FINDINGS FROM STUDENT INTERVIEW VIDEO STUDY · 2015. 7. 27. · Student Learning Study – National...

FINDINGS FROM STUDENT INTERVIEWSTUDENT INTERVIEW

VIDEO STUDY

Student Learning Study – National Conference, Delhi, May 24-25, 2010

The larger relevance of Student Interviews

As teachers, we teach a lesson in the class and often assumethat students have understood the relevant ideas. However,when we test their understanding, we often find significantgaps in that understanding. So, we re-teach the concept,thinking that students may have missed some parts of it andwill understand if taught again. But if we test again, we willfi d th t id ( i pti ) p i tfind that many wrong ideas (misconceptions) persist.


The larger relevance of Student Interviews

What could be the reason for this?

Students formulate their own notions about various concepts inStudents formulate their own notions about various concepts intheir day –to-day interactions.

These notions may or may not be scientifically correct.

Persistent wrong notions does not allow for understanding andinternalisation of the correct concepts.

Hence, it appears that understanding what students already knowand think about a concept before it is taught or while it is beingtaught is an important aspect of teaching.

The purpose of these interviews is to gather more information onthe ways students think about and answer different questions.These are usually done as a follow-up to the various large scale


assessment studies.

Understanding Student thinking

A large scale assessment study withwell-designed tests providesdetailed performance data and thedeta ed pe o a ce data a d t epatterns underlying studentresponses.

It l b i t li ht t th tIt also brings to light concepts thatstudents have difficulty with and thecommon wrong notions they haveon these concepts.p

During student interviews we TALKto students which helps inunderstanding why students answerunderstanding why students answerthat way.


To gain insights on learning

Many times, we find that same wrong notions emerge across citiesand different school groups


Wrong notions often do not go away with age


Goals of Student InterviewsTo highlight the different misconceptions that students haveon certain topics

To understand the reasoning associated with differentstudent responses related to a given concept

To understand patterns underlying how students think andlearn

To video document learnings related to studentTo video document learnings related to studentmisconceptions

To disseminate the learnings to a larger teachingi f icommunity for action


Process of Student InterviewsData obtained from the assessment studies is analysed to findout the most common wrong answers students give fordifferent conceptsdifferent concepts

Permission is then sought from the schools to carry out thestudent interviews

Each question is tried in different cities/towns and acrosseducational boards to capture the most common notions

Teachers are often interviewed to understand difficultiesstudents face in learning the related concept

Th id f i l d b fi dThe raw video footage is analysed by experts to find outunderlying patterns of student thinking

The responses are compiled to make a video and subtitled


p p

Relevance of this method in Teaching

There are 3 stages at which this method of interviewingstudents can be used, each serving a different purpose:

Before beginning the lesson: Helps in identifying the variouswrong notions students have and that might hinder in the wayof learning the new topic.

While the lesson is going on in the classroom: Can provide agood feedback on the lesson plan which can be modified asrequired.q

After the lesson has been taught: Can be used to assess if thestudents have understood the concept correctly and to see ifany point needs to be clarifiedany point needs to be clarified.


Characteristics of a Good Interviewer

Students talk freely when engaged in a questioning method thatis casual. For this it is important that the interviewer -

do not prompt or show any kind of facial expressions evenwhen the answer is wrong.

allow a single student to take his/her time to express the idea;allow a single student to take his/her time to express the idea;do not jump from one student to the other quickly.

ask the students who change their answers during theinterview process why and what made them change theiranswer.

encourage students to listen to each others’ ideas and let themencourage students to listen to each others ideas and let themdebate over points they don’t agree to.

document the interview for future records.


Government Schools vs Private Schools

Students studying in government schools have readingdifficulty, and struggle with basic concepts and procedurescompared to students studying in private schoolscompared to students studying in private schools.

Many wrong notions and procedures of answering questionsare seen from the students in these schools too similar tothe private school students.

Students demonstrate fearlessness and share theirreasoning eagerly while answering questions during thereasoning eagerly while answering questions during theinterviews. This is seen commonly in both urban and ruralschools.


Common findings from Government SchoolsAcquisition of reading continues to be an issue in primary classes.

Students in class 2 are often found to be at letter level and aret bl t d i l d h t tnot able to read simple and short sentences.

At class 4 level they start decoding text fairly comfortably.

It is commonly observed that the reading is accompanied byrunning the finger on the texts, reading in a monotone, difficultyin conjoint letters and compound words.


Common findings from Government SchoolsStudents demonstrate a number of difficulties in Maths. Theserange from:

reading the questiond t di th th ti l l d l i thunderstanding the mathematical language underlying the

questionapplying what they have learnt

Wrong notions seen in simple procedures and concepts intopics such as subtraction, multiplication, division, place value,fractions, decimals, measurement, etc.

Student is at the informal stage of measurement and

Student counts the units from the starting point till ending

A student reads off the unit in the scale at the ending point


stage of measurement and shows length by hand span.

the starting point till ending point and fails to account for the length of the scale prior

to starting point.

the scale at the ending point of the pencil and says that

length of pencil changes as it is moved along the scale.

The questions used for the Interviews

Mathematics:

Class Question National %

AP %

Gujarat %

Rajasthan%% % % %

4

The length of the line in the figure above is4 cm. How long is the pencil shown in thepicture below? (Use the ruler shown in thepicture )

23.0 13.2 11.7 14.7picture.)

8 In which of these numbers below does3 have the greatest place value?A. 136 B. 239 C. 301 D. 743

39.4 36.1 43.8 32.2



Language:


AP %

Gujarat %

Rajasthan%% % % %

4 How do Crocodiles hatch?

Where do the crocodiles hide their eggs?eggs?A. behind the stonesB. under the sandC. in the waterD. under the rocks

62.4 67.8 54.6 43.7

4 Why does the mother crocodile dig her babies out of the sand?A. The babies cannot come out by themselves.B. She is playing a game with them.C. She is saving them from enemies.D. The babies start fighting with each other.

40.7 38.2 38.4 32.8



Language:


AP %

Gujarat %

Rajasthan%% % % %

8 Master of the GameWhere did the boys play?A. inside the old man’s houseB in the playground near the oldB. in the playground near the old man’s houseC. in the streets outside the old man’s houseD. in the streets outside the school

59.9 70.4 76.6 41.1

8 What did the old man really want from the boys?A. He wanted them to play cricket on all the days of the week.B. He wanted them to practice more and thus improve their game.C. He wanted them to stop playing cricket near his house at night.D. He wanted them to start earning

45.7 31.4 53.1 49.8


D. He wanted them to start earning while doing something they liked.

Student Responses and Wrong Ideas

Mathematics:

Class Question Student responses and wrong ideas

4 • Point on the scale where the object ends isthe length of the object.

• The object has to begin from the 0 mark onThe length of the line in the figureabove is 4 cm. How long is the pencilshown in the picture below? (Use theruler shown in the picture.)

the scale and only then we can find out itslength.

•We need to count the points to find out thelength so if the pencil is starting from 1 andlength, so if the pencil is starting from 1 andending at 6, it is 6 cm long because there are 6points – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.

•Zero is not a number. So measurement shouldstart from 1 centimetre mark.

•Each number on the scale make up onecentimetre and so we should count thenumbers.


numbers.

Student Responses and Wrong Ideas

Mathematics:


8 In which of these numbers below does3 have the greatest place value?A. 136 B. 239 C. 301 D. 743

•Bigger the number, greater the valueof all its digits.

•Place value means the way the digitsare positioned in a number – firstposition, second position etc, but notthe value attached to its position.


Student Responses And Wrong Ideas

Language:


4 How do Crocodiles hatch?

Where do the crocodiles hide their eggs?

•Students choose a particular answeroption either because they haveunderstood the meaning of the words inthat option or it presents a familiareggs?

A. behind the stonesB. under the sandC. in the waterD. under the rocks

that option or it presents a familiarcontext.

•Students find it difficult to reason outwhy they chose an answer option.

4 Why does the mother crocodile dig her babies out of the sand?A. The babies cannot come out by themselves.B. She is playing a game with them.C. She is saving them from enemies.D. The babies start fighting with each other.


Benefits to the TeacherObserving a student interview or conducting it brings it homestrongly to the teacher that it is more important to focus onwhat students learn than on what they teach.

Student interviews reveal to the teacher the gaps in their ownunderstanding as it allows them to explore and think about aconcept in different ways along with the studentsconcept in different ways along with the students.

During student interviews teachers realise that many a timeswrong strategies in teaching or assessment leads to building orsustaining wrong notions in the students’ minds.

Student interviews strengthen the teacher’s own subjectknowledge, pedagogical practices and attitude to build theirknowledge, pedagogical practices and attitude to build theirclassrooms into places of effective learning.


FINDINGS FROM STUDENT INTERVIEW VIDEO STUDY · 2015. 7. 27. · Student Learning Study – National...

Documents

Transcript of FINDINGS FROM STUDENT INTERVIEW VIDEO STUDY · 2015. 7. 27. · Student Learning Study – National...