's skill in

using language as an aid to think and inquire and not merely as a means of recording and retrieving information.

Please refer to Annexure 2 for tabulated results of the RAT.

The objectives of the RAT are:

a) To measure the reading levels of students – identify those who are emergent readers, those who are

developing readers: and those who are proficient readers.

b) To help teachers identify the patterns in errors made by students so that they develop suitable remedial

materials.

Process of Preparing the RAT:

The process of preparing RAT consisted of the following steps:

a) Review of literature

b) Review of the reading assessment tools available in the Indian context and those that have been used

across the globe

c) Development of a framework for the view to be followed in CAL

d) Preparation of the criteria for the to-be-developed RAT

e) Development of a blueprint for RAT

f) Development adaptation of the reading passages and development of relevant comprehension

questions

g) Development of running records - to record the process of reading.

Each of these steps is discussed below, in the above sequence.

a) Review of literature: First a clear-cut view on the nature of reading, its development, and assessment

was defined. This view was based on a balanced approach that consisted of starting from whole

language and proceeding to mechanics of reading. (Refer to Annexure 4).

24

b) Review of the reading assessment tools available in the Indian context and those that have been used

across the globe: Reading assessment tools that have been used in the Indian context were examined.

These were the reading passages used :

i. in Pratham programmes,

and

ii. in the Accelerated Learning Programme in Madhya Pradesh.

These assessed the reading abilities of children and identified them at the alphabet level, word level,

sentence level and paragraph level. These passages also had comprehension questions.

c) Development of a framework for the view to be followed in CAL: But these tools could not be used in this

present study because of the following reasons:

I. These tools limit the view of comprehension to ―why‖ questions,

II. The evaluation criteria in these tools see reading abilities as being cumulative – progressing from

alphabet to word, to sentence to paragraph levels – and a cumulative approach to reading was

not taken in the present study. In the present study, the focus is on reading as a developmental

process.

These reasons triggered the need for using another set of tools for assessing reading abilities.

d) Preparation of the criteria for the to-be-developed RAT: Three reading passages were selected on the

basis of:

Complexity of ideas

Sentence length and structure

Complexity of comprehension questions

e) Development of a blueprint for RAT: The number of questions under each category, viz., retrieving,

interpretive and reflecting, was allocated for each of the classes 3, 4 and 5. A larger number of retrieving

questions was maintained in all three classes. This was done, firstly, to keep the level of confidence in

the students high. Secondly, first-level testing involves retrieval of information through slightly twisted

text appearing in the question, e.g. if the text refers to a character returning from the city, the retrieval

question will ask the child where the character went. This is the beginning of raising the level of the

learner to higher order thinking. (See Annexure 4 for sample blueprint.)

f) Development /adaptation of the reading passages and development of relevant comprehension

questions: Three types of comprehension questions were prepared – using ideas from the PISA

framework (Assessing Scientific, Reading and Mathematical Literacy: A framework for PISA 2006, OECD).

a. Retrieving questions: are those questions whose answers are in the text and the student has to

retrieve them.

b. Interpretive question: are those questions that require students to interpret or draw inference

c. Reflective questions: are those that solicit opinion of students or require them to adopt a

perspective.

25

The scholarly view is that one cannot translate any text from one language into another: in the very act of

translation, there is a recreation of the text into another language. Therefore, the term ‗trans-creation‘ is

preferred over ‗translation‘ in academic circles. Thus, the passages were trans-created (henceforth, the term

‗translation‘ will be used to refer to ‗trans-creation‘) into Oriya.

To validate the translation, the method of back translation was used. In this method, the translated version is

read out by one person and another person (who was not involved in the translation but with proficiency in

English) back translated the Oriya version into English. The original English passage and the English-translated

version of the passage were matched. The closeness of fit was the criteria for validating the translation. If both

the versions did not match, then the problematic areas were identified – word, phrase, sentence, etc., and

rectified to bring in the intended meaning.

In the course of checking the translation, a constant check was maintained to know whether the words used are:

o familiar to children,

o high frequency words,

o grade-appropriate, etc.

In the case of certain borrowed words, like ‗pant‘, ‗shirt‘, etc., it was decided not to consider such words as

errors.

Materials in a Reading Test

A Reading Passage in large font for classes 3, 4 and 5 separately

Reading passage – evaluator‘s copy – the same passage but in smaller font

A Running record – for recording the reading process and the errors and space for making observations.

(See Annexure 4)

A list of comprehension questions

Administering the Reading Ability Test

The reading ability test was administered to children with the help of volunteers.

Volunteer Training:

The volunteer training programme was for a period of 4 days: from 5th to 8th August 2008. Volunteers were

students of BA (education) in Nayagarh college. The four days of training were devoted to the following:

explaining the CAL study, their role in it and the background of reading; introducing them to the passages,

formats and recording; engaging them in a peer demo and providing feedback, taking them on a dry run in

schools, providing feedback and the logistic details of which school to go, how to go, what to do in schools, etc.

Instructions and explanation given to volunteers:

1) Error types: there are two types of errors -

a) Errors that are not self-corrected.

b) Errors that are self-corrected by the child. (Self-corrected errors are those errors which the child makes

and then corrects on his/her own. The evaluator DOES NOT prompt the child to correct the error.

Generally, self-correction is preceded by repetition. Allow this.) When the child makes a self-

26

correction, do not mark the substituted word as error. Merely indicate the error and mark it as

self-correction (e.g. The child has said youngest for younger and then corrected it. It is marked as

youngst/SC.)

2) Errors that are not self-corrected are called ERRORS. They are of the following types :

a) Substitution – where the child substitutes one word for another

b) Omission – where the child omits a word

c) Insertion – where the child inserts a word

d) Prompt – where the evaluator tell the word

3) Record the type of errors made by children as he/she reads.

Prompts are given when the child is stuck and unable to continue, the volunteer waits for 5 to 10 seconds and

tells the word and then tells the child to repeat the word and move further.

4) In this case mark T above the error and this is counted as an error.

5) Do not count repetitions as errors. They indicate extent of fluency in reading.

6) Ignore dialect pronunciation errors.

General Instructions to the Volunteers:

i. Sit beside the child and not in front of the child.

ii. Try to observe child‘s eye movement and finger movement as she/he reads.

iii. Intervene as little as possible when the child is reading.

iv. If the child is reading too fast for you to record, request the child to pause until you complete recording

the sentence. Make this request at the end of the sentence and not when the child is reading midway.

v. In the interest of safeguarding the child, if a child is getting stuck constantly, stop the reading if the

volunteer has provided four prompts in the first three sentences.

At the end of the Record: the volunteer is open to make any observation that he/she thinks might be important.

The volunteers went to schools to administer the reading ability tests.

After building rapport with the student, the volunteers gave the student his/her copy of the reading

passage. This test is an individual administration.

The student was given time to go through the passage as many times as he/she wanted. After the

student became familiarized with the passage, the actual testing began. The student was told to read

the passage loudly.

The volunteer followed the student‘s reading as the student read, making all the relevant markings.

The time taken for the student to complete reading was noted.

After the reading, comprehension questions were asked. The student was free to refer to the passage

while answering comprehension questions.

The answers given by the students were noted.

The student was thanked at the end of the reading session.

27

g) Developing running records to record the process of reading: These were tools used to record the

process of reading.

Description of the Running Record: The running record consists of 4 columns. Column 1 gives the

sentence number, column 2 the sentence, column 3 the total errors in a line and column 4 the number of

self corrections in the line. (See Annexure 4 for sample running record.)

Each word in the sentence is placed in a box.

Each line has a corresponding blank box over it. This is the space for recording student‘s reading.

Since we wanted to cover several students, the use of volunteers was a good option. But this option was full of

challenges.

Challenges faced in using volunteers for testing reading abilities:

Despite repeated instructions, volunteers tended to sit on a pedestal, higher than children.

Sometimes they tended to mark wrongly/miss out on marking the errors.

While the child was answering comprehension questions, volunteers sometimes took away the passage

from them.

Volunteers tended not to wait for the child before giving prompts.

Despite telling the volunteers to write legibly, they often scribbled the data.

(b) Competency–Based Achievement Test in Math and EVS

The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) Framework was used to develop the baseline tools for

achievement in Math and EVS. It was decided to test students of classes 3, 4 and 5 on competencies of class 2,

3 and 4.

Workflow of the tool development

In the assessment work being carried out by the Azim Premji Foundation, a streamlined process has been

developed. This was the procedure largely followed here, too. [Ref: CAT Coding and Transcription Report, Orissa

& Chhattisgarh, Jan-Feb, 2009, Aanchal Chomal, Azim Premji Foundation]. A diagrammatic representation of the

workflow is shown here:

28

Each of the stages shown in the above workflow is described below, in sequence, for EVS and Math:

Chalking out Assessable Curricular Competencies:

The textbooks were scrutinized for curricular competencies, after which these were listed alongside content and

cognitive domains which we wished to test as part of the Cal study. By correlating the listed competencies with

content and cognitive domains, a selected set of competencies was arrived at for baseline testing. (Refer

Annexure 7 for Curricular Competencies in Math & EVS.)

Development of a Common Assessment Framework:

The assessment framework for CAL baseline test broadly spelt out the following-

1. The cognitive processes to be tested in Math & EVS

2. The content areas that would be tested in both the subjects

3. Fixing the representation of the above two in the test, in terms of percentage

EVS & Math assessment framework

In consonance with mathematics, the EVS assessment framework for CAT baseline test was framed after

reviewing the state curricula and NCF curriculum for EVS. Having done that, the framework was constituted with

two main dimensions: a content dimension and a cognitive dimension.

EVS CONTENT DOMAIN

In EVS, the different content domains tested for were:

Social Science

Physical Science

Life Science

Earth Science

29

The content domains define the specific EVS subject matter covered by the assessment. Each content domain

has several topic areas (i.e. social sciences is further categorized by Family, Work and Play, Shelter, Places

around us and Transport & Communication). Each topic area is presented as a list of competencies outlined by

respective state curricula for grades 2, 3 and 4. One of the most challenging tasks in EVS was to organize the

vast curriculum in content domains. The domains finally developed house all the basic content that needs to be

imparted through EVS.

1. Social Sciences- this strand includes topics such as-

o Family

o Shelter

o Work and Play

o Places around us

o Transport and Communication

2. Life sciences- this content domain includes understanding of the nature, functions and uses of living

organisms, the relationships between them and their interactions with the environment. The specific

topics being-

o plants and their growth,

o animals,

o human body and food

3. Earth sciences- this domain incorporated the study of the earth and universe. Topics in this domain

address basic facts about the earth and other heavenly bodies.

30

4. Physical sciences- this domain includes concepts pertaining to physical phenomenon occurring in the

environment, specific to matter and energy. At the primary stages children have limited understanding of

physical states of matter, concepts of heat, light, energy, etc. hence most of the content is at the level of

general knowledge on certain basic facts. The topics included in this domain are-

o Seasons

o Air & Water

o Things around us

5. Map reading- this features as a separate domain in the EVS framework. This is because maps are

needed as tools to understand most of the strands of EVS and social sciences, especially at higher

grades. Hence a solid foundation in map reading and map interpretation is crucial. Specific emphasis has

been given to understanding directions, distance and symbols used in maps.

EVS COGNITIVE DOMAINS

The cognitive domains define the sets of skills and abilities that illustrates students‘ understanding of not just the

content knowledge, but also of their ability to apply and communicate their understanding of the concepts. Items

in EVS are developed for content domains eliciting specific cognitive skills from students. These skills have been

divided into 4 broad domains.

1. Factual Knowledge- the development of scientific understanding and reasoning depends on previous

knowledge, expanding and revising it as one progresses. Having a strong and broad base of scientific

knowledge enables the students to engage with complex concepts and phenomena as one goes to

higher grades. However, factual knowledge should not be restricted to rote, but contains elements of

EVS Cognitive Domains

31

recalling / recognizing, defining, describing and using tools and procedures. At a very basic level, items

could be very direct, such as-

e.g. Which of these days is celebrated as National Festival?

A) Diwali

b) Holi

c) Independence Day

d) Christmas

This could be more complex when the child has to not only recall but also identify and sort out objects in order

to answer correctly-

e.g. Which animal eats ONLY plants?

a) cat

b) dog

c) lion

d) rabbit

2. Understanding Concepts- this domain assesses the child‘s ability to display the understanding of

concepts through making comparisons, classifying, representing or modelling, relating scientific concepts

to observed phenomena, extracting and applying information, finding solutions and explaining. For

instance, if one wants to assess the child‘s ability to classify animals on the basis of their locomotion, the

question could be framed as follows-

Classify the animals according to their movements:

CAN FLY CAN CRAWL CAN SWIM

In answering the above question, the child not only recalls the movements of animals but also sorts them into

groups and tabulates them on the basis of their movements. Hence, the child goes one step ahead of mere

recall, wherein one could have asked the student to merely ‗name 2 animals that crawl/swim/etc.‘

Lizard, Crow, fish, earth-worm, butterfly, tadpole

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Reasoning & Analysis- This is one of the most important aspects of science education as it prepares students to

engage in scientific reasoning to solve problems, develop explanations and draw conclusions. It has most skills

similar to the topmost ones in Bloom‘s taxonomy such as ‗analyze, interpret and solve problems‘, ‗Integrate and

synthesize‘, ‗Hypothesize‘, ‗Evaluate‘ and ‗Justify‘. Some items in this domain may require the child to draw upon

different concepts from different content domains and apply it to a new situation. In the baseline test papers,

map interpretation items have been used to assess reasoning, e.g. for an item as ‗what could be the possible

reasons for Jaunpur village having 2 wells (class 5, question 23) a student has to make several connections and

draw upon various concepts in order to answer it. The child not only has to ‗see‘ the map but also understand

the symbols and relate the different elements present in the map to reason out the reason for the existence of 2

wells in the village named Jaunpur.

MATHEMATICS CONTENT DOMAINS

The details of the content domains in Math are given below

1. Numbers, include basic number sense, as counting, number representation as naming and writing

numbers and relationships between numbers. The latter includes ability to order or sequence numbers in

‗before- after‘, ‗ascending-descending order‘, ‗even-odd numbers‘, etc.

2. Mathematical Operations include the 4 number operations, namely addition, subtraction,

multiplication and division. Besides computation, this domain also comprises relating an operation to a

situation and using it for problem-solving. Geometry this domain includes identification of basic shapes,

understanding their properties and using spatial visualization skills to explain the relationship between 2-

dimensional and 3-dimensional objects.

3. Measurement - the emphasis of this content domain is on understanding measurable attributes such as

length, weight, height, etc. and demonstrating familiarity with the units and processes used in measuring

these attributes.

4. Data handling - though not present in any state curriculum as a separate curricular area, has been

incorporated in the assessment framework. This domain should, ideally, incorporate strands on data

collection, data representation and data interpretation – however, for the purpose of the baseline test, it

has been restricted to reading data presented in simple tables and data interpretation, at a very basic

level.

5. Money features as a separate content domain. It includes identification of currencies and routine

problems based on money.

6. Pattern is included as a separate content domain incorporating skills of sequencing and logical

reasoning.

MATHEMATICS COGNITIVE DOMAINS

The cognitive domains define the sets of behaviours expected of students as they engage with the

mathematics content. Items in mathematics are developed for content domains, eliciting specific cognitive skills

from students. These mathematical skills have been organized into FOUR broad domains.

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Knowing facts and procedures: Facts are the factual knowledge that provides the basic foundation for

mathematical thought. Procedures refer to the set of actions that are needed for solving problems. More

specifically the skills are:

Recall – definitions, units, number facts, properties of geometric figures, etc. e.g. a + a + a =

3a, a x b= ab.

Recognize / identify – areas of parts of figures to explain fractions, equivalent fractions, etc.

Compute – know algorithms/procedures for + - x and division or a combination of these.

Use tools – reading scales and other tools of measurement.

Using concepts: Knowledge of concepts enables students to make connections between pieces of knowledge,

which would otherwise be retained as isolated facts. It allows them to go beyond the existing knowledge, judge

the validity of mathematical methods and statements and create mathematical representation. The sub-domains

here are as follows:

Connections – allowing students to make connections between knowledge that has already been

gained (such as knowing that length, area and volume are conserved only under certain

conditions); mathematical relationships, e.g. decide whether the area of paper will be greater,

remain the same, or be smaller when it is cut in strips (when the accompanying diagram shows

complete sheet and separated strips).

Classification – to classify or group objects, numbers, expressions and ideas.

Representing – to represent numbers using tables, charts, and graphs; representing fractions

through shading, etc.

Formulate – to formulate problems or situations that could be modelled by given equations or

expressions.

Solving routine problems: problem-solving is the central aim of teaching mathematics and it aids in using

mathematical knowledge and reasoning in solving daily life problems. The specific skills are-

Applying – applying knowledge of facts, procedures and concepts for solving a problem, where there is a

known algorithm. e.g.

Math Cognitive Domains

34

Modelling – generate an appropriate/efficient strategy for solving a routine problem e.g. Rina

has 15 fruits. Of these 5 are mangoes, 6 are oranges and the rest are bananas. How many

bananas does Rina have?

A) 15+5+6

B) 15-5-6

C) 15-5+6

D) 15+5-6

Interpreting – interpret an equation or a diagram.

Verifying / Checking – check the correctness of solutions

Reasoning: This is a domain wherein the skill assessed is more complex than the earlier one. It refers to logical

systematic thinking for arriving at solutions to non-routine problems. This includes skills of interpreting,

hypothesizing, synthesizing, justifying, etc.

Blueprint Design:

The next stage in the tool development process is the blueprint design. A blueprint is a planning document

where all the relevant information of a test is listed in the form of a table. The information pertains to-

1. Which strand/aspects of the curriculum will be tested?

2. Which particular skills will be tested?

3. What will be the item format? [Multiple-choice, short written answers, fill in the blanks, etc.]

4. Length of the test? Item-wise time allocation?

5. Which cognitive processes would be assessed?

6. What percentage of the content areas will be assessed?

7. What kind of stimulus material will be used for the items? [Will it be pictures? Maps? Illustration?]

8. What will be the level of difficulty of the paper?

The blueprint is, in most cases, a working document which undergoes changes during the process of item

designing. It is not possible to entirely freeze a blueprint before starting item development, as one needs to go

back and forth on many occasions. For instance, if while preparing an item, the item developer feels that the

competency could be tested using a certain item format that differs from the blueprint, there should be scope for

changes in the blueprint.

Developing the Blueprint for EVS.

The format used for the EVS blueprint was similar to that used for math. The percentage division of items as per

the content and cognitive domains is shown in the tables below-

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Table 4a: Question Distribution across content domains for EVS

Content Domain No of questions

Class 2 Class 3 Class 4

Social Sciences 40 % (8) 30 % (9) 30 % (9)

Life Sciences 40 % (8) 30%(9) 30%(9)

Physical Sciences 20 % (4) 20 % (6) 20 % (6)

Earth Sciences NA 10 % (3) 10 % (3)

Map reading NA 10 % (3) 10 % (3)

Total 20 30 30

In grade 2, social sciences and life sciences together constitute roughly 80% of the paper. This is because the

topics in these 2 domains are basic and fundamental to the subject. Also, in primary grades a lot of emphasis is

given to topics such as plants, animals, food, transport & communication, etc. which are incorporated in these

domains. Physical sciences constitute the remaining 20 % of the paper. Items from this domain are very basic,

restricted to seasons and clothing for grade 2. Earth sciences and map-reading are not introduced in any state

syllabus at the grade 2 level. At best, this is restricted to the observation of the sun, moon, stars, etc which does

not lend itself easily to formal assessment.

Grades 3 and 4 have assessments from all the five domains. Around 60% of the items are from the social and

life sciences topics and the other 40% from physical, earth sciences and map-reading. Of this, only 10 % of the

items are from the Earth sciences and map reading domains respectively since concepts in these domains are

too complex and are apt for assessments at higher grades.

Question Distribution in EVS cognitive domains

Table 4b: Question Distribution across cognitive domains for EVS

Cognitive Domain No of questions & ( %age)

Class 2 Class 3 Class 4

Factual Knowledge 60 % (12) 50 % (15) 40 % (12)

Conceptual

Understanding

30 % (6) 35 % (10) 40 % (12)

Reasoning &Analysis 10 % (2) 15 % (5) 20 % (6)

Total 20 30 30

As state earlier, factual knowledge forms the basis of understanding scientific phenomenon, hence a lot of

emphasis has been given to this domain. The % of items assessing understanding and reasoning of concepts

increases as one approaches higher grades.

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Item format- item format in EVS was very similar to the pattern in math. A majority of the questions were

objective-type, namely MCQ. In the open-ended items, there were short-answer types, match the following and

fill in the blanks. Further technical details on the items will be discussed in the section on item development in

EVS.

The time given for the items has been planned on similar lines as that of math: 2 minutes per MCQ and 4

minutes per open ended item. These were, however, subject to change, post field-testing of tools.

An example of a blueprint for class 2 EVS:

FK - factual knowledge UC - understanding concepts R - reasoning

Estimated time:

2 mins per objective item- 2*14= 28 mins

4 mins per open item- 4*6 = 24 mins

Total- 52 mins + 8 mins extra = 60 mins

Choice of Stimulus material in EVS- it was ensured that the item context that would be used would clearly

present the main features to be assessed and would not contain superfluous, reflective or unnecessary

information. If a question demands pictorial depiction as the best way to explain the situation only then must a

picture be included. In EVS, where illustrations play a very important role as stimulus material, the following

principles were maintained:

a. The material had to be self-contained and factually accurate, e.g. if it is a map, then it had to be a map

from a reliable and reputed source.

b. The material especially illustrations had to be clear, and not pose spurious challenges in the form of

illegible words, inappropriate shading, cluttering, etc.

Strands or

Aspect

Social

Sciences

Life

Sciences

Physical

Sciences

Earth

Sciences

Map

Reading

Total

No of

Items

8 8 4 NA NA 20

Item

Format

5 OBJ+3

Open

6 OBJ+2

Open

3 OBJ+1

Open

NA NA 14 Obj +

6 Open

Cognitive

processes

4 FK+3

UC+ 1R

5 FK+2

UC+ 1R

3 FK+1 UC NA NA 12 FK+ 6

UC + 2

RA

Stimulus

or text

3 Context

+ 5 Text

6 text + 2

Context

1 Context

+ 3 Text

NA NA 6 Context

+ 14 Text

37

c. In the case of maps and sketches, the symbols in the map and those in the legend had to be identical.

Places and objects should be clearly marked.

d. The material had to be intrinsic to the text, but at the same time it should not assist students to

understand the text (for instance, if the question is ‗match the animals to their homes‘, then a picture of

the animals in their respective homes should not be used as an illustration anywhere else.)

e. In many questions, where the text was getting to be too big, and the same could be explained through

an illustration, the latter was used as item context.

Developing the Blueprint for Math

The Format used for CAL baseline test blueprint is given below:

Strands or Aspect

(content domains)

No: of Items

Item Format

Cognitive processes

Stimulus or text

‗Strands/aspects‘ of the blueprint focus on skills/strands/competencies which must be assessed under the

identified content domain. The table below shows Math question distribution (across the 3 grades) for baseline.

Table 5a: Question Distribution in Math (Classes 3-5)

Content Domain No: of questions

Class 2 Class 3 Class 4

Number 7 6 6

Operations 5 8 7

Measurement 3 5 5

Money 1 1 1

Geometry 2 2 3

Data Handling - 1 1

Patterns 2 2 2

Total 20 25 25

Table 3 clearly shows that the number of items fixed for classes 2, 3 and 4 are 20 and 25 respectively. Of these,

over 50% of the questions in all the 3 grades are from ‗number‘ and ‗operations‘. This is because the early

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stages of mathematics learning focus primarily on learning of numbers, writing numerals, number systems, basic

number operations, number representations, etc. Being of immense practical importance, about 20% of the tool

has items based on measurements. Patterns, data handling and geometry constitute the remaining 20% of the

paper.

Item format was of 2 broad types- objective-type and open-ended. Objective-type included multiple choice

questions (MCQs), match the following, etc. Open-ended items were those were students had to write out the

answers. A majority of the items in both Math and EVS were formatted in the multiple choice pattern, with 4

options for each question. The item format was such that it enabled the best possible assessment of a skill within

the estimated time. Making an item too difficult in representation not only increases the time of the test but also

adds to the complexity of the question.

The time allotment was such that for each MCQ, 2 minutes were allotted, while for each open question, 3

minutes were given. The purpose of this time allotment was to make an estimation of the approximate time that

should be given to answer the entire tool.

Question Distribution in Math cognitive domains

Table 5b: Mathematics Cognitive Domains expressed as a percentage as per baseline tools.

Cognitive Domain No of questions & ( %age)

Class 2 Class 3 Class 4

Knowing Facts and

Procedures

40% (8 items) 30% (7 items) 20% (5 items)

Using Concepts 20% (4 items) 25% (7 items) 20% (5 items)

Solving Routine

Problems

30% (6 items) 30% (7 items) 40% (10items)

Reasoning 10% (2 items) 15% (4 items) 20% (5 items)

Since a knowledge of facts and procedures forms the backbone of mathematical knowledge, close to 40% of the

items test the cognitive skills in this domain. The number of items on facts and procedures is considerably lower

in higher classes. The next predominant skills are problem-solving and nearly 30-40% of the items tested the

child‘s ability to solve routine problems. The remaining items tested reasoning.

A wide range of stimulus material was used in the Math paper. Stimuli used should ideally vary

according to the item and need to be logical, adding value to the item. In the Math tools, the stimuli used were

tables, calendars (for items on data handling), pictures of currencies (for items on money and solving routine

problems), geometric shapes and figures (for reasoning based questions as patterns). This will be shared in

greater details in the Math item development section.

Below is an example of a blueprint for grade three, Math paper of CAL baseline.

Strands or

Aspect

Social

Sciences

Life

Sciences

Physical

Sciences

Earth

Sciences

Map

Reading

Total

39

Leg

end

Key

Obj – Objective FK – Factual Knowledge UC – Understanding Concepts

RA – Reasoning and Analysis NA – Not Assessed

The total length of this test was estimated at 70 minutes.

2 mins per objective item- 2*26 = 52 mins

3 mins per open item- 3*4 = 12 mins

Total- 64 mins + 6 mins extra= 70 mins

This was, however, subject to change after field testing of tools.

Item Development & Scoring Guides:

Once the blueprint details are roughly spelt out, one enters the stage of item development, the next stage in

the tool development process. Each item caters to a specific strand of the curriculum and assesses a specific

skill/competency. These were outlined alongside the items. For each item, the item writer had to specify the

following-

1. What is its level of difficulty?

2. What is the content domain and competency?

3. Which specific cognitive skills are assessed?

4. Correct answer

5. Scoring guide

In principle, it is better to have a question bank - for instance, if the blueprint states that the tool will have 10

items on factual knowledge across 5 content areas, then it is preferable to have at least 15-20 such items. This

makes it easier to pick the best items for the final tool. Often, while one gets into item designing, some minor

modifications are made in the blueprint also. To a large extent, these changes occur in the item format – hence,

No of Items 9 9 6 3 3 30

Item

Format

8 Obj + 1

Open

8 Obj + 1

Open

4 Obj + 2

Open

3 Obj 3 Obj 26 Obj + 4 Open

Cognitive

processes

4 FK + 3

UC + 2 RA

5 FK + 2

UC + 2 RA

4 FK + 1

UC + 1 RA

2FK + 1

UC

3 UC 15 FK +10 UC + 5 RA

Stimulus or

text

5 Context

+ 4 Text

2 Context

+ 7 Text

4 Context

+ 2 Text

3 Text 3

Context

14 Context + 16 Text

40

instead of 5 multiple choice, one may have 10, but the number of items and percentage of cognitive processes

that are to assessed are not changed. For each item, an answer key and scoring guide is developed alongside.

ITEM DEVELOPMENT IN EVS

EVS in primary grades focus on the student‘s contextual knowledge of the natural and social environment. As a

subject, it strives to inculcate certain key skills in the students for them to lead an environmentally conscious and

socially responsible life. Assessment in EVS thus cannot be centralized with emphasis on one universally accepted

correct answer; the universe from which the child draws her response would vary depending on the child‘s

geography to that extent, assessment in EVS has to be sensitive to a child‘s context.

In the situation of a single tool of assessment for different states, as was the case for CAL baseline, one had to

be very cautious while framing items, because the children would be assessed across geographical locations. We

tried to address this diversity in several ways-

1. Firstly, the emphasis of assessment in EVS would be on the attainment of certain key skills rather than

on recall of mere content knowledge. As a subject, EVS is content heavy and as one approaches higher

grades, the content keeps getting denser with more and more facts being taught. The way we looked at

assessment was to breakthrough this over-dependence on content, and emphasize cognitive skills.

Hence even with a limited content we tried to frame a variety of assessment items targeting different

cognitive skills of the students.

2. Secondly, the issue of diverse responses from children residing in diverse geographical locations was

addressed through an answer key that was exhaustive and could encompass a variety of responses from

the child. Care was taken to involve locally available objects and uses in the key.

3. The tool did not incorporate too many questions on social science. Since EVS from grades 3 onwards

incorporates elements of social sciences also, the content gets skewed towards knowledge of all aspects

of one‘s district- its geography, climate, soil, vegetation, with no correlation between the different

aspects. As the baseline had to be conducted in 3 separate states and 3 separate districts, it was

difficult to frame questions keeping the state-specific requirements. Hence, questions pertaining directly

to districts were deliberately omitted. On the contrary, items that drew out the child‘s general perception

of the environment and specific scientific phenomena occurring in the environment largely formed the

basis of our assessment in EVS.

4. Unlike standard assessments in EVS, where a majority of the items can be answered by rote

memorization, the baseline papers targeted the child‘s understanding of concepts and capability to

reason scientifically.

Developing items for EVS was the most challenging part of tool development. To begin with, ours is a country of

rich cultural, natural and social diversity. Superimposed on it is the debate of whether EVS should limit itself only

to the child‘s immediate environment or it should extend beyond that. The other problem is that of language,

since EVS as a subject, is extremely language-intensive. Hence, a sound base of reading and writing is crucial to

EVS. The baseline tools were developed keeping the stated challenges in mind, and, at every stage, checks and

balances were imposed to overcome the hurdles.

Some of the principles that were followed in item development in EVS are as follows-

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a. Importance of clarity in a question: The focus of an item is a critical aspect, especially in EVS wherein

the horizon from which the student draws inspiration to answer is as broad as the student‘s entire

environment. Hence, there has to be absolute clarity on why a certain question is asked and what the

responses that the assessor seeks to elicit from the examinee are.

For example, in a question such as ‗Which is your favourite fruit/animal/season?‘ it is not clear whether

the student is expected to write the name of the fruit/animal/season or is she also expected to reason

why she likes a particular fruit/animal/season. Also, if the question expects stating a reason as a scoring

criterion then will a reason such as ‗because the fruit is red in colour‘ or ‗because I like the fur on the

animal‘s body‘ or ‗because my birthday falls in this season‘, be accepted as a valid answer? These

questions have to be incessantly asked and answered in every item that is being developed.

b. Not limiting all questions to basic recall type: it was challenging to develop items testing understanding

and reasoning of concepts, since most state curricula define EVS competencies in a ‗to know‘ fashion.

However, the tool could not be restricted to basic recall questions. Even if it was a factual knowledge

question, it was restricted to mere recall. For instance, for the competency ‗to know the food habits of

domestic and wild animals‘, instead of having a straightforward question, such as name 2 animals that

eat flesh/grass/etc. the item was - which animal eats ONLY plants? A) cat b) dog c) lion d) rabbit

(Question , class 2, EVS baseline test, 08)

c. Content of reasoning questions - it is important to frame reasoning questions on content that a child is

exposed to. For instance for a grade 2 student it will be unfair to question ‗why do you think leaves are

green in colour‘ if the child is not exposed to the subject of plant morphology and presence of the

pigment chlorophyll, etc. This was taken care of while writing items for EVS, especially with a

heterogeneous geography.

d. Usefulness of tables: Tables are a good way of organizing information in science: hence, questions were

framed in this format. However, we were careful not to make the table too complicated in

representation, because it adds to the complexity of the question.

e. Scoring Guide: one of the most critical parts of EVS item development especially open-ended items is

the accuracy of the scoring guide. A scoring guide for EVS should be fairly exhaustive and provide scope

for incorporating dialectical and contextual differences. Hence, responses in the child‘s local language

must be considered correct. Details of the scoring guide will be discussed in subsequent paragraphs.

While designing items, some principles of writing good MCQ (multiple choice questions), were

adhered to. Some of these are discussed below-

{In a MCQ, the question is known as the ‗stem‘, the answer is known as the ‗key‘ and other options are known

as ‗distracters‘.}

‗Stem‘ related aspects:

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a. A stem could be in the form of a statement or a question e.g. which of these is celebrated as National

Festival ?, a) Diwali b) Independence day c) New Year‘s day d) Id ; Here the item is clearly in the form

of a question.

b. The stem should have enough information to know what the question is- e.g. On falling sick, which of

these places should you go to for treatment?, a) bank, b) school c) hospital, d) post office, here the child

knows 3 things- that she is being asked for a place, that she has been given a reason for visiting the

place, i.e. on falling sick, thirdly, it gives the specific functions of the place, i.e. one goes there for

treatment.

c. Students should not read the answer options to figure out the answer to a question e.g. in the 1st

example, if the question is stated as: Which of these days is celebrated as a National Festival? And the

answer options are A) Diwali b) Holi c) Independence Day d) Christmas, then the student just matches

the ―day‖ from the question to the option and gets the answer. Framing such questions was therefore

strictly avoided.

d. In incomplete sentence stems, care was taken to ensure that

The options were superficially similar

All the options were written in a similar style

They were correctly punctuated

e. g. You should wash your hands with soap before eating food because it ________________________

a) washes away germs.

b) makes your hands look nice.

c) makes you feel fresh.

d) makes your hands cooler.

e. As a principle in MCQ writing, it was ensured that the words in the distracters/answer options are

reduced, rather than those in the stem.

e.g. Where does air go when a person breathes?

A) into the heart.

B) into the brain.

C) into the liver.

D) into the lungs.

This item was reframed as-

Where does air go when a person breathes in?

A) heart

B) brain

C) liver

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D) lungs

f. Negative stems should ideally be avoided; however, if used, they were in bold or italics – words as ‗not‘

or ‗cannot‘ or ‗only‘ are referred to as negative words in stem-

e.g. Which of these would be unavailable if all farmers stop working?

a) jewellery

b) shoes

c) utensils

d) food grains

Distracter related aspects:

a. The correct answer should not be very obvious.

b. Creating patterns of key answers (distracters) across the entire tool is important. It is important to vary

the key (i.e. correct answer) locations and also to avoid always using the longest or the shortest key as

the answer.

There should be no possibilities of identification of the correct answer on the basis of length of

the option or any such factor.

c. In a MCQ with four distracters, care needs to be taken that 3 or more distracters should be indisputably

incorrect, while being reasonable or plausible at the same time; also, absurdly wrong distracters reduce

real choice.

d. Avoid one distracter being a subset of other distracters; for instance, ‗Public transport, Bus, Walk and

Cycle‘ should not be the four distracters because bus is a sub-set of public transport

e. Not to have half correct answers as distracters

f. Using distracters that mean the same as multiple options should be avoided, because it reduces the

choice for the students.

For example, ‗weight is lost‘ and ‗body gets lighter‘ mean one and the same.

g. In the field trial the percentage of students who choose the various distracters should be analysed and

those distracters that no student chooses should be left out, because they are obviously poor distracters.

Short open-ended items: These items are those where the student has to write down the answer in her own

words, which could range from writing down one or 2 words to sentences and essays. These types of questions

were used more in EVS as compared to math. Such questions should be clearly focused and well articulated so

as to elicit the skills they intend to assess.

In such questions, the role of a well-articulated and descriptive scoring/marking guide becomes of paramount

importance. Such items should ensure the plausibility of incorrect answers.

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Suppose the objective of an item is to assess the usefulness of trees for human existence. A question framed for

this purpose could be - ―Why should we have trees around our house?‖ A whole range of answers is possible for

the above question such as:

a. To get fresh air

b. To make our surroundings beautiful

c. So that we can play in their shade on hot afternoons

d. So that we can get fruits from them

Except for the first, all the other answers are not the answers expected by the developer. However they are all

valid and correct responses to the question that has been asked. It will be unfair to mark the first response as

correct and all the others as incorrect. In such a situation it becomes clear that the question is not pointed

enough and thereby is unable to test what it intends to test.

The above example illustrates how thinking of all possible correct answers helps validate the question as well.

Also it makes one understand that a question should not be so broad that any answer to it could be right

answer. In preparing the scoring guide for open questions, it is thus important to give some examples of correct

and incorrect answers. It is important to do this so that the inter-rater subjectivity in scoring is reasonably

reduced.

Thus preparation of a marking/scoring guide can take the following aspects into consideration:

a. A marking guide should be so exhaustive that once done, this should be applicable for all regions in a

country

modifications as per the local needs can be done to suit the requirement

b. Extensive training is a must to train markers

In the marking guide, the scoring criterion should be made as clear as possible, so as to render it

close to answers actually observed.

It should meet the criteria of feasibility. It should be possible to use it without getting confused.

If there are too many conditions for marking an answer right or wrong it could adversely affect

the reliability of the item.

Partial credit questions

In developing partial credit questions, one must ensure that there is a valid basis for partial credit in the item. A

partial credit question is one wherein responses can be categorized as fully correct and partially correct and

marked accordingly.

One easy possibility of a partial credit question is an item having more than one answer parts. For example,

‗write any 2 uses of water‘.

This can be a two-point question with one point for each use. If two uses are given, a student gets two points

and is considered fully correct and for one use there is a partial credit of one point awarded to the student. Such

items have been widely used in the baseline papers for EVS.

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ITEM DEVELOPMENT IN MATH

A majority of the items in mathematics were of the multiple choice pattern with a couple of options for each. The

questions had been designed in such a way that selecting any of the answer options as correct would give some

hint of the error made by the student, e.g. an item on 2-digit-carry-over addition in class 2 paper was as follows:

Solve: 28 + 14 =?

A) 312

If the child ticks this answer it shows that the child knows single digit addition without carry over, adds 8+4=12

and 2+1=3

B) 321

If the child ticks this answer it shows that the child knows single digit addition without carry over, adds 8+4=12

and 2+1=3 but interchanges place value of 12 and writes it as 21.

C) 42 Correct answer

D) 96

If the child ticks this answer it shows that the child adds 8+1=9 and 4+2=6. Thus, this child does not

understand the relevance of place value in the addition of 2 digit numbers.

Though the multiple options are designed such that they may give some diagnostic feedback on the kind of the

error made by the student, it may, however, happen that the child ticks any one of the options through mere

guesswork. In such a case, it is not advisable to be conclusive of the child‘s error and only when one sees a

pattern in the child‘s errors should the assessor be conclusive of the child‘s learning need.

To ensure this, the Math items were designed in such a way that some of the common errors made in Math

(such as interchanging place values, omitting the carry over in addition, subtraction with 0, etc.) have been

incorporated as answer options in the MCQ type of questions.

In MCQs with four distracters, pairs of 2 have been formed, e.g. in the question below, the jars have been paired

on the basis of their height:-

Raju is fond of milk. He wants to choose the glass containing the maximum amount of milk. Which glass should

he choose? (Tick the correct glass)

46

(A) (B) (C) (D)

In most problems, the materials used in the items are those used by the child, such as pens, paper, fruits,

utensils, etc. Together with a familiar context, the language of the paper has been kept very simple.

Scoring guides have been detailed for open ended items. These are in the form of ‗fill in the blanks‘ and solving

number operations. The scoring guides have been detailed out such that they indicate the nature of errors.

Separate letter codes have been allotted for different errors, e.g.

Fill in the blank:

3 + 3 + 3 + 3 +3 = 3 x

Correct answer

Record as A when answer is 5

Incorrect Response (0 pt)

Record as C1 when answer is 15 (sum of the Right Hand Side 3‘s)

Record as C2 when answer is 18 (sum of all the 3‘s)

Record as C3 when answer is 6 (number of all the 3‘s)

Record as C4 for any other wrong/irrelevant answer

Record as D for unattempted/blank (NA)

Panel Review of tools:

Once the items are developed and the best ones are selected, they are organized as per content areas or

cognitive areas - or on some other agreed-upon principle. The tool is then presented to a panel for review.

Reviewing is based on the following parameters-

a. Is the right content being assessed?

b. Is the item format appropriate?

c. Is the item substantive?

d. Is the wording clear?

e. If it is a multiple-choice-question, is the correct answer clear?

f. Is the scoring guide exhaustive?

The feedback from the panel of reviewers is consolidated and suitable modifications are then made in the paper.

The tool is then finalized and ready to be translated into the respective state language.

47

Validation of the Competency-based Achievement Test in Math and EVS:

As part of an institutionalized process, once the 1st draft of tool was ready, the items for both Math and EVS

were presented to a panel for review and critique. The idea was to share them with members external to the

entire process and other item developers, who could establish the reliability of the item, by scrutinizing each item

on the basis of various parameters. The panel looked into aspects such as:

g. Is the right content being assessed?

h. Is the item format appropriate?

i. Is the item substantive?

j. Is the wording clear?

k. If it is an MCQ, is the correct answer clear?

l. Is the scoring guide exhaustive?

In the baseline test papers, the review panel consisted of members from-

1. Academics and Pedagogy Team

2. Members of LGP states, involved in tool development

3. Members of CAL states where the test would be administered.

4. Experts at ACER , Australia

The mechanism followed for review was as follows: the papers and other associated documents were sent to

members through email, and they were requested to:

a) review the frameworks and blueprints

b) Review the items and answer keys

c) Suggest plausible changes

Once all the members responded, the necessary changes were made and the tools were finalized for translation.

Principles of Tool Translation-

To ensure comparability of data across geography, it is imperative to have a standardized tool and a uniform

standardized process of test administration. Uniformity in test items, scoring guides, evaluators‘ training and test

execution are some of the processes that need to be streamlined and standardized.

For CAL baseline test, the tools were made in English, since the language is easily understood and later

translated to the respective regional language, namely Oriya. [Tool translations should preferably be done by

those who have some idea of school systems and classroom processes.]

Tool translation was a critical part of the tool development process. For baseline tools, a tool translation

workshop was organized in Bangalore where 1-2 members from each state team together with a resource

person (fluent in typing in the state language) came together to translate the tool. During tool translation, the

following principles were adhered to:

a) The tool should not be transliterated. It should not be a word-by-word translation. Translators had to

capture the spirit or essence of the question while translating it.

48

b) The language of the tool had to be kept simple, easily read and understood by children. Use of terse and

verbose textbook language was strictly avoided.

c) Text on all stimulus material, like maps, sketches, pictures, etc was also translated in the state language.

d) A thorough proof checking of the paper was done to ensure absence of grammatical and technical errors

in the paper.

e) Since the paper would be administered across all 3 states, all the items were translated uniformly. There

was absolutely no room for elaboration or reduction of text, change of illustrations, change of answer

options, key, etc. across states.

Tool translation and proof-reading marked the end of the 1st cycle of tool development.

This leads us to the next and very vital stage of tool development, i.e. field testing. The next section deals with

some basic principles of field testing, its implications and how it manifests in the baseline tool development

process.

Field Testing of tools:

Once the paper is translated into the state languages, the tool is field tested for further validation of the tool.

This is a very detailed process. The field test data is statistically analyzed and all necessary refinements are

made in the tool. The tool is then finalized and ready for printing.

1. Three schools that were not a part of the research schools - i.e. that were neither experimental nor

control schools - were selected for field testing.

2. These schools were informed in advance about the field test and its objectives.

3. Necessary arrangements were ensured: such as adequate photocopies of question papers, stationery

(pencils, erasers) were procured.

49

4. A manual of guidelines (on do‘s and don‘ts of evaluation and processes to be followed while conducting a

test) had been prepared and shared with the state teams. These processes had to be implemented

during the field test.

5. All members administering the field test had to go through the question papers thoroughly before the

field test.

The field test was designed to capture data in three ways-

a) Through a written test for students of grades 3, 4 and 5 in the chosen school: The tool was administered

by field members of respective states. All the processes that would be followed in the final testing were

also followed while field testing. This test gave us data to fine tune our processes of tool administration

and it also provided data in the form of student responses which was statistically analyzed for individual

item refining.

b) Through Child interviews- after the students completed the written test, the answer sheets were scanned

by the field members. Students who had 60% or more of their answers incorrect or not attempted were

selected from each class. About 4 students were picked from each class (namely the lowest rung

performers) and their feedback was sought on every item. The students were asked several questions

pertaining to the tool such as, ‗why have you answered this (ticked by the student in the paper)

particular option?‘ ‗What do you understand by the question?‘ ‗Is there a word in the paper that you are

unaware of?‘ ‗Are the pictures clear?‘ The purpose of these interviews was purely to gather data on the

qualitative aspects of the tool. By design, these interviews were informal in nature and the interviewer

was free to modify the sequence of the questions, or alter their wording and engage with the child in a

conversational style. The basic objective of this interview was to get qualitative feedback from children

on the questions given.

c) Through Teacher Feedback- the papers were shared with a group of teachers belonging to the school

where the test was being conducted. Their feedback focused more on content appropriateness of the

items for the respective grades and language/vocabulary of the paper. Mostly teachers commented on

the use of very simple language in the paper. They suggested that the language should be more terse

and written in the style of the text books.

In a workshop, the qualitative data was discussed and certain changes were made in the tests.

The correct key was shifted to option B, C, or D. This was done to minimize the effects of

guesswork since it was observed that most students ticked option A for all MCQ items. However,

in 1 or 2 items the correct key was the 1st one.

In math, some of the numbers in a few items were changed. E.g. the question

The number closest to 550 is The number closest to 500 is

A) 499 a) 449

B) 445 b) 445

C) 545 c) 499

D) 505 d) 505

50

The question was modified from ‗number closest to 550‘ to ‗500‘ because most students got confused with the

number 50; also, 500 would be easier for students to answer. However, to maintain the level of difficulty of the

item, the answer option 449 was introduced in place of 545. This was in order to introduce a strong distracter in

the item.

Hasan‘s mother gave Hasan 27 biscuits. Sudha, Hasan and Saniya shared them equally. How many did each get?

A) 30

B) 27

C) 9

D) 8

Here, ‗27 biscuits‘ was changed to ‗18 biscuits‘. While conducting the child interviews, many students said that

they got the correct answer i.e. 9, by adding the 2 digits 2+7=9. In order to avoid that, the digit 27 was

changed to 18. With ‗18 biscuits‘ the answer would be 6, but if children added 1+8=9, the sum would be

incorrect. Hence, 9 became a very strong distracter in this item.

Hasan‘s mother gave Hasan 18 biscuits. Sudha, Hasan and Saniya shared them equally. How many did each get?

A) 18

B) 9

C) 8

D) 6

Changes were made in the language of some questions too.

Then the test was ready for use.

This in a nutshell, is the process of tool designing that had been adopted for the CAL baseline test.

(c) Teacher’s attitude & self-efficacy

Perceived self-efficacy is defined as people's beliefs about their capabilities to produce designated levels of

performance that exercise influence over events that affect their lives. Self-efficacy beliefs determine how people

feel, think, motivate themselves and behave. Such beliefs produce these diverse effects through four major

processes. They include cognitive, motivational, affective and selection processes. (taken from V. S.

Ramachandran (Ed.), Encyclopedia of human behaviour (Vol. 4, pp. 71-81). New York: Academic Press.

(Reprinted in H. Friedman [Ed.], Encyclopedia of mental health. San Diego: Academic Press, 1998).

The sense of self-efficacy was a tool that was used in other studies of the Foundation. This was a 5-point rating

scale covering the following areas:

Beliefs about Ability to Learn

51

Only some children are capable of learning All Students are capable of Learning

( Score of 1) (Score of 5)

Beliefs about nature of knowledge

Is Uni-dimensional and simple Is multi-dimensional and complex

(Score of 1) (Score of 5)

Beliefs about Classroom discipline

Silence is a sign of discipline Silence is not a sign of Discipline

(Score of 1) (Score of 5)

Beliefs about teaching as a profession

Teaching is just a job Teaching is a profession

(Score of 1) (Score of 5)

a) (ranges from: teaching as a job (a score of 1) to teaching as a profession (score of 5)

Another dimension was added to this scale. This was the approach to pedagogy.

Beliefs about approach to pedagogy

Teacher-Led Approach child-focussed approach

(Score of 1) (Score of 5)

52

(d) ICT Tool

In addition to these, in E1 schools, a baseline on ICT skills of teachers was also administered. The tool was

adapted from those developed by Singapore International Foundation. The tool was translated into Oriya, and

used. It did not undergo any validation. The tool asks teachers to say whether they know basic operations of the

computer, word processing, spread sheets, multimedia presentations, internet, email, and data collection tools.

Each of these has several sub-items. This tool was administered only to E1 school teachers. [Refer Annexure 3

for ICT teacher tool.]

Administration of the Tests: Baseline Survey

The baseline survey was a co-ordinated effort led by the Foundation team in Orissa in collaboration with college

volunteers. It was a two-phase exercise consisting of:

i. the deployment of a Reading Ability Test (RAT) and that of

ii. a Competency Achievement Test (CAT).

The RAT tested reading and comprehension abilities of students and the CAT tested their learning levels in

Maths and EVS.

Volunteers (students of the BA (education) programme) were selected and trained in the use of the tool. The

training was for a period of two days. In the training, a lot of emphasis was given to familiarizing the evaluators

with the Foundation‘s idea of child-friendly evaluation. These were also coupled with mock evaluation sessions

and sessions on reading the questions.

It was decided to administer the Math test by having the volunteers read out the question.

The rationale for this was to emphasize Math / EVS achievement and so rule out (to the extent possible) the

influence of language on Math / EVS achievement.

The emphasis was on reading each question slowly, loudly and clearly.

No clue was to be given either through stress or intonation, about the right answer.

The answer key was then prepared.

The CAT was administered to children from 19th to 24th December, 2008.

Volunteers were then trained to score the answer sheets. Since the answers particularly for EVS were

qualitative, the training of volunteers to code the answers was rigorous.

Transcription sheets captured the following:

Basic details (name, caste code, gender, roll no:) of each student. [This information is available from the

answer scripts.]

answer option ticked by student for multiple choice questions

codes for open-ended items

answers for both subjects, Math and EVS were transcribed on the same sheet

Transcription was also conducted in 2 ways- one school was assigned to each volunteer at a time. Papers of

students were arranged as per their roll numbers. Each student‘s Math and EVS papers were transcribed at the

53

same time on the same sheet. This was followed for all students of the school. Once the volunteer transcribed all

the papers of a school, he/she moved on to the next school bundle.

The second way was as follows - the volunteers were divided into pairs: while one person read the answer

codes, the other person wrote the answers in the transcription sheet. This strategy was devised to save time and

ensure accuracy.

Several challenges were faced in coding the answers.

Challenges in Coding –

The entire CAT process was planned and co-ordinated well. However, due to the nature of the work, there were

several shortcomings in the work that led to unnecessary delay and hardships for team members. Some of the

problems faced are stated below-

1. Volunteers selected for CAT coding were mainly graduates, with no experience in education (in most

cases), hence they failed to understand the basic idea of the answer keys.

2. In most cases, glaring errors were made, like marking children with code A, when the answer is a wrong

one and vice versa

3. Despite repeated warnings, volunteers continued to make mistakes in coding

4. Instead of reading the entire descriptor for a particular code, volunteers simply matched words in the

answer keys with the answer written by the child. This led to erroneous coding on a large scale for

instance, for a question that demands an estimate, e.g. an answer that says ―too many/excess

houses/huts‖, even if the child merely wrote ―huts‖, the volunteers marked it as fully correct, giving the

argument that the child‘s answer has ‗huts‘ and hence, it is correct.

5. As the volunteers were not fully inducted into the process of tool development, they failed to understand

the spirit of the questions, and in most cases, got confused with the instructions, e.g. why should the

name of a vegetable be considered a ‗wrong answer‘ when the picture in the paper has vegetables, (the

question being name any 2 fruits that you see in the picture?), e.g. When a picture of vegetable is given

and the question asked is name any 2 fruits that you see in the picture?, the volunteers failed to see why

the naming of a vegetable was a ‗wrong answer‘.

6. Due to repeated errors being made by the volunteers, enormous time was spent in checking their

mistakes. This led to over-burdening of some members.

The CAT deployment followed a similar process as the RAT with the exception of the data collection activities

about teachers. The CAT tools tested children's competency levels in different domain areas of Mathematics

and EVS in order to isolate specific areas of deficiency for remedial action.

Please refer to Annexure 2 for tabulated results of the CAT.

Deployment of tools

The RAT was deployed in August 2008 after extensive field-testing. Volunteers were trained to conduct

interviews, administer questionnaires and assessment tools, collect and verify data. They were asked to adopt a

child-friendly demeanour at all times, the elements of such a demeanour being outlined in the training. A

54

detailed schedule, enrolment, attendance and teacher information forms, question papers and formats, teacher

perception questionnaires and interview formats were issued to them. The volunteers were meant to:

1. Collect student enrolment data of the school

2. Collect teacher data of the school

3. Take attendance of the students present

4. Conduct the interviews of teachers

5. Administer the self-filling teacher attitude questionnaire

6. Conduct child-friendly activities to lighten the atmosphere in the classroom

7. Administer the reading passages to test reading, inference and comprehension abilities of students

8. Collate and verify the data collected

Results & Discussion

Reading Ability Test

About 2531 students were tested for their reading ability. The data was analyzed for accuracy rate and levels of

comprehension.

Calculation of the Accuracy Rate: Accuracy rate is usually expressed as a percentage. The formula for

computing accuracy rate is:

(Total words read – Total errors) / Total words read x 100 = Accuracy rate

In many reading programs, (for instance, the A-Z reading program), the criterion for an acceptable accuracy

level of reading is 89%. The level is in correspondence to the difficulty level of the text. If children read at

accuracy levels below 89%, then the text is seen to be difficult for students. A perusal of data showed that the

number of students who are able to read at an accuracy level that is 89% or more are few. So the cut off point

was arbitrarily kept at 80%.

Calculation of comprehension level: Each correctly answered question was given a score of 1. The

percentage of the total number of correctly answered question was taken to be indicative of the comprehension

levels. Since the comprehension level for the three types of questions – retrieval, interpretive and reflective did

not differ much, the overall comprehension level has been taken up for discussion.

55

Results

Above 80% Below 80%

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Reading abilities of Students in E1 Schools All Classes

Above 80% Below 80%

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Reading abilities of Students in E2 Schools All Classes

% of students able to read

Comprehension level (in %age)

% of students able to read

Comprehension level (in %age)

56

A comparison of the three graphs shows the following:

There are slightly fewer students who are unable to read in E1 schools (29.71%) compared to students

in E2 and control schools (36% in E2 schools and 35% in control schools)

Students who are able to read with fewer errors (that is accuracy above 80%) show a slightly higher

comprehension level than students who show low accuracy levels in the E1, E2 and Control schools.

Students have a low comprehension level, irrespective of levels of accuracy, in all the three groups of

schools.

These results show that students by and large read with very little understanding. They basically decode the

letters and words. Our classroom observation also shows that the emphasis is on decoding rather than teaching

for understanding. Let us now turn our attention to each class separately. (Detailed results have been tabulated

in Tables 9 to 12 in Annexure 2.) Scrutiny of the detailed data shows the following:

There is very little difference between E1, E2 and the control group of schools both in the ability to read

and comprehension levels.

Students who are able to read at higher levels of accuracy show more comprehension compared to

students who read at lower levels of accuracy. This trend is visible across all classes.

As students go from class 3 to class 5, their ability to read increases and correspondingly the number of

students who are able to read at higher levels of accuracy also increases.

The result throws up a very interesting relationship between ability to read with accuracy and the

comprehension. As students progress in class, they show increased ability to read, but there is a marked

and gradual decrease in comprehension.

This finding underlines the fact that in schools the emphasis in language teaching is on the ability to read words.

There is almost no emphasis on comprehension. Consequently, students are able to read but without

comprehension.

Above 80% Below 80%

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Reading abilities of Students in Control Schools All Classes

% of students able to read

Comprehension level (in %age)

57

In order to scrutinize the reading abilities of children school-wise, data has been tabulated in Tables 11 and 12 in

Annexure 2. This analysis is done only for E1 and E2 schools. The purpose of this analysis was to base

decisions on the type of inputs and extent of support to be given to schools.

The data (refer table 11 in Annexure 2) shows that more than 50% of students in 95% schools are

able to read. There is only one exception, i.e. Sarankul PUPS.

If we look at the accuracy levels, in 70% schools, more than 50% students are able to read with high

levels of accuracy. The 6 schools highlighted in the same table form the 30% where many students are

not able to read accurately.

Competency Achievement Test in Math

The answer sheets were first marked for the response categories of (a) correct, (b) partially correct, (c) wrong,

and (d) not attempted. Then the percentages were obtained by using the total for content and cognitive

domains.

The results so obtained have been presented and discussed here, across classes (3, 4 and 5) and types of

schools (E1, E2 and C).

For ease of reading, the graphs have been presented here, with tables 13 to 18 collated in Annexure 2.

Class 3 Class 4 Class 5

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Math: Achievement in content domains

Percentage of correct answers

Classes

Pe

rce

nta

ge

Number Sense (Number & Opera-tions)

Patterns

Measurement

58

E1 E2 C

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Math: Achievement in content domains

Percentage of correct answers

Type of School

Pe

rce

nta

ge

Number Sense (Number & Opera-tions)

Patterns

Measurement

Class 3 Class 4 Class 5

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Math: Achievement in cognitive domains

Percentage of correct answers

Classes

Pe

rce

nta

ge

Knowledge of facts and procedures

Conceptual Un-derstanding

Solving routine Prob-lems

Reasoning

59

The Math graphs show the following:

A comparison of the 3 groups (E1, E2 and C) shows that achievement in Math content domain is more or

less similar across all groups.

As students go from class 3 to 5, their achievement in patterns and measurement drops. The overall

achievement in Math reflects this decrease.

As students go from class 3 to 5, the percentage of wrong answers increases in class 5 in number,

patterns and measurement but not in operations. (This is clear in the tabulated data in Tables 13 to 18

in Annexure 2.)

When we look at the cognitive domain, one can see a drop in performance in questions relating to

knowledge of facts and procedures in class 4, whereas in questions requiring conceptual understanding

and reasoning, there is an increase.

In class 5, students have found questions requiring conceptual understanding and reasoning difficult.

Competency Achievement Test in EVS

The achievement level of students in 4 content domains – Social science, Life Science, physical science (for the

three classes) and Geography/Earth Science (for class 4 and 5) is presented here. The tables show the

percentage of correct answers for each content domain under various response categories, namely, Correct,

Partially Correct, Wrong and Not Attempted. The performance of students in the three cognitive domains: factual

knowledge, conceptual understanding and reasoning is also given. This analysis considers only the percentage of

correct answers.

The total number of students tested on EVS was 4369. There were very few absentees in the three classes.

E1 E2 C

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Math: Achievement in cognitive domains

Percentage of correct answers

Type of school

Pe

rce

nta

ge

Knowledge of facts and procedures

Conceptual Un-derstanding

Solving routine Prob-lems

Reasoning

60

Class 3 Class 4 Class 5

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

EVS: Achievement in content domains

Percentage of correct answers

Classes

Pe

rce

nta

ge

E1 E2 C

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

EVS: Achievement in content domains

Percentage of correct answers

Type of school

Pe

rce

nta

ge

Social Sciences

Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Geography

Social Sciences

Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Geography

61

The above graphs (and corresponding tables 19 to 24 in Annexure 2) show the following:

The maximum overall achievement in EVS has increased marginally from class 3 to 5.

The 3 groups of the Study do not differ in their achievement levels in any of the classes: 3, 4 or 5.

This pattern is uniform in all the content domains.

The achievement level in EVS centres around 42 to 51% – which is an average performance.

In all the 3 classes, students can broadly be divided into two groups, on the basis of their response

categories – the right and the wrong.

Class 3 Class 4 Class 5

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

EVS: Achievement in cognitive domains

Percentage of correct answers

Class

Pe

rce

nta

ge

Factual Knowledge

Conceptual Understanding

Reasoning

Factual Knowledge

Conceptual Understanding

Reasoning

E1 E2 C

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

EVS: Achievement in cognitive domains

Percentage of correct answers

Type of school

Pe

rce

nta

ge

62

In the 3 classes, and in the 3 types of schools, students achieve more in questions dealing with factual

knowledge than in questions that require reasoning and analysis.

Tables 14 and 20 in Annexure 2 show that in no school does the average achievement in either Math or

EVS cross 60%. In fact, in 75% schools (highlighted in the table) the average achievement level in Math as

well as in EVS is below 50%.

The achievement level in E2 schools reflects the same picture (see tables 14 and 20 in Annexure 2). The

difference is only in detail.

In Math, in 80% schools the average achievement is below 50% while in EVS, 65% schools achieve below

50%.

From these results the inferences are:

There is almost no difference in reading ability, Math and EVS achievement between E1, E2 and

Control schools.

In 95% schools, more than 50% students are able to read.

In 83% schools, more than 50% students are able to read - at 80% and above accuracy levels.

In 100% schools, the total average comprehension level is within 50%.

As students go from class 3 to 5, their reading ability increases, but their comprehension level

decreases.

The average total achievement level in Math and EVS does not cross 60%.

In math, as students go from class 3 to 5, they have difficulties in patterns and measurement and in

the cognitive domain of conceptual understanding and reasoning.

In EVS, they do not seem to have any problem in any of the content domains; but performance in

reasoning questions is poor.

All these together suggest that the pedagogy in these schools does not focus on non-rote learning. In reading,

the emphasis is on decoding skills. As students go to higher classes, they master the decoding skills but are not

taught comprehension strategies. This explains the decrease in their comprehension levels.

In Math and EVS, the achievement level suggests that there is ample scope for increasing the achievement level.

More importantly, here too, the focus of teaching is on solving routine problems and knowing facts and

procedures. So students answer without understanding. But when questions demand reasoning and analytical

skills, students perform poorly.

TEACHER RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

Sense of Self-efficacy in Teachers: The self-efficacy scale is five point rating scales ranging from strongly

disagree to strongly agree. The items were bunched according to their dimensions. Then the data were

subjected to two kinds of analysis:

63

a) The ratings for each dimension were averaged to see whether the E1, E2 and Control groups differ in

their attitude.

b) The general tendency is to give politically correct answers. To address this issue, at least in an indirect

way, the conviction with which teachers expressed their beliefs were also computed. The number of

times teacher gives a score of 5 to a dimension was taken for this purpose.

The results of teacher‘s sense of self- efficacy are presented in the table below:

Table 6: Average of expressed sense of efficacy of teachers

Types of

Schools

Approach to

pedagogy

Nature of

knowledge

Ability to

learn

Silence as

discipline

Teaching as a

profession

E1 3.58 2.53 3.21 3.68 3.68

E2 3.68 2.73 3.25 3.56 3.71

Control 3.43 2.63 3.26 3.70 3.63

Table 6 above shows that there is almost no difference in the sense of self-efficacy felt by teachers in the E1, E2

and control schools.

On 4 dimensions, (except nature of knowledge) most teachers are sitting at a midrange.

On the nature of knowledge, most teachers believe that knowledge is simple and unidimensional. In fact, this

view is reflected in their classroom teaching also – where they do not give multiple learning experiences to

students, believe that giving the right answer means that the child has understood the problem, etc.,

Do teachers in E1, E2 and Control school differ in their conviction in the expression of self-efficacy? In order to

answer this question, the second analysis was done.

The findings have been presented in the table below:

Table 7: Conviction with which self-efficacy was expressed in E1, E2 and Control Schools

Type of

school

Number of

Teachers

Approach to

pedagogy

Nature of

learning

Ability to

learn

Class room

Discipline

Teaching as a

profession

E1 110

Teachers

100% teachers on 54.42%

statements

80% teachers

- 20.33%

86% teachers on 29.80%

statements

66% teachers on 52.32%

statements

90% teachers on 39%

statements

E2

123 Teachers

100% teachers

on 56.45% statements

82% teachers

on 22% statements

82% teachers

on 34.34% statements

69.92% teachers on

70.15% statements

90% teachers

on 39.30% statements

Control

81 teachers

96.30%

teachers on 49.82%

statements

79% teachers on 22.75%

statements

86.42%

teachers on 33.12%

statements

71.60%

teachers on 55.17%

statements

94% teachers on 39.14%

statements

Table 7 underlines the finding that teachers in E1, E2 and Control schools do not differ in the extent of conviction

expressed by them.

Most teachers strongly believe in child-focused approach to pedagogy. They also strongly believe that silence is

not a sign of discipline.

Most teachers believe - to some extent - that teaching is a profession that has its own body of knowledge, taking

responsibility of learning of students, peer mentoring of younger teachers, etc.

Most teachers believe - to a small extent - that all children are capable of learning and that the nature of

learning is complex. For School-Wise Results refer Table 28 in Annexure 3.

64

The results of the analysis on teachers' attitudes revealed the following (Please refer to Table 27 in Annexure 3

for tools):

Teachers gave an average rating of 3.5 on all the above sections of questions, indicating a trend of

agreement with the statements listed. This displays an overall positive attitude towards teaching,

learning and discipline.

In the section about nature of knowledge, the rating was consistently lower, hovering at around 2.5.

This indicates a curtailed view of knowledge as a finished good, certified by authority and closed to

investigation and interpretation.

In terms of conviction, the ratings on statements about classroom discipline have a very high conviction

while the ratings on statements about the nature of knowledge and ability to learn have the lowest

conviction rates. This indicates that teachers have a limited conception of knowledge and do not believe

that all children are capable of absorbing such knowledge. The two are, in fact, related - the many

different ways of knowing what children are capable of remains unrecognised, due to the belief that

knowledge is only valid if it is encoded in language that is sourced from a textbook.

The school-wise result is in line with the overall results for self-efficacy.

65

Results of Teachers’ Survey and ICT

The results show that knowledge of word processing is the maximum, followed by knowledge of basic operations

and spread sheets. In general, very few teachers have knowledge of technology.

Let us take a look at the school-wise data (see table 26 in Annexure 3). School-wise, the results show that 100%

teachers in 40% schools have some knowledge of computers. Teachers in 20% schools have no knowledge of

computers. (Sanapandusar, Gopinathpur Sahi PUP School, Kandhanayagarh, Model Primary School,)

1 teacher has a very good knowledge of technology (100%) and 1 teacher 50% knowledge of technology.

It must be pointed out that the baseline data was collected in June-July 2009 – when the training on computers

had already begun.

The baseline data were used for three purposes.

a) To document the prevailing status

b) To provide the backdrop and inputs to the Teacher Development Interactions.

c) To become the basis for providing need-based on-site support.

For instance, the finding on reading abilities and Math was used to build vision of teachers in TDI. The finding

that students read without comprehension was focussed and the Teacher development interaction discussed

with teachers the different ways in which comprehension can be explicitly taught. In on-site support, teachers

were facilitated to develop interpretive and reflective questions, plan for teaching for comprehension etc., In

Math also a similar approach was followed. The finding that the average achievement in Math is low was flashed

and discussion centred on the reasons for this. The emphasis on teaching algorithms, the non-use of different

learning experiences etc., were brought out. In on-site support, teachers were engaged in a discussion and

facilitated to develop learning experiences designed to provide different learning experiences to students.

Basic Operations

Word Processing

Spreadsheet

Multimedia presentations

Internet

email

Use of Data collection tools

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

Knowledge of IT

Percentage of Teachers

Percentage

Te

ch

no

log

y s

kills

66

Teacher Development Interaction (TDI) and On-Site Support

Computer aided learning sees teacher as central to technology. A teacher has to be empowered and enabled

both technologically and pedagogically if she/he has to use technology effectively. So ―training‖ of teachers is

key. The training of teachers takes on these two forms: in a centralized location – called the Teacher

Development Interaction. Here teachers are introduced to the pedagogy.

‗At-school points‘ – called ‗on-site support‘ – where teachers are given need-based support that deepen their

understanding of technology and pedagogy enabling them to take their learnings forward.

As pointed out earlier, the results of the baseline provided the starting point as well as the direction for the on-

site support and the TDIs.

The framework for TDI has been drawn from the works of Mishra and Koehler (2006) called the technological

pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK). In very simplistic terms, this framework says that teachers should not

be trained on content or pedagogy or technology in isolation. Instead, it is essential to integrate content,

pedagogy and technology. A diagram of such a view is given below:

Diagram taken from http://tpack.org

As per this framework, in the TDIs, teachers of E1 schools were trained on content, pedagogy and technology

together and teachers of E2 schools were trained on content and pedagogy together. So the approach in TDI

was not to look at content alone and enhance teacher‘s knowledge. Content knowledge was enhanced in relation

to how the content had to be taught. The language TDI integrated content and pedagogy and the Math TDI

integrated content, pedagogy and technology. We could not use technology for language because computers

had not been installed in all E1 schools.

A total of 5 TDIs have been so far conducted. The details of these TDI have been presented in this section.

67

First Teacher Development Interaction (TDI 1)

Objective: To introduce the Computer Aided Learning Programme (CALP) research study to the teachers of the 40 government primary experimental schools.

Design:

Focus area Objective Method

Introduction to the Study To enable the teachers to understand the basic premise and

various components of the Study

Teachers are divided into

groups Each group is given

reading material on the

CAL Study and the MoU signed between the

Foundation and the State

Government. Each group, after a

discussion, makes a

presentation on the Study

Responsibilities of the various participants in the Study

To ensure that the teachers know what to expect from various

parties during the implementation

of the Study

Teachers are divided into

groups Each group discusses the

expectations of teachers

from the Foundation, the

SSA and the school in the implementation of this

project Each group presents the

points of their discussion.

Reflections:

While teachers possessed a positive outlook on the potential of technology in facilitating learning, they

tended to struggle with situating technology in the framework of their teaching.

Teachers expressed progressive views on child development and learning. They were familiar with the

concepts and mouthed them with ease.

The second, third and fourth Teacher Development Interactions were on language. The TDI on language

focused on building a perspective on language teaching that was based on the principles of relevance to the

learner and teaching in context. The ―balanced language approach‖ was used for this purpose. This approach

starts with the whole language going to the syllabic structure of language.

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Such an approach was also in line with the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2005 of the NCERT,

Government of India.

Whole language describes a literacy philosophy which emphasizes that children should focus on meaning and strategy instruction. It is often contrasted with phonics-based methods of teaching reading and writing which emphasize instruction for decoding and spelling. Whole language is an educational philosophy that is complex to describe, particularly because it is informed by multiple research fields including but not limited to education, linguistics, psychology, sociology, and anthropology. Several strands run through most descriptions of whole language:

focus on making meaning in reading and expressing meaning in writing; constructivist approaches to knowledge creation, emphasizing students' interpretations of text

and free expression of ideas in writing (often through daily journal entries). emphasis on high-quality and culturally-diverse literature;

integrating literacy into other areas of the curriculum, especially math, science, and social studies;

frequent reading with students in small "guided reading" groups to students with "read alouds" by students independently;

reading and writing for real purposes; focus on motivational aspects of literacy, emphasizing the love of books and engaging reading

materials;

meaning-centred whole to part to whole instruction where phonics are taught contextually in "embedded" phonics (different from synthetic or analytic phonics); and

emphasis on using and understanding the meaning making role of phonics, grammar, spelling, capitalization and punctuation in diverse social contexts.

69

Excerpted from the Position Paper on teaching of Indian Languages by the NCERT Objectives of language teaching: (a) The competence to understand what she hears: A learner must be able to employ various non-verbal cues coming from the speaker for understanding what has been said. She should also be skilled at listening and understanding in a non-linear fashion by making connections and drawing inferences. (b) Ability to read with comprehension, and not merely decode: She should develop the habit of reading in a non-linear manner using various syntactic, semantic, and grapho-phonemic cues. She must be able to construct meaning by drawing inferences and relating the text with her previous knowledge. She must also develop the confidence of reading the text with a critical eye and posing questions while reading. (c) Effortless expression: She should be able to employ her communicative skills in a variety of situations. Her repertoire must have a range of styles to choose from. She must be able to engage in a discussion in a logical, analytical, and creative manner. (d) Coherent writing: Writing is not a mechanical skill; it involves a rich control of grammar, vocabulary, content, and punctuation as well as the ability to organise thoughts coherently often using a variety of cohesive devices such as linkers and lexical repetitions through synonymy, etc. A learner should develop the confidence to express her thoughts effortlessly and in an organised manner. The student must be encouraged and trained to choose her own topic, organise her ideas, and write with a sense of audience. This is possible only if her writings are seen as a process and not as a product. She should be able to use writing for a variety of purposes and in a variety of situations, ranging from informal to very formal. (e) Control over different registers: Language is never used in a uniform fashion. It has innumerable varieties, shades, and colours, which surface in different domains and in different situations. These variations, known as registers, should form a part of a student‘s repertoire. Besides the register of school subjects, a student must be able to understand and use the variety of language being used in other domains such as music, sports, films, gardening, construction work, cookery, etc. (f) Scientific study of language: In a language class, the teaching approaches adopted and the tasks undertaken should be such that they lead a child to go through the whole scientific process of collecting data, observing the data, classifying it according to its similarities and differences, making hypotheses, etc. Thus, linguistic tools can and must play a significant role in developing a child‘s cognitive abilities. This would be much better than teaching normative rules of grammar. Moreover, this approach is particularly effective in multilingual classrooms. (g) Creativity: In a language classroom, a student should get ample space to develop her imagination and creativity. Classroom ethos and the teacher–student relationship build confidence in the latter to use her creativity in text transaction and activities uninhibitedly. (h) Sensitivity: Language classrooms can be an excellent reference point for familiarising students with our

rich culture and heritage as well as aspects of our contemporary life. Language classroom and texts have a

lot of scope to make students sensitive towards their surroundings, their neighbours, and their nation.

Overall Objective of the language modules were to develop

A perspective on reading that emphasizes on making meaning.

A perspective of writing that emphasizes on relevance and expression.

This consists of the following sub-objectives:

1. To be able to list the developmental stages in reading and writing

2. To assess reading that is in consonance with the meaning-making approach

a) Identify and mark errors made by children

b) Identify the developmental stage in reading on the basis of the errors

3. To be able to support students to move in the developmental ladder through the use of appropriate

strategies and reading-level appropriated books.

4. To describe the process of learning to read and the role of teachers.

5. To articulate the approaches and strategies for teaching reading.

70

6. To develop writing in ways that are meaningful to children.

7. To develop activities that will help students to develop their writing abilities

The principles underlying the approach used in the modules are:

Children learn to read and write only when they are interested in reading and writing. Interest is not the result of

learning to read and write.

‗Teaching‘ of reading and writing is effective when the process-product emphasis is taken to foster reading/

writing rather than a product-alone emphasis.

The development of reading and writing abilities are not cumulative with alphabets acquired first, followed by

words, sentences, paragraphs and so on. Rather, the components of reading and writing develop together. So it

is essential for teacher to pitch teaching of reading at these components simultaneously and not wait till

reading/writing abilities are developed.

Comprehension consists of various layers and reading and writing must explicitly target these layers.

The approach to error should be from a developmental perspective and not a diagnostic perspective.

Reading and writing develops simultaneously by mutually reinforcing one another along with listening and

speaking.

As stated earlier, the baseline result on reading was used to feed into TDI. The baseline results clearly showed

that students decode without comprehension. So the TDIs attempted to differentiate between decoding and

comprehension and dealt with the issue of teaching language for comprehension. In this sense, language

teaching is teaching of reading and writing.

Design:

Focus Area Objective Method

Difference between

script and language

To differentiate between

decoding and comprehending.

Two passages were prepared – one in

Marathi language but written in

Devanagari script and second, in Tamil language but written in Devanagari

script. Teachers were asked to read the

passages and then share their feelings

on reading without comprehension.

Passage reading: Coding

versus meaning making

To drive home the fact that we

make meaning by reading a

piece of writing in its contextual entirety, not word for word or

sentence by sentence. It is possible to derive multiple

meanings from the text and this

was an important skill to develop.

Two similar paragraphs were prepared.

The first was different from the other

only by five words which were omitted

in the second one. For passage reading, four participants

volunteered and they were sent

outside, two each were given one passage and they had to read and state

individually what they understood from

the passage. The resource person pasted the

passages on board, audience read the

passage, and then volunteers were called one by one to relate what they

had understood from passage. Then both the passages were pasted in

front for all to see the difference and

understand why meanings changed and

where meaning was hidden.

Importance of

questioning

To convey that asking questions

to children with reference to a given text is a powerful tool of

Teachers were divided into four groups.

They were given a passage of class

3/4/5 and asked to make 5-6 questions

71

understanding the many shades

of meaning being drawn by the child from/about the text.

which they would like to ask children

Teachers came out with questions-

mainly direct and factual questions, only a few questions were such that

they invoked analysis, application, and emotions of the child.

Definition of reading

To concretise the concept of reading by synthesising

learnings from the previous

sessions of the workshop.

Participants were divided into four

groups. A written note on Reading was distributed to all. (Refer Annexure 4.)

All the participants read individually and

discussed in a group

Each group prepared 8-10 questions

based on the note on the parts that they understood and the parts that they

did not understand 30-40 minutes were given for above

preparation

Then quizzes were organized among

groups- the first group would ask questions to the second, the second to

the third and so on.

Clarification, if required, was given after

every question.

Understanding

assessment

To understand the different

kinds of reading errors generally committed by children

A discussion on the different kinds of errors in

reading, which are as following: 1. Addition error: Where a child adds

words/alphabets e.g. Aa+pana for apana, pasandaa+ for pasand

2. Deletion error: Where a child misses

certain words/alphabets 3. Substitution: Where a child replaces a

word or alphabet with another word or alphabet

Hands-on RAT scoring

To enable the teachers to gain an understanding of the

common reading errors through

actual testing of children.

The first hands-on experience on

reading assessment was organized with one of the resource persons. Facilitators

observed participants while marking

errors. Then the errors and their marking were discussed. Wrong

markings were corrected. The second hands-on experience was

organized with children. Participants

were grouped into three groups. 2 children, each of class 3, 4 and 5 from

a nearby school were assembled.

Questions were asked to the children after they finished their reading.

The responses were recorded by the

participants. Participants reflected on the process

and there was a vivid discussion on the

process, errors, how to deal with

borrowed words, where to issue prompts, what should be the time given

for self correction, types of questions, types of responses etc.

Reflections:

Teachers were sceptical about the 'whole language' methodology of reading. A reversal of the methodology that

was fundamental to their beliefs about language learning proved too difficult to pull off during the session.

72

Second, Third and Fourth Teacher Development Interactions (TDI 2, 3 & 4) Objective:

Reading Assessment Data analysis and interpretation

Demonstration of an array of reading and writing activities to improve classroom practices of the

teaching of the same.

Design:

Focus area Objective Method

Sharing of the RAT data of 40 schools with the participants

Number of children who

completed the reading of the text (Class wise)

The reading speed of the

children

The accuracy rate of the

children (Class wise) The correlation between speed

and accurate rate of the

children (Class wise) The overall comprehension

level of children

The general trends in children‘s

reading ability.

The complete reading ability

taking into account all the indicators i.e. speed, accuracy

and comprehension

To make the group

aware of the status of reading in their schools.

To set a context to the

teacher development interaction.

To urge them to focus

on the results and reflect

upon the status/level of children in their

schools/classes To provide teachers with

evidence on the number

of students who are

unable to read and hence are at risk –

potential drop outs or those who will not be

able to get much from education

To provide data on

students who are able to

read but with little comprehension – and so

the necessity of teaching for comprehension

Presentation

Discussion on the results

Understanding the Errors analysis of

RAT (the entire process has been

elaborated below this table) 12. Analyzing the results of their

individual schools in the light of overall RAT results.

13. Understanding the kind of errors made by children.

14. Looking at the speed and

accuracy of children in their schools

To enable teachers to

understand the method

of assessing the reading

of children To help teachers

understand the

kind/nature of errors made by children.

To enable teachers to

understand the reading status of their

schools/classes.

To identify error patterns

made by children

Teachers are divided

into group according to

their school, and asked

to analyse question papers.

They are given error

analysis sheets to assist them in the exercise.

Reflecting upon the methods/practices

of teaching reading of the teachers Understanding the balanced

approach to reading.

Understanding the various

class appropriate strategies for comprehension.

The method of teaching

reading to children, beginning

from text

To help teachers reflect

upon their teaching

practices. To demonstrate to

teachers the method of

teaching reading to children beginning from

the text.

A teacher is selected

and given a chapter to

prepare a lesson plan around.

The teacher is asked to

demonstrate it to the classroom

After the teacher has

finished, the facilitator

demonstrates a more learner-focussed lesson

73

plan on the same

chapter Discussion on the two

demonstrations follow.

The documentary film 'A

Teacher's Journey' is

screened.

A list of pointers is

handed out to the teachers and they

discuss the film in groups.

This is shared with the

rest of the group.

A handout on

'Developmental stages

of reading' is given to each teacher and they

discuss this in groups. They present the

learnings from the

handout in the form of a

poster.

Activities on reading and writing

Making Venn diagram –

Writing Becoming Authors – Writing

Timeline - Writing

Blindfold - reading

Alphabet Grid - Reading

To demonstrate

resources/activities to teachers that can be used in the

classroom

Teachers divide into groups to

do various activities designed to help children read and write.

Preparing action plans for children

Making groups of children on

the basis of their speed, accuracy, number of errors

(Mechanics & Violation) and comprehension

Understanding the pedagogic

strategies to be employed with every level of children

Enable teachers to

prepare an action plan

for supporting reading development of their

students To enable participants to

refine the nature of

grouping by inferring from error and self-

correction data.

To enable participants to

place each group on the reading development

continuum. To enable teachers to

develop the action plan

consisting of strategies

for each group of children, materials, and

time management.

The handout of this is

given to the teachers

and the facilitator demonstrates to the

group how to make the action plan by taking an

example. The teachers then divide

into groups and make

similar action plans.

Teacher participants in the TDI were capacitated to do a qualitative analysis of the error data. The purpose of

this analysis was twofold:

a) To enable teachers to assess the areas of difficulties and provide need-based instruction

b) To instil a ray of hope and confidence in teachers towards the reading abilities of students.

74

Process of looking at the Qualitative Data

Make a list of errors made by each child. Examine them to see if there is a pattern of sight words and

pattern of other words (whether they have problems with maatra – if so what maatra, whether they

have problems with specific letters, etc.).

Examine each error made by each child. Decide how many errors make sense – i.e., do they violate the

syntactic and semantic contexts and how many errors do – most or a few.

Children who make errors that do not fit the context show that they require a different kind of support

compared to children who do not make such errors.

Look at the self-correction rate of children and see if there is scope for refining grouping. Children who

make errors that violate the sense and show no self-correction require a different kind of support

compared to children who make such sense violating errors but with self-correction.

Group children on the basis of the analysis of the errors and to provide need-based inputs.

Such an analysis was done by teachers. The results showed that

Errors occur frequently in words with three or more syllables.

Errors occur in the middle or third position but not in the first position of a word.

Most of the errors that students have made are of the mechanical type and do not violate the syntax.

Some students show awareness of errors – but this degree is low.

75

Activities to help children read and write

Venn Diagram activity Objective: To compare two objects/people/situations. Process:

Teachers were split into groups of two.

Each member of a group was asked to write down on a piece of paper his/her good/admired qualities.

Once this was done, the groups were instructed to draw a Venn Diagram to portray the qualities that the two members shared in common

Timeline activity

Objective: To encourage logical/sequential thought and expression Process: Each teacher was given sheets of paper They were asked to describe, through writing or drawing, the prominent milestones of their lives. They then stick these milestones on chart paper in the form of a timeline.

Reflections:

1. Construction of knowledge during the workshop was more pliant to the expressed needs and participation levels of the teachers. In comparison to the previous TDIs, wherein full-bodied concepts

were introduced - irrespective of their reception by teachers, this worked as a better strategy of

influencing teaching practices.

2. More concrete demonstrations and activities formed part of the methodology as compared to the

previous TDIs, wherein it was felt that teachers were not able to grasp (or appreciate) solely theoretical inputs.

3. Teachers expressed their appreciation of the quality of the assessment tool used for the RAT, especially

the number and variety of parameters used to evaluate children's level of reading.

4. Teachers showed awareness of students reading without comprehension and were seeking ways to

overcome this problem. They felt that the TDI was useful in answering this question. But had reservations in following this because they had to complete portions. They saw these strategies as

extremely time consuming.

The TDI was followed by on-site support. AS a part of on-site support, team members went to schools and

demonstrated to teachers the principles of teaching lessons. Discussions were initiated on different types of groupings. It was stressed that such a method of teaching needed lot of planning and preparation. After inputs

and demonstrations, members sat through classes for observation to see the impact of their inputs.

Impact of Language support By the end of Year One, a large majority of teachers had developed competency in the following areas:

Assessing reading abilities of students

Identification and analysis of common reading errors

Grouping as a pedagogical strategy to address students with reading difficulties

76

Focusing less on grammar, i.e., form, and more on comprehension, i.e., substance.

But most of them continued to use only retrieving questions. They could not develop interpretive or

reflective questions.

They could not devise remedial measures to develop better reading and writing abilities among children

with reading difficulties.

They could not develop resource to suit the needs of students

They did not plan for handling different levels of groups and so difficulties handling them.

The reasons for this partial failure were:

The attitude of some teachers who believed that a large proportion of children they were teaching

belonged to disadvantaged communities, and so were incapable of learning well, either because of their

inherent cognitive deficiencies or because of insufficient parental support.

Teachers claimed that there wasn't sufficient time for such remedial teaching.

Non-availability of readymade levelled reading materials.

TDI 5 on Math and On-site support

The second year of the Study had yielded several learnings for the Foundation that were to later influence both

the processes of interactions with the teachers and the areas of focus in the Study. Firstly, a much clearer

picture of the levels of competency and receptiveness of the teachers had emerged, and this knowledge was

incorporated into the design of later interactions. Secondly, school visits attained a greater importance than

planned, since they were found to be the most influential in altering classroom practices. Thirdly, the technology

component was more seamlessly integrated into the design of the later interactions, particularly in Year Three.

Fourthly, the use of grouping as a pedagogy became well defined in the process of assigning specific roles to

each participant in the group and using different learning strategies, like, Pair-Share; Solo-Share; Group-pair-solo

etc.,

As with language teaching, the Study's approach to Mathematics teaching is derived from the NCF.

77

Objective:

This TDI on Math was intended to introduce participants to the following principles of teaching Math. This was

done using the topic of Division. Its purpose was to enable teachers to:

Apply principles of Math pedagogy to teaching Math topics / concepts

Use grouping as a pedagogical practice – with emphasis on instructional strategies

Use visualization as a strategy

Use estimation / prediction as a strategy

Apply knowledge of interrelationship between concepts and sub-concepts in Math

Apply knowledge of relevance of Math content to daily life

Enhance their knowledge of content on Division (selected on suggestion of teachers)

Use strategies that integrate the technology with the curriculum

Develop resources using technology

Teach children technology through division

The TDI on Math was designed as a three-step progression – referred to as the EAR Model – meaning

Experience, Apply and Reflect. The module was designed keeping in mind the results of students in Math

achievement. Emphasis was laid on giving participants multiple learning experiences on division, taking them

from concrete to abstract – sharing with games/ story and objects / and then numbers, different orientations,

visualization, and writing questions for a given answer. Teachers experienced the Math pedagogy on grouping

Excerpted from the Position Paper on the 'Teaching of Mathematics' by the NCERT

• Children learn to enjoy mathematics: this is an important goal, based on the premise that mathematics can be both used and enjoyed life-long, and hence that school is best placed to create such a taste for mathematics. On the other hand, creating (or not removing) a fear of mathematics can deprive children of an important faculty for life. • Children learn important mathematics: Equating mathematics with formulas and mechanical procedures does great harm. Understanding when and how a mathematical technique is to be used is always more important than recalling the technique from memory (which may easily be done using a book), and the school needs to create such understanding. • Children see mathematics as something to talk about, to communicate, to discuss among themselves, to work together on. Making mathematics a part of children’s life experience is the best mathematics education possible. • Children pose and solve meaningful problems: In school, mathematics is the domain which formally addresses problem solving as a skill. Considering that this is an ability of use in all of one’s life, techniques and approaches learnt in school have great value. Mathematics also provides an opportunity to make up interesting problems, and create new dialogues thereby. • Children use abstractions to perceive relationships, to see structure, to reason about things, to argue the truth or falsity of statements. Logical thinking is a great gift mathematics can offer us, and inculcating such habits of thought and communication in children is a principal goal of teaching mathematics. • Children understand the basic structure of mathematics: Arithmetic, algebra, geometry and trigonometry, the basic content areas of school mathematics, all offer a methodology for abstraction, structuring and generalization. Appreciating the scope and power of mathematics refines our instincts in a unique manner. • Teachers expect to engage every child in class: Settling for anything less can only act towards systematic exclusion, in the long run. Adequately challenging the talented even while ensuring the participation of all children is a challenge, and offering teachers means and resources to do this is essential for the health of the system.

78

and sharing. Then they had to apply the principles on another sub-concept. Finally the groups had to reflect on

their application.

Design:

Focus area Objective Method

How do we teach division? To enable teachers to express

their division teaching practices

Teachers are divided into groups

Each group answers questions

about how they teach division in

the classroom. These responses are written down

and displayed in the training hall

What is division? To enable teachers to demonstrate their content

knowledge of division

Teachers are divided into groups

Each group draws a content map

on division. These maps are shared with the

rest of the groups

Defining division as being either equal distribution or

grouping

To enable participants to be able to define division as equal

distribution by engaging in a game.

Teachers and students are divided

into mixed groups of equal number

The teachers draw circles on the

ground and number them. The circles are much fewer in number

than the students in the group.

They assign numbers to the

students corresponding to the number of each circle, repeating

numbers to cover all the students Teachers call out a number and

ask the student to go and stand in

their corresponding circle By the end of the activity, there

would be equal number of

students in each circle with either

a few children remaining or none remaining at all

The teachers then query the

children about their views and feelings about the activity

Through this discussion, the

principle of division as equal

distribution is derived

To enable understanding of

division as equal distribution/sharing by looking at

unequal and equal sharing through a game

Teachers and students are divided

into mixed groups of equal

number Students are given answering

sheets.

A story is read out by a teacher to

the students The story demonstrates the

difference between equal and

unequal sharing and the teacher discusses this with the students.

The teacher asks questions at

many points in the story and

pauses to let students write their answers

To enable understanding of division as sharing through object

distribution

Teachers and students are divided

into mixed groups of equal number

79

Each group is given a fixed

number of buttons and containers

The teachers ask the students to

place an equal number of buttons in each container

After all the buttons are placed,

the teachers ask the students to count the number of buttons in

the first container, then the

second and so on The students are then asked to

reflect in the activity and the

principle of division as sharing is derived

To enable the understanding of grouping as division through a

game.

The number of the students

present is written down on a board by the facilitator

A song is sung by the facilitator

during which time the students move around in a circle

The facilitator, at points, calls out

a number after which the students

have to arrange themselves in groups of that number

The number of groups and the

size of the groups is written on the board by the facilitator

After a few rounds of this, A

discussion ensues during which

the facilitator derives the principle of division as grouping

To enable the understanding of grouping as division by grouping

objects

Each student is given a fixed

number of soybeans Each student is asked to pick up a

folded chit of paper, on which a

number from 1-10 is written The students are then asked to

divide the soybeans into as many

groups as the number on the chit indicated

They then write down information

related to the number of groups

and the remaining soybeans, if any

From this exercise, the principle of

division as grouping is derived.

80

Objective: To enable the understanding of grouping as division through a game.

Process: The number of the students present is written down on a board by the facilitator

A song is sung by the facilitator during which time the students move around in a circle

The facilitator, at points, calls out a number after which the students have to arrange themselves in

groups of that number

The number of groups and the size of the groups is written on the board by the facilitator

After a few rounds of this, A discussion ensues during which the facilitator derives the principle of

division as grouping.

81

Worksheet used during the interaction

Technology component:

The E1 batch of schools, for which the Study design mandated a substantial serving of technology inputs, were

invited to use word processing, spreadsheet and presentation tools during the sessions described above.

Whenever a group conclusion or resolution had to be documented, it was done using a word processor instead

of writing on chart paper. Print outs were taken to advance the teachers' familiarity with hardware. Graphs and

charts displayed data. Presentations were compiled out of group discussions.

Reflections:

The TDI on Math was designed after ingesting learnings from the experiences and failures of Year One. The

following elements were consciously incorporated into the design:

1. Activities to elicit teacher input and participation were more numerous and rigorous. This was done to

enable the facilitators to mould the session according to the receptiveness, subject competency and

comfort levels of the teachers.

82

2. For the E1 schools, technology was more seamlessly integrated into the sessions. Teachers were

assisted to use digital tools to interact with the students and convey concepts and ideas.

3. The above detailed changes did positively impact the teachers' levels of enthusiasm and absorption.

4. Teachers participated enthusiastically in creating resources for teaching division. They even recorded

their voice explaining with animation the idea of sharing and grouping.

5. They were delighted to see Oriya words on the computer – it was a language they could easily relate to.

6. They could relate and get a real understanding and a feeling of being empowered in the process of using

technology for Math.

7. Teachers began to look at songs and games as medium for creation of atmosphere of learning or

motivation. They began to see value in games as a medium of learning and not as a means for

motivating the learners. This is evident in the TNMs.

8. Although we had been telling for long that we were interested in using technology for learning curricular

subjects, in the TDI, they understood the implication of this statement. An impact of this realization was

that earlier they would have 8 to 10 children crowded around a computer. Now, they started

implementing the guideline of 1computer for 3 children to enable each child to operate the computer for

learning purposes.

Teacher Network Meetings

Teacher Network Meetings (TNMs) aim to create a forum for teachers for the purposes of self-expression and

development. Through the TNMs, teachers will begin to perceive themselves as members of community united

by common goals and operational difficulties instead of disparate units working in isolation as is commonly the

case now. Once a sense of community has developed, shared ideas, reflections, learnings and difficulties will

inevitably become focal points of discussion and action. Additionally, such a forum, it is hoped, will incite in

teachers a larger sense of purpose about their chosen vocation and provide a much-needed boost to their

collective confidence. TNM is a forum of teachers for teachers and by teachers. The responsibility of the team

members was limited to background work.

83

So far, 7 TNMs have been held in

Nayagarh and these have fostered feelings of unity and camaraderie

amongst the teachers.

Venue: Balugaon UGME Date: 20 March, 2010 Participating schools: Kridaspur UGME and Balugaon UGME

Teacher name: Gayatree Champatray

Ms. Champatray shared the new classroom strategies she evolved to teach science to Class 5 students. She sang a song about the

various uses of water as an introduction to the topic. To conduct the lesson in a more interesting manner she has devised a time line

displaying the various use of water from morning to night and a

Venn diagram to show the uses of water inside the home and outside the home.

Venue: BRCC building, Nayagarh

Date: 6 February, 2010 Participating schools: Ghadual PUPS,

Nabaghanapur UGME, Solapata Nodal

UPS

Narotama Nayak from Nabaghanapur UGME shared his

teaching strategies for mathematics.

He explained how he teaches the topic of fractions for class IV students. He

begins the class by handing out circular pieces of paper to each child

and helps them to identify different fractions by colouring into sections of

the circle. After that, he displays a

potato to the class and demonstrates fractions by slicing it into different

parts. Then he introduces the concepts of numerator and

denominator.

Venue: Barapalli UGME School, Nayagarh

Date: 13 February, 2010 Participating schools: Barapalli UGME, Kanchanbelli

PUPS, Kodei Kahania PS, Bodapada PS

Santi lata Devi, Barapalli UGME shared her happiness

on being able to use computers, a technology she was unfamiliar with in the past. Now, with support from Study

members and after attending TDIs she is able to use computers for classroom transaction. She shared one of

the resources she developed on EVS for teaching Class V

the skills of map reading and identifying and understanding different landforms of India. She also

shared a worksheet she developed for children to draw a map and colour different land forms using a paint

program.

84

Name of the organizer school

School participated Date of TNM No of Participants

Barapalli UGME Bodapada, Kanchanbelli, K.Kahania, Barapalli 13.2.10 16

Nabaghanapur Solapata, Nabaghanapur, Ghadual 6.2.10 19

C.S Nodal Machipada C.S.Nodal,Machipada, Sinduria ,Sanapandusar, Mardarajpur

13.3.10 22

Balugaon UPME Balugaon, Kirdaspur 20.3.10 19

Ranganipatna Ranganipatana, Kurala 19.3.10 14

Ranpur Girls Ranpur Girls, Bodhipatna, Mayurjhalia,

Harijanbasti, Sarangadharpur

13.3.10 21

Nilakantha P.S Nilakantha, Badakutuni, P. Manpur 6.4.10 10

Some of the significant innovations and experience shared by teachers are listed below.

Ravindranath Sahu displayed a game he had devised for teaching children the concept of division as

repeated subtraction

Manorama Devi had developed flash cards on different means of transportation and demonstrated the

process of transaction by grouping children and promoting collaborative learning. She also prepared a

song for introducing the topic.

Gayatree Champatray made a song on water for introducing uses of water. She then used to

timeline to show use of water throughout a day and Venn diagram for comparing the use of

water inside and outside home. She discussed the process of using these strategies.

Prasanna Pradhan demonstrated the process of teaching British rule in India. He told a story on

British rule and asked students to make sequential maps. On different chits, he wrote the acts

done by British and placed them in the centre of the room. Each student had to pick up a chit,

read it out aloud, say whether it is a good or an evil deed and stand in the respective columns.

Gangadhar used the concept of sight words and discussed games that can be played with this.

85

Gangadhar showing the chart of Oriya Sight Words

Ahalya Devi from Solapata Nodal shared her experience of using learnings from TDI. She

made three groups-fast reader, slow reader and unable to read. She then concentrated on

students who are unable to read. Out of 6 unable to read children, 4 children are now able to

read. She still has to work with 2 more children.

Prafula Kumar Patanaik from Solapata Nodal shared his experiences that in language teaching he

follows principle of shared reading with children. At the time of shared reading he monitors

comprehension continuously.

Narotama Nayak from Nabaghanapur used shading and vegetable cutting activities for

teaching fractions.

Manjubala Dei from Nabaghanpur shared her experience in teaching of writing. She helped students

to develop picture dictionary, become authors and develop a timeline in the classroom. According to her,

these kinds of activities many children are able to frame sentences and write with correct spelling.

Manjubala Dei sharing the picture dictionary and stories developed by children with all teachers

Pradip of Machipada used technology to make word puzzles,

Namita of Machipada used technology for exercises like identifying odd and even numbers, two

and three digit additions.

Pratima of Sindhuria Nodal used Power point to show ½ as a fraction.

Nishamani and Gita of Sindhuria Nodal used power point to show solar system

Surendra of Sanpondusar UPS downloaded pictures of parts of plants and body parts from internet,

inserted it into power point and gave questions on identifying parts of plants and parts of body.

Niranjan had developed a power point to show the concept of sharing.

86

Many teachers expressed the view that this is the first time they were participating in a forum where the

discussion was not on administrative issues.

One of the objectives of TNM was to enable teachers to solve one another‘s problem. This objective was not

achieved in the TNM. When teachers came out with any issue – like lack of time, class room management,

inadequacy of teachers, this was not even discussed. These issues were made more as statements rather than

issues for discussion.

Technology support The Study team has endeavoured to equip teachers with software tools that are highly pliable to adaptation.

Common office tools like Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint and open source2 educational software suites

enabled teachers to replace more inflexible and limited teaching aids such as textbooks and blackboards with

digital applications that allowed for animation, audio, video and interactivity. Conceptual areas in which most

teachers created resources were reading, memorisation of numbers and their multiples and common operations

like addition, division. Teachers had to be supported very intensively in order to gain proficiency in the use of

these tools and operational procedures had to be repeatedly demonstrated by the study team for the benefit of

the teachers.

Open source tools used by teachers in Orissa

Place the items in the best way to count them Category: Numeration

Instructions: First, properly organize the items so that you can count them. Then, select the item you want to answer in the bottom right area. Enter the answer with the keyboard and press the OK button or the 'Enter' key.

Missing Letter Category: English Reading

Instructions: An object is displayed in the main area, and an incomplete word is printed under the picture. Select the missing letter to complete the word.

The above games form part of an open source software package called GCompris. GCompris is a high

quality educational software suite comprising of numerous activities for children aged 2 to 10. Some of the

activities are game orientated, but nonetheless still educational. Below is a list of categories with some of

the activities available in that category.

computer discovery: keyboard, mouse, different mouse gesture, ...

algebra: table memory, enumeration, double entry table, mirror image, ...

2 Open source refers to any program whose source code is made available for use or modification as users or other developers see fit.

Open source software is usually developed as a public collaboration and made freely available.

87

science: the canal lock, the water cycle, the submarine, electric simulation ...

geography: place the country on the map

games: chess, memory, connect 4, oware, Sudoku ...

reading: reading practice

other: learn to tell time, puzzle of famous paintings, vector drawing, cartoon making, ...

Technology Resource created by a teacher Category: Numeration

Created using: Microsoft Word

AÇs sõMèÇ QÈtÈïgÇ

* 1 HL

** 2 cÊB

*** 3 aÈeÈ

**** 4 QÇlÈ

***** 5 fLj

****** 6 R A

******* 7 sÇa

******** 8 AÇW

********* 9 e A

********** 10 cq

Revision Games Background:

In all schools, the period spanning February and March is revision time for students. The process of revision is to

write the text book questions on the board, and students write the answers. A few bright students finish their

answers and get them corrected. Towards the end of the period, teacher writes the correct answers and asks

other students to copy them. So students are hardly engaged in the process of revision. They do not write

because they do not know what to write. It was our aim to draw attention of teachers to this point and

question (through demonstration) their view that students do not write in their exams because their writing skills

are inadequately developed. To demonstrate this to teachers, a need for a revision game was felt. The games

were played by students of classes 3,4 and 5. Each class got 2 sets of each game (totally 4 game sets per class).

Objectives:

88

Apart from the fun element, learning without fear or anxiety, and building confidence, the specific objectives of

the games were:

11. To facilitate players to engage themselves with their lessons in the process of revision

12. To enhance search skills in players

13. To foster questioning skills

14. To enable them to relate the answers to questions in the process of revision

Materials

A board with parachutes and downward arrows.

A pair of dice

One Counter for each player

Process of Playing:

The game simulates an open book examination except that the questions are from text book.

Played by 4 children (or children can play in groups - so 8 children play a board).

Throw dice, pick a card and read aloud the question written on it.

The player will search the text books for an answer in case he/she does not know it.

Say aloud the answer and move their counters in accordance to the number on the dice.

In case of difference of opinion, they can refer to the answer cards which will be with the teacher.

The questioning skill game also follows the same process. But the player draws the card, reads aloud the

key words and asks a question related to it.

Each player gets ―3 life lines‖ – searching in books becomes one lifeline, asking friends becomes another,

and getting clues through key words becomes the third lifeline.

Some teachers brought in changes in the process of playing. If students did not answer any question,

the next child could answer but the first child makes just one move with her counters.

Some teachers added writing (answers to the questions) after playing the game.

89

Impact:

1. Children enjoyed the game and were engaged in the process of revision.

2. Children who were unable to read, were learning to read the questions.

3. Children also searched enthusiastically for answers and discussed the answers among themselves.

4. Teachers saw value in the game – because it is based on the text books.

5. Teachers have appreciated the meaning of the term ‗engaging all children in the process of learning‘.

6. Some teachers have started creating their own revision games for EVS.

7. Some teachers complained that there was high noise level in the classroom.

8. In some schools, the grouping of students for playing the game was heterogeneous. In such cases, the

―intelligent‖ students tended to dominate the ―slow learners‖

In the process of learning technology, teachers raised certain issues:

o The head teacher tended to limit teachers and students access to computers

o Teachers voiced concerns about completion of syllabus

We, too, felt the need to engage the officials for seeking their support and inputs.

This led us to working on enabling conditions. As a part of this effort, three meetings were held with the Head

Teacher and the District Inspector of Schools, along with Block Resource Coordinators and Cluster Resource

Coordinators.

The objectives of these meetings were:

a) Share the activities that were done as a part of computer aided learning

b) Seek support and input from them.

A Head Teacher meeting was held on 18-19th August 2009. The objective was to make HT aware of the

difference between a leader and a manager and administrator and to make them experience leadership

through several activities. These activities were used to build on the role of Head teacher in the research

study.

90

District, block, and cluster functionaries meeting on 13th October, 2009.

Sharing the activities of TDI and seeking support

In this meeting one of the teachers from an E1 school shared the research study and the updates.

The impact of such continuous interactions was:

The computer room was kept open throughout the

school working hours.

The CRCs expressed the view that so far they were merely monitoring schools and teachers. Hence forth

they will begin to support them

The BRCs, CRCs began to attend TNMs and acquainted themselves with the resources developed by

teachers

Impact of the Study on Teachers

Nearly half the teachers are comfortable with using technology to supplement their classroom teaching.

They are devising new teaching tools utilising common computer applications such as Microsoft Word,

Excel and PowerPoint.

Access to computer lab: the Head Teacher was not opening the Computer Lab – now he keeps it open.

Teachers did not know to use computer – now they use it to create resources.

Teachers used to see learning of computers a burden- now they no longer hold this view.

Teachers / Head Teacher writing question papers and answers on papers, preparing salary bills, entering

attendance data and teacher data – now they enter and store records on the computer. (Himanshu of

Barapalli; Kabita Behera and Pradipta Ku Sahu of Kanchanbelli UPS; teachers of Kural school; Pradip of

Machipada; teachers in Sinduria Nodal, to cite a few names)

All teachers of E1 school enjoyed learning Baraha Oriya. They were delighted to see Oriya language on

the screen.

Students depended on teachers for seeing computers. Now they see it on their own . They also use

Tuxpaint and Tux Math on their own. According to reports, in Machipada, students stayed after school

and attended school after exams to use computers.

Teachers extended the idea of board game to EVS.

91

A large majority of teachers have altered their perception of language learning to varying degrees. They

have picked up the skill of analysing common reading errors and have become more sensitive to the

needs of learners, particularly those with reading and learning difficulties.

The Teacher Network Meetings (TNMs) have given teachers a common platform to express themselves

and learn from each other. Every teacher has attended at least one TNM and has expressed great

pleasure in feeling a sense of belonging to a community that is attuned to his/her needs and sensibilities.

Teachers have begun to understand the meaning of the phrase ‖active engagement of students in the

learning process‖.

They have begun to feel empowered – because they create resources and use them.

Reasons for pulling out of Orissa The Computer Aided Learning project is a research study. The study is based on Foundation‘s earlier experiences

for effective utilization of computers. These were translated into certain critical conditions necessary for the use

of computers:

A computer child ratio of 1:3. But in schools, the computer student ratio exceed 1:6

UPS supporting a back-up of at least 3 hours. But in schools, the UPS supports only 10 minutes back-up.

In fact, frequent and long duration power-cuts have often disrupted on-site support for technology.

Pupil –teacher ratio of 1:30. But in several schools and in several classes this condition is not met.

Apart from these essential conditions, the study was based on having the profile of teachers similar

across E1, E2 and Control schools. Because of teacher transfers we are not sure to what extent do the

three types of schools share similar teacher profiles.

The non-fulfilment of these critical conditions has vitiated the research.

Despite numerous requests and reminders, the Government has not succeeded in equipping the selected schools

(E1 schools) with the requisite technology set-up. This inordinate delay is hampering our work in the schools and

tampering with the design of the study. Currently, only 18 out of 20 schools are fitted with 5 computers each.

After completing 2 years of the study - constrained by this lacuna - it was felt that further continuation in the

state would not serve any purpose and hence, the decision was made to pull-out.

Conclusions Technology is best introduced to teachers in the context of teaching and not as a stand-alone article of

investigation in a training centre. It was observed that teachers enlisted technology as a teaching aid as naturally

as they would any other resource in their environment. While they certainly had to be supported in their efforts,

integration of technology into their curriculum proved to be easier when compared to similar such experiments

documented in international research literature.

Teachers are more pliant to influence if their body of knowledge is inducted into the process of capacity building.

When we introduced completely novel concepts to them without inviting their inputs, absorption levels were low.

It was only after intensive interactions with individual teachers in which we understood their teaching practices

and built upon them that we evidenced a positive change in classroom practices.

92

In the Western context, where teachers are learner focused in their pedagogy technology is an add-on for

enhancement of learning. In the Indian context, technology can be seen from another perspective. Here

pedagogy is teacher led. In such a situation, technology is compelling teachers to be more learner-centred

because their ‗old ways do not work with technology‘.

Teachers have begun to have a deeper understanding of phrases like learner engagement, teaching for meaning,

using technology as a pedagogical tool, grouping as a pedagogy, use of games/ stories/ songs for the purpose of

learning, building on existing knowledge of learners, learners constructing their own knowledge etc.,

Some teachers of Orissa have begun their journey of becoming creators of curriculum instead of its consumers.

Currently this is a small number.

Even though it has been the objective of this study to gather data on several indicators related to classroom

practices, the premature termination of the Study in Orissa has prevented us from doing so. As a result, we are

left only with anecdotal accounts and individual perceptions as measures of change. These have indicated to us

that a large majority of teachers have altered their perception of language learning to varying degrees. They

have picked up the skill of analyzing common reading errors and have become more sensitive to the needs of

learners, particularly those with reading and learning difficulties.

93

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Annexure 1 – Charts displaying RAT and CAT Results

96

Class 3 Class 4 Class 5

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Reading Levels

Class-wise Disaggregation

Cannot Read

Read very slow

Read slow

Read moderate

Read fast

Class

Pe

rce

nta

ge

of

Stu

de

nts

Class 3 Class 4 Class 5

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Learning Levels in EVS

Class-wise Disaggregation

Not attempted

Wrong

Partially Wrong

Correct

Class

Pe

rce

nta

ge

of

an

sw

ers

Class 3 Class 4 Class 5

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Learning Levels in Mathematics

Class-wise Disaggregation

Not attempted

Wrong

Partially Wrong

Correct

Class

Pe

ce

nta

ge

of

an

sw

ers

97

Annexure 2 - Tabulated RAT & CAT data Table 8: RAT & CAT data of all classes

Reading Levels

All classes

Reading Levels

Read fast 37.55

Read Moderate 16.94

Read Slow 10.38

Read very slow 4.32

Cannot read 30.81

Percentage of Students

Learning Levels in Mathematics

All classes

Learning Levels in EVS

All classes

Reading Levels

Class-wise Disaggregation

Learning Levels in Mathematics

Class-wise Disaggregation

Learning Levels in EVS

Class-wise Disaggregation

Correct 48.33

Partially Wrong 18

Wrong 29.67

Not attempted 4

Evaluation of answer

Percentage of Answers

Correct 48.33

Partially Wrong 2

Wrong 44

Not attempted 5.67

Evaluation of answer

Percentage of Answers

Correct Wrong

Class 3 52 25 17 6

Class 4 51 15 30 3Class 5 42 14 42 2

Class/ Evaluation of answer

Partially Wrong

Not attempted Correct Wrong

Class 3 44 3 45 8

Class 4 51 1 43 5Class 5 50 2 44 4

Class/ Evaluation of answer

Partially Wrong

Not attempted

Class 3 30.02 15.71 12.52 4.43 37.33

Class 4 39.77 14.45 8.83 4.22 32.73

Class 5 42.72 20.53 9.81 4.30 22.64

Class/ Reading Level

Read fast

Read m odera te

Read slow

Read very slow

Cannot Read

98

Table 9: Reading Results Disaggregation Percentage of students

Class Type of

School Read Fast

Read Moderate

Read Slow

Read Very Slow

Cannot Read

Class 3 E1 20.79 18.56 17.33 4.95 38.37

E2 32.71 16.94 12.24 4.00 34.12

Control 35.67 12.04 8.53 4.38 39.39

Class 4 E1 41.98 12.30 12.03 5.08 28.61

E2 33.41 19.60 11.14 5.35 30.51

Control 44.20 11.16 3.94 2.41 38.29

Class 5 E1 28.92 26.75 13.98 8.19 22.17

E2 46.53 25.23 9.03 2.08 17.13

Control 51.26 10.88 6.90 2.93 28.03

Table 10: Percentage of students who are able to read at different levels of accuracy and their comprehension levels in classes 3, 4 and 5 separately

Table 11: In E1 Schools, percentage of children who are able to read and their accuracy levels

School name

Total No: of students tested

Percentage of students able to read School name

Percentage of readers with 80% accuracy

Balugan UGME-E1 44 95 Balugan UGME-E1 95

Barapalii UGME -E1 43 95 Model boys PS- E1 82

Class Schools Above 80% Accuracy Comprehension Level Below 80% Accuracy Comprehension Level

Class 3 E1 54% 48% 8% 39%

E2 61% 49.6% 4% 44.26%

Control 57% 53% 4% 49%

Class 4 E1 67% 37% 4% 23%

E2 68% 41% 1% 37%

Control 60% 42% 2% 19%

Class 5 E1 68% 19.5% 10% 17.5%

E2 75% 21% 8% 16%

Control 68% 20% 4% 17%

99

Model boys PS- E1 51 82 Barapalii UGME -E1 81

Nandighore CPS-E1 74 81 Kodeikahania PS-E1 80

Kodeikahania PS-E1 44 80 Mardrajpur PS-E1 76

Mardrajpur PS-E1 33 79 Gopinathpur sahi UPS-E1 75

Kanchanbelli PUPS-E1 44 77 Baulasahi UGME-E1 74

Ranganipatna-E1 57 77 Kanchanbelli PUPS-E1 73

Baulasahi UGME-E1 35 77 Nandighore CPS-E1 70

Gopinathpur sahi UPS-E1 103 75 Ranganipatna-E1 67

Pannadevi PS -E1 84 71 Kural -E1 61

Bodapada PS -E1 51 71 Sinduria Nodal -E1 59

Sanapondusar UPS-E1 62 68 Kandhanayagarh- E1 58

Binayakpur Nodal UGME-E1 21 67

Machhipada UGME- E1 57

Sinduria Nodal -E1 70 66 Sanapondusar UPS-E1 52

Kural -E1 51 63 Gaudaput-E1 49

Kandhanayagarh- E1 120 62 Bodapada PS -E1 47

Machhipada UGME- E1 81 59 Pannadevi PS -E1 42

Gaudaput-E1 69 55 Binayakpur Nodal UGME-E1 33

Sarankul PUPS-E1 61 36 Sarankul PUPS-E1 31

100

Table 12: In E2 Schools, percentage of children who are able to read and their accuracy levels

School name

Total No: of students tested

Percentage of students able to read School name

Percentage of readers with 80% accuracy

Ghadual PUPS-E2 56 89 Ghadual PUPS-E2 83.93

Bodhipatna UPS-E2 43 88 Bodhipatna UPS-E2 83.72

Mayurjhalia PS-E2 68 87 Nilakantha PS-E2 81.25

Krishnaprasad UPS-E2 60 87 Model girlsUPS-E2 78.13

R.N .Nodal UPS, Badapandusar-E2 88 83

Sarangadharpur UPS -E2 76.19

Nilakantha PS-E2 80 81

R.N .Nodal UPS, Badapandusar-E2 76.14

Model girlsUPS-E2 64 78 Solapata UPS- E2 73.53

M.G. Nodal UPS,Biruda-E2 90 77 Krishnaprasad UPS-E2 73.33

Solapata UPS- E2 68 76 Mayurjhalia PS-E2 70.59

Sarangadharpur UPS -E2 21 76 M.G. Nodal UPS,Biruda-E2 66.67

Lathipada Nodal UPS-E2 94 73 Badakutuni PUPS -E2 65.63

Badakutuni PUPS -E2 32 72 Ikiri PS-E2 64.15

Ikiri PS-E2 53 72 Lathipada Nodal UPS-E2 62.77

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Itamati Nodal -E2 84 71 Harekrushnapur UGME-E2 60.23

Harekrushnapur UGME-E2 88 66 Itamati Nodal -E2 59.52

Harijanbasti UPS-E2 53 60

A.C.Nodal UPS,P-Manpur-E2 58.75

Komando UPS -E2 87 60 Komando UPS -E2 58.62

A.C.Nodal UPS,P-Manpur-E2 80 59 Harijanbasti UPS-E2 58.49

Kirdaspur ME-E2 61 57 Kirdaspur ME-E2 57.38

Nabaghanapur UGME- E2 63 49 Nabaghanapur UGME- E2 47.62

In 95% E2 schools, more than 50% students are able to read at high levels of accuracy, the exception being Nabaghanapur UGME. =============================================================

Mathematics Results Disaggregation Percentage of answers

Table 13: No. of students tested on Competency Achievement in Math

Classes Types of Schools Tested Absent

Class 3 E1 488 3

E2 470 5

Control 450 0

Class 4 E1 485 0

E2 470 1

Control 492 0

Class 5 E1 471 7

E2 539 0

Control 493 1

Total 4358 17

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C:Correct PW: Partially Wrong W: Wrong NA: Not Attempted

Table 14: Overall achievement in Mathematics

Class Type of School Correct Partially Wrong Wrong Not Attempted

3 E1 51 25 17 7

E2 51 24 18 6

Control 52 25 16 6

Average 52 25 17 6

4 E1 52 14 30 4

E2 47 17 33 3

Control 55 14 28 3

Average 51 15 30 3

5 E1 41 13 43 3

E2 41 14 43 2

Control 43 14 41 3

Average 42 14 42 2

Table 15: Performance in the content domain: number sense

Number Operations Number Sense

Class Type of School C PW W NA C PW W NA C PW W NA

Class 3 E1 48 27 18 7 50 24 18 8 49 26 18 7

E2 49 27 19 6 50 23 20 6 49 25 20 6

Control 49 28 17 6 52 24 18 6 50 26 18 6

Average 49 27 18 6 51 24 19 7 49 26 18 6

Class 4 E1 55 21 20 4 43 17 36 3 50 19 28 4

E2 50 25 22 3 41 20 37 2 46 22 29 3

Control 56 22 19 3 48 15 34 3 52 19 26 3

Average 54 23 21 3 44 17 36 3 49 20 28 3

Class 5 E1 37 19 42 2 55 17 26 2 45 18 35 2

E2 38 20 41 1 55 18 25 2 46 19 34 1

Control 39 18 40 2 57 18 23 3 47 18 32 2

Average 38 19 41 2 55 18 25 2 46 18 34 2

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Table 16: Performance in the Content domain: Patterns

Class Type of School C PW W NA

Class 3 E1 43 5 38 13

E2 41 4 39 15

Control 43 4 38 15

Average 43 5 38 14

Class 4 E1 66 4 28 2

E2 53 2 41 3

Control 64 4 29 3

Average 61 3 33 3

Class 5 E1 45 9 42 4

E2 37 8 50 5

Control 33 10 52 5

Average 39 9 48 5

Table 17: Performance in the Content domain: Measurement

Class Type of School C PW W NA

Class 3 E1 46 ---- 51 3

E2 49 ---- 49 3

Control 50 ---- 48 1

Average 48 ---- 49 2

Class 4 E1 57 5 37 1

E2 51 5 42 1

Control 56 5 38 1

Average 55 5 39 1

Class 5

E1 34 9 57 1

E2 34 8 57 1

Control 34 8 57 1

Average 34 8 57 1

Table 18: Performance in Cognitive Domains (Analysis confined to students who have given correct answers)

104

Class Type of

School Knowing Facts & Procedures

Solving Routine Problems

Using Concepts

Reasoning

Class 3 E1 64 53 25 56

E2 68 53 24 50

Control 71 53 23 52

Average 68 53 24 53

Class 4 E1 35 51 50 70

E2 33 47 44 63

Control 36 57 52 71

Average 35 52 49 68

Class 5 E1 55 43 28 37

E2 53 40 30 39

Control 58 44 28 39

Average 55 42 29 38

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EVS Results Disaggregation

Table 19: Number of students tested in EVS

Classes Types of Schools Tested Absent

Class 3 E1 489 2

E2 474 1

Control 450 0

Class 4 E1 484 1

E2 471 0

Control 492 0

Class 5 E1 477 1

E2 538 1

Control 494 1

Grand Total 4,369 7

Percentage of answers

C: Correct PW: Partially Wrong W: Wrong NA: Not Attempted Table 20: Overall achievement in EVS

Class Type of School Correct Partially Wrong Wrong Not Attempted

3 E1 42 3 46 9

E2 46 3 44 6

Control 45 3 45 8

Average 42 3 46 9

4 E1 52 1 42 5

E2 49 1 45 5

Control 52 1 42 5

Average 51 1 43 5

5 E1 50 3 42 5

E2 49 2 46 3

Control 50 2 43 4

Average 50 2 44 4

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Table 21: Performance in the Content domain: Social Science

Class Type of School C PW W NA

Class 3 E1 42 5 44 9

E2 46 6 42 6

Control 47 5 40 8

Average 45 5 42 8

Class 4 E1 52 1 42 5

E2 49 1 45 5

Control 52 1 42 5

Average 51 1 43 5

Class 5 E1 52 3 42 4

E2 50 2 45 2

Control 50 3 44 3

Average 51 3 44 3

Table 22: Performance in the Content domain: Life Science

Class Type of School C PW W NA

Class 3 E1 40 2 50 9

E2 46 1 47 6

Control 42 2 49 7

Average 43 2 49 7

Class 4 E1 52 1 37 9

E2 49 1 40 9

Control 53 1 38 9

Average 51 1 38 9

Class 5 E1 44 4 46 6

E2 42 3 51 4

Control 45 4 46 6

Average 44 3 48 5

Table 23: Performance in the Content domain: Physical Science

Class Type of School C PW W NA

Class 3 E1 44 1 45 10

E2 48 1 44 7

107

Control 44 1 45 9

Average 46 1 45 8

Class 4 E1 37 1 55 7

E2 36 1 56 6

Control 39 1 55 6

Average 37 1 55 6

Class 5 E1 56 0 39 5

E2 56 1 40 3

Control 58 0 38 4

Average 57 0 39 4

Table 24: Performance in the Content domain: Earth Science

Class Type of School C PW W NA

Class 3 E1 -- -- -- --

E2 -- -- -- --

Control -- -- -- --

Average -- -- -- --

Class 4 E1 59 -- 39 2

E2 53 -- 44 2

Control 58 -- 39 2

Average 57 -- 41 2

Class 5 E1 50 3 41 6

E2 48 3 46 4

Control 51 2 42 6

Average 50 2 43 5

Table 25: School wise achievement level in Math and EVS of E1 schools

School Name Total

Average Percentage

in Math

School Name Total

Average Percentage

in EVS

Gopinathpur UPS 53.25

Gopinathpur UPS 56.5

Nandighar CPS 51.75

Model Boys,

Ranpur 56.25

Sanapandusar 51.25 Balugaon UGME 55

CS Nodal, 51.25 Gaoudaput CPS 54

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Table 26: School wise achievement level in Math and EVS of E2 schools

Machipada

BarapalliUGME 50

JN Nodal, UPS,

Kural 53.25

Baulasahi P.S 49.5 Nandighar CPS 51

Balugaon UGME 47.75 CS Nodal, Machipada 49

Model Boys, Ranpur 47.25 Sinduria Nodal 48.25

Kanchhanbelli 46.75 Baulasahi P.S 47.5

Pannadevi P.S 46.75 Kodie kahania 46.5

Bodapada P.S 46.5 Pannadevi P.S 46.5

Sinduria Nodal 46.25 BarapalliUGME 46

Kodie kahania 46

Ranganipatna

CPS 45.75

Sarankul PUPS 43.75 Sanapandusar 45.5

Mardarajpur

UGME 42.5

Mardarajpur

UGME 45.25

Binayakpur Nodal UPS 41 Sarankul PUPS 44.25

Gaoudaput CPS 40.5 Kanchhanbelli 43.25

JN Nodal, UPS, Kural 39.75

Kandhanayagarh PS 42.5

Ranganipatna

CPS 39.75

Binayakpur

Nodal UPS 42

Kandhanayagarh

PS 35.5 Bodapada P.S 40.5

School Name Total Average Percentage in Math School Name Total Average Percentage in EVS

Solapata UPS 60 Nilakantha PS, Sarankul 56.75

Nilakantha PS, Sarankur 57.25 Solapata UPS 55.25

Ghadual PUS 56.25 Ghadual PUS 52.5

Lathipada UPS 50 Nabaghanapur UGME 51.25

Nabaghanapur UGME 49.75 KrishnaprasadUPS 50.75

Ikiri UGME 48.5 Bodhipatna 50.5

Sarangadharpur 48.25 Harekrushanapur UPS 50

Komanda Nodal UPS 46.5 Lathipada UPS 48.75

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Harekrushanapur UPS 46 P Manpur AC Nodal UPS 48.75

P Manpur AC Nodal UPS 45.75 Mayurjhalia PS 48.25

Biruda UPS 45.25 Sarangadharpur 47.75

Badapandusar Nodal 44.75 Biruda UPS 47.5

Bodhipatna 44.75 Badapandusar Nodal 47

Itamati UPS 44 Ikiri UGME 47

Mayurjhalia PS 41.75 Itamati UPS 45.75

KrishnaprasadUPS 40.25 Komanda Nodal UPS 44.5

Kirdaspur 39.75 Model Girls, Ranpur 43.75

Badkutni PUPS 39.75 Badkutni PUPS 43.25

Harijanabasti 35 Kirdaspur 41.25

Model Girls, Ranpur 32 Harijanabasti 40.75

110

Annexure 3 – Teacher Tools

ICT TOOL

School code:

Teacher’s name:

Computer Aided Learning Study

1. Do you own a computer? A. Yes B. No

2. Have you ever used a computer A. Yes B. No

a. If Yes, how often have used the computer

i. Daily

ii. Once a week

iii. Once a month

iv. Very rarely

PLEASE ANSWER THE QUESTIONNAIRE BELOW ONLY IF YOU HAVE REPLIED ‗YES‘ TO Q.2

Technology Learning Need Analysis

This section is intended to gather information on your present skills in using computers and to help us

identify your learning needs

1 Basic Operations I know how to

use this

I have to

learn this

A Log into the computer system

Shutdown the computer system properly

Drag and move icons/objects on the computer desktop

Save file in a given location (e.g. Specific folders, pen drive etc.,)

Retrieve files from a given location (e.g. Specific folders, pen drive etc.,)

Rename a file or save an existing file with a new filename

Create folders and organise files

Start and close application software

Switch between application windows

Print files

Print Specific Page(s) of a document

Change page orientation - Portrait to Landscape and vice-versa

Identify the key parts of the computer and its peripherals (e.g.

System unit, mouse, keyboard, USB port)

2 Word Processing I Know how to

use this

I have to learn this

Change the style of text: Bold, italic, underline, colour

Change font and font size of text

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Use Edit operations - Copy, cut and paste text

Add/Remove numbering or bullets

Set alignment to paragraphs of text (e.g. full justification)

Insert symbols

Use spelling checker feature

Change normal text to super/sub-script (e.g. x2)

Insert/Remove page breaks

Create a table

Insert/Delete rows/columns of table

Insert/Delete pictures/shapes

Insert header/footer

Insert page number (auto-page numbering)

3 Spreadsheet/excel I Know

how to use this

I have to

learn this

Enter text and numbers

Insert/delete columns and rows

Select and resize columns and rows

Know the layout of a spreadsheet and terms used (e.g. cells, rows,

columns, cell address, formula bar)

Edit cell entries

Insert/Delete worksheets within a spreadsheet

Rename worksheets within a spreadsheet

Print selected area of spreadsheet

Format data according to data types (e.g. decimal, date)

Format the look of the cell (border, colour)

Enter formulas with basic operations ( + - * / )

Insert mathematical functions in formulas

Create charts/graphs using chart wizard

Edit chart objects (e.g. title, colour)

Sort text and numbers in ascending/descending order

4. Multimedia Presentations I Know how to

use this

I have to learn this

Create a presentation

Save a presentation in different formats (e.g. slideshow, image)

Create/Delete objects (e.g. textbox, word art auto shapes) in a slide

Print the presentation in several modes (e.g. handouts, notes page)

Print selected slides

Animate text/objects in a slide

112

Format text in textbox and word art (e.g. colour, size)

Format auto shapes (e.g. colour, thickness of line)

Insert/Delete images

Resize images

Crop images

Insert sound and video files

Insert hyperlink to websites and other files

Insert action buttons as navigation aids

Organize slides in the desired order (e.g. hyper linking within the same presentation)

5 Internet I Know how to use this

I have to learn this

Enter web address

Return to previously viewed pages

Store website address under Favourites

Play media (e.g. play audio/video clips) embedded in a

webpage

Download files (e.g. presentation slides, pdf)

Copy images

Search the world wide web for information

Search for specific resources (e.g. images, audio files)

Search using more than one search engine

Search using keywords

6 Email I Know how to use this I have to learn this

Compose/Delete email messages

Send/Reply email message

Send attachment with emails

Download attachments

Organize mail folders

Create address book

7 Use of data collection tools I Know how to use this I have to learn this

Connecting the digital camera, microphone to

computer

Take still images/short video clips using digital camera

Download images/video clips from digital

camera to computer

Activate the Sound Record (from Windows) to

record sound using microphone

Use Windows Movie Maker to do simple editing of clips (e.g. shortening the clip)

113

Teacher Information & Perceptions

State: Cluster name:

School code: Name of school:

As a part of the research study, we are collecting some information on the school and processes in the school, your familiarity with technology etc. We request you to provide answers to a few questions. Please

remember that there are no right or wrong answers. We are only interested in your opinions and

preferences. The data we collect will be used only for research purposes and confidentiality of the data will be maintained

Name of teacher: Gender: F / M

Designation: Head Teacher / Asst Teacher / Teacher on deputation / Para teacher

Section A – Background

1. Which classes do you teach? What subjects do you teach?

Class 1 Class 2 Class 3 Class 4 Class 5

Teach Y/N

Subjects

2a. For how many years have you been teaching?:

2b. For how many years have you been teaching in this school? :

3. What are your educational qualifications? a. Basic qualifications: Class 12 / BA, BSc, BCom / Others

b. Specialised / Educational qualifications: TCH, D Ed, Diploma / BEd / MEd / Others

Section B – NCF

4a Are you aware of the National Curricular Framework (2005) document prepared and

released by MHRD? No: 1 Yes: 2 (If response is No, go to Q5a)

4b. Have you read either that document or its summary?

Just glanced through the summary: 1 Read the summary in detail: 2 Read the main document: 3

4c. In your opinion, is it a useful document? No: 1 Can‘t say: 2 Yes: 3

4d. Do you think the recommendations in that document can be implemented?

No: 1 (go to Q 5a) Not sure: 2 (go to q 5a)

Yes: 3

4e. Mention any one recommendation that you think should be necessarily implemented:

114

Preparation and Lesson Plan

5a. Do you have a written lesson plan for your class? No, I do not have a written lesson plan: 1 (go to Q 6)

No, I do not have a written lesson plan. I have a rough idea before I start everyday: 2 Yes, I have a formal plan. This is given to us by our Head Teacher/others: 3

Yes, I have a lesson plan. This is prepared by me: 4

(Please collect a copy of a lesson plan used by the teacher)

5b. Are you able to follow the lesson plan prepared / used by you?

Only once in a while: 1 Yes, very often: 2 Yes, regularly: 3

6. Do you make preparations in advance for your class? No: 1 Yes: 2

Section D – Daily Report /Journal

7a. Do you maintain a diary or a journal of the your daily school‘s activities?

No: 1 (go to question 9) Yes: 2

(Please collect a copy of the Journal / Diary)

7b. How often do you maintain / fill up / write in the journal?

Once at the end of the term: 1 Every week: 2 Every day: 3

8. Do you think maintaining a journal is useful? In what way?

No, it is not very useful: 1

Yes, it is useful because: …………………………………………………………………………………

Section E – Home Work and Assessment

9. Do you give home work to children in class? How often?

No, I do not believe in giving home work to children: 1 Yes, but rarely: 2 As and when needed: 3 Once a week: 4 Daily: 5

10. Do you check the home work and make corrections to give feedback to the children?

Whenever I get time: 1 Very Often/ many times: 2 All the homework: 3

11. Besides the annual exam and the terminal (mid-year) exam, do you carry out any other assessments to

measure learning achievement in class? Yes: 1 No: 2 (If response is No, go to Q 13)

12. Can you provide details of other assessments?

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

(Please collect sample assessment papers other than annual/terminal papers)

Section F – Computer Usage

13. Have you used a computer at all so far? No: 1 (go to Q 17) Yes: 2

14. How often have you used a computer so far?

115

Just 1 – 2 times: 1 about 10 – 12 times: 2 Several times: 3

15. How comfortable are you with using a computer? Not very comfortable. I need a lot of help: 1

I need some help once in a while: 2 I am fairly comfortable using computers: 3

I am very comfortable using computers: 4

16. Do you use Internet? for what purpose do you generally use (Check all that apply)

No, I do not use it: 1 To gather information from a variety of sources: 2

To communicate with others outside of the school (e-mail etc): 3

other (please specify ___________________________________) 4

17. Have you attended any training/development programs in the use of technology during

the past two years ?

No, none: 1 Yes, a few: 2 Yes, several training programs: 3

18. Have you attended any training/development programs in the use of technology for

teaching specific subjects during the past few years?

No, none: 1 Yes, a few: 2 Yes, several training programs: 3

19. Do you think Computers could be useful in teaching concepts to children in a better way? No, I do not think so: 1 (go to Q 21)

Not sure: 2 (go to Q 21) Yes, it will be useful: 3

20. In what way will computers be useful for teaching concepts to children?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

21. Do you think computers can be useful for teachers?

No, I do not think so : 1 (go to Q 23)

Not Sure: 1 (Go to Q 23)

Yes, it will be useful: 2

22. In what way will computers be useful for teachers?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

23. Is there a Computer at your home? No: 1 Yes: 2

24. What is the aim of education?

25. What is the role of a teacher?

Thank you

116

Teacher’s Sense of Self Efficacy & Attitude

Name of Teacher: School code: School name: Cluster name: Dear Teacher: Here are a few statements about learning and class rooms. Please go through these and for each, please mark the extent to which you agree or disagree with it. Please put a tick ( √ ) in the appropriate column. Please remember that there are no right or wrong answers. We are only interested in your opinion for research purposes. Thank You.

(1= totally disagree, 2=disagree, 3=Neither agree nor disagree 4=agree, 5=totally agree)

S No Statements

Strongly disagree

Disagree Neither agree nor

disagree

Agree Strongly agree

1 Giving correct answer in Maths or Science means the child has understood the concept

2 Rote learning ‗tables‘ is critical to learn Math

3 Children should not question teachers‘ answers in class

4 Good children memorize a lot of information

5 In any good class room, children maintain silence

6 Boys do better in Maths than girls

7 If most children do badly in class, it means that the children have not put in the needed effort

8 Good students understand things quickly

9 Guide books are necessary for children to learn

10 If children need to learn language well, they must first master the grammar

11 Most words have one clear meaning

12 A good teacher makes sure that the children are very disciplined

13 It is enough if questions at the end of the lesson in the text are solved by the children

14 Boys and girls learn at different pace

15 Younger teachers are smarter than older teachers

16 Some children just cannot be disciplined without the use of ‗caning‘

17 It is better for a teacher to focus attention on the brighter children

18 It is not necessary to go outside the prescribed text book

19 Making sure that children learn is as much the responsibility of the parents as the teachers

117

20 Learning does not mean knowing the correct answer but knowing

how to find the right answer

21 For a teacher, completing the allotted portion in the year is the most important thing

22 Documenting what happens in class every day by the teacher is a waste of time for the teacher

23 Children need not be given any home work because they do not do it in any case

24 Disciplining the child is the responsibility of the parents

25 Use of technology and computers is only suited for 'big' private schools

26 Use of computers diminishes the role of teachers/ decreases importance of teachers.

27 Students should not handle computers without teachers help.

28 Computers are mainly useful for the bright students

29 CD usage enhances subject matter learning in children

30 CDs help teachers in preparing teaching materials

31 It is better to provide facilities of toilets and drinking water in schools instead of providing computers?

32 Computers can provide joyful learning

33 All children are not capable of learning from CDs

34 Computers are meant more for big private schools

THANK YOU

118

Approach to Pedagogy: Classroom Scenarios

Instructions: A student conducted classroom observation in several schools. Below are six scenarios that were a part of his data. The student needs help in analyzing the data. I will hand over the data to you on cards. Please read them carefully and answer a few simple questions. There is no right or wrong answer. We are only interested in your opinion and your views on the situations. Thank You.

Instruction to interviewer: Show the two cards X and Y to the teacher

1. From which type of class discussion do you think students gain more?

Definitely Ms X : 1

More likely Ms X : 2 Both equally : 3

More likely Ms Y : 4 Definitely Ms Y : 5

___________________________________________________________________________________

Instruction to interviewer: Show the cards A and B to the teacher

2. In which class room do you think the children will take more initiative to learn?

Definitely Mr A : 1

More likely Mr A : 2 Both equally : 3

More likely Mr B : 4

Definitely Mr B : 5

In Mr. A‘s class room, students were moving around and they were discussing with one another about the topic.

In Mr. B‘s class room, the class was quiet and students were listening to the teacher

Ms. X was asking questions that the students could answer quickly. These questions were based on the reading they had done the day before. After this review, Ms. X taught the class new material, again using simple questions to keep students attentive and listening.

Ms. Y‘s class was having a discussion. Many of the questions came from the students themselves. Though Ms Y could clarify students' questions and suggest where the students could find relevant information, she could not really answer most of the questions herself .

119

Instruction to the interviewer: Show cards P and Q to the teacher

3. In which class room do you think will the children learn more?

Definitely Mr P : 1 More likely Mr P : 2

Both equally : 3

More likely Mr Q : 4 Definitely Mr Q : 5

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Instruction to the interviewer: Show cards K and L

4. From which teaching do you think the students will benefit the most?

Definitely Ms K : 1

More likely Ms K : 2 Both equally : 3

More likely Ms L: 4 Definitely Ms L : 5

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Instruction to the interviewer: Show cards M and N to the teacher

Ms. K refers to different books, internet resources and the text books, collects and organizes information and then teaches students. According to her, textbook is just one source for teaching

Ms. L keeps text book as the main source of information and refers to other books only when necessary. According to her, textbooks are to be used as the main source for teaching in the class room.

Mr. P has given the whole class the same exercise. He says that when activities have clear directions, and one that can be done in short intervals that match students' attention spans and the daily class schedule, learning is effective.

Mr. Q has given different assignments to different groups of students. He says that students have different ways of learning and different interests. So learning to be effective has to cater to the needs of students

120

5. In which class do you think the students will have more opportunity to construct knowledge?

Definitely Ms M : 1

More likely Ms M : 2 Both equally : 3

More likely Ms N: 4 Definitely Ms N : 5

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Instruction to the interviewer: Show cards S and T to the teacher

6a. In which class do you think the students will show more reading ability?

Definitely Ms S : 1

More likely Ms S : 2

Both equally : 3 More likely Ms T: 4

Definitely Ms T : 5

6b. In which class do you think the students will be happier?

Definitely Ms S : 1

More likely Ms S : 2

Both equally : 3 More likely Ms T: 4

Definitely Ms T : 5

THANK YOU

Many children in the language class read ----- for --- ; or ---

--for ---. Ms. S corrects them immediately. She believes that if such mistakes are allowed to continue children will not develop good reading ability

Many children n the language class read ----- for --- ; or

-----for ---. Ms. T allows them to continue their reading. She believes that if such mistakes are corrected children will become hesitant to read and so their reading ability will not develop

Ms. M plans to teach EVS to class V students. She has brought many pictures on different kinds of dresses and food items to show to the children.

Ms. N plans to teach EVS to Class V students. She has told students the previous day to talk to the elders in the family and aged community embers to find out about life during their time – including dresses and food habits.

121

Table 27: Teacher Attitude Analysis

Name of the School Approach to Pedagogy

Beliefs on

Classroom Discipline

Beliefs about

Teaching as a profession

Beliefs about ability to learn

Beliefs on the

nature of Knowledge

Average of the school

E1 Group

Gopinathpur UPS 3.21 3.3 3.56 3.03 2.25 3.07

Nandighar CPS -- -- -- -- -- --

Machipada CS Nodal 3.96 4.1 3.84 3.35 2.74 3.6

Sanapandusar PUPS 3.51 4.13 3.45 2.98 2.62 3.34

Barapalli UGME 4.2 3.73 3.6 3.04 2.16 3.35

Baulasahi PS 3.29 3.67 3.69 2.95 2.83 3.29

Balugaon UGME 3.63 3.37 3.45 3 2.34 3.16

Ranapur Model Boys PS 3.68 3.14 3.67 3.68 2.25 3.28

Kanchhanbelli PUPS 3.64 3.17 3.53 3.09 2.75 3.24

Pannadevi PS 3.57 4.33 3.75 3.27 2.17 3.42

Bodapada P.S 3.26 3.22 4.08 3.53 2.56 3.33

Sinduria Nodal PUPS 3.29 3.86 3.59 3.19 2.57 3.3

Kodie Kahania PS 3.29 4.33 3.79 3.58 2.3 3.46

Sarankul PUPS -- -- -- -- -- --

Mardarajpur PS 3.14 4.33 3.75 3.23 2.39 3.37

Binayakpur Nodal UPS -- -- -- -- -- --

Gaoudaput CPS -- -- -- -- -- --

Kural JN Nodal UPS -- -- -- -- -- --

Ranganipatna CPS -- -- -- -- -- --

Kandhanayagarh PS 3.83 3.94 3.68 3.67 2.71 3.57

Average 3.54 3.76 3.67 3.26 2.47 3.34

E2 group

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Ghadual PUS 3.68 3.58 3.81 3.43 2.39 3.38

Krishnaprasad UPS 3.86 3 3.56 3.32 3.11 3.37

Badapandusar Nodal 4.43 4 4 3.45 2.89 3.75

Nilakantha PS -- -- -- -- -- --

Solapata UPS 4.04 3.83 3.59 3.47 3.01 3.59

Biruda UPS 3.86 3.67 3.69 3.32 2.83 3.47

Sarangadharpur 3.63 4.27 3.5 3.69 2.69 3.56

Bodhipatna 3.86 4.33 3.88 3.23 2.67 3.59

Lathipada UPS 3.07 2.83 4 3.09 2.61 3.12

Mayurjhalia PS 3.24 3.94 3.04 3.78 3.15 3.43

Badkutni PUPS -- -- -- -- -- --

Ikiri UGME 3.21 3.83 3.44 3.91 2.94 3.47

Itamati UPS 3.94 3.13 3.7 3.09 2.78 3.33

Harekrushanapur UPS 3.69 4.22 3.98 3.23 2.94 3.61

Harijanabasti 3.48 3.38 3.88 4 2.76 3.5

Komanda Nodal UPS -- -- -- -- -- --

P Manpur -- -- -- -- -- --

Kirdaspur 3.78 2.9 3.48 3 2.37 3.11

Nabaghanapur UGME 3.69 3.48 3.82 3.1 2.52 3.32

Ranapur Model Girls 3.89 2.96 3.78 3.93 2.67 3.45

Average 3.71 3.58 3.7 3.44 2.77 3.44

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Table 28: Number of teachers and their knowledge of computers

Name of the School Percentage of teachers who know computers Total average percentage of knowing

Balugaon Govt. MES School

9 25%

Barapalli 71.43

1 teacher – 100%

4 teachers – 2%

Baulashi PS Ugme

50 4.05%

Bodapada PS 60 1 teacher – 50%

2 teachers – 1.6%

Kanchanbelli PUP School

100 5 teachers – 3.29%

Kodie Kahania

33 1.27%

Mardarajpur PS

100 3.16%

Panadevi PS

83 4%

Sinduria Nodal UP (ME) School

91 8.29%

Binayakpur Nodak UPS

80 2.78%

J.C.Nodal UP (ME)

100 15%

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Goudaput Centre Primary School

100 30.63%

Kural - Jagunarayan Nodal UPS

100 11.08%

Nandighor Centre Primary School

100 20.25%

Ranganipatna LPS

100 12.91%

Sarankul PUPS 100 12.97%

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Annexure 4: Reading Ability TEST: RAT

The test consists of reading passages and will assess of two components, namely decoding

reading comprehension.

The Decoding ability will be assessed by the actual reading of the student. A Running Record Form will be

used for this purpose. This form is for recording the errors in reading made by students. A detailed description of the form and the recording and scoring procedures will be dealt with separately.

Reading comprehension will be assessed through a set of questions. (You can give the passage to the

student 5 minutes before so that he/she can become familiar with the text). The student can refer to the passage while answering the questions.

Below are three reading passages for classes III, IV and V separately. The passages are graded according to the following criteria, namely:

1. Length 2. Complexity of sentence structure

3. Complexity of vocabulary

4. Complexity of Idea 5. The first and the second differ in Inter Textuality – (that is text within a text) The third passage

has a descriptive-cum-narrative structure.

Framework (Using the PISA Framework)

Text Type: Narrative

No. of Retrieving

Questions

Interpretive

Questions

Reflective

Questions

Total Comp

questions

Class 3

5 2 1 8

Class

4

3 3 1 7

Have a large font for the first passage and reduce it in the second passage and reduce it further in the third

passage. The group to discuss and take a common decision.

Print each of these passages on three different cards. (Don‘t have any instructions in this card) The child keeps the card and reads from it.

The child continues to have the reading card in his/her hand and is free to refer to it while answering

questions.

=============================================

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Reading Passages

Passage 1 (for Class III)

Instructions to the Student: Read the Passage aloud. I will ask you some questions based on it. You have to answer them. So read carefully.

A Clown goes Shopping

One day, a clown went to a town to buy new clothes. First he tried on some pants. He didn't like them, so

he gave them back to the shopkeeper. Then he tried on a shirt which had the same price as the pants. He was pleased with the shirt, and he left the shop. As he climbed on his donkey to ride home, the shopkeeper

and the shop-assistant ran out.

"You didn't pay for the shirt!" said the shopkeeper.

"But I gave you the pants in exchange for the shirt, didn't I?" replied the clown.

"Yes, but you didn't pay for the pants, either!" said the shopkeeper.

"But I didn't buy the pants," replied the clown. "I am not so stupid as to pay for something which I never

bought." So saying, the clown returned home.

I will ask you some questions. Please answer them

Passage 2 (for Class IV)

Instructions to the Student: Read the Passage aloud. I will ask you some questions based on it. You have to answer them. So read carefully (Members please note – the last two lines in the announcement have to be in small font – try to make the announcement rhyming – example - in Tamil Vango Vango – Word for free food - saapDungo)

The Clown on his Birthday

It was the Clown‘s birthday that day. But his pockets were empty. He was walking dejectedly near a hotel.

Suddenly he saw an announcement:

FREE FOOD Eat As Much as You Want

Without bending your elbow Contest open till 30th June, 2008

The clown read the first two sentences and was delighted. Just then he glanced at the next line and his face

fell. He thought, ―how can I eat without bending my elbows?‖ Suddenly he was struck by an idea. He ran

to his friend Ali‘s house and said, ―Äli, today is my birthday. Come, I will give you a feast.‖

Both of them went to the hotel. The clown ordered varieties of food and sweet dishes. The clown and Ali sat opposite one another. The clown said, ―Äli, let me feed you with my own hands. In return, you can feed

me‖. Both of them ate to their heart‘s content. Ali was in a hurry and so left the hotel.

As the clown walked out of the hotel, the waiter came with the bill. The clown pointed to the announcement and said, ―I did not bend my elbow‖. ―Sir, the last date is over‖ said the waiter.

Now, I will ask you some questions. Please answer them.

II) Comprehension Questions , Answer and Scoring Sheet

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Passage 1: A Clown goes Shopping

Comprehension Questions (Whatever is given in red indicates the type of comprehension questions)

Retrieving questions:

1) How did the clown go to the town?

On foot

by camel

by donkey

the story does not say

2) What did the clown do first in the shop

He tried on some pants

He tried on a shirt

He tried on a hat

He spoke to the assistant

3) What did the clown try on next?

A shirt

a pant

a hat

4) Which item did the clown like best

15. the shirt

16. the hat 17. the pants

5) From where did the clown return?

9. the City

10. the town 11. the Village

Interpretive Questions

6) Why was the shopkeeper angry when the clown left?

he did not take the pants

he didn‘t pay for the shirt

he did not say goodbye.

Reflective Question 7) According to you, What did the clown actually pay? Explain your answer.

See Scoring guide Correct answer: Nothing. Because he did not pay for the pant or the shirt

Wrong answer: Any other answer (e.g. Shirt, pant, money etc.,)

Scoring for passage 1: The Clown goes Shopping:

1- b; 2- a;

3-a; 4-a;

5-b;

6-b; 7:-

7- Score 2 – Correct answer with explanation – Nothing. Because he did not pay for the pant or the shirt / he did not pay for the pant / he did not pay for the shirt

Score 1 - Giving the correct answer without explanation. Nothing (without giving any

explanation) Score 0 - Wrong answer

Passage 2: A clown on his birthday

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Retrieving questions:

1) Where did the clown give a feast to Ali? In the clown‘s house

In the hotel

In Ali‘s House

2) Why did the clown‘s face fall? Because he saw the third line of the announcement

Because he saw the first two lines of the announcement

Because he had to take his friend Ali to the hotel

3) Why did the clown and Ali sit opposite one another?

2. So that they could see one another 3. So that they could eat without bending their elbows

4. So that they could talk to one another

Interpretive Questions

4) What is the meaning of ―his pockets were empty‖ a) he did not have any money

b) his pockets did not have anything c) his pockets had something called empty

5) The phrase ―eating to the heart‘s content‖ means 5. Eating till one‘s stomach is full

6. Eating till one‘s stomach is full and the food reaches the heart 7. Eating till one is satisfied

6) Why is the last sentence in the announcement written in small size? So that people will eat a lot

So that people will not see it

So that people will go away without eating

7) Did the clown‘s have to pay the bill? Yes

No

Can‘t Say

Reflective Question

8) On which date does the clown‘s birthday falls? How were you able to identify the date?

See Scoring Guide.

Scoring 1= b

2= a

3= a 4=c

5=b 6=b

7=a

8 - Scoring Guide: 2 pt = Correct answer with reasons drawn from the announcement (1st July because the last date

of the contest is 30th June) 1 pt = Partially correct answer (1st July – without any reasons)

0 Pt = any other answer

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Reading Passage 3 (for class V)

Hastin and Sandos had been were together for five years. Sandos was one of the strongest elephant living in

Madumalai Wildlife Sanctuary. One day, they were watching Hastin‘s father clear roads with other mahouts. The mahouts with their elephants were removing some trees that had been knocked into the road by wild

elephants.

As they watched, Hastin thought about becoming a mahout one day. To become a mahout Hastin had to prove to the head mahout that he could control an elephant. Just then, Hastin heard several yells

from the mahouts. "Hastin! Come quickly! I need you!" his father shouted to him. Hastin, immediately

climbed on the elephant, rode toward his father and saw that a jeep was fallen and was blocking the road.

Hastin commanded Sandos to push the jeep. Sandos pushed and pushed. At last, the jeep moved away from the road. All the mahouts congratulated Hastin. The head Mahout told, ―Hastin, from tomorrow

you will work as a mahout.‖

Questions knocked off: Question No:s 2,4,6,8

Now answer the following questions.

Retrieving questions:

1) From the story we know that wild elephants —

are very easy to control

can cause a great amount of damage

are much larger than trained elephants

cannot move heavy things

2) From what the reader learns about Hastin, which statement does not make sense?

Hastin and Sandos continue working together in the park,

Hastin decides not to be a mahout at the wildlife sanctuary.

Hastin becomes a great mahout at the wildlife sanctuary.

Hastin works every day to be a good mahout.

Interpretive Questions:

3) Paragraph 2 is mainly about -

how hard it is to become a mahout how elephants move trees

how the mahouts control the elephants

how mahouts protect the sanctuary

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4) Why does Hastin have to prove his skills to the head mahout?

Hastin's father wants to show how well he has trained Hastin

The head mahout decides who becomes a mahout at the sanctuary

The head mahout says that Hastin is not yet fully trained.

Hastin wants the head mahout to stop giving him orders.

Reflective Questions:

5) Do you think Hastin was worried about being a Mahout? Why do you think so.? See Scoring Guide

6) How do you think Hastin felt after he and Sandos push the jeep back onto its four wheels? See Scoring Guide:

b

b

a

b

5- Point 2 = correct answer -Yes. Because very few people are made mahouts, it is difficult to become a mahout, Hastin has to control the elephant to become a mahout etc.,

No. Because Hastin has a good control over elephant, Hastin‘s father was also a mahout etc.,

Point 1: = partially correct = Yes or NO. (Without giving any reason)

Point 0 = wrong answer No. because Hastin loved his elephant, Hastin was used to taming elephants

Yes. Because Hastin was not capable of being a mahout, he was too young to be a mahout,

6) 1 point: correct answer – happy, proud, etc.,

0 point: any other answer not related to the story (e.g. disappointed, surprised)

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Write up on What is Reading

As teachers, we often wonder why children are not able to read despite their best efforts. The root of the problem lies in the fact that many of us have very little conceptual understanding of reading.

Teachers often do not know why their students' reading abilities are low or high. .

For years, it was assumed that reading is a natural ability and develops on its own. This assumption is without any basis. Let us look at the concept of reading and its assessment more closely.

What is Reading: Reading is the process of making meaning from print.

Making meaning from print consists of two major components, namely, Mechanic and comprehension.

I. Mechanics consists of a) Knowledge of sounds - Called phonological awareness

b) Sound – letter correspondence – called decoding

c) Word analysis: Connection between individual sounds and the letters used to represent them – this includes not only awareness of the phonics aspect but also sight word recognition and

knowledge of parts of words like its roots, suffixes and prefixes

d) Fluency

II. Comprehension - It is called constructing meaning because it involves not only getting meaning of individual words but also combining ideas in the whole text with what we have in our own

memory. Comprehension itself consists of Vocabulary, background knowledge and the

knowledge of structure of text.

All these processes are like different strands of a rope and develop by intertwining with one another.

But in teaching of reading, there has been a tendency to focus only on aspect of the definition of reading.

This is predominantly the decoding approach. In the decoding approach, letters are taught either in the barakhaDi way or on the basis of the shape similarity that letter share. But mere decoding does not indicate

reading. A fluent reader makes meaning from print without being able to identify all the words. Remember the last time you got a note in messy handwriting? You may have understood it, even though you couldn't

decipher all the scribbles. (example of scrambled text)

A reader identifies words without being able to construct meaning from them. Most of us are able to read a

text that is in old Hindi/Tamil/Oriya without being able to understand it. We can also read a highly technical text (for example, an article on making of rocket written by a rocket scientist) and not understand it. A non-

fluent reader often identifies letters and words but is not able to make meaning from the text. So decoding by itself should not be taken as a measure of reading. Further even in teaching decoding, the emphasis is on

meaning.

In the first three years, language learning consists of learning reading and writing. There is a difference between language and script. Both are closely related. But script is just a medium for language. A language

can be written using any script. Many scripts can be used to write a language (e.g. Konkani – written in

Roman, Devanagari, Kannada and Malayalam scripts.). There are languages without any script. Most of our tribal languages fall in this class. When a community has stayed in a different state for several generations,

132

they begin to use the Script of the State language in their written interactions (e.g. Church services in

Karnataka where the Service is in Tamil but the script is Kannada; wedding invitations of Iyengar

community in Karnataka- were the content is in Tamil with the Kannada script). This divide between language and script has to be kept in mind when one is teaching reading. In teaching language using

alphabets, one has to think about whether we are teaching language or teaching script.

Let us now look at the view that Reading has to be deliberately learnt:

Reading is not a natural ability like speaking. It has to be consciously learnt and needs a great deal of time and effort on the part of students as well as teachers. When we talk of reading we make a difference

between learning to read and reading to learn. In learning to read, the content is just a ground for teaching reading but in reading to learn, it is the content that has to be learnt by reading. In learning to read

multileveled books are used by the teacher and the approach to teaching reading is to help children make

meaning from print. For this the teacher uses sight words, develops vocabulary through various activities, and helps children see the relation between print and sound. Instead of a single type of text, various types

of texts are used (e.g. Reading a dictionary, an advertisement, a word map, a set of instruction etc.,) In reading to learn, a main text book is used, and the focus is on acquiring the content of the lesson. In

schools, the focus is on reading to learn, and very little attention is paid to learning to read.

The approach to reading also holds the view that reading and writing abilities are not discrete abilities but are interconnected and develop in collaboration with one another. So teaching of reading and writing has to

be done together and each must be related to the other. Reading will reinforce writing and writing will be

reinforced by reading.

Reading (and writing) is not a natural ability like spoken language which is a natural ability. It has to be taught through systematic, organized instruction. Reading is a skill which is built upon through stages and is

a continuous process. The teacher has a very important role in helping students move from one stage to the other.

Write-up on Assessment of Reading

Teachers have to focus on learning to read. To achieve this focus, teachers have to ask themselves the question " What reading skills have my students learned?" Depending on the answer, a teacher can

determine whether to move ahead or go back and teach again, perhaps, in a different way, based on individual student needs.

Because children's backgrounds, learning needs, and skills vary, effective reading instruction depends on two main components.

(a) assess children's reading skills in an on-going manner and

(b) use assessment information to customize instruction to individual student needs..

Assessment is of two types. These are:

a) Assessment of learning: Helps to answer – What students knows – usually done during the end of the year exam

b) Assessment for learning:

Helps to identify areas where teachers need to modify their teaching

Helps to identify areas where students need help

This type of assessment is done every month or periodically

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In assessing reading abilities of students it is essential to maintain separate record for each student.

This will help you to know at which stage the student is and where the student has problems. This knowledge will help to provide a direction for need –based inputs.

This will also help you to group students according to their reading levels – and will help you to simultaneously deal with different levels of reading problems.

This will help you to keep track of the dates of assessment. If students have not been able to demonstrate awareness of sound, redo the assessment after a few days.

Do not formalize any assessment procedure. Do it as a game. The below given is a list of measures

to assess students on their reading abilities.

So what is the type of assessment we are talking about? Discuss amongst yourselves.

Assessment of Reading:

The way reading is assessed assumes three models of what is wrong in reading and how to address it. The three models are

The Deficit Model

The Contextual Model

The Developmental Stage Model

The Deficit Model:

Assessments that use a deficit model see Students as patients having some problems with reading. The role of teacher is like a doctor. It is to identify the problems that students have and address them. So if a student is unable to read, the problem lies with the students inability. Reading failures are because of a

single cause and a single medicine (approach) can be used to set right the problem. In such a model,

reading is assessed through specific tests like phonological awareness and remediation consists of identifying the problem and giving more practice in the problem area.

The Contextual Model: This model holds the view that there is a mismatch between students‘ approach to

reading and the teaching of reading. Students coming from the disadvantaged background are not used to literacy and so find it difficult to read. In remediation, this approach emphasizes on the use of relevant

materials – appropriate to the socio-cultural context of the students, their levels etc.,

The Developmental Stage Model: This model sees reading as developing through stages. The student has to assimilate one stage before progressing towards the next stage. In this model of assessment, the stage at

which students are is first identified. Students are then provided inputs that help them to move to the next

stage. We will be working with the Developmental stage model of reading assessment.

Current Reading Assessment Test

There are several ways to assess reading. Some use a set of words, while some give a story and test for comprehension. We use a running record method. This method allows assessment of reading in process –

that is as the student is reading. Hence it allows for capturing the nuances of the student‘s reading.

The Reading is assessed using an informal method. Such a method consists of giving a passage to students and scoring each word read by them.

The teacher prepares a reading passage, and a running record to record each students‘ reading. (See Sample).

She prepares a set of questions to test comprehension. These are retrieving, interpretive and reflective questions.

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+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Write-up on Developmental Stages in Reading and Writing

Stages Reading Writing Knowledge of alphabets

Spelling

Stage

1:

Identifies letters according to their

sound

Is able to sketch

how the story goes

Unaware of

alphabets and how they

combine

Sound-letter

correspondence is partial and for the

beginning of word

Comprehension: (a) Can Retell familiar stories with a few details

and (b) Can use pictures as clues to

read names of objects they

see/use every day (e.g. name of tooth powder/ soap/traffic signal

etc.,)

Can express two thoughts with a

beginning and an ending

Develops partial

awareness of alphabets

Sees Words as a whole. Does not

pay attention to letters in the words. Does not differentiate

between word and false/ pseudoword,

Recognize Basic sight words. e.g.

I, you, he, she, it, etc.,

Stage 2 Blends Syllables: (example: nal - /na/ /l/ (tap). This process

is called decoding

Express three to four thoughts with

a beginning and an

ending. Adds one or two details –

representing elaboration of an

idea.

Knows all letters and

sounds and

uses chunks – full awareness

of alphabets

Uses temporary spellings and sight

words

Reading: Begins to read connected texts and reads

common sight words

Speed: Reads one word in 2-3 sec and gradually the number

of words read increases to become one word per second

Develops ability to self-correct

Comprehension: As they read

connected texts they begin to use chunking. In the process,

they begin to understand the significance of space between

letters and recognize punctuation and how it affects meaning and

expression

Word: Attend to the first and last

syllable of a word.

Able to recognize new words but are not able to say what the

words mean

135

Stage 3 Reads multi syllabic words (e.g. kamal) The way of reading connected text also undergoes change with

children paying attention to

phrasings and expressions. Read 90-100 words per minute

Can distinguish between rhyming and non rhyming words

Writes stories with beginning, middle

and end and writes with some correct

spellings.

------------ Has a large bank of sight words, uses

structural elements in words (inflections like

plural endings, tense

markers, syllable structure) for spelling

As they read connected texts, they

show the ability to use grammatical information as aid to

comprehension. They begin to use word meanings and order in the

sentence to confirm decoding.

Retell stories emphasizing on sequence of events. Can identify

main idea, characters and settings. - they begin moving

towards reading to learn

They are also able to retell stories

emphasizing on the sequencing of events. They can identify main

idea, identify main characters and

the identify settings in the story

Words: Analyze individual letters

and use this knowledge to read

new words. Also give particularized meaning to new

words - so the meaning is restricted to context in which it is

given.

uses chunks of known words to read new words (kitaab – en :

Books). Is able to give meaning that is applicable to several

particular contexts

Stage 4 a) Retell stories emphasizing on

sequence of events. Can identify main idea, characters and

settings. - they begin moving

towards reading to learn b)Identify plot of story, discuss

problems and solutions in the story, summarize main events in

the story, evaluate characters, behaviours and actions

Writes two to three

paragraphs with an organizational

pattern, uses

variety of sentences and

punctuation

Is able to spell words

according to rules

136

Sample page of a Running Record

137

Annexure 5 – CAT Tools

Mathematics

Class 2

No. of items: 20 Time duration: 60 minutes

1. How many pencils are there in the box given below?

13

6

7

8

2. Radha had 12 mangoes. Her father gave her these many more-

How many mangoes does she now have?

a. 9 b. 12

c. 21 d. 19

3. Sixty Three is the same as

a. 36 b. 63

c. 96

d. 69

4. 5 ones + 8 tens =

a. 13

b. 31

c. 58 d. 85

5. Which number has 8 in its ones place?

a. 81

b. 18 c. 44

d. 80

138

6. 28 + 14 =

o 312 o 321

o 42

o 96

7. 48 – 23 =

◦ 25 ◦ 611

◦ 61 ◦ 65

8. Raji bought 13 mangoes and 12 bananas. How many fruits did she buy?

o 12 o 13

o 25

o 52

9. Mani‘s father gave Mani 20 chocolates. He gave 13 of them to his friends. How many chocolates does Mani now have?

7

33

13

17

10. Soha went to her Grandma‘s place on Sunday and returned the next day. She returned on

◦ Saturday

◦ Monday ◦ Friday

◦ Sunday

11. The weight of watermelon on the balance is

◦ Less than 1 Kg.

◦ More than 1 Kg

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◦ Equal to 1 Kg

12. Neha has some coins as shown below. How many rupees does she have?

e. 8 f. 16

g. 40 h. 19

13. Which of the following has only three sides?

Square

Triangle

Circle

Rectangle

14. What will be the next shape in the pattern given below?

A) B) C) D)

15. Starting from the ball, tick the object that is in the fourth place.

(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)

16. Raju is fond of milk. He wants to choose the glass containing the maximum amount of milk. Which glass

should he choose? (Tick the correct glass)

(A) (B) (C) (D)

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17. Which of the following is a square? Tick the right shape.

(A) (B) (C) (D)

18.Write the missing numbers in the blank spaces

34, 35, ………, 37, ………

19. Fill in the blank:

3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 = 3 ×

20. Write the missing number in the blank space

2 3 4 2 3 4 2 ___ 4

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Mathematics

Class 3

No. of items: 25 Time duration: 60 minutes

1. Which number has 8 ones ?

a. 81

b. 80

c. 44 d. 18

2. The number closest to 550 is

◦ 499 ◦ 445

◦ 545 ◦ 505

3. 5 ones + 8 tens =

a. 13 b. 31

c. 58 d. 85

4. Which number statement is true?

968 < 689

968 < 689

968 > 689

689 = 968

5. 203 + 149 =

◦ 3412 ◦ 352

◦ 342 ◦ 3421

6. 48 – 23=

◦ 25 ◦ 611

◦ 61

◦ 65

7. Rashi bought 50 cups and 60 glasses. How many utensils did Rashi buy?

50

60

101

110

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8. In a school of 150 children, 45 are boys. How many girls study in that school?

o 195

o 100

o 105 o 150

9. Hasan‘s mother gave Hasan 27 biscuits. Sudha, Hasan and Saniya shared them equally. How many did each get?

9. 30

10. 27 11. 8

12. 9

10. Samir bought 5 packets of toffees. There were 12 toffees in each packet. How many toffees were there

in all? ◦ 60

◦ 7 ◦ 17

◦ 50

11. 1000 centimetres =

o 1000 meters

o 100 meters o 10 meters

o 1 meters

12. Renu wanted to buy lace for her mother‘s saree. She measured the length of the saree using her scale

and it came to 600 centimetres. How many meters of lace should she buy?

60000 meters

6000 meters

60 meters

6 meters

13. Given below is the calendar of July 2006. July 10 is a (Answer options can come alongside the

calendar)

A. Sunday

B. Saturday

C. Monday D. Tuesday

14. Sony wants to draw a circle. Which of these should she use?

143

Ball

Bangle

Scale

Book

15. The length of the pencil in the picture shown below is

A) 10 cm B) 6 cm

C) 7 cm D) 8 cm

16. The table given below shows the weight of 5 children.

Name Weight (kgs)

Asif 24

Kamal 29

Raju 35

Mahesh 36

Mandeep 20

Who weighs the most?

1. Kamal

2. Raju 3. Mahesh

4. Mandeep

17. Madhu had a twenty rupee note. Her father gave have her some coins as shown below.

How many rupees does she now have?

24

28

26

25

18. What will be the next shape in the pattern?

A) B) C) D)

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19. Which of the following shows 3/4 of a circle shaded ?

(A) (B) (C) (D)

20.Which of these boxes is the heaviest?

(A) (B) (C) (D)

21.Which of these has the largest surface area?

(A) (B) (C) (D)

22. Write the missing numbers in the blank spaces

34, 35, ………, 37, ………

23. Fill in the blank:

3+ 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 = 3 ×

24. Fill in the blank

1. + = 35

25. Fill in the blank with the missing number in the pattern

2, 4, 6, …….., 10, 12

700 gm 450 gm 250 gm 200 gm

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Mathematics

Class 4

No. of items: 25 Time duration: 60 minutes

Read carefully the questions that follow and answer them.

1. The number closest to 550 is

o 499 o 445

o 545 o 505

2. one thousand and forty eight is the name of

o 148 o 1048

o 10048 o 100048

3. 3 ones + 2 thousands + 4 tens is equal to

324

423

2043

3240

4. Which among the following is the biggest even number?

◦ 621

◦ 128

◦ 216 ◦ 412

5. Given below are two squares with some parts shaded. The shaded portion is

equal in (1) and (2)

smaller in 1

smaller in 2

6. Mani and Ratna shared a packet of biscuits. Mani ate half the biscuits in the packet and Ratna ate the remaining 4. How many biscuits were there in the packet?

4

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5

8

10

7. Reema bought goods worth 250 Rupees and had 150 Rupees left on returning. How much money did she go to the market with?

100

400

250

150

8. In a school of 410 children, 230 are boys. How many girls study in that school?

640

280

180

220

9. Samir bought 5 packets of toffees. There were 12 toffees in each packet. How many toffees

were there in all?

17

7

50

60

10. Amu‘s uncle got him some biscuits. He and his 3 friends shared them equally. Each one got

8 biscuits. How many biscuits were there?

▪ 24

▪ 12 ▪ 32

▪ 16

11. Teji asked the shopkeeper to give her 40 pencils. He gave her 4 packets of pencils. How many pencils does each packet contain?

▪ 40

▪ 4 ▪ 160

▪ 10

12. Hari goes to a shop to buy shoes that cost Rs. 100. Hari has 2 twenty rupee and 1 Fifty

rupee note. How much more money (rupees) does he need to buy the shoes? ▪ 30

▪ 10 ▪ 90

▪ 50

13. Renu wanted to buy lace for her mother‘s saree. She measured the length of the saree using

her scale and it came to 600 centimetres. How many meters of lace should she buy?

60000 meters

6000 meters

60 meters

6 meters

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14. Abeer wanted 2 litres of milk and the shopkeeper gave him 4 packets of milk. How much

milk does each packet contain?

2000 millilitres

4000 millilitres

500 millilitres

250 millilitres

15. The weight of sugar shown in the picture below is

2 kg

1500 grams

2.5 kg

500 grams

16. Ravi‘s school starts at 8:30 in the morning. Today he was late to school by 10 minutes. At what time in the morning did he reach school?

8:10 AM

8:20 PM

8:30 AM

8:40 PM

17. What is the number of tiles of size 1 cm2 that will be needed to cover this rectangle fully?

8 cm

6 cm

14

48

148

28

86

68

18. Sony wants to draw a circle. Which of these should she use?

o Ball

o Bangle o Scale

o Book

19. This chart shows temperatures at different times on four days

Temperatures

Morning Noon Night

Monday 15° 20° 19°

Tuesday 12° 18° 13°

Wednesday 17° 21° 15°

Thursday 10° 15° 9°

Which was the hottest time in these four days?

Monday Noon

Wednesday morning

Monday Night

Wednesday Noon

20. What will the next shape in the pattern be?

A) B) C) D)

21. Which number is inside the circle but outside the triangle?

(A) 1 (B) 2 (C) 3 (D) 4 (E) 5

3

1

2

4

5

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22. Which of the following is an acute angle?

(A) (B) (C) (D)

23. Add:

2 4 8 0 + 1 5 2 5

-----------

-----------

24. Subtract:

4 3 2 - 1 0 3

---------

---------

25. What is the next number in the pattern?

49, 42, 35, 28, ……

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Annexure 6 – Classroom Observation themes and format Name: School code: Name of Observer: Date:

SECTION I - Overall school observations at start of school

5. What are the school timings (specify)

6. The teacher (and the HT) come to school in time / before time

7. The children come to school in time / before time

8. There is orderly assembly at the start of school (Specify what happens in the assembly)

9. The children move into the class in an orderly manner

10. The school environment is clean and welcoming (Who does the cleaning of the school /

rooms etc?)

11. The class rooms are well kept / clean / well ventilated

12. The notice board is updated (who updates, what is the content of the board)

13. The time table is put up / is available with the teacher / Head Teacher

14. The kitchen space is clean and hygienic

15. Teachers also eat the maid day meal along with children

16. What is the general comfort level of children and teachers to strangers

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SECTION II - Classroom Observation Themes

Class being observed: Name of teacher: Sex:

Date: Name of observer:

_______________________________________________________________________

o Planning and time management: Planning entails all the preparation made by the teacher prior to actual classroom transaction. This would include readings, plan for lesson

transaction, preparation and inclusion of activities that relate to the lesson and the like.

Time management would include aspects that indicate actual implementation of the plans as also the timings maintained in the classroom in lessons, activities, punctuality, effective time

to task management etc. The indicators for this could be: a. The teacher has come prepared to the class with all required material

b. The teacher explains the plan for the period to the children in advance

c. The teacher has appropriate plan to handle different classes in case of Multi Grade situation

d. The teacher comes to the class in time or before time e. Children are in class in time / before time

f. The time allocation (including break time) during the day is managed well g. Teacher ends the class with a summary of the period

h. Others …

o Interaction in the class room: Observation of interaction in the classroom gives important insights into the overall school and classroom culture. This interaction would be in way of teacher- pupil

interaction as well as child-child interaction. It also gives an understanding of the overall classroom

environment in terms of the extent of participatory approach and democracy. Some important indicators of this construct would be-

The teacher interacts with the children in a non threatening / pleasant manner

The teacher encourages children to carry out a dialogue and discuss the subject

The teacher encourages free expression and exchange between children

Teacher uses local language appropriate for the class

The children also initiate discussion or interaction or ask questions

The teacher does not indulge in physical or verbal punishment / hurt

The seating of the children is appropriate (in rows, circle, semi-circle etc) for the content

The seating of teacher is appropriate (like the children or as required)

The children are not fighting / quarrelling with each other

Others…..

o Resource Management: This addresses the handling and care of all the material in class including both the common school material as well as children‘s material

There are adequate resources such as books available with children

The teacher has access to adequate material / teaching aides like chalk, charts, TLM etc

(besides text books) in the class

The teacher encourages children to access material freely / as appropriate

The TLM usage is appropriate for the topic / context in class

There is adequate playing material available for children

There is adequate space / facility for proper storage of all the resource material after use

The children are encouraged to care for the school (and also their personal) material (like

books, note books, pencil etc) Others…

o Assessment: The idea of this theme is to determine the assessment literacy of the teacher in

terms of how she uses assessment for learning in the classroom (not just as a test but even through

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asking questions through the lesson, through class work exercises, homework, correction and feedback

of the work done etc.

7. The teacher uses assessment as a part of teaching learning process 8. The teacher asks questions to determine the previous learning of the child

9. The teacher corrects the responses where needed in a positive manner 10. The teacher uses the exercises at the end of the lesson

11. The teacher innovates on the exercises at the end of the lesson

12. The teacher uses responses to questions to build further discussion / content of the class

13. Others…

o Homework This theme is important in continuation to the assessment theme and also links up to the approaches to teaching/teaching strategies. It will help understand the seriousness of the

teacher in terms of regularity of homework and its correction (homework to reinforce what is taught in class as also to reflect how much is understood by the child). The homework review will make

clear to the teacher what else or what new needs to be done to teach a concept. The children are given appropriate homework (not ‗memorise the page and come

tomorrow‘ etc. Specify the nature of home work)

There is follow up on the homework in the class (just checking with ticks and crosses,

using it to discuss, feedback on home work is given, …)

Home work of previous day is checked and given back (observer to check note books of

children) with comments or feed back Work / project done by children is encouraged to be taken home to show to family

Is there any overload of homework / excessive home work given?

Others….

o Approach to Teaching: The approach to teaching used by a teacher is drawn from the theory of

learning followed. Different teachers use different approaches to teaching in the classroom. The majority of teachers follow the traditional approach which relates to the behaviourist learning

paradigm where the child is considered to be empty of knowledge and knowledge is provided through a one way interaction by the teacher. The constructivist approach on the other hand views

children as knowledge constructors. The following could be ways in which this could be measured. The teacher encourages participation of children in deciding period content

How is a topic introduced? (question, discussion, examples, activities, textbook,

blackboard, TLM etc)

The teacher encourage group work (peer learning)

The children are given project work / activity work in class

The teacher uses outdoor facilities / activities also in learning

The teacher uses multiple teaching methods in class (reading, singing, activity, dancing,

etc)

The teacher is conscious of the attention / retention span of the children (takes

corrective action when she/he observes attention drifting) The teacher brings in the child‘s environment into the classroom

Teacher uses different methods to motivate the children

Others…

o Questioning The role of questions is of critical importance as a questioning mind and

encouragement to questions indicates a more democratic, reflective classroom. Yet questions are of different types and the nature of question, as well as to whom they are asked is also important.

a. The teacher asks different types of questions to children (repetition questions, questions

that encourage thinking, questions to consolidate learning etc) b. The teacher ask questions only to specific child/children or asks different children or

asks the class in general c. Children ask questions to the teacher (frequency, type of question, inquisitive, factual,

critical questions etc)

d. Children ask questions to other children in class

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e. The teacher responds to the questions appropriately (patient reply, does it satisfy

children, encourage children to ask more questions etc)

f. Children give answers to the questions asked (some children, all children, children keep silent, what kind of questions are answered etc)

g. Others…

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o Equity The classroom is a heterogeneous mix of social classes and categories. There are minorities,

ethnicities, gender and other groups. The attitude of teachers towards such groups is reflected in the

ways in which children are addressed and seated, punished, rewarded etc. Observing the following shows how stratification in the classroom is maintained and what are the favoured and or marginalized

groups. There is equity in the seating arrangement? (segregation by sex, by height, appearance

etc)

What is the type of attention time given by the teacher to different children?

Help is given (extra help) to some needy children where required

Children are addressed by name (not in a demeaning way)

There is equity in reward and punishment

The Mid day meal seating and eating arrangement also has similar equity

Others….

o Multiple Learning Methods: The interest of children and excitement is kept alive by use of

different types of learning methods The teacher actively uses textbook and also other material like charts, drawing, natural

materials like leaves etc

The teacher uses black board well (visible / readable by all, well organised)

The children are also encouraged to use the blackboard / running board

The children are encouraged to create their own learning material

The teacher also creates learning material with children

Games (both outdoor and indoor) form part of learning process

Other activities, art/craft work, sharing stories/songs by children are used as part of

learning in class Others…

o Empathy / concern for children: This theme relates to the warmth and love of teacher towards children. This could be indicated by:

The children go close to teacher, touch her/him freely

The teacher is demonstrative of her/his affection towards children

The teacher listens to children when they tell their events / problems from home

The teacher consoles crying children / children hurt by fall etc

Late coming of children / other similar issues is managed with compassion

Children are not sent out to do teachers‘ work or errands

Others….

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FORMAT FOR DRAWING INFERENCES FROM CLASSROOM OBSERVATION DATA

Subject

taught

Name of teacher Class taught

S No: Parameter Observation S No: Parameter Observation

1 Punctuality of teacher Excellent/Fair/Poor 11 Attentiveness of children High/Partial/Poor

2 Duration of class Full/Partial/Barely held 12 Eagerness of children to leave the class High/Partial/Poor

3 Atmosphere Friendly/Threatening/Neutral

13 Eagerness of Teacher to hear the bell ring

High/Partial/Poor

4 Introduction of topic by teacher Planned or

thoughtful/Abrupt/indifferent

14 Types of questions asked by teacher Kindling curiosity/Assessing/Rhetorical

5 Use of Blackboard by teacher Extensive/Partial/Not at

all

15 Frequency of teacher-student-

interaction

High/Partial/Poor

6 Use of TLMs by teacher Extensive/Partial/Not at

all

16 Encouragement given by teacher High/Partial/Poor

7 Rote learning in class Not at all/Partial/Extensive

17 Ridiculing of students by teacher High/Partial/Poor

8 Connections made by teacher

to everyday life

Extensive/Partial/Not at

all

18 Involvement of students in planning or

sustaining the class

High/Partial/Poor

9 Questions asked by children Extensive/Partial/Not at

all

19 Ambience of classroom Lively/Moderate/Dull

10 Intimidation by teacher Extensive/Partial/Not at all

20 Discipline in class Excellent/Fair/Chaotic

S No: Parameter Observation S No: Parameter Observation

21 Paraphrasing by teacher to explain to those who have not

understood

Patient and thorough/Moderate/Not

done at all

26 Discriminatory practices adopted by teacher

Not at all/Partial/Frequent

22 Feedback provided by teacher to students on HW/assignments

Patient and thorough/Moderate/Not

done at all

27 How Teacher catches attention of students

Affectionately/Neutrally/Intimidatingly

23 Punishment given by teacher to students

Not at all/Partial/Frequent 28 Children demonstrate that they feel close to the teacher

Frequently/sometimes/Not at all

24 Boredom amongst students Not at all/Partial/Frequent 29 Teacher‘s approach to the subject Mostly process based /content as well as process based/Only content-based

25 Boredom in teacher Not at all/Partial/Frequent 30 Mistakes made by children are Supported and

explained/Ignored/Rebuked by the

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teacher

157

Annexure 7 Curricular Competencies in Math and EVS EVS Competencies

Class 2 Class 3 Class 4

Our home and food habits Rules of safety and orderly behaviour Learn the advantages of taking a nutritious diet and categorize the food items into Vitamins, Proteins, Carbohydrates and Minerals.

Understand the importance of food for our health Appreciates the need for orderly behaviour

in home, school and public places

Learn through various small experiments to purify water.

Learn the after effects of taking contaminated food and water.

Interprets important road symbols ( as applicable )

Living things and their usefulness to man

Understand the prime importance of the home. Observes important rules of road ( as applicable )

Learn the importance of organisms over human being, use of animals and plants for different work.

Learn to keep home and the surrounding neat and clean.

Map drawing Identify the harmful insects and weeds.

Our neighbours. Draws a sketch of the classroom and a freehand sketch map of school and locality

The earth and the sky

Identify and understand the importance of the various public places like Hospitals, Primary Health Centres, Markets, Worshipping places etc.

Identifies direction on a map Observe the Moon.

Understand the importance of going to school regularly and on time.

Functions and care of different parts of body

Soils

Occupations Understands important functions of human body, such as digestion, respiration, blood circulation, etc.,

Learn the uses of soil.

Observe the livelihood practices in your own locality and list them.

Knows how to take proper care of such parts of the body as eyes, hair and teeth

SOCIAL SCIENCE:

Living World- Nature Living things their characteristics and classification

Study the relationship between climate and season, season and human beings, animals and birds, and the flora and fauna.

Observes local surrounding and classifies things into living and non living, natural and man-made

My country/state

Identify the local flora and fauna, birds etc./their homes

Identifies main parts of a plant Learn about the production of different cereals in different parts of the State depending on the weather and soil condition.

National Festivals Classifies common plants on the basis of size, life span ad seasonality

Using indicators, prepare distribution Atlas (Agri products, Forest and Mineral resource)

Understand the importance of National Festivals. Observes food habits of different animals and birds

Progress of man from Early times to present

158

Study about the National Flag. Common materials and their properties

Observe the different tools and their uses by human beings.

Sing the National Anthem. Identifies common materials on the basis of some easily observable properties. e.g colour, texture and hardness

Nutrition, pollution and cleanliness

Classifies given materials according to these properties (in text book)

Classifies food stuffs according to nutritive functions and understands the need of balanced diet

The earth and the sun Conducts simple experiments to purity drinking water

Study how mankind uses the different kinds of soil.

Earth – sun relation and consequences Living things and their usefulness to man

Participate in the National Festivals and understand the difference between them.

Describes the shape of the earth ( evidence of photograph )

Identifies some important ways of using plants and animals

Water Identifies some harmful insects and weeds

Describes different uses of water Materials ( matter ) and their properties

Knows about different sources of water Knows the three states of matter-solid, liquid and gaseous

Locates various sources of water in the locality

Observes the three states of matter in respect of water

The earth and the sky

Observes phases of the moon

Weather phenomena

Knows how air and weather are related ( certain weather phenomena )

Knows about different forms of water affecting weather, e.g. humidity, fog, cloud, hail and snow

Observes various weather phenomena and records them with photographs

Classifies soils of the locality according to sizes of its particles and fertility

Finds out how soil is kept fertile

Realises the need of protecting soils from erosion

SOCIAL SCIENCE:

Precautions against common accidents

159

Identifies common situations leading to accident in his environment

Sees relationships between accidents and lack of precautions

Knows some basic measures to be taken following an accident

our civic bodies

Finds out how the panchayat / municipality is useful for us

Enquires how the panchayat / municipality is run

Explains why the panchayat and municipality are called local-self governments

Manufacturing , Food producing articles

Recognises the importance of manufacturing articles

Identifies some occupations related to them

Gathers information about the activities and life of a few such workers ( selected examples )

Compares the work of a farmer with that of a crafts

My country/state

Understands distribution of main crops ( in the context of climate and terrain ) important occupations and location of industries

Undertakes necessary map-work using symbols for showing distributions

Progress of man from Early times to present

Notices the gradual improvement of tools and techniques of man

National Unity

Appreciates the need of national unity for protecting our freedom and making progress

Understands how variety in resources, environment and life of the people in our country enriches our unity

Knows important facts about Indian culture and contribution of different regions to its richness

160