Content Training Programme organized by AID INDIA was held at the ICSA centre, Egmore, Chennai on the 7th and 8th of August 2009.

Day 1 (7th August):

Day 1 comprised of 2 sessions where Session 1 consisted of analyzing the problem, and Session 2 was on Ranking of the activity materials. The training programme started with Mr. Damodaran giving a brief Introduction and the Importance of training. He emphasized on the requirement for specialized and need based training with frequent and effective training sessions for individuals to deliver better. This was followed by a Pre test, to gauge the participants’ level of understanding of their particular field.

Ms Chandra explained the importance of Pre Test and the fields of the Pre Test form in detail. The participants were asked to write their comments on various aspects of the contents that they have been handling. They were also asked to identify the most critical of their Roles and Responsibilities for Effective Content Designing.

The day’s Agenda was explained to the participants by Ms Prabha. After every Session the participants were asked to give their feedback on that session through post it notes.

Session 1: Analyzing the Problem was facilitated by Ms Gomathi

She started the session by explaining how to sight and solve a problem by giving an example, where children with word level reading capacity, are unable to read sentences. It was an interactive session where the participants came up with the probable reasons for such a problem.

Reasons sighted

1. Not enough exposure/ familiarity.
2. Reading by sight and not phonetically.
3. Fear and Lack of confidence.
4. Difficulty in reading Long words.
5. They do not know the sound of all the alphabets.
6. Lack of practicing material.
7. Difference in written and spoken language.

Of these reasons the participants marked points 5, 6 and 7 critical. Then Ms. Parvathi presented and translated the EI videos into Tamil (they were in Telugu with English subtitles) to analyze the problems presented in each of the 3 clippings. The videos also provided us with the statistics of the multiple choice answer chosen in each case.

The participants were divided into 3 groups and at the end of each clipping their observations and solutions to the problems were presented.

The 1st clipping was about reading and comprehension difficulty in 4th standard children. The video briefly showed a passage with pictures, which was about an incident where two children are playing with fire and one gets burnt accidentally and their father helps them put out the fire by pouring water. The children realize that playing with fire is harmful.

This passage was hung on the board for all the children to see and it was also read by the teacher loudly. Questions based on the passage, with multiple choice answers were asked. The first question asked was whether the two children playing were friends, sisters or brothers. The students were asked to come one by one and answer them. Here the multiple choice option “friends” was most chosen by the children. The collated observations of all the three groups are as follows:

Problems / Observations of 1st video:

1. Children were not able to read the passage and the questions.
2. They were not able to understand.
3. Pre assumption.

Solutions:

1. More practice on reading passages and comprehension
2. Questions should be framed more directly than indirectly

The 2nd clipping was about understanding place value and addition in 3rd standard students.

The clipping showed how these students tackled the problem 3ones + 7 tens = _______ . Here most students did not opt for any answer.

The participants again presented their observations and solutions

Problems / Observations of 2nd video:

1. Word problem is difficult to comprehend.
2. They do not know the place values correctly.

Reasons:

1. Exposed only to numeric problems.
2. Multiplication, addition and place value has not been taught effectively.

Solutions:

1. Place value should be clearly explained
2. Practice should be given in twisted problems.
3. Teaching methodology should be modified.

The 3rd video clipping was about identifying shapes conducted for 4th standard children.
The children were given the following choices and were made to identify all the squares.

Question: Pick out all that are squares

Most of the children chose 1 as their answer.

Observations/Problems of the 3rd video clipping:

1. The children are able to answer direct question.
2. They are unable to answer indirect questions.
3. Some children do not know the concept of square fully.

Reasons:

The children have been taught conventionally.

Solutions:

1. Alternate methods other than conventional ones should be used to teach a concept.
2. Complete description of square to be given.
3. Identification properties of a particular shape should be taught.

The session concluded with learning from the Video demonstration:

1. Problem should be identified
2. Field testing and evaluation of the methodology is essential.

Post Lunch, Ms Chandra explained the importance of linking the activities to understand a concept, in case of any difficulties in understanding the concepts, methods to overcome them.

The participants were divided into their respective groups and were asked to present activities related to their subject and link the same, stepwise, to the concept that they wish to teach the children. Each group explained their activities and how these can be used to teach the essential features of the concept.

Session 2: Ranking of Past Materials and Activities on Principle indicators was conducted by Mr. Damodaran.

The participants were divided into their respective departments and asked to rank the past materials given to them, on a scale of 1to 5 where 5 stands for High,’3’ Medium and ‘1 Low, based on 10 parameters, viz:

1. Simplicity
2. Adaptability in different environments
3. Probability of error
4. Link to the concept
5. Acceptance from outside members
6. Form of the material
7. Reusability
8. Remarks
9. Acceptance from children
10. Intrest value

The discussion and presentation of the participants would be held at a later date. The session concluded on this note.