The monthly newsletter
SCOPE Issue 84 | August 2012 | www.ei-india.com
This Month’s Issue Detailed Assessment ...... 01 ASSET Champ.................. 02 Earthian ......................... 03 Can We Learn Better ...... 04 My Experience ............... 05 Thoughtful Story ............ 06 Teacher’s Bite ................. 07 Ask An Expert ................. 08
Assessments - the tablet way Instant yet diagnostic assessment, the tablet way Where the new age students are using tablets for fun, games and music, there are some iconic schools that are gearing up to using these very tablets to assess their students. With this innovative assessment tool – Detailed Assessment (DA), over 80 schools across the country will be able to conduct year round assessment using technology interventions like computers,
mobile phones and tablets. This tool has been developed by educational research company, Educational Initiatives (EI). With its expertise in building interesting, concept testing questions, with this
assessment tool, EI is addressing the need of schools of conducting assessment year round. The scores of objective test like conducted in DA can be used as the formative assessment component. As common belief, not just the schools from the metros, but progressive schools from non-metro cities are also opening up to trying out the latest technology in their schools. EI has partner schools in Ahmedabad, Pune, Lucknow, Hydrabad, Madurai, Jalgaon, Sivakashi, Virudhnagar, Secunderabad amongst others. DA offers topic wise test that are customized to the schools’ curriculum. Once the teacher finishes doing three to four topics in the school, she can go on the online system and request for the test. EI’s test development team of subject experts puts together a question paper based on the topics covered. EI has the textbooks for all their partner schools and the questions are developed keeping the course structure in mind. After the test paper is built, EI’s representative carrying a set of 40 tablets
goes to the school on the test date, distributes the tablets on which the test paper has been uploaded, monitors the
From this academic session, we have introduced DA tests among students of class six, seven and eight. In a class of 40 students, tablets are circulated among students to write the test. Earlier we used to give question papers and ask students to send the answers through mobile phone. But with the new system, we can avoid printing question papers and make it a paperless test - Manju Sharma, Principal, Delhi Public School (South), Bangalore
test conduction and once the test is completed, collects the tablets back. Syncing of the responses of the students and generation of the detailed reports happens within 24 hours. The reports are
Assessments - the tablet way - continued... available for viewing by the teachers on-line. The tablets being used for DA are Captive Touch Screen (Pinch-to-zoom) 17.8 cm tablets. The reports have details of each student’s performance, the most common misconceptions or learning gaps in the class and a list of remedial activities that the teachers can do in class. Testing on tablets is available for Maths and Science, where the length of the questions are small and can be accommodated in the tablet screen. The test for English are conducted through mobile phones. Here the hard copies of the question booklets are distributed among students and they answer the questions through a mobile phone.
Special trolleys have also been designed by EI to facilitate the transit of tablets and mobiles. “Using tablets and mobile handsets, schools will save on this time and the analysis of the test results can be provided to students and teachers within 24 hours. Teachers can use this feedback to conduct immediate and effective remediation for the entire class thus increasing the effectiveness of assessments dramatically”, says Sridhar Rajagopalan, founding MD of EI. DA is also available on the computers for schools. There are over 80 schools across the country that are using this innovative assessment tool on tablets, mobiles or computers.
ASSET Champion Awards Prize Distribution Ceremony: GEAR Innovative International School, Bangalore
ASSET Topper awarded with a Gold Medal by Mr. Sudhir Ghodke, Director EI
The Toppers of ASSET 2011 were awarded with Medals, certificates and prizes.
From Environmental Education to Sustainability Education a reflection of this, the National Curriculum Framework 2005 has evolved a new name and vision for environmental education – habitat and learning, with the objective of facilitating the move towards sustainable development. Many are also advocating a shift in thinking from the human centric way of looking at the world to seeing human species as a part of the larger ecosystem. However, these ideas are still nascent and have not found their way into the classrooms, yet. Earthian – a Sustainability Program for Schools and Colleges
Mr. Azim Premji and Mr. Anurag Behar in conversation
From the eighties, when environmental education formally entered India’s education policy and school curriculum, it has reflected the environmental debates in the wider society. Protection and care of the environment, prevention of pollution, and conservation of energy were the thrust of environmental education within the National Curriculum Framework of 1988, for instance. If we look at environmental education in schools, we can see that these concerns were largely reflected in the curriculum and in schools’ environmental agenda and activities in one way or the other. Through such educational interventions, the children learnt it was important to plant trees, save the tiger, conserve water and energy and so on. Meanwhile, the environmental debate has evolved significantly. We now have more information on the interconnectedness of natural resources, habitats and our social contexts. Perhaps, as
It’s against this backdrop that Earthian, a sustainability program for schools and colleges, becomes interesting. The program intends to act as a catalyst for fostering excellence in sustainability thinking and doing amongst young people and deeply engage with a set of schools and colleges in making sustainability a core educational concern. The schools and colleges are identified based on written submissions by teams of students, coordinated by a faculty. The institutions also receive a financial award. This year’s program has been expanded to include analytical as well as literary writings for submission. To illustrate the challenges of sustainability more clearly and in its complex manifestations, a set of 16 scenarios have been created. Participating teams can submit their response to these or other sustainability scenarios. The submission can be an analytical paper, a narrative, a story or a play. Submissions and awards are only the starting point of the program. The focus of Earthian is primarily on building a community of interested institutions and through a continuous engagement program, integrating sustainability thinking into the core of education.
What Can You Do? If you are a student, form a team, read up on the scenarios, do further research using information from the library, newspapers, and the internet, or take help from your teacher. Discuss these issues with - your family, your teachers, friends and neighbours, politicians and councillors in your area, government officials, newspaper reports and editors and so on. Enrich your understanding on these issues and then write about it. If you are a teacher, Principal or management of the institutionfamiliarize yourself with the program. Talk about it to your students and fellow teachers. Motivate them to participate. Help children with their research – suggest areas and questions for further investigation, facilitate discussions on these topics in the classroom, provide them with supporting material from various sources. Help them get access to the internet and facilitate interaction with other community members. Finally, help them write their entry and submit it online.
Mr. Azim Premji distributing the award
For more information, please log in to http://www.wipro.org/earthian/ or write to earthian.contact@wipro.com or call 080 39916007 (9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday).
Can We Learn Better? “I don’t like studying: I dislike it. I love learning: It is beautiful” For a long time our education system has been criticised for encouraging ‘rote-learning’ rather than the understanding of subjects. We do not teach how to apply our learning. We spoon-feed our children and we do not encourage the development of problem-solving skills. Who is at fault? It may be our syllabi which is very rigid. It may be our dependence on poorly written textbooks. It may be the quality of schools whose objective is to get children to pass exams. It may be the training of our teachers, who are products of the same faulty system. It may be the wrong expectation of the parents, who value “marks” over “learning”. This is not finger-pointing: we are all in the same boat. And how do we assess the quality of our teaching? We do it by testing our children. We test them on “How well did you read your text book?” Or, “How much attention did you pay in class?” Or, “Have you answered all the questions at the end of the chapter?” Or, “Did the teacher finish all the chapters?” We have no tests to assess the depth of learning; no marks for the creative use of learning. If our teaching methods are poor then our testing methods are no better. So how can we impart good quality education? A few generations of students have passed through our school system. The problem has long been recognized but we have not been able to solve it. Why not? Because it is very difficult to make a switch, to change our way of thinking, to learn new methods, to re-train everybody – teachers, students and parents. It’s so much easier to trudge our old paths. And so we have muddled along. Engaging with “Educational Initiatives” (EI): After much deliberation, many discussions and a couple of pilot sessions, we have decided to co-opt an organization called Educational Initiatives. They are based in Ahmedabad and are present across the country. Testing is their specialty. Over the years, they have built expertise in formulating assessments. They evaluate students in Maths and Science; assess their strengths and weaknesses related to their understanding of concepts in these subjects. EI conducts two types of assessments: ASSET – This is a test conducted at most twice a year. It tests for the understanding of concepts (in Maths and Science),
comprehension and clear thinking. The results can be compared across schools throughout the country. As a pilot study, our students of Std 6, Std 7 and Std 8 appeared for one assessment each in Maths and Science. Detailed Assessment (DA): This is a relatively new project. EI will prepare an assessment tailored for our school, using our text books and our curriculum. Each DA will be based on just one or two chapters (a Unit) that the teacher has taught. After the assessment, we will receive reports for the entire class as well as for every individual student. The report does not simply say which student scored how much, but pin-points three common misconceptions in the class, how the class fared as a whole and how each student fared. It also suggests remedies and activities to clear those misconceptions. The assessment is objective and comprises ‘thinking questions’. Students answer the quiz on Tablet Computers provided by EI. Results are available nearly immediately – more like class-work than a test - so that the students and teachers can use the result to learn better. The feedback from DA will also help teachers improve their skills. Believe me, every teacher wants to teach better. Like everyone else, we want to do a good job. We want to be appreciated for our sincerity. We want to improve. And we want to motivate our students to “learn to learn and enjoy learning”. How We Expect to Benefit As teachers, our special skills are in encouraging students to learn, in understanding their problems and helping them discover this world of learning. Our specialty is children. EI’s special skills are in designing tests, evaluating them and generating meaningful data. Working with EI will increase our teachers’ productivity. They will have more quality time to spend in planning each session in a class, in researching source material and in designing class activities. In the next academic year the students of Std 5 to Std 8 will be using the assessment tools from “Educational Initiatives”. We are looking forward to a challenging, changing school environment next year.
Ms. Nalini Sengupta, Principal, Vidya Valley School, Pune
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My experience with Duke TIP
My experience with Duke TIP has been incredible and I deeply miss all the friends I made there. I thoroughly enjoyed the program and wish that Duke TIP had a similar program for eighth graders too in India! The course was superb as were the teachers and the teaching assistants. My course was forensic science and my instructor was Ms Laura Caitlin Oliver. She was an awesome forensic teacher and I am going to miss learning under her. The course was completely action-packed. We learnt loads of cool stuff like Blood spatter, Finger print, DNA analysis, Hair analysis, Handwriting analysis and many more. I was in complete awe at the way she conducted the defence during the mock “court trials” and I realised that my exposure to the study and analysis of forensic data was just the tip of the iceberg and I still had a lot more to learn. Soham Harshe, my RC (Residential Counselor) was kind and understanding and all my RC mates liked him a lot too. The Entrepreneurial Leadership Students voted him as one of the best RCs of Duke TIP India 2012. The activities organized by Jamie (The Residential Life Coordinator) and Nikki (On-site Director) were innovative and a lot of fun to play. My favourite activity was “Maximize the Profit” - wherein we had to “maximise the earnings” of the team as well as the organisation. This game was mainly about co-ordination. Soham, my favourite RC conducted this activity. Through the Duke TIP 2012 program, I was able to meet, for the first time, so many academically talented outstanding students. Here, I would like to share with you a fact that, for me, it was not only motivating, but, at the same time an unusual experience, to not get the answers first, as I am so used to being the top ranker in my school classroom !! The beauty of this program was also, that we were never made to feel that we had to be on the top or be1st or 2nd…it was competitive, but without the pressure of having to prove to be numero uno!
chance to showcase our talent in a lively and, spirited manner, and with the RCs Shreyes and Siddharth hosting it like it was the IIFA awards. Our dance in the lip sync was Waka Waka by Shakira. All the children went wild cheering for us! We got the third prize for our dance! For the Talent Show I performed the song ‘Hey Soul Sister’ by Train. It was a solo Guitar performance and everybody just loved it. Another new thing that I learnt from this program was how to live alone without my parents to take care of me. One of the things that I enjoyed about staying alone was the fact that we had to do our own laundry. It was a really long walk to the laundry room [20 minutes each way] and the load of the laundry ranged from just a few pairs of clothes to some of the boys lugging entire suitcases to dump them in for a wash and then a dry. Some got their iPods and their headphones to keep themselves occupied and some got their mobile phones and played games on them while they waited for their load of washing to get done. This program is excellent and I would recommend this program to my junior schoolmates. I am going to share the knowledge I acquired during this program with my friends back in school. My initial anxieties of how I will manage on my own without my parents were washed away . To tell you the truth, there was absolutely no time for me to miss my parents. On some days, I even forgot to call them up to tell them that I was doing fine! I miss everybody and I sincerely wish that I get an opportunity to attend a similar program again. Just reflecting about it now, I feel this program was indeed my once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I shall continue to cherish it for a long time. I am still in touch with all the awesome friends that I made at Duke TIP SSP. I wish that Duke would hold a reunion for all the TIPsters sometime soon.
Another thing that I really enjoyed was the Lip sync and Talent Show held on the weekends of our stay at the campus. We got a
By Pranav Khemka, Jamnabai Narsee School, Mumbai DUKE TIP Summer Studies Program participant 2012
Thoughtful Story: Testing for Gossip In ancient Greece, Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem. One day an acquaintance met the great philosopher and said, “Do you know what I just heard about your friend?” “Hold on a minute,” Socrates replied. “Before telling me anything I’d like you to pass a little test. It’s called the Triple Filter Test.” “Triple filter?” “That’s right,” Socrates continued. “Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you’re going to say. That’s why I call it the triple filter test. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?” “No,” the man said, “Actually I just heard about it and ...” “All right,” said Socrates. “So you don’t really know if it’s true or not. Now let’s try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?” “No, on the contrary…” “So,” Socrates continued, “you want to tell me something bad about him, but you’re not certain it’s true. You may still pass the test though, because there’s one filter left: the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?” “No, not really …” “Well,” concluded Socrates, “if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?”
Book Review THE FORBIDDEN TEMPLE: STORIES FROM THE PAST Story: T V Padma pictures: Bhavana Vyas In today’s world there is an increased focus on subjects’ integration in school education. Children make more meaningful connections when subjects are integrated. One of the key subjects that can be easily integrated with other subjects, especially language, is history. History becomes more fun and meaningful, when its skeleton is added with blood and flesh. To be more precise, the elements of language and drama when combined with historical facts, the topics of history become richer and provocative. T.V. Padma’s book, “The Forbidden Temple: Stories from the Past” is a pioneering attempt in this regard. The book consists of ten chapters, each consisting of an era in Indian history. Each chapter has a story that is imaginative, but capture a situation that is timeless and universal. The stories are well-researched, each revolving around child of the concerned era. The stories are not just historical narrative of different eras of Indian history, but also highlights issue that are relevant to today’s India, such as caste and poverty. For example, the chapter 3 “A Question of Beginning” Padma
explores the intermingling of Greek and Indian culture after Alexandar’s invasion through the boy Agailaos, the son of a mixed parent (Greek father and Indian mother). Agailaos looked different from the locals enough to give some chance to make fun of his mixed blood. However, Padma sees it as a strength producing some of the best fusions of Greco-Indian Buddhist art. The book is a delightful one, a must for curious children who have ever wondered what life was like for other children in other times.
By Jitu Mishra, Educational Specialist, EI
Teacher’s Bite external disciplining.
Mrs. Dr. T. Sudha, Principal, Delhi Public School, Secunderabad/Nacharam.
Q:
Who has most influenced you to become an educator, and how did they influence you?
The journey to become an educator started when I was a child as I used to play the role of a teacher to my younger siblings and their friends when I was just 10 yr. old. Later due to frequent transfers (in the army) of my husband I chose to be an educator which is the primary role of a mother.
Q:
What is your approach to classroom management and student discipline?
There are many techniques to classroom management over a successful period of transitioning myself from a teacher to a Principal; I learnt that: Class room management As is the teacher so is the class. “Yatha Raja tatha Praja” If the teacher is disciplined herself, the class also is easily mangeable. The class becomes active when teacher starts the lesson with a small anecdote/ a joke related to the lesson and then begins the lesson. An energizer like getting students to suddenly rise and get into a circle without touching each other within the given time after ten minutes of a class lesson makes them more attentive. Using multiple intelligence (9 principles of Howard Gardener) in lesson planning caters to all the children. Immediate correction and feedback encourages the class to be attentive and alert. Voice modulation (sudden raise and lowering with effective notation grasps the attention. Making the child who usually is a slow writer to sit near the table of the teacher improves attention and speed in writing. Discipline: I firmly believe that internal disciplining is always better than
Discipline in the classroom even during an activity with low decibels of sound is discipline for me. A class without any noise looks like a dead class for me. A class with interaction appears to be a highly disciplined class. However I firmly advocate the discipline of the teacher rather than students.
Q:
What are your views regarding the ‘importance of Teacher Training and Development’ in educating Students?
Teacher training is a must and is the utmost need of the hour. What a teacher learns in B. Ed is mostly not applied in the class (lesson plan). There are many updates in each facet of life and we must ensure that the teacher can never go without adequate updates in the subject which she gains only during inservice training. Teachers many a time, stay isolated and do not discuss the problem they face in teaching. . Discussing issues with other teachers who may offer workable solutions would help every person. This training provides an opportunity for them to learn. I ensure the faculty to demonstrate a lesson to the peers during faculty meetings and strengthen the lesson with peer interactions before they actually take the lesson in the class. Inservice adds life to teaching. Activity oriented teaching requires an involvement of most of the faculties like Physical education master, art teacher, music teacher, Hindi and so on and so forth. This integrated learning is a consolidation and learning for the teacher and the student. Moreover, Continuous and comprehensive evaluation can be done only with the peer teachers. If this is not practised and if the teacher is not trained, the teacher may not use the right pattern of evaluation. In-service training is like adding salt and spice to the tasteless food.
Q:
What is your view regarding the ASSET?
I firmly believe that if children’s notions are eliminated, conceptual clarity will automatically come. ASSET in a real true sense, is an asset for an educator if correctly used in the class. It is genuinely, the hallmark of this question paper. ASSET moves with current trends of education.
Mindspark Hindi Centre EI is expanding its focus to marginalised communities by piloting Mindspark Learning Centres in slum neighbourhoods in Delhi. Mindspark is provided in Hindi and implemented in dedicated learning centres located in vulnerable communities. In addition to Mindspark, students also benefit from small group instructions designed to bring them up to grade-level learning at these centres. Two pilot centres have been inaugurated in July, 2012 in partnership with the Central Square Foundation.
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