New Delhi: Schoolchildren who engage more enthusiastically in classroom discussions and read stuff beyond textbooks are likelier to learn better than others, an analysis of the results of a survey has revealed.
"Asking questions and participating in classroom discussions enhances the chances of better performance by 14.5 points," Indrani Bhaduri, head of the education survey division at the NCERT, said. (See chart)
Having many siblings, though, takes a toll on performance, as does absenteeism, the study found.
The National Council of Educational Research and Training carried out the analysis, using last year’s National Achievement Survey data on the learning outcomes of 2.2 million children from Classes III, V and VIII in government schools. The NCERT had collected the background data of the children in advance.
Educationists stressed that the hidden but most important lesson from the analysis is that the teacher’s role is crucial – for it’s up to the teacher to promote the classroom activities found most beneficial to learning.
"I would have expected learning in the mother tongue to be the most critical factor in improving learning outcomes, but the analysis highlights that interactive classrooms help enhance children’s learning (the most)," said Poonam Batra, Delhi University teacher and former member of the National Council of Teacher Education.
"This clearly shows that the teacher is a critical agent in this process. The teacher is key to ensuring that the children can participate in class discussions in their mother tongue. The discovery that reading material other than textbooks improves student performance also underlines the role of the teacher."
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