CHAPTER IllSURVEY OF RELATED STUDIESCHAPTER I l lSURVEY OF RELATED STUDIESThis chapter presents studies on specific research studies and is meant tosupplement the conceptual review of literature given in Chapter II. It isstructured into the following subthemes:A. Environmental CognitionleducationB. Curriculum Contextualisation StudiesC. Multigrade Teaching on Small CommunitiesD. Community and Outdoor Education (General)A. ENVIRONMENTAL COGNlTlONlEDUCATlONPiaget has shown that mathematical and scientific knowledge cannot beacquired simply by reading books or merely from the words of the teacher.They have to be 'constructed' by the child through his own experience ofthe world and applying his mental schemata. For young childrenexperience with concrete material is necessary for constructing theschemata as well as the scientific concepts. But working in limited closedsettings Piaget probably underestimated the ability of young children to docertain tasks. For example, Piaget and lnhelder claimed that youngchildren possessed only topological concepts in space, i.e., concepts thatallow the encoding of locations as next to one another, but do not entail afull reference system; only in later childhood is the individual said toacquire a Euclidean system, metric in nature, and based on a fullreference system.On the other hand, the en,vironmental cognitivists (Moore and Golledge,1976, Spencer et al., 1993) have shown that experience with theenvironment helps children to acquire many of the competencies muchearlier than what Piaget theorised. Some studies on these lines are citedbelow. Some of these studies go the preschool years; yet they are cited inSurvey ofrelated studresorder to focus the latest view that the capacity of primary school children tolearn certain aspects especially in mathematics, science and geographyhas been grossly underestimated.Hart (1979) showed that environmental knowledge was directly related toindividual children's activity range. Parents allowed boys greater freedomthan girls and therefore they were much more knowledgeable about theirneighbourhoods.Develin (1 976) found that experienced travellers were able to build a set ofexpectations about a typical town and could use these expectations tounderstand a novel town better. This suggests that an individual's ownpast experience may generate increased sensitivity. Hence wideindividual differences may be expected in the effect of cognitive style,training and experience on the individual's environmental cognition.

Landan et al (1984) showed through a series of experiments that a 2-yearoldcongenitally blind child has spatial knowledge. On the basis of theresults, they challenge Piaget's characterisation of the spatial knowledgeof the pre-school child. They claim that their blind subject demonstrated aEuclidean frame of reference.Martin (1976) has claimed that the very young child has full Euclideanknowledge and challenged the view hat topological representationprecedes the Eucledean. The results obtained from the experimentsconducted by Laurenduau and Pinard (1970) do not support the view thattopological concepts develop prior to Euclidean and projective concepts inthe child's representation of space. Kato (1984) concludes on the basis ofexperiments that by the age of four, children can recognise shapes on thebasis of Euclidean features.Survey ofrelared srudiesCoben and Coben (1982) compared children walking through anenvironment with and without interaction with landmarks, and found thatchildren developed a more accurate map when the activity was given atheme that functionally links with landmarks. As soon as mobility permits,the infant explores novel spaces in the context of a secure base (theparent) and thus acquires a huge amount of environmental learning.Rogoff and Waddell (1982) argue that along with acquiring spatialinformation, children also develop skills in making strategic use of thecontextual organisation of the array of locations. This use is tacit andunreflective in pre-school years, but becomes deliberate in the earlyschool years.Wellman, Somerville and Haake (1979 a) showed that even 2-year-oldchildren were capable of sustained logical searches and their performanceimproved with age. The type of task as well as the age will determinewhether he adopts a spatial-associative search strategy (based onknowledge of locations strongly associated with the object or event), ageneral strategy (a procedure for exhaustively covering the space, andmonitoring which locations have been checked and which are still to bechecked), or a logical search strategy (procedures that select from apotential general search just those locations that suit the immediate task.The logical search requires much more specific memory of events, orderand sequences and the ability to use logical inferences to prioritise thesearch and to eliminate some possible locations.Wellman, Somerville and Haake (1979 b) have found that the increasinguse, with age, of the more efficient search procedures can be related toincrease in the child's abilities both in memory and logical deduction.Complex heuristics are also developed as the child grows older. Duringthe first year of life, infants do not show an ability to relate their ownmovements to the knowledge of spatial layout and their own position withinSurvey of related studiesit. During the second year, they begin to relate their own movements totheir knowledge of target locations. Strategies for self and object locationimprove with age. By three years of age, he child has achieved route

reversibility and is beginning to develop a more complex cognitivemapping of a whole area.As the child grows, relational and dimensional terms may be useddifferently with different objects in a systematic and sophisticated way.Smith, Cooney and McCord (1986) showed that the categorical use ofrelational terms involves "a rich and intricate knowledge system," and thatit takes considerable time to acquire and organise he relevant informationabout the world.According to Acredolo (1978), infants begin to use landmarks by about sixmonths for predicting future positions of a moving object. A year later, theyoung child shows evidence of a grasp of the mutually exclusive nature ofearlier and later positions.Harris (1985) attributes inaccurate performance of an infant to hislher notbeing sure how many objects he or she is dealing with; an expectation oflawful relationships as well as the use of number skills seems to play apart. Although very young infants are capable of discriminating betweenarrays consisting of one, two or three items, the concepts of subtractionsand addition - which are essentially transformations of an array by thedisplacement or replacement of an item - become available to the childonly at the period when he or she is able to work with the displacement ofobjects in space.West, Morris and Nichol (1985) showed that spatial knowledge can affectperformance on a broad spectrum of cognitive tasks, which, in turn, mayhave implications for later academic performance.Survey of related sr~rd~esKosslyn (1973), working on collateral development of spatial cognition andimagery presents experimental evidence to suggest that mental imagescontaining spatial content preserve relative metric distances betweenplaces, objects or features; that imagery facilitates the learning of bothverbal and pictorial material and plays a major role in the recall processand in solving problems by inference.Acredolo, Pick and Olsen (1975) showed how familiarity with anenvironment interacts with the complexity and differentiation of thatenvironment as determinant of the child's memory for spatial location. Thelevel of competence in environmental cognition acquired through spatialexperience will interact with the characteristics of a specific environment(its structural, organisational, social and affective features) to determinewhat particular image the individual develops of a setting.Dawizch and Spencer (1984) showed that children's memory for a routecould be significantly improved when their attention was drawn toappropriate landmarks along the way. Rather than viewing children'sdeveloping knowledge in fixed stages, it may be more appropriate toconsider children's ability in terms of their ability to apply efficientstrategies for selecting appropriate information from the environment.Even young children can rernember a lot about a simple route after oneexposure to it, but they may be less proficient than older children or adults,

if they do not realise the benefits of noting effective information as theymove through the environment.King (1992) investigated two aspects of spatial ability of students in athree-dimensional logo environment: (1) the differences in reasoningbetween students with high spatial ability and those with low spatialability, and the inferability of these differences using student interactionswith a three-dimensional computer graphic programme; (2) the differencesin spatial strategies of the students as they engage in the threedimensionalgraphing activities. The students were observed duringlessons in three-dimensional graphing using a programme. Theyattempted tasks such as representation of a rectangular solid, atetrahedron, and a triangular prism. They also completed a series oflessons designed to test both their spatial and their problem-solvingabilities. The observable results included:1. There is, in environments such as the ones studied, a forcedintegration of verballsymbolic skills in order to construct the desiredgraphic representation2. It was necessary for the subject to have verbal/symbolic skills in orderto construct the desired graphic representation.3. There was a direct relationship between the amount ofanticipationlreflection and students' success in completing the task.Acredolo and Boulter (1984), investigating the effects of hierarchicalorganisation on children's judgements of distance and direction, found thatchildren remembered the relative position of two places in different areasof a map by reference to the relative location of those areas. Theyinterpreted the findings in Piagetian terms, by suggesting that the childrenin their experiment were particularly sensitive to the topological propertiesof the maps and that the topological notions of enclosure, belongingnessand similarity may have been operating to distort the preoperationalchildren's memory for distance and direction. Stevens and Coupe (1978)had earlier found that the same distortions occurred in adult's memory forsimilar maps, indicating that adults also could be limited to a topologicalunderstanding of space.Cadwallader (1979), investigating problems in cognitive distance and theirimplications for behavioural mapping, showed that distance estimates areboth intransitive and non-commutative. Subjects are quite likely to say thatdistance 1 is longer than distance 2; 2 is longer than 3; and 3 is longerthan 1. They are also capable of estimating the distance from A to B asbeing different from B to A. The intransitivity and non-commutativity ofestimates indicates that people 'do not posses cognitive representations oftheir physical world that have the mathematical properties of metric space'.Survey ofrelared sr~rd;esAny internalised spatial representation of the physical world will be highlycomplex.A few studies were conducted to find an answer to the question, "Whatfactors about the environment might facilitate environmental informationprocessing?" Weisman (1981), working on evaluating architecturallegibility: way finding with built environment, examined the relationship

between ease of orientation and four architectural variables: interiorsigning, the possibility of seeing outdoors; architectural differentiationbetween the areas of a building; and overall plan configuration.Appleyard (1970), in his study of styles and methods of structuring a city,discusses the importance of physical distinctiveness for both one'sorientation and one's aesthetic response to the city.Evans, Smith and Pezdek (1982) made a study of cognitive maps andurban forms. They observed that the building features that predict how wellsubjects recall places include: the amount of movement around thebuilding; shape and high use, arid thereby, familiarity. The other buildingcharacteristics that enhanced recall included: the presence of naturalfeatures around the building, uniqueness of architectural style, and senseof pedestrian access.Atkins's (1981) study on introducing basic map and globe concepts toyoung children and Muir arid Blaut's experimental study on the use ofaerial photographs in teaching mapping to children in the first gradeattempted to check whether children before the age of 7 years are (1)limited to the topological stage of development; (2) spatially egocentric;and (3) too young to start any map work. They showed that children maybe able to learn about maps well before they reach the projective stage ofspatial development (7 or 8 years). From the earliest play with objects, thechild receives practice in trar~slatingb etween viewpoints. The aerial viewsSurvey ofrelared srudirsof a toy car anticipate the plan representation that would be found in adrawing view of the car from above.Biel (1982) studied children's representation of their neighbourhood: astep towards a general spatial competence and showed the child's homeoccupies a key position in six-year-old's representations. When asked toimagine him- or her-self at various known points or near home, and to thendecide which of two other landmarks that the child has mentioned isnearer, then one finds the child's representation of the location of theselandmarks to be internally consistent, and to coincide with their actuallocations. Biel cites this as evidence for six-year-olds being able to useprojective and Euclidean concepts when dealing with a known area. It isclear from this study that in map drawing of real, familiar environments,landmarks play an important role for the young children.Poag et a1 (1983) suggest that from a number of theoretical perspectives,active movement through the environment has been assumed to be analmost essential condition for the construction of spatial representations oflarge-scale environments.Spencer, Mitchell and Wrisdom (1984) in their attempt to evaluateenvironmental education in nursery and primary education conducted fiveprojects at the Ladywood school in which 3- and 4-year-olds learnedabout spatial relationships within a house; the same age groupinvestigated the three-dimensional structure of a house; and, in a thirdproject, worked on a cognitive map of their route through the village in theschool. Project four was a more complex mapping exercise of the same

daily journeys with 7- and 9- year-olds; and project five was 'Mapping theclassroom' exercise included in every textbook on beginning mapping. Allthese were chosen as typical kind of exercise that nursery and primaryschool teachers have been encouraged to do. In each case, the simple,conventional procedure of an empirical study was outlined. Before andSurvey ofrelared sr~rdresafter measures, with control groups, development of category systems andother procedures for evaluating children's concepts were undertaken.The results showed that the control and experimental groups werecomparable; there was very little change in the control group's knowledgead concepts over the term between pre-test and post-test. In contrast, theexperimental group showed significant improvement in the post-test. Alltrained children then benefited considerably from the teaching programme,with the slightly older children showing better performance than theyounger at both the pre-test and post-test stages. Thus the effectivenessof environmental education on children's knowledge, concepts,environmental awareness, geographicacy and better locational skills wasestablished.Rachel Kaplan (1976) has presented a case study on "Way-Finding in theNatural Environment" The ideal is to present a 'future' environment in away that facilities envisioning it. This has not yet been fully met.Meanwhile the four transition experiences described by Kaplan include:exploratory study of cognitive mapping, use of a board game as priorexperience, different games as prior experience and a new locationcontour map and aerial photographs. Playing the different way-findinggames had significant positive effect on confidence in finding their wayabout knowledge of natural environment and built environment.Spencer et al (1989) suppoll: the idea that children are manifestly readyfor, and are indeed using, geographic concepts as early as 4 or 5 years ofage. They have thought about the world's position in the universe, aboutdistant places; local and immediate areas; and are able to use directlygained information about the environment to perform locational andorientational tasks.Survey of related srudiesMitchell suggests that very young children, even before they are four, canexplore, make protomaps and can do geographic experiments. Althoughgraphicacy is basic to the expression and investigation of ideas inmathematics, design and other areas in the school curriculum it has beenclaimed by geographers as especially their concern, which indicates thatthere is close connection between mathematics and geography andthrough study of geography, a number of mathematical concept can bedeveloped in children.B. CURRICULUM CONTEXTUALISATION STUDIESA principle-oriented analysis of the major contributions from the projectsponsored by the Department for International Development of the UnitedKingdom [Taylor and Mulhall (1997)l to explore the use of a local-basedoccupation like agriculture as a contextualising media in primary education

has been presented in Chapter II. In the present chapter, some of thetypical research studies testing the principles are presented.Mulhall describes the cases of two schools to illustrate commoninvolvement in Tanzania. An innovative school situated in a village in theArumeru district of Tanzania consists of 540 pupils and 17 teachers.Agriculture is the main economic activity in the village. The main cashcrops are coffee, banana, maize and beans.There is considerable interaction between the school and the community.The villagers were very much interested in the education of their children.Community spirit and co-operation were promoted by the relative diversityof tribes. A village school committee facilitates community-school relations.The committee is concerned with the problems like discipline and absenceof pupils, school developmerlt and even occasional lectures in areas likehealth, veterinary Science and extension. The absenteeism is due tosickness, pregnancy, and work in parent's farm or local mines.Survey o/reiured .srudie,sTwo schools are compared to understand the conditions in which aprogressive reform may be accepted. School A has high academicreputation. The primary and secondary school were constructed largelyusing local community contributions. Cabbage and tomatoes are grown inschool plot to supplement the income. Science lessons are entirely theorybasedwith chalk and talk and occasionally demonstrated. Teachers domake some teaching aids from locally available materials. Agriculturedemonstrations by teachers are brief and not followed by practice. Theparents viewed education as being very important for their children as thekey of life. They were sorry that they could not interact with those whodecided what their children learned in school. But they prefer their childrennot to enter agriculture, since they wanted them to go beyond what theyhad achieved themselves. They wanted them to become self-reliant and toget employment in the modern sector.School B is situated in a village of Tanzania. Agriculture is the maineconomic activity in the village. Coffee, maize, beans, banana are themain cash crops. Livestocks are also kept. Some are employed in a largerose growing industry. The village school committee has a trend todominate the school, and the chairman would sometimes arrive expectingto check on how things were going. The experts who came to the schooldid not seem to play those roles in the community. The curriculum wasproblematic with irrelevant content and centrally developed curriculum wasconstantly changing and inadequate. Teachers struggled due to shortageof text books, teaching aids, resources and the newly introduced subjectslike Skills and Civics have no materials. Community members hadcontributed a new office I-oom and a class room. Farming parents wanttheir children to become Inore advanced than themselves. It seems thatthe wealth of parents will be the deciding factor in the educational life of achild. Pupils interviewed described ways in which they applied what theyhad learned at school in the home environment. One boy mentioned thatSurvey of relared srud~eshe had been taught to draw the map of Tanzania by his brother before hestarted school.

Teachers at B did try to relate teaching and learning to the pupil'sexperience like English syllabus sections on the farm and soil. Allinstructions were given in English and the pupils appeared to enjoy thepractical activity. The teacher explained that the previous lesson wasbased on the preparation of breakfast and pupils had made tea forthemselves.Teachers thought that agriculture was a good medium of education to usefor pupils who live with these things but the teacher's knowledge about thelocal agriculture was insufficient and there was no resource teacher inagriculture. Parents thougnt that agriculture was a good way of linkingschool and home learning, since they liked their children to practice athome what they had learned at school.School B is officially classified as an average school. But from theincidents reported above, it must be considered as a superior school. Herecontextualisation of learning is practiced by some teachers and a moreimmediate understanding of the contextualising learning seemed to bereached by parents, pupils and teachers.Elstgeest (1987) notes a progressive approach to primary education inTanzania based on problerns that they can handle. By asking questionsbased on their own experience, the children can respond positively andbuild on their confidence and motivation. An example is given of the fifthgrade class in Kigururunyembe, Tanzania, where children used equalamounts of soil, using washers and nuts as units of weight. They thentranslated their findings into a picture, and proceeded to establish whatamount of water their soils could carry. Another example was of childrencounting the number of seeds in a cob of maize to assist them inSurvey of relared sr~~d;es

developing skills in numeracy. When the children set out to count theseeds, they were surprised that there were 470 seeds, as many of thechildren had a vague idea of large numbers. Elstgeest notes that thechildren can learn that by manipulating and controlling the environmentthey can influence and control the response and behaviour of living thingsin certain ways; this demonstrates a particular value of agriculture as acontextualising subject.The Ministry of Education, Sri Lanka (1993) launched Plantation SectorEducation Development Programme (PSEDP) self study materials andgraded learning. It started in 1987 as a programme of support to primaryeducation in the tea and rubber estates. Until fairly recently estate schoolshad been managed and owned by plantation companies. They wereconnected with the National Ministry of Education through a grant-in-aidsystemin which schools were subjected to an annual inspection andaward of grant based on academic achievement. During the 1970s, theseschools and teachers began to be taken over by the state and wereincorporated fully into the state system. In 1984, there were 558 estateschools, with a total of 63389 students and 1148 permanent teachers. Theaverage student-teacher ratio was 55:l. A large proportion of the schoolshad only one teacher.The programme started with an analysis of the fundamental problems

facing children in the estate community - large numbers of childrendropping out from primary school, too few teachers and too manyuntrained teachers. As and when some of those problems are being met,more attention is being given under the programme to appropriatepedagogy for groups of 46-50 children: (1) through the development of selfstudy materials, and (2) through individualised approach to the learning ofreading. Both strategies can support multi-grade teaching as well as multiabilityteaching within a mono-grade structure.Survey ofrelated studiesPeris (1976) and Baker (1988) describe an integrated approach tocurriculum development in primary education in Sri Lanka. The basis ofthe curriculum was that children should carry out activities related to theirown experience, using subject content as and when necessary in theirwork (through a project approach, planned well in advance and focusingon identified knowledge, skills and attitudes). The nature of the work itselfis expected to generate an enthusiasm producing an internal selfdisciplineand would be made more responsiveness to their ownenvironment.The focus and aims of the study of Kent and Mushi (1995) is theexamination of both the structures and processes that assist in the trainingof youth who aspire to become artisans working in the informal sector andthe operational characteristics of subsistence and small-scale enterprises.Originally mechanical and electrical trades' training was expected to befocussed. But later more common trades such as carpentry and tailoringwere added.In a recent study of rural schools, pupils were frequently found to playtruant in order to avoid self-reliant activities (TADREG, TanzaniaDevelopment Research Group, 1993). Both parents and pupils resistedsuch activities as explosive for two reasons. Firstly, pupils were not taughtuseful skills and secondly they did not see any tangible evidence ofimprovements to their schocjl for their efforts.Reducing the number of subjects, or introducing work skills does notaddress the fundamental problern of curriculum reform, i.e., how to makethe content of primary education more relevant to the needs of the clientgroup.In 1993-'95, pilot projects began in two regions, Mbega and Zanzibar. Thefirst stage in the process was to establish rapport with the consumers, i.e.,Survey ofrelared stud~esto establish the needs of parents through workshops designed to raisetheir awareness of issues and to encourage them to become activeparticipants in the programme.Diversified secondary schools were introduced in 1975 with funding fromthe World Bank and Specialised in Agriculture, Home Economics,Commerce and Technical Education. The aim was to shorten the timetaken to produce skilled labour by equipping the students with theknowledge and skills necessary to become productively self-employed inthe rural and urban informal sectors. However, subsequent studies

considered them to be ineffective and withdrew their support. Howeversome of these schools continue to operate although ineffectual. There wasalso a tendency to give the disciplinary approach, i.e., to teach science asthree separate subjects - physics, chemistry and biology. The curriculum ischaracterised by overloaded syllabi that are presented in a fashion, whichdecentralises the various topics making them appear abstract.The Secondary Science Project (SSP based on the British Nuffieldcourses was first tried in '1968 but withdrawn in 1971. The most recentendeavour was the World Bank-funded, TIE-developed Unified ScienceProject (USP which ran tom 1990 to 1994). This initiative in principlerepresented the opportunity to introduce radical reform in a holistic mannersimilar to the primary PEP project. In practice, it was considered to be tooradical, as it challenged long-held beliefs among politicians, administratorsand teachers about the elitist nature of science education and scienceteaching and in response to a number of reports, was abruptly cancelledby the Commissioner of Education (TADREG 1995).Survey of relared srudiesC. MULTIGRADE TEACHINGISELF-LEARNING INSMALL COMMUNITIESIn 1993, the Sri Lankan Plantation Sector Education DevelopmentProgramme (PSEDP) embarked on a programme of development of selfstudymaterials in the Tamil language for use by students in years 3 to 5 ofthe primary cycle. Some of the results of the summative evaluation in twoschools are as follows:In School I, there have been three testing. Pupils with A grade increasedfrom 0% to 21%. E grade decreased from 35% to 7%. In School It, therewere five children in five year class who could not read at all. They werestarted off with the year one book. After six months two of the five got theirpromotion to year six, they were able to read at the year five level. Theother three did not reach the level and will repeat the year, but they willcatch up.In another school, it was found that when tested in March there no D's andquite a few A's, but when retested in June using a different book but ofabout the same level, not the set Tamil reader, this time there were no A's.It was felt that the children had been memorising the set book and wereunfamiliar with reading anything that was outside the set-book.Although neither the self study materials nor the reading project aroseprimarily out of a need to final solutions to the problems facing the multigradeteacher, clearly the materials and approaches developed werefound appropr~atefo r both the muti-grade and mono-grade teacher.Zambia's experiment with teacher education and support for multi-gradeschools presents several insight in this direction. In-service trainingcourses in multi-grade teaching were developed and mounted by theMalcolm Moffat Teacher's Training College (MMTTC).Among the two schools which participated in the project the Mwape'

primary school did increase the enrolment beyond grade five by thismethod. Nut? the school community relationship was not particularly

strong and no contribution had been made by the parents towards therehab~litationo f school building.The Kalombe school experience increased the enrolment rapidly after theintroduction of multi-grade teaching. Parents expressed the view that theprovision of upper primary grade schooling, made possible through themulti-grade teaching, had been one of the attractions of setting in the area.Teachers felt that with multi-grade teaching students were better preparedfor self-learning after they had left school. It was felt that multi-gradeteaching contributed greatly to the mastery and enduring impact of basicskills, as interesting preparation, which would warrant further investigation.In contrast to Mwape the school community relationship is very strong.Learning Activity Centres in each school complement the study guides. Inservice training is an integral part of the new school strategy. This traininginvolving students in the organisation of the school, the use of learningcentres and group work in the organisation of learning, and themobilisation of community resources for the mobilisation of the school.Colbert, Chiappe and Arboleda (1993) describe Escuela Nueva (the newschool programme) in Cc~lumbia. It arose as an attempt to address theproblems of rural education, which persisted in spite of the unitary schoolapproach. By 1992 the new system had 17,000 schools.It provides active rnstruct~on, a stronger relationship between the schooland the community, and a flexible promotion mechanism adapted to thelife style of the rural child. It comprises four main components-curriculum,training, administration and community relations.Survey .yo/ relured slud;esThe programme assumes that the rural schools involved in the programmeare multi-grade with self instruction, flexible promotion learning centresstrategy.Self-instruction study guides for grades 2 to 5 in Natural Science,Mathematics, Social Studies and Languages adopt a method, whichpromotes active learning, cognitive skills, discussion group decisionmakingand the development of application skills within the localenvironment. The guides contain sequenced objectives and activities.The supply guides reflect both the national curriculum and regional andlocal adaptations. The study guides are used by groups of 2 to 3 childrenat a time and facilitate the work of the teachers required to work withseveral grades in the same class room. Conventional text books tend notto facilitate self instruction.Learning activity centres in each school complement the study guides. Inservice teachers training is an integral part of the new school strategy.The workshops are conducted in three stages. Follow-up workshops areorganized monthly to exchange ideas, analyse problems and discussresults. These local non formal workshops become formalised as microcentres. These centres serve as a participatory experience where teacherscould evaluate, create, enrich their own experiences, innovate, criticize,analyse and carry out projects for the improvement of the school and thecommunity.Both the micro centres ancl demonstration schools maintain a horizontal

training network and are regarded as a 'decentralised, in service, low-costmechanism to maintain quality in the process of going to scale".Rodriguez (1979) inferred during the first stage that there was nodifference in the levels of creativity of children multi compared, comparedwith mono-grade rural schools, but the self esteem of both boys and girlswas higher.Rojas and Castillo (1988) report that a majority of teachers believe that thenew school is superior to other types of traditional rural school. Students innew schools performed better on tests of socio-civic behaviour, selfesteem and some subjects in some grades.In short, it has been suggested that the new school system respondssuccessfully to the needs of the rural child in Columbia becauset the learning strategy adopted encourages active, creative, participatoryand responsible learning.t children learn at their own pace using self instructional materials.t materials are affordable-one set is shared among three children andeach set lasts several years. The content of the materials reflects anational curriculum and can also include regional and local adaptation.t the in service training of the teacher in local, replicable and permanent.In short, it has been suggested that the new school system respondssuccessfully to the needs of the rural child in Columbia becausethe learning strategy adopted encourages active, creative,participatory and responsible learning.children learn at their own pace using self instructional materialsmaterials are affordable - one set is shared among three childrenand each set lasts several years. The content of the materialsreflects a national curriculum and can also include regional andlocal adaptation.the in service training of the teacher is local, replicable andpermanent.Survey i~freioledsr~~d;esD. COMMUNITY AND OUT OF SCHOOL LEARNING (GENERAL)Gordon (1998) examined the effects of an integrated organisationalstrategy on an intermediate school in Texas, which developed a truefeeling of community. The strategies were looping, interdisciplinaryinstruction and use of technology as an integrated tool for learning.Purposive emergent sampling was used to maximise information from theschool population. Both structured and unstructured interviews wereconducted by the participant observer. Small learning environments werecreated by forming teams of teachers and students, assigning advisors,teaching critical thinking, active citizenship, grouping for learning, flexiblescheduling, teacher influence, building governance, teacher leaders,expert teachers of adolescence, meaningful roles for parents keepingparents informed and shar~ng a vision. The findings of the study alsoresponded to the two research questions that guided the study. What werethe nature of the interpersonal relationships that formed between parents,teachers and students, and to what degree were the relationships of result

of the implemented instructional strategies.Miller (1997) discusses improving the school-to-work and communitytransition program of 41 mildly disabled secondary students during theireducational careers in a rural district setting. During an 8 month practicurn,41 mildly disabled high school students, their teachers, parents andcounsellors, and community business representatives co-operated indefining individual school-to-work transition goals in education,occupationallcareer, and sociallpersonal areas. The major aim was torealistically and adequately prepare these special needs students forcommunity life after exiting high school. Techniques used to achieve theirgoal included student and parent surveys, questionnaires, parent andteacher workshops, restricted curricula, co-operation of community, schooland itinerant personnel and student-set goals. The major findings were:Survey of related srudies1. 5 of the 41 eligible students were formally enrolled in a schoolto-work programme.2. 20 of the 38 teachers and aids working directly with the 41students were able to correlate at least two specific curriculumgoals with the students' traditional plans.3. Parents of 22 of the 41 students expressed satisfaction with thetransitional plans, and4. 16 of the 41 students were able to share one education, oncareerloccupational and one sociallpersonal transitional goal. Alloutcomes except number 2 were met, only 12 teachersindicated their ability )o correlate at least two specific curriculumgoals with students' transitional plans.John (2000) developed a Guided-Field-Study Model (GFSM) and testedits effectiveness by comparing the achievement in Ecology of thetreatment groups, viz. Guided-Field-Study Method (GFSM) group.Lecture Method (LM) grclup and Self-study led to the conclusion thatGuided-Field-Study Method is superior to Lecture Method with regard topost test achievement. The study also showed that resource units basedon GFS models are a necessity in higher secondary schools to helpteachers realize the possibilities and potentialities of this approach.Han, Eun Sok (1991) made a comprehensive analysis of the teacherschool administrator attitudes toward out-door education. The studyfound that, in general, teachers and school administrators are quitepositive towards the value of outdoor education and school camping.(camping kyonggi). Another significant finding was that the teachers andschool administrators are not equipped with the knowledge and skillsrelated to another education and school camping.Lindenmeier (1996) co,nducted a study on outdoor educationcomponents. The research project was undertaken to determine to whatSurvey ofrelated srudresdegree Environmental Education and Adventure Education areinterdependent components of outdoor education. The study found thatenvironmental education and adventure education are significantlydissimilar in several key respects.Orion (1993) developed a model for the implementation of fields trips as

an integral part of the Science curriculum. The important conclusionsarrived at regarding the role of field trips as a tool of concretization werethat1. the field trip should be placed at the early stage of the learningprocess and2. the field trip should focus on concrete activities which can not beconducted effectively in the classroom.Thies (1997) conducted a study to determine efficient procedures foroperating residency outdoor environmental programme. The analysis ofresult revealed that:The environmental programmes are weak, if not integratedwith ongoing educational curricula.Better training programmes and certification requirementsneed to be developed.Inquiry methods with hands-on-student activities need to bedeveloped for such programmes.The current interest in environmental education is to beexploited for programme support.Universities should arrange outdoor environmental educationcourses for teachers.A survey by Turner (1997:) examines eleven integrated Science coursesfor the age range 11-14 in countries as diverse as West Germany, theU.S.A, Nigeria and the Pacific Islands. It describes the circumstanceswhich gave rise to each course and how the course was shaped to suitSurvey of related studieslocal needs, either by importing and adapting a proven course or bycreating an entirely fresh course around local curricula and materials.In a survey by Chambers (1983), 89% of the respondents listed theirdealers as a good source of agricultural information. Thus the farm inputdealers constitute an important link in the extension chain fordissemination of agricultural information to the farming community.E. ENVIRONMENTALIDEVELOPMENTAL EDUCATION STUDIES:INDIAN UNIVERSITIESPatel (1978) conducted a study about the educational facilities andutilisation of educational opportunity by the slum children. The majorfindings of the study were as follows: 1 in the matter of school resources,the slum schools were not at par with the schools in non-slum areas; 2. theresources of the schools in the slum area were interior and inadequate; 3.the curriculum was inappropriate for the slum children's needs and level ofability.Aikara (1979) conducted a study about the problem of out-of-schoolchildren of the school-going age. 20% random sample of the out-of-schoolchildren and 5% random sample of the in-school children were drawn forthe purpose of interviewing parentslguardians. The major findings were1. The out-of-school children had a relatively poorer educational,occupational and economic background compared to their counterparts in school.

2. By and large, the parents of the out-of-school children were eager andwilling to send their children to an educational programmer that wouldbe suitable and convenient to them. An educational programme thatcombined literacy with vocational training seemed to be the mostacceptable. The parents of the majority of children wanted the mediumSurvey of reloted studiesof instruction to be the mother tongue. About two hours in the eveningappeared to be the most suitable time for the new educationalprogramme.Ambika (1973) conducted a study on the potentialities of field trips forlearning Biology of standard IX. The study aimed at finding out the fieldtrip experiences that are currently being provided in the learning ofBiology and also those field-trip experiences that can be made possiblefor improved teaching-learning of Biology. The study came to theconclusion that the teaching of Biology at present is very much formalisedwithin the class room. The teachers are unaware of the latentpotentialities of field trips and how they can be used in learning Biology.It was also found that teachers tended to avoid out door activities.because they were very often unfamiliar with the philosophy, techniqueand organization of field trips.Raju (1985) and Sheenil (1995) studied the utilisation of availablecommunity resources in the teaching of Biology in the secondary schoolsof Kerala. Both studies revealed the improper utilisation of communityresources.Ravindranath, Sowrirajan and Nair (1990) studied the use of computers inthe teaching of environmental education. The main objectives of the studywere to find out how computers could be effectively used in schools tosupport the teacher with the necessary information on the localenvironment and how instruction could be made locally specific. The mainconclusion of the study is that with the availability of sophisticatedgadgets like computer, classroom instruction could be made morecreative and challenging.Survey of relured srud~esNat (1990) conducted a study on environmental education to develop anawareness of and responsibility for the environment at present and future.He concluded that th~s coulcl be achieved by bringing environment intoschool as well as the school to the environment.Joshi (1981) in his study to Find out the environmental problemsparticularly in the state of Rejasthan which might have a bearing on therural and urban classes, found that environment outside the class waspotent enough to initiate learning and suggested environmental educationas a compulsory subject at primary level. Teachers and syllabus were themain obstacles in limiting the growth of this approach.Gupta (1986) conducted .a study of attitude of teachers towardsenvironmental education. The findings of the study: 1. the mean attitudescore for all the groups of teachers showed a favourable attitude towardsenvironment education; 2. the order of favourableness were junior collegeteachers, secondary and primary teachers; 3. the teachers pointed out

constraints like crowded classroom, lack of time for proper planning ofactivities, loss of interest in the absence of regular follow up action etc. onimplementation of environment education programme.Rajput et al. (1980) conducted a study of environmental approach ofteaching at primary level. The Madhya Pradesh State curriculum forclasses 3 ad 4 was redesigned to build the scope for environmentalapproach of teaching. The effect of implementing the redesignedcurriculum in primary schools was assessed (with a sample of over 100students) on environmental awareness and achievement in science. Thestudy revealed: (1) Only orte of the four groups (2 schools x 2 classes)was significantly different as environmental awareness at pre-test stage,whereas, at the post-test stage, two experimental groups weresignificantly better than the control group. (2) The difference between theSurvey ofrelated studiesexperimental group and the control group on a traditional achievementtest was not significant.Pai (1981) prepared and tried out a curriculum I environmental studiesleading to life-long education for college students with the followingobjectives: (1) to help students acquire an awareness of the interrelationships,interactions and interdependence existing betweenbiological and physical aspects of the total environment and sensitivitytowards the environment and its applied problems (2) to help studentsacquire strong positive attitudes, sound ecological values towards theseeds of a better environment and the necessary motivation for activelyparticipating in its protection and improvement; and (3) to help studentsdevelop skills necessary for solving environmental problems and takingpreventive measures The environmental curriculum prepared was triedout experimentally (N expt=72, N control=60).and tested with speciallyprepared tools.The findings of the study were: (1) There was significant difference in theperformance of the envirc~nmental group as compared with the controlgroup on knowledge scores and attitude scores. (2) The experimentalgroup had gained more than the control group in environmental activitiesinventory. (3) As a result cf instructions for using the curriculum, studentsreflected clearer and more vivid images perceived in terms of thesensitivity towards the environment. (4) Unit-wise analysis of heperformance of the students in the experimental group showed that theyhad gained in overallknowledge in environmental problems.Gupta, Grewal and Rajput 111981) conducted a study of the environmentalawareness with the following objectives: (1) to know the components ofenvironment in wh8ich children from rural [R] and urban [U] areas werelacking and the areas in which the students from both the streams werewell acquainted; 92) to compare the environmental awareness of schoolSurveyof related srudisgoing children [F] and children studying in nonformal centres [NF]; (3) tosuggest means for developing environment-based curriculum foruniversalisation of elementary education . The sample consisted of 110

students of standard 4 - 20 from rural schools [FR], 30 from urbanschools [FU, and 60 from nonformal centres [NFE]. An EnvironmentalAwareness Test by Rajput and associates was administered on thesample. The performance of the three groups was compared.Significance of mean difference was tested by t test.It was found that: (1) The difference between FR and FU onenvironmental awareness was significant and in favour of NFE. (2) Thedifference between NFR and FU was also significantly in favour of NFE.(3) The difference between NFE and FR on environmental awarenesswas not significant.The SCERT of Andhra Pradesh (1980) compared the old and new sciencecurricula in environmental studies of classes IV and V and found that thenew curriculum relevant to environment was more effective. According tothe teachers, the new S,cience curriculum fulfilled the educationalobjectives as prescribed by the Directorate of Education.Geethalekshmi, C. (1994) identified the curricular potentials of ten localedible fruit yielding plants for the study of Botany at higher secondaryschool level. The fruit yielding plants selected for the study were mango,jack fruit, papaya, amla, passion fruit, anona, guava, coconut, pineappleand banana. The study showed that all the ten plants selected for thestudy have immense potential for teaching-learning of the content coveredin the Botany text books of higher text books of higher secondary classes.Joseph (1976) explored in detail the potential and practices of usingschool resources in conducting science clubs. The study found thatresources like yields, agricultural farmers and gardens are present nearSurvey ofrelared srudiesalmost all schools. But only a small number of teachers use theseenvironmental resources for teaching Science.Scaria's (1984) study on the curricular potentials of local plants of foodvalue revealed that the majority of the secondary school students arelacking practical and utilitarian knowledge about the commonly availablelocal food plants. The investigator suggested that pupils should beencouraged to make use of these plants, as it may be helpful to reducesome of the deficiency dist.> ases.Exemmal (1974) conducted a study about the use of environmental andethnic resources in the teaching of Botany in the primary classes ofKerala. The study attempted to find out how far the environmental andethnic (cultural) resources of Kerala were used in the teaching schoolbotany. The investigator found that agricultural field is the only resourcereported by the majority of teachers as being used for teaching botany.Observation and analysis revealed a number of environmental resourceslike profuse plant growth in and around the school which could illustrateseveral botanical concepts and principles (which remain unused orrecognised by teachers., use of plant products for beautification,ornament, medicine et . Ethnobotanic classification and analysisembedded in the ordinary Malayalam language (such as the use of twowords for leaf ila for non-palmate leaf and ola for palmate leaf), havepotentiality for initiating scientific thinking and for bridging the home andthe school. The diffusion of modern science among the ordinary people by

the Farm Information Bureau at a rate faster than the official mechanismspreading practical and functional modern science in schools is anotherpotential resource..Sulochana (1984) made ail attempt to prepare certain instructional modelsbased on farming for the learning of Science in high school classes. TheSurvey ofrelared srr~d,esmodels prepared were found to be good for learning Biology through themedium of farming.Leelammma Mathew (1975) developed some models of relating theteaching of the agriculture-based items in Standard 9. biology with theresources of the agricultural extension services. The study was based onthe data collected from 113 natural Science teachers and 40 agriculturalofficers. Teachers in the sarnple reported that the most common methodsused by them for teaching a!zjricultural ideas to pupils are lecture, showingpictures, charts or specimen, group discussion and taking pupils togarden. The agricultural officers were using much more modern methodsfunction ally related to the environment in teaching the farmers, becausethey were more specifically trained for the job. Unlike the teachers, theywere dealing with a non-captive clientele, who will take lessons only if itwas worthwhile. All the agricultural officers think that agriculturaleducation can relate education to environment. 85% of the agriculturalofficers suggest that agricultural education in schools can make Scienceteaching more interesting.Pillai (1975) constructed and tested models of relating the teaching of theecology-oriented portions of Class 9 with the local environment. Visit toforest to observe different species, conducting vanamahotsava (treeplantingfestival) were the items in the rating scale which gogt the IOowesgtscore in terms of present use. The investigator suggests that a spirit ofcooperation between schools and external resources of the state as donein the young farmers' club and young naturalists club would be veryrelevant for science teaching.Elizabeth Mathew (1976) conducted a study on the formulation andevaluation of environmental approaches in biology education and arrivedat the conclusion that environmental approach is superior to formalapproach in terms of developing or achieving many educational objectivesSurvey of relared studiesincluding environmental understanding, aesthetic aspects and academicobjectives. One interesting finding in her study is that in environmentalteaching the usual sequence of prior objective followed by designinglearning experience and evaluation is often reversed. The environmentalexperience directly provides a learning experience from which relevanteducational objectives car1 be extracted. An interdisciplinary transaction isalso commonly met with in environmental education situations, e.g., inteaching pest control, learning experiences and objectives pertaining tobotany, entomology, chemistry toxicology etc. come naturally together.Exemmal (1980) followetj up her master's study in environmental andethnic resources in the teaching of school botany with a moresophisticated constructive and experimental study, adapting analytical,constructive and follow-up judgement techniques too. The study resulted

in: (1) The construction of very analytical models for teaching botanyusing detailed environmental observations, folk science, phylotaxy etc.and drawing out educational objectives from these ordinary situations. (2)the efficacy of the environmental approaches were tested by comparingthe achievement in botany (a) of the environmental approach group andformal approach group (overall groups) and (b) within the overall groups,of equated subgroups (equated separately for each of the variables suchas intelligence, science interest, attitude towards science teaching andlearning, socio-economic status, and present achievement scores) interms of (i) immediate post-teaching achievement, (ii) delayed memoryachievement, (iii) extent of forgetting (special tools were constructed,item-analysed and used). The experimental group showed significantsuperiority in achievement - immediate and delayed memory. (3).Environmental approach had significant positive effect on the attitude ofpupils towards science teaching and learning. (4) the suitability of theteaching models was tested (in terms of the ratings of experts andteachers) with respect to (a) availability of suitable outdoor resources fordeveloping the select learning experiences, (b) stage suitable forSurvey ofrelared stzid~esintroducing the select learning experiences, (c) competencies required forhandling the select learni~ge xperiences.Mercykutty (1996) conducted a doctoral study on developing and testingmodels of teaching mathematics using environmental resources. Thestudy used a large amount of qualitative methodology, supplemented bysome quantitative methodology. The investigator conducted a lot of

activity analysis - of the mathematical competencies embedded in craftslike tailoring, embroidery, carpentry, gardening etc. and various playactivities. She even apprenticed herself to a tailoring teacher in order tomake the analysis functional. She observed a variety of objects in theenvironment and drew sketches. A project was conducted with her B.Ed.students to analyse the rnathematics embedded in Onarn celebrations.Participant observation and Onam and Christmas celebrations yieldedrich mathematics com~onents.The school textbooks iri mathematics were first analysed by theinvestigator in terms of environmental examples for development ofmathematical ideas, invitations extended to students to exploremathematics from the environment etc. Contrary to popular belief, it wasfound that all the textbooks do contain plenty of environmental references.They progressively get dirninished as the student goes up the grades.But many of the references are of a verbal nature. The book does suggestconcrete and project-type activities, but usually they come at the end andhence tend to be omitted. 'The preface to the book seems to suggest thatchildren should first master the content through verbal understanding anddrill and thus 'strengthen the permanent contact with the environment'.But this does not seem to work with young children. Mercykutty hasidentified several un-Piagetian approaches in the textbook presentation inthe lower classes. The difficulty with the prior verbal presentation is mademore complicated by unnecessary use of heavy words with a Sanskrit

diction far above the level of the language studies for the correspondingstandard, neologisms, homonymy (different terms for the same concept),polysemy (the same term having multiple meanings), importing of Englishterms in the most unexpected context, withholding of crucial Englishterms when they would have sewed as a bridge between the Malayalamterm and the symbol, inconsistency in the use of terms between classes,and even between chapters, dissonance between the discourse and theterm (e.g., in LCM, HCF), confusion through artificial syntax modelled onEnglish syntax. Though the textbook writers seem to know the subjectvery well and able to explain it in clear verbal terms, they often do notseem to think of it in terms of the experience and point of view of theyoung child. One of the most cruel examples is the dumping of themodern complex number system made more complex by the difficultterminology at one lump in Class VII without proper iconic support.Though the textbooks do contain plenty of environmental references,especially in the lower cases, intense interviews were had with 50teachers to check up the teachers' awareness and use of theseenvironmental references revealed that their judgement of the adequacyof such references is not c.ategorical. Their rating is centred at 'to someextent'. But the question whether the environmental references areplaced in the textbook in si~cha way that they can be effectively used forconcept formation the response is zero. All the responding teachersclaim to make use of the environmental references verbally. When itcame to function al use of the environmental references, most teachersseemed more concerned to explain why they could not do so. The mostcommon reason is that if they follow environmental activity methods, thetopic cannot be covered (96%). Many consider this approach a waste oftime (56%). Examination focus. and parents' expectations are also citedas excuse (80%). About three-fourths of the sample (74%) said that it isnot practicable in the present school system. The same numbersuggested that the syllabus should be changed. 86% suggested that theinvestigator should prepare a curriculum suitable for environmentalSurvey ofrelated sl~rdiesteaching and influence then authorities to implement it. 68% endorse thatthese approaches should be started from the lowest classes.The investigator conducted a one-group experiment with 15 pupils for fivedays to test the environmental bridge materials prepared by her in solidgeometry with one group pre-test, post-test design. There wascontinuous formative evaluation of the process with reference to eachlearning unit, which corltributed plenty of insights. The summativeevaluation yielded a post-test mean of 27.07 as against the pre-test meanof 12.27 (t= 8.04, P<.01)Mercykutty academically adapted a carpenter's son who was versatile incrafts but weak in mathematics scoring only 8% in maths at that time.His skill in mat-weaving was used to give him exercises in mat weavingwhich would build in the multiplication tables. He quickly got over hisnegative self-concept with reference to mathematical studies, and isscoring good marks. He is also helpful in preparing improvised

mathematic aids for high school pupils. Plenty of other anecdotalepisodes are also given in the study.Mercykutty prepared bridge materials for learning mathematics on thebasis of her sketches of various shapes in the environment, fromcarpentry, paper folding, palm leaf play, drawing, painting and enlarging.These were validated on the basis of judgement by a purposive sample of100.On the basis of all these experiences twelve models of teachingmathematics using environmental resources were prepared: Freeexploration, patterning, ecstasy through mathematics-musicconvergences, ethnomathernatics, linguistics relation, interdisciplinarity,grid analysis, artistic vision, gestalt vision, socio-cultural learning climate,Survey ofrelared srudiesproject, and physically perceived space penetrated through mathematicophilosophicspace. These were consensually validated.Krishnankutty (1997) cond~~ctead doctoral study of Development-basedCurricula for Coastal Students. He used a variety of methods, combiningboth qualitative and quantitative methodology. One interesting aspect ofthe study was the preparation of a number of environmental learningepisodes. The first was on the chakara (mud bank) phenomenon. Thisphenomenon occurred in the Perinjanam beach (about 7 km from theinvestigator's school). The investigator and 50 of his pupils observed it inSeptember 1996. they interviewed the inhabitants of the area to collectthe ethnoscientific details. The older inhabitants recalled earlier chakarasthat occurred as early as 1942 and 1939. Many were able to recall theone that occurred in 1968, not far away from Perinjanam. The fishermenrecalled that in olden days the ordinary fishermen could catch a lot of fish.Now trawlers tend to catch most of the fish. The pupils observed thephenomena carefully and prepared their notes and drawings. Theyrecalled stories and songs about it. Another episode was about kaitha matweaving, a crafl popular in the area. Kaitha is a shrub which grows quitetall and used as a natural fence. Its leaves are long like coconut leaves,but slightly thicker. Some children in the school also knew the craft. Onegot a prize in work experience. There is great mathematical potentiality inthe work, which is not exploited. Another episode centred round the workplace Mr Thangal at Perinjanam. He also had a private mosque, whichlooked like an ordinary Hindu house, like the original Cheraman mosque ofKodungalloor. He had a pond ecosystem in the tank in front of themosque. He manufactured a number of concrete articles, which werestudied by the children for their mathematical properties. This study wasextended to the Nirmithi type holobricks, slabs and building shapes.A study visit was made to Binani Zinc limited, Alwaye. Surprisingly, it wasfound that zinc is not prepared by the method found in textbooks ofSurvey of relared .srudie.sreduction of zinc oxide (prepared by roasting zinc blende), but byconverting zinc Ooxide to zinc sulphate and electrolysing the solution. It

was explained to the group that cadmium, which is an 'impurity' in the zincgets separated by this method, and since it is very strategic in nucleartechnology, a lot of profit comes out of this. This visit showed clearly thatwhat is presented in the formal textbook is only then basic matter.Environmental information gives the real world information with the latesttechnology. There were some sea-oriented animatory episodes too.Krishnankutty's study also included an analysis of the decentralisedevelopmental planning documents. The Report of the Mathilakampanchyat in which the school of the investigator is located explicitly bringsout the educational value of the knowledge of he social and cultural historyof the locality. It has 'plenty of tales to tell from the footprints of llangoAdigal to the battle marches of Tippu". Old Tamil literature such asChilapatikaram, folklore and Sanskrit sources are used in addition tohistorical remains in order to learn history through investigat~on. Thereports of the adjoining panchayats and Kodungallor municipality are alsoequally illuminating from the educational point of view. The panchayt mapof he area was used to re-teach map literacy to pupils who had studiedgeography only mechanically and made little progress. Apart from mapreading, some geololgicl features such as ekkal mannu (soft sand incoasgtal areas), kidappara (biologically formed rocks), and five landcormsin gthe area have been noted in the Report. Development issues werealso clearly broughtr out. Kerala coast and its developmental significancewas brought out from gthe ar~alysis of the Report of the State Committeeon Science, Technology and Environment (1 988).Krishnankutty's study also included a judgement schedule administered toteachers and experts. The mean scores (maximum 5; minimum I) and/orranks of a few items from the segment, 'Development-oriented educationfor coastal areas' are giver1 below. Out of the 17 items given in thissegment, the item Kerala's sea coast has brought new contacts andenriched culture throughout the ages' got the second rank from bothteachers (mean 4.15) and experts mean 4.33 (three items with this scorestood at the top in experts': hence all three are given rank 2). 'Pollutionaround coastal industries should be brought out in the curriculum' isanother item sharing the experts' second rank, whereas teachers give thisitem the rank 6 (mean 3.99). The third item getting experts' rank 2 is 'Theschool curriculum should start from the immediate environment, butgradually move towards a common core' gets the first rank in the teachers'ratings (mean 4.23). IN the experts' rating the mean score 4.17 is tied withfive items (ranks 3 to 7, all of them statistically given the rank 6). Theteachers' ratings vary widely for these five items: 'Children should bemade sensitive to the precious minerals in coastal areas' (Teachers' mean4.07, Rank 4); 'The crafts around the coast should be related to thecurriculum' (4.00, Rank 5); 'Coconut craft and crafts around the plantproducts of the coastal areas should e cultivated in school' (3.98, Rank7.5); 'The inspiration provided by the sea should form themes in literatureand history teaching' (3.78, Rank 11); and 'While much of the syllabus willbe common, teaching in the coastal area should be from a coastalperspective' (3.72, Rank 12). items with a conservative stand get low

ranks from both experts and teachers: 'The curriculum should beabsolutely uniform throughout the state' (Rank 15), and 'The curriculumshould be absolutely uniform throughout the nation' (Rank 17).A recent study was conducted in Kerala by Susan (2000) to identify thecurricular potentials of select biology-based occupations for the study ofbiological sciences at higher secondary level. The study used descriptive,analytical and experimental methods. Observation, interview and taskanalysis were also done with the help of suitable schedules. The toolsused were textual content analysis, questionnaire for teachers (N=180)and students (N=1250), model action plans and evaluation schedule forexperts.Survey ofreicrted.~~lrdiE.sThe data collected through the different sources were analysed usingappropriate statistical techniques such as computation of percentages,critical ratios and chi-square test of significance. The major findings thatemerged from the study are:1. the existing curriculum of the higher secondary course in thestate of Kerala is inadequate to develop the occupational skillsof the students.2. in Kerala there are a number of biology-based occupations thatcan be utilized for the learning of Biology and the developmentof occupational skills simultaneously.3. biology-based occupations have the potentials for both thelearning of biology at higher secondary level and thedevelopment of occupational skills.4. the learning of biology and the development of occupationalskills can be integrated if the potentials of the biology-basedoccupations are identified.Of even greater relevance and lasting value than the statistical findingsare the deep analytical constructs yielding a clear analysis and descriptionof content set against tasks like selection of site, raw materials,preparation of support material, sterilizing the straw, preparation ofpolypropylene bags, arranging, maintaining the bags in the dark room,controlling the diseases, harvesting -for identifying the task Mushroom. Asimilar depth analysis is done for coconut cultivation.Poultry farming was analysed under more complicated column headings:major tasks, task analysis as done before, content, learner competencies,teaching-learning strategies, evaluation of learning outcomes.The attractive pictures communicate the aesthetic dimensions of the studyin addition to summarizing in a way the cognitive analysis too.Benedict (2001) conducted a doctoral study of nonformal models inChemistry Education. His main objectives included the following.Survey ofrelared srudies1. to explore the concept of nonformal education in a variety ofpositive, flexible, life relevant and creative dimensions.2. to seek a consensus about the concepts so obtained from acompetent panel3. to construct nonformal chemistry education models and episodes.4. to explore the applicability of some of the models in real situation

5. to test the product (models) and processes (modeling) in terms ofrelevance, acceptability and integration potential in the system.6. to synthesise the results.With reference to Objective 4. twenty-six models were constructed andexplored in the study: Technology-Enhanced Secondary ScienceInstruction (TESS), Group Concept Mapping (GCM), False concept Map(FCM), 'V'-Mapping (VM), Concept Cartoon (CC), Stage Craft (SC),Science-technology-Society (S--T-S), Activity Based Industrial Visit (ABIV),Cross-Curricular (CRA), Play Space (PS), Out-door-Laboratory (ODL),Realistic Table (RT), Museum Outreach (MOR), Science and Youth (SAY),Team-Games-Tournament (TGT), Co-operative Learning (CL), ReciprocalTeaching (RT), Cross-Age teaching (CAT), Directed Activities related toText (DART), Site-based management (SBM), Science Story (SS) andScaffolding (Scaf).Of these the first 12 are studied intensely with four sub heads, Inspiration,Essential Elements, Episodes and Supporting materials. A kind ofcontinuous formative evaluation (noting the joy, confidence, openness ofreaction, willingness to work hard) was conducted along with the tryout ofthe episodes. The product models were tested in terms of relevance,acceptability and integration potential with the help of 31 judges andvalidated.The special interest in the present study is that about ten of these modelsare clearly related to the present study and also bring out how communitySurvey ofrelaled s~irdiesresources can be used. In the Museum Outreach Model, Benedict actuallycoordinated a planning group consisting of pure and applied scientists andthe chemistry gallery was accepted in principle by the Director of Scienceand Technology Museum.For the Activity based lndustrial Visit Model, he actually made a completesurvey of 134 chemical industries out of 1324 medium and large scalechemical industries in cooperation with Kerala State IndustrialDevelopment Corporation. The community study model was conducted inthe education-centred community at Mitraniketan. Some of them are deeplyanalysed from the point of view of curricular potential of industry.A. SOME SPECIAL PROJECT TYPE STUDIES DONE1 PRESENTEDIN KERALAManuel (1982) analysed some worthwhile environmental educationmodels in lndia and abroad and the relevant materials from the point ofview of developing a functional theory of environmental educationrelevant for lndia. The study involved (1) analysis of the textbooks inenvironmental studies of the NCERT and of six state systems from thepoint of view of components which might facilitate or hinder genuineenvironmental approach; (2) analysis of textual and non-textual mattersfrom the point of view of potentialities for environmental education; (3)development of some models for EE representing a reasonablecompromise between EE theory and the present conditions in the majorityof Indian schools and non-formal educational content.

The main findings of the study are:(l) Very few genuine EE-type activitiesas understood in modern developed systems seemed to be undertaken inthe primary schools. (2) The lead materials (textbooks) at the nationallevel seemed to have some worthy aspects such as process approach inscience, activisation, some directives to observation and visits, stimulatingSurvey oojrelatedsrud~esquestions with some open tables to fill in the answers, thought excursionthrough the country profusely illustrated with pictures (in history portions),clear verbal processing and the like. (3) The national level textbookslacked the higher specifications commonly adopted in modern EEprocedures and in open, mufti-disciplinary approaches to theenvironment. Defects such as pre-emptying investigation (by suggestingthe answers), premature precision (overlooking the initial phase of'romance' in environmental exploration), simulations and artificialsituations even where natural situations were available in the environment(e.g., for soil erosion), adaptation of spectator approach where participantapproach was possible, and insufficient respect to work culture werefrequent. (4) NCERT's Curriculum framework which had obviously guidedthe textbook gave useful negative guidance lines, but specific positiveguidelines needed by environment education workers were lacking. (5) Asregards the state level textbooks, some of the drawbacks of the nationallevel books were carried over and some of the merits seemed to havebeen missed, like replacing open exploratory tables by closed tables,more pre-empting of environmental exploration. (6) Work done at theVikram Sarabhai community Science Centre, Ahmedabad, Kerala SastraSahityaa Parishad and workshops conducted with the British Councilcollaboration in Tamil Nadu and Kerala were instances of functional EEstarting from the ground en\lironment and developing useful constructs.(7) The study yielded some theoretical analysis of environmentalknowledge and some relevant models representing a combination ofmodern EE theory and the local context and culture.Manuel (1990) reports the innovations developed at CERlD (Centre forEducation, Research, Innovation and Development), Mitraniketan, wherethe various crafts, art forms and the local environmental setting were fullof potentialties for drawing out the intellectual and other educationaloutcomes. After explaining the theoretical framework based on thephilosophies of Tagore, Gandhiji, Dewey, Marx and Freire, and theSurvey of relatedstudtespsychologies of Piaget, Bruner, Gagne, Ausubel, Vygotsky and Maslow,he has presented (noting the concerned workers as co-researchers) gtevarious activities such as tailoring and embroidery, tie and die, batik,weaving and woodwork, plastic wire patterns, educational projects in thehostels, environmental education, music, art and cultural education andthe activities conducted at the Rural Technology Centre, Krishi VignanKendra and sericulture unit. The more transparent mathematical linkagesinclude: equations for graphs through embroidery, area conceptualisationthrough tailoring, (a+b12 and other identities through plastic wire patterns,

and mathematics through muslc and rhythmic activities.The Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishat has always been doing continuousanimatory extension and formative educational research. Occasionallythey do summative evaluation studies too. Two such studies relevant forthe using community resources in education are summaised below:Ramakrishnan (1994) has analysed the activists of the Kerala SastraSahitya Parishat (KSSP) in developing new models of educationalplanning and motivation. C)ne of the most significant items reviewed in thepresent paper is the school complex programme suggested by KothariCommission through pupil participation. This had been dubbed byeducational authorities as a failed experiment due to the lack ofimaginative leadership and academic resources. However, KSSP took itup seriously in 1992-93 in the school complex with Sivapuram high school(Kannur district) as nucleus. The complex had twenty, primary schoolsspread over three Panchayats.The objectives of this study wasTo improve the teaching-learning processes and to make thelearning processes inside and outside the classroom more effective.To develop educational strategies which make learning peoplecentred,life-related, interesting and activity-oriented.Survey ofrelated srud~esTo make teaching a joyful exercise to teachers and to establish aforum for teachers of various schools to interact with each other.To develop a healthy relationship between schools and the peopleof the local locality thus enabling the community to take up theresponsibility of various activities in the schools.To develop an organic interest for parents, especially mothers, inthe school activities of their children.The studies include comprehensive intervention in the curriculumtransaction from Class I to IV under the guidance of KSSP. The Madikkaiexperience is specifically focussed. The president of the District Councilwas the Chairman. At the panchayat level, the panchayat president wasthe chairman. Of the school level the president of the mother PTA was thechairman. 1858 pupils and sixty five teachers spread over 10 schools werecovered.The Aksharapulari programme conducted during 1992-93, provided astrong basis for the activities. Detailed modules were prepared in aworkshop where conducted in the early stage of Padanotsavam. This wasused as the teacher's hand book. New technologies of evaluation weretried out to measure the cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains.The programme was effectively monitored. The people's representativesvisited the schools to solve unforeseen problems.The following possibilities emerged from this study:1. An attempt could be made to involve the whole society in theeducational planning execution to transcending the limitations of theexisting parent teacher association2. The expertises of the local level artisans were used widely in preparingclassroom learning aids.

Slrrvev ofreiiired srudiev3. The qualitative improvement of the schools by the people'sinterventions strengthened the parent's self-confidence encouragingthe principle of neighbourhood schools.4. A new united front could be forged consisting of pupils, teachers andguardians.5. The re-training of teachers could be undertaken depending on the localneeds and on the fast expanding horizons of knowledge; the teacherscould exchange their improved expertise among themselves6. The mother's forum helped to identify educational, psychological,nutritional and health problems of children.Ramakrishanan (2001) in his analysis of local level initiative and peoplesalternatives in school education notes that though social injustice andimpractical existed in the different regions which consists of KeralaMalayalees always get an awareness and constant vigil against them.These Social Reform Movernent paved the way for universal access toprimary education.Thus community participation in education has a long tradition in Kerala.He makes a list of number of problems which arose out of which the mostrelevant are selected.1. Community participation has given an impetus to the quantitativeachievement in the field of education, but the impact on quality needsto be assessed.2. The whole educational process has become rigid and bureaucratisedtotally hindering further development.3. Competition has replaced co-operation among children and the parentsare under the impression that education must be to train the child towin this cut throat competition.4. The vested interest groups, who have an axe to grind, take advantageof this anxiety of parents and are running parallel educational centresSurvey of relaled siudieswith the support of cornrnunal and religious groups. Thus educationhas been a 'business' in Kerala.5. Community participatior~ in education was facing the axe and by thelate seventies society was almost completely alienated from theeducational system.In order to overcome the defects stated above, and others Ramakrishnansuggests alternate attempts with community participation. The forerunnerof this process with the help of community intervention was the formationof 'Aksharavedi' at Vellanad. It was an attempt to identify the slow learnersand bring them to the main frame through child-friendly strategies spreadall over Kerala.Another alternative strategy is the integrated approach in teaching triedout in 35 schools in Thiruvananthapuram district in 1989. Others were'Science Co-living Camps' and 'Festival of Learning'. Effective communityparticipation could be ensured in all these activities.All these as well as the experiment in the Sivapuram complex under the

leadership of District Couricils were incorporated under the peoples'learning programme.The curricular reforms that have been taking place in primary educationduring the past eight years have been subjected to a lot of projection in themedia - both favourable and unfavourable. They have also beensubjected to fairly extensive research studies. Two of them have beenreviewed here in some detail because they have relevance forenvironmental linking, liaison with the community and to integratedpedagogy which is inevitable wherever environmental approaches areadopted.Some studies presented in the Psian Regional Conference on Educational

Technology in Trivandrum (Sivadason Pillai, K. (compiled), 1989j -especially those in the technology-extension interface - are of interest inrevealing some community resources and new ways of using them.Susan, in her paper presented in the Asian Education technologyConference (1989) identify the sports and games field as an unusualresource, whose potentiality has been underestimated. This is particularlyimportant because sportsmen fare badly in school subjects. She hasmade out a case for disinterested underachieving sportsmen and sportsfans to re-enter academics through a medium they are interested in. It hasbeen found that the Engl~sh language (terms, vocabulary and fullsentences) can be picked up effortlessly as a result of being exposed tothe sports atmosphere. Several interest-centred learning materials whichlead directly or indirectly to language development have been identified adevaluated.Anandavalli Mahadeven (1989) presented a paper on "Multidisciplinarity

(Infusion) Model for environmental Education - a Feasibility Survey atSchool Level" in the Conference. The multidiciplinarity model involvesintegration of the concepts with established disciplines in the curriculum. Itis expected to be more practical, can be extended over long stretches oftime, allows application of EE concepts, and develops problem-solvingskills. In the study programme 130 teachers were involved in two phases.An outline of the key ecological concepts like the quality of the totalenvironment and man's interference were resented through slidepresentation, lectures, and demonstration by professionals The teacherswere introduced to different strategies and methods of EE, like field study,experimentation, action programme, exhibition and microteaching. Basedon the analysis of the responses, a of the teachers and their lesson plansfor this approach the feasibility model was arrived at.Survey ofreluted srudjesTwo papers are specially important from the community/environmentalresource reading point of view. The paper of Viswanathan (1989), Directorof Mitraniketan, entitled "From Rural Technology to DevelopmentEducation Complex" starts with a preamble that there is no separatebrand of technology called 'Rural technology, or 'Appropriate technology'.The view that these are inferior forms of technology meant for the rural

poor must be dispelled. Any technology that is appropriate to the situationis appropriate technology. This calls for choice and discrimination, notonly in the designing but also in the use. Hence intrinsically appropriatetechnology is educative. All technology in the service of the rural sector isrural technology. It has potential educative value because often highgrade science, at least as product, is exposed to and is actually used bythe rural people. When the awareness of it is conscioujsly developed, itcan actually become educative. Rural technology has another meaning,the ethnoscience of the rural people. CERID, Mitrraniketran is givingserious attention to it. CAF'ART and other people's science associationsare also sensitive to it.. When new technologies are built upon or relatedto known old technologies, the chances of acceptance, intelligent use andeducational yields will be high.Viswanathan presented a list of high level groups or centres working ontechnology for the rural sector. CSIR, CFTRRT, RRLS, AIMAP, ICAR,SLRI, CBRI, NIO, NBRI, llT, CAPART, AFPRO and IAAS come under thiscategory. Several foreign agencies also have made valuable contributions.The development departments and research laboratories play animportant part in rural development, but they think in terms of technologydelivery systems and in terms of packages. Even then, the 'unpackingskills' call for some amount of education. Mitraniketan is an agency whichserves such bridge and catalytic purpose.Viswanathan then went on to describe the various wings of Mitraniketanand the functions it was serving for creative and productive trainingSurvey of related str~diesespecially to the rural people in agro horticulture, animal science,handicrafts, village industries, appropriate science and rural technology,development t of the environment, health care, formal and nonformaleducation, creative expression and aesthetic appreciation.Manuel (1989), Director, Centre for Educational Research, Innovation, andDevelopment (CERID) presented a paper complementing the exposition ofViswanathan, and designed to read the appropriate technological andcultural environment educatively. It was entitled "From ruralTechnology/Folk Culture through Educational Technology to EnrichedIndividual and Community L.ivingU. While the development components inMitraniketan might be the 'product' of hard labour of body and mind ofseveral persons. But the product of the labour could hide the high level ofintellectual process. This reading was education at its most penetrativeaspect. This was the main task undertaken by CERID.This analytical task has been applied not only to the several units ofMitraniketan, but also to individual crafts and art phases, e.g., the fingersof a craftsman working a pattern in mt making or basket weaving, or of aveena vidwan performing a niraval in Carnatic music may be intuitivelyworking with a logic which, superimposed with certain mathematical,symbols, can be seen as working problematically with complexarithmeticallgeometricallalgebraic tasks. Compared with the skillssequences and problem-identifying and solving approaches alreadyachieved intuitively, this symbolic super-imposition is a relatively easy

task, comparable to the lower orders of the Gagnean hierarchy. A largenumber of co-investigators, most of them not having high paperqualifications, possess intricate skills in crafts and are teaching them. Theeducational technology task in process is primarily one of learning fromthem and analysing the skills. The educational technology products maytake the form of bridge materials in enactive, iconic or (easier) symbolicforms. They can be used differently for those who have mastered the artor craft and who wish to acquire formal educationalqualificationslcompetencies. In preparing the b ridge tasks, what isimplicit has to be made explicit. They may have to slow down theoperation and analyse it. After the hidden academic concepts begin tostand out, the symbolic association can be made. Sometimes iconicbridges too may be needed.Educational technology in the context of creative education has a duty todo all this hard and systematic task analysis, pattern analysis, refittingpossibilities etc. But it must play and unobtrusive role, waiting for andSurvey ofrelared sr~fdresseizing the occasion, placing the right tool at the right moment before theright person to serve the cause of educational growth and illumination. Itwould then serve as a bridge between the simpler level of the people'stechnical and artistic culture to higher levels, leading to enriched individualand community living.Two major studies covering the recent primary education curriculumreform in Kerala are reviewed in detail because they have direct relevancefor the study. In fact they will be quoted again in Chapter VI, and thefurther analysis will be built of them.Anita Rampal (2000) reports the study undertaken by her in collaborationwith Mohan Menon on Curriculum Change for Quality Education: A studyof schools in DPEP and non-DPEP districts in Kerala. On the basis of testsadministered she found that on certain items such as writing, readingcomprehension, drawing, problem analysis, arithmetic operations,comparison, map reading and classification, children of class 4 in districtswhere DPEP (District Primary Education Programme) infrastructure hadbeen well organised, not only perform remarkably better than in non-DPEPdistricts, but also outperforrr~ the older students of Class 8. In the presentreview the interest is more on the environmental and community resourcesbeing use, the activity and integrative pedagogy used. She notes thatmost of the classrooms visited presented a relaxed and friendly interactionbetween teachers and children. It is in sharp contrast to the old picture ofthe stern presence of the teacher with the help of a cane to highlight hisrole as a law-keeper, with children sitting passively and dutifully followingthe dictates of the teacher.Children's free response without fear of the teacher is identified as thebasic condition of any learning environment. Classrooms are visiblychanging, and traditional sc1i001s are slowly accepting that children needto be allowed greater freedom of expression. Sister Ferera, theSurvey of re/ured.s~ud~e.~Headmistress of Aided FMLP school at Chinnakanal, amusedly recountshow

earlier she could manage to enforce 'neatness and discipline' in school,and that children only wrote their names on their books. But now with allthese activities, like paper folding and so on, children happily tear pages,make airplanes, and write all over their books. She laughingly shrugs hershoulders and benignly accepts "I now find them quite out of my control".However she also asserts that she is satisfied that her children, most ofthem 'poor and destitute' and looked after by the school hostel, arelearning well and are gaining confidence.Rampal also recounts that Mr Basheer, the Deputy Director of PublicInstruction, Palghat is unusually sensitive about child-friendly pedagogy,unlike his other colleagues, who may have been distanced from childrenand their developmental rieeds by the dry nature of their administrativechores.The vision of the new classrooms are as learning centres where thematerial needed for children are to be locally specific and need-bases;they are to be prepared by children using local resources, under theguidance of their teachers and experts in the field. In such learningcentres, the child gains confidence inn facing problematic situations;interacts freely, meaningfully and joyfully with her classmates, teachersand teaching learning materials; shows interest in interacting with groupsand makes use of other resources for expanding her knowledge;compares events, things, facts and findings and arrives at logicalconclusions; assesses her own progress in her work, identifies errors andrectifies them with the help of peers, teachers and parents; andundertakes tasks on her own without any hesitation and selects readingmaterial of her own choice.Rampal cites a newspaper article (Indian Express, July 31, 2000) in whichunder the influence of the [)PEP scheme, even the traditional Ashan Kalariin Muhamma got transformed to a friendly place. Children were taughtwriting by helping the child inscribe words on sand beds. Each child getspersonal attention; the kids are made to dance, sing and narrate storiesSurvey ofrelared srudiesand thus develop their talents. Even newspapers which were originallycritical of the scheme, like Malayala Manorama, began to give favourablereviews such as the multi-column report and large photographs describinghow 'joy and music had rained during Knginikootam inauguration' (June 6,2000).Kinginikootam is the ten-day hands-on training (following a 5-day trainingduring vacation) held in the beginning of the year It begins withPraveshanotsavam to welcome the new entrants on the first day of school,and ends with the Adhyapaka Sangamam where all teachers gather at thepanchayat level to meet the Village Education Committee members andthe monitoring committee, for a thorough analysis of the training. TheRampal Committee visited some schools during the 'First DayCelebrations' where the organisation had been well done, withparticipation of parents and panchayat members, but noted that in someschools not all were actively engaged in strengthening their readingcorners, the wall newspapers and Ente Kuttikal (My Children - record of

teachers). They suggest that such key aspects should be seriouslyfollowed up.The Committee notes that most parents were satisfied with their children'sperformance in school, especially about the intrinsic interest andenjoyment of schooling. Mothers were proud of children's creative effortsincluding stories and poems composed by them, their own story book,diary and song book. The Ralnpal committee found the participation ofparents, who constitute the School Support Group (SSG) a unique aspectof the Bock Resource Centre training in Kerala. In one batch of fortyparticipants studied by her, there were seven parents, five women and twomenThey were fully attentive and took part in the discussions and all theactivities along with the teachers. Through this process parents and othermembers of the community also gain a legitimate place in the schoolactivities and develop a meaningful bond with the teachers. For instance,in one session on 'the objectives of making a Teaching Manual', a teacherSurvey ofrelated sludiessaid that it could help a member of the SSG to take the class, if for somereason the teacher was unable to do so. However, not all SSGs are asactive as they are expected to be, and there is need to again mobilisetheir support and keep them fully involved.The Committee cites cases where parents visited school regularly andalso took classes during the last period used by teachers for the SchoolResource Group (SG) planning. In one lower primary school during theKinginikootam period mothers came to conduct sessions on paper-craft,drawing etc. Some educated parents said they did not understand how tohelp their children at home with the new type of activities being done bychildren. But in ldukki, one of the backward districts, parents expressedsatisfaction with what children did at home: 'They conduct experiments athome, such as, about floating and sinking of objects'; they 'know moreabout medicinal plants than we might know'; 'they improvise and makelamps or other useful things at home'; 'this should be extended to thehigher classes so that they continue to have more practical knowledge.High school students cannot even write an application'.. But there wereothers who put a premium on formal literacy rather functional literacy andthey felt standards were going lower.While the cooperation with cornmunity members is quite high, and thetraining system for activity pedagogy is on the whole quite dynamic, theRampal Committee found an unhealthy 'defensiveness' in the non-DPEPdistricts. The collaboration between the SCERT and the DPEP resourcegroup is not deep and substantial enough. It has cited instances of"discordant notes right through the training 'cascade' and we foundsignificant disagreement even at the very top" The interest shown by theminister for education is rec:orded by the Committee, but they felt that thesenior officers of the Deparlment appeared ill at ease in the face of publicqueries or criticismOur meting with the Director of Public Instruction in effect turned out to bea protracted debate about basic curricular issues in mathematics

teaching. Unfortunately, he was not ready to acknowledge the visiblechange in classrooms but insisted on his own views that 'some learninghas to be painful in order to be effective'. It was clear that much moreSurvey o/reiared srr~diesorientation and open sharing is required within the Education Departmentitself, so that its officers may understand and ably promote the pedagogyrenewal process.A large number of positive and a few negative case obse~ationshave been given in the Report. School 1 (Trichur District) presentsevidence of the support given by the panchayat, children sitting in benchesarranged in a circle and the teacher writing on the blackboard words ofobjects seen during a festival - the words are initiated by girl pupils,followed by boys. School 2, ldukki (a poor locality, with two posts notfilled) presents Class 2 where not much activity is going on, and nearlyone fourth cannot read or write properly. But in the very same school theEnglish Second Language Acquisition Programme with Class 5 pupils whohave studied the language for only one year, resents a different picture:They talk confidently, even though their teacher is not as confident, andare not inhibited by their lack of fluency. They narrate a story from theirlesson and excitedly try gto carry on a conversation, asking questions,responding to our queries, etc. They know names of many trees andvegetables gfrOown in their houses, and tell us that they walk up to fourkms to school. The HM tells us that parents are very happy with theprogress children have made in English. In fact, those who send theirwards to private schools say they are ready to shift them here if his schoolcan also arrange for a school bus.The Committee was also informed about the sahavas (residential) campheld in the school for underachieving 'backward' children of classes 3-4.Parents too had joined in and helped in the cooking etc. It became like a'mela' (celebration) and was highly appreciated by the community. DPEPProgramme Officer informed that 250 such camps have been conducted.School 3 (Kozhikode District) was the most disappointing. Traditionalmethods of teaching and policing were adopted. School 4 (KasargodeDistrict) displays children 's drawings and charts. Children respondhappily and confidently. The school has an active Parent TeacherAssociation and a garden with many trees and medicinal plants. School 6(Malappuram District) has no playground space, but the new building wereconstructed out of the funds of the local Member of Parliament. Thelesson on plants (class 3) was done actively in an environment-relatedS~rrvey ofreiated sfudiesway. Children in the school seem to have conducted many projects. TheCommittee observed the planning stages for preparing a poster for themarket place to promote aware ness on environmental pollution. Thereare other schools too where children work on their own even when theteacher is other wise engaged. On the whole he new approach haspopularised active, independent, environment-oriented and communityresource-tapping approaches, though there were resistant and dissentingvoices too.

Manuel (2001) conducted a study on Integrative Approaches in ClassroomTransaction of Poothiri Texts, Subtexts, Inter-texts and Contexts:Problems Solutions, Relevant functional Theory Illustrated with PracticalModels. The study starts with calling attention to the existing state ofaffa~rs in the formal school where the time and transaction have beenneatly divided into 'gong-regulated periods and book-regulated subjects'.Teachers are accustomed to teach in this style, but it is unnatural for thevery young child. Hence attempts were made to integrate the approachesin the lower classes. But the attempts failed. The DPEP scheme works onthe model of language, arithmetic and environmental studies treated asone integral unit in Classes 1 and 2. This is understood by ordinarypeople and even by some educators as presenting in one book calledPoothiri what was earlier presented in three books. This accounts for someof the misunderstandings about the project. The textbook transactionalone will not effect the integration. lnteg;ation has to be in the educativeexperience of the pupil.In fact the DPEP scheme does not depend on the book alone. The termrefers to the pupils' text -- which is called Poothiri in Malayalam,Katambam in Tamil and Jok:ali in Kannada. The Teachers' Handbookswhich give clear instructions about how to transact the curriculum 'around'the text, as swell as the environment are included under the term 'Subtext'.Inter-texts refer to the extra books referred to or used in the class, theSurvey ofrelaled srudiesteacher-made and pupil-made materials to enrich the curriculumtransaction. Context includes all the environmental, administrative, socialstereotype factors which might promote, sustain or hamper curriculumtransaction, contributing to DPEP image-making or image-breaking. Theproject is elaborate covering several objectives. Manuel used lot of

analysis - conceptual, documentary, situational, and structural. He alsoconducted two quantitative surveys. Plenty of qualitative methodologywas adopted to get qualitative transferable findings. The present reviewfocuses only those aspects that are relevant to the theme of the presentresearch.One set of results in the study is a condense presentation of integrativepedagogy theory drawn from the modern critique of the school (Rousseau,Illich, Freire); creators of childhood education system (Froebel andMontessori); Decroly who represents those who moved from therapy toeducation; the new educ:ation (\'education nouvelle) represented byCousinet, Indian national ~?ducators(T agore ad Gandhiji), Work-centredliberal educators abroad (Dewey and Krupskaya), constructive intelligenceand developmental stages. (Piaget and Bruner); Vygotsky, the socialconstructionist; the behaviourist, Skinner; the humanists (Rogers andMaslow); and some modern themes relevant for activity pedagogy(experiential education and creative education). Some of the contributionsbrought out above refer to mental structure, developmental stages etc. Ofspecific interest for the study is the fact that almost all of them haveattacked isolated pedagogy. Most of them insist on contextual,

community-related, environment-oriented education.The attitude scale consisting of 35 items related to integrated pedagogy(including components such as activity, environment and communityorientation) was administered to 593 members of the public (includingparents) (315 men and 278 women) drawn from all the six 'DPEP districts'and three 'non-DPEP districts'. The mean of total scores in non-DPEPSurvey ofrelared .srudie$districts is 106.97 (just 1.97 higher than the neutral score of 105 for a 35-item scale. The mean in DPEP districts is 118.46 (13.5 higher than theneutral mean. Thus the attitude is more favourable in the DPEP districts.Among the DPEP districts ldukki (127.60) and Wayanadu (121.97) aredistinctly higher than the rest. Among the non-DPEP districts Ernakulamalone stands distinctly low, with a score of 96.13, well below the neutralscore.The Likert-type scale perrnits analysis of scores of individual items andcompare them. Among the high-ranking items those relating to children'sjoy in going to school (Rank 2), 'makes learning interesting' (Rank 3),'helps children to think for themselves' (Rank 4.5), 'helps children toexpress themselves without fear' (Rank 4.5), 'develops learning based onplay and activities' (Rank 7:1, 'Learning becomes more meaningful becausedrawn out of experience (Rank 6), 'Develops children's imagination andcreativity' (Rank 8) refer to the individual gains, but even they haverelevance for the environmental approaches because these are gains froma pedagogy which breaks away from verbal, passive approaches. But it isinteresting that the item which gets the first rank is directly environmental:'helps learning to transcend the limits of the classroom and extend to thehome and the environment' 'helps to approach problems with a sense ofreality' is also a typical environment-oriented item (Rank 10). Anotherenvironmental item is 'Textbook helps the teacher to use situations likefestivals and seasons to develop the lesson' (Rank 14). The item 'Helpseven handicapped children to be accepted in the school' (Rank 9)represents a social concern for the weak members of the society. Anotheritems with a clear social relevance is 'creates situations in which theschool, teacher and various social agencies cooperate in learningactivities' (Rank 12). Two items with clear social relevance fall exactly atthe median: 'The school learning is improved through identifying thelearning resources in social institutions' (Rank 17.5), and 'Chances ofimproving the standard of education are high through cooperative learning'Survey of relored studres(Rank 17.5). Though these two items share the middle ranks, the itemmean (3.31 is well above the neutral score of 3.00.). On the negative side,while environmental investigation is definitely educative, it may degeneratein the hands of an unskilful or irresponsible teacher. This perception istested with an item which earns a low rank: 'Lessons consist only incollecting leaves, flowers and fruits' (Rank 23), but even here the itemmean (3.15) is higher than the neutral point. On the whole, it may beinferred that the new approaches when actually adopted makes learning,

more interesting, more enjoyable, more creative etc.. and also extends thelearning environment beyond the school classroom and develops severalsocial values in a form admitted by most parents. The questionnaireresponses suggest that some parent committed to oppose the scheme, doadmit some of the benefits, though reluctantly.The Teachers' Handbooks were defined as the subtexts. These booksgive excellent practical suggestions about using the environment fordrawing out educational objectives, and for using the material and humanresources of the community.The materials prepared by the teachers and pupils were defined as theinter-text. A questionnaire administered from 132 teachers elicited theextent to which the teacherlpupil-made materials exceed the amount theywere made before the scheme came into operation. The judgement wason the basis of whether the amount of materials or relevant teacherlpupilbehaviour is now More, Less or the Same. Comparisons are by the indexof More-Less. Only the environmental/community-oriented items arehighlighted in this summary. Closer relations between home and schoolrecords the highest increase with an index of 118. 'Closer relationsbetween the community and school' gets an index of 112 (Rank 7).'Integration of the home and school' increases by 110 (Rank 10.5). Amongpupils' mathematics-related behaviour, comparison of sizes and shapes inthe environment (am good grounding for real mathematics) records clearSurvey ofrelured.srr~diesimprovement with an index of 115 (Rank 4.5). Measuring and recording(from the environment t) has an index of 11 1 (Rank 8.5). Relatingmathematics to life has a increase index of 95 (Rank 17). Sensingproblems occurring in life and finding solutions has an index 57 (Rank 23).Among pupils' general behawour, number of teacher-made learningmaterials (from the environment) has an index of 113 (Rank 6.5). Numberof pupil-developed learning materials gets 115 (Rank 4.5). Teacher'sinnovative adaptations gets 86 (Rank la)..Another item in the teachers' questionnaire in which the environmentorienteditems can be gleaned for the present purposes pertains to 'Theways in which the textbook is supplemented for effective curriculumtransaction'. Several teacher behaviours are rated on a 3-poin scale,weighted as 2 (Often), 1 (Sometimes), 0 (Never). The comparisons are byoverall mean scores which can vary from 2 to 0. Only the environmentorienteditems are highlighted here. In teaching language. 'eliciting theenvironmental words focussing key letters and writing tern on theblackboard' gets the second rank (Mean 1.61). 'Discussion onenvironmental themes (Rain etc.:~ to draw, language, maths, science' hasa mean of 1.52 (Rank 6.5). 'Starting off the pupil's names and otherdominant ideas to trigger litel-acy' gets a mean of 1.29 (Rank 11).One important aspect of Manuel's work is the analysis of texts, subtextsetc. In integrative pedagogy suggested in the handbook, reading does notstart from the letter, but froni the idea in the context. Thence, sentencesare read holistically, deconstructed into word and letter, to be again

reconstructed letter+word+sentence. It is in environmental studies(especially that of Class 2) that the textbook excels, providing plenty ofopportunity for holistic experience, to branch off ingot communication andlanguage, comparing, measurement and mathematics, observation,hypothesising, making various kinds of tests and verification developingscientific skills.Survey oj'rclrrlud sfur/ic.sThe context analysed in the research is not on ly that of the physicalenvironment, but also the social and administrative climate. There is alsoa climate of joy, cooperatiori and celebration. There is also a climate ofresistance, and often resolution Some of the criticisms made aga~nstDPEP are analysed here.One criticism against DPEP is that the principle of deconstructing holisticexperience into components, analysing them and rebuilding them intolarger units is not easy for the ordinary teacher. Many teachers do someholistic play, and then teach language and arithmetic by the old method.In the methods suggested in the training sessions some ways of bridginghave been developed. Manuel has suggested some methods ofmaintaining the integration, but gently and naturally facilitate thedeconstruction. This has been suggested for mathematics as well aslanguage. The method of drawing out mathematics from rhythmic poetry,by first securing the enactive form through clapping, rapping, stamping,dancing etc., then writing out the poems on a large chart, grouping intobars (ganams) marked out by vertical lines, and pasting secants in eachbar to get the iconic form. Whereas the enactive mathematics is fleetingthe iconic form can be gazed at leisure, till a pattern emerges. If thesymbolic numbers etc are given at this stage, insights and mathematicalgestalts can be developed. A special looped wire wide enough to hold tenbeads is arranged in such a way that problems like 5+7=12 can be solvedwithin insight, answering some children's unspoken question, "Sow do twolarge numbers 5 and 7 become two small numbers , 1 and 2. Gamesaround the wire help to develop the schema of ten with the digit movingone place left, the one on the left having a value of ten which the child cangrasp.In Malayalam reading garnes are suggested to help deconstruction of'vallis' (vowel diacriticals in Malayalam graphemes), to separate conjunctsand to read and write the complex Malayalam 'a' with ease.The teachers and trainers also do a large number of action researcheswhich are reported in the publications of the Block and District ResourceCentres. Most of them are very valuable for meeting the immediate needsof the teachers and pupils. Some of them are of a very high level.