Current understanding on Assessment

It is surprising to know that, in the months of March-April, around 2.2 million students appeared for their X and XII public exams (and this is only the CBSE boards without including the State boards), making the Indian Examination system the largest of its kind anywhere in the world.

With such a staggering amount of population appearing for exams, it is necessary for us to look at ‘standard’ of such tests being conducted and henceforth its necessity and utility. Particularly I like to share my current understanding on the assessment, which was inspired by article I read an article on recently conducted Finnish Matriculation by Pasi Sahlberg.

At the premise, I want to question myself whether raising assessment standards can increase education excellence; and it is not as simple as setting tough question papers. And at the same time, I would like to declare that it doesn’t mean assessment standards are panacea for our bad education system. And at the same time, as mentioned in the Sahlberg’s article (which I highly recommend to read before continuing), we may have to be conscious of how this assessment is used, on teacher-designed assessments in the younger classes, one-time nation-wide assessment only when the children attain the age of 14 and be mindful that I am not supporting a mindless aristocratic system which rather than being progressive in nature, reduces the trust on the teachers.

Evidences

Given this common understanding, I like to put forth the evidences I particularly happen to witness in coming to such a judgment. However ill-informed or misunderstood I might be, I want this article to challenge the existing reforms in the Education sphere and invite more such constructive discussion on the same.

Ø  We are recently witnessing a visible decline in the quality of Engineering graduates in Tamil Nadu. Though a variety of reasons could be cited, experience faculty and trainers seem to site the cancellation of TNPCEE (Tamil Nadu Professional College Entrance Exams) in the year 2005. I personally took coaching classes on the same and remember it testing the conceptual understanding of the students rather than on rote learning usually being done in the regular public exams.

Ø  Visible difference in the high standard of Engineers, Doctors coming out of IIT/ Medical colleges because of the high standard of assessment set in the entrance exams like IIT-JEE, All India Entrance Exams, etc. Again a high standard of assessment ensuring quality intake into the colleges and henceforth better graduates

Ø  Recent trend in UPSC exams introducing high standard aptitude test, C-SAT (Civil Services Aptitude Test) to ensure quality placement, besides the knowledge-based assessments

Ø  Another example are the list of qualifying exams like IIM-CAT exams, GMAT, TOEFL, IELTS which on a scale tests the quality of intakes

Ø  Plethora of placement tests conducted for recruiting graduates (again testing aptitude and thinking skills) into the industry

Ø  We do have specialized tests and assessment like entrance test for B.Arch and test at National Institute of Design – are all assessments at different level to recruit specific type of candidates that the course demands

Here we should be mindful that assessment is not just quantitative or written measures; we may have to bring back our forgotten tradition of conducting oral assessment (one of the best and only way to assess students’ language and communication skills), literally like interviews for children.

What is the standard of assessment?

Quoting from the book, Driven by Data by Paul Bambrick-Santoyo, listed here are series of questions basically trying to test the students’ understanding on percentages.

1. What is 50% of 20?
2. What is 67% of 81?
3. Shawn got 7 correct answers on his science test out of ten possible. What percentage of questions did he answer correctly?
4. J.J.Redick was on pace to set a college basketball record in career free throw percentage. Going into the NCAA tournament in 2004, he had made 97 of 104 free throw attempts. What percentage of free throws had he made?

And the list goes on to 6 different types of questions. As it is clear, the assessment has the power to test however aptly the conceptual understanding of the students on the topic. Elsewhere I have written an article on Assessment in Constructive teaching taking inspiration from Mr.Rajendran’sbook Inikkum Kanakku.

Analysing the above questions will help us understand the current problems in our own system. We, in India, are always citing the lack of conceptual and practical application in our Mathematical education. I suppose level 3 and 4 questions tries to address that issue and at the same time challenges the formula-substitution method of Maths instruction insider our classroom. Such varying degrees of assessments are called ‘Scaffolded assessments’ denoting the increasing level of complexity it requires to solve the questions.

What increasing assessment standards can do?

Immediately, increasing the standard of assessments challenges the teachers to increase their level of instruction to address the conceptual understanding (like in Question 4) rather than to be satisfied with procedural instructions (like in Question 1 or 2). No, I am not suggesting that this alone will do, but this is a good place to start.

At the same time, questions on how such increase in standards can be achieved in a subject like English. I found answer in the Maharashtra State Board’s English exam question paper and the Finnish English Matriculation exam. Here English is tested on a different level rather than asking the students to reproduce a memorized lines of Shakespeare or re-narrate an episode from The Scarlet Pimpernel. Here English is tested at comprehension level and critically on the students’ understanding of the given text. Also, certain companies like Educational Initiatives, Science Olympiad Foundation, etc are bringing about novel initiatives in raising the assessment standards like producing high quality test materials like ASSET, National Math/ Science Olympiad.

Issues to handle

At the same time, we too end up in falling into the trap of teaching for the test or coaching for the exams happens. But I am wondering, if we could somehow navigate the issue some other way.

We should remember that assessment is everywhere. You will not be allowed to drive your car, if you are not ‘tested’ for your driving skills or one doesn’t want to sit in a plane without a licensed pilot. While these assessments are test of skills, can we also recommend using assessment only as a test of skill and knowledge in our education too? The question still lingers.    

How to make a child write story

How to develop the necessary skills to help children write a story? The pragmatic linear approach asks us to detail the necessary steps to master the skill of writing story. But telling children like – “Do you know how to write a story? First you have to…” doesn’t work.

There is another way of looking at. “There should be an interest to write story – a need to write one. A child shouldn’t be conscious that she/he is learning to write the story. They themselves should discover the necessary characteristics in making a story.” If we are working under this paradigm how can we teach children about writing story? We know that if we give them the knowledge of how to write a story, it will stay as information and it may go away. But if there was an opportunity for the children to discover it for themselves, the knowledge gained may be deeper and will help them apply in new situations.

So let us see how to make that happen:

• Narrate a story and stop the story in a place where it peaks their interest [Suddenly there was a knock at the door… And the running race started…]
• Ask the children to predict what happens next in the story and ask them to write it. ‘Do you know what happened next?’ ‘Can you guess who won the race?’ ‘Can you write what happens next?’ [Here the children write the story without knowing steps to write one. They are writing on their own as they wish]
• Now to check who has written properly, we can introduce the story which will have all the essentials of writing a story.
• Let the children read the ‘exemplar’ story
• They compare their story with this story. Then, give them chance to correct their own stories based on the ‘exemplar’.
• Can help others evaluate their stories so as to improve it.
• If we repeat this exercise two or three times, the children get the nuances of writing a story without being taught.
• Here, the children had taught themselves how to write a story, the teacher merely facilitated the process by providing a situation for that. (Remember: To create an interest in a concept/ subject of discussion should be the main aim of a teacher.)

What ET can do for Education

Students can have real time feedback whether the answer is right or not

There is no authority figure when a computer teachers a child – automatic transition from being taught to learning by myself happens

Easy to train/ equip a computer rather than train a teacher

Physical and cognitive workload of a teacher reduces – she/he now no more have to ‘perform’ every day in and day out

Teacher becomes facilitator of a pre-programmed structure

Automatic M&E of students’ performance

Reduces teachers’ work

• Don’t have to invent questions or design assessments
• Don’t have to correct test papers and track students’ progress
• Don’t have to be a content expert (Can teach the topic without knowing the subject)
• Can teach English without knowing English (becomes less teacher dependent)

How to make a child write story

(Adopted from Tamil Amuthu by Mr.G.Rajendran)

How to develop the necessary skills to help children write a story? The pragmatic linear approach asks us to detail the necessary steps to master the skill of writing story. But telling children like – “Do you know how to write a story? First you have to…” doesn’t work.

There is another way of looking at. “There should be an interest to write story – a need to write one. A child shouldn’t be conscious that she/he is learning to write the story. They themselves should discover the necessary characteristics in making a story.” If we are working under this paradigm how can we teach children about writing story? We know that if we give them the knowledge of how to write a story, it will stay as information and it may go away. But if there was an opportunity for the children to discover it for themselves, the knowledge gained may be deeper and will help them apply in new situations.

So let us see how to make that happen: 

• Narrate a story and stop the story in a place where it peaks their interest [Suddenly there was a knock at the door… And the running race started…]

• Ask the children to predict what happens next in the story and ask them to write it. ‘Do you know what happened next?’ ‘Can you guess who won the race?’ ‘Can you write what happens next?’ [Here the children write the story without knowing steps to write one. They are writing on their own as they wish]

• Now to check who has written properly, we can introduce the story which will have all the essentials of writing a story.

• Let the children read the ‘exemplar’ story

• They compare their story with this story. Then, give them chance to correct their own stories based on the ‘exemplar’.

• Can help others evaluate their stories so as to improve it.

• If we repeat this exercise two or three times, the children get the nuances of writing a story without being taught.

Here, the children had taught themselves how to write a story, the teacher merely facilitated the process by providing a situation for that. (Remember: To create an interest in a concept/ subject of discussion should be the main aim of a teacher.)

The Art and Practice of Followership

These days we have an increased interest in Leadership and its development. Almost every organization wants to improve and nurture this capability within its employees. Lately I have come to see a little more practical truth in the other way around as well. I call this concept – ‘Followership’. Though not an expert in commenting on the art and practice of Leadership, I like to shed the light on my own definition of what I mean by ‘Followership’.

We do demand initiative, responsibility from almost everyone. But I have come to understand that we do need people who would conform and do the tasks assigned to them, before critiquing on it. I agree that we shouldn’t be all blind followers of orders, but on the other hand we may require enough understanding of our tasks and it’s fitting into the big picture of it before we may resist it. We need to appreciate its existence in the first place and then get a firsthand experience of actually accomplishing the task and then take the liberty to reflect upon its outcome.

Here comes that follower, who will do this. He does his work for the sake of work. He doesn’t over-identify himself with it. He is detached. He is not his job description, but never does he fails to accomplish the tasks given to him. He takes initiative; he has the drive of course which helps him complete the task in its best quality. He does take responsibility for the job and could see the big picture of what it could mean. He moves on.

He doesn’t consider any job as menial; he doesn’t think that he is better for his job or that he deserves better. He takes his job at hand as a duty to be performed as citizen of the company, as a contributing member of the society. So he gets paid. He does take his pay, so as to take care of his physical needs and to run his household. But that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t love his job or that he is doing it mechanically or he is doing it for the sake of money. He has in fact chosen his job, for the love of it. Agreed it wasn’t a perfect marriage, but he strives on to achieve that perfection. He sharpens himself against the demands of his job. He moves on.

Steven Pressfield calls this as being a ‘Professional’. The detachment is a magnificent twist in his definition though it’s not implicitly stated by him. I find that resonating with the ancient wisdoms of India. He himself refers to Bhagvat Gita, ‘Do you work and there it ends!’ Swami Vivekananda goes on even criticizing that we are having a mind of trader; to buy and to sell; to give and to take. But he asks us to just give; it may come back to us thousand folds greater. But that shouldn’t be our expectation. We should just give our best.

This mentality I believe will give us the magnanimity not to feel cheated of having high hopes, rather give us even headedness to accept and treat victory and failure alike. This even headedness itself will give us that necessary detachment from our work and reduce our anxiety towards performing. In fact, Swami Vivekananda actually says that this detachment will in fact make us better performers and increase the quality of our work. Though it sounds like a paradox, I personally want to try it.

Great man, a karma yogi, seems to have realized that. He moves on. He continues to do his duty, despite the ups and downs and his limited power and influence. He moves on. He works hard at perfecting himself and in liberating himself. He believes that it is by perfecting himself that he will be able to manifest a greater change in world than by anything. May be that is when, Gandhi must have declared, ‘Be the change you want to see in this world!’ It is no use blaming the others for what is happening around. It is up to us to take up that responsibility in trying to do our bit, our contribution in making this world a better and beautiful world.

May God bless us all!

Choosing a career

He was in a dilemma – one of my close friends – to make a decision for his career! I suppose almost everyone in their late 20s or early 30s come to a point of mid-life career choices and changes.

But this friend was a little different. Instead of letting impulse take over, he applied an analytical process in choosing his career. I learnt about his methods and was personally fascinated by it! Here is his method.

Unlike a fresher searching for a job, it is interesting to see how different a mid-career dynamics work. My friend was no more in a position of distress to search for a job; rather he had a luxury to be offered more jobs than he wanted. That’s where his dilemma started – an expanded list of choices, all seeming good, leaving him pretty confused.

He had four different job offers – all were good in their own aspect. But my friend doesn’t want to settle down for less than the best – he was of course in a critical juncture of his career and personal life. Being a meticulous person, he decided to list out the criteria that he was currently looking for in a job.  Here is his list.

·         Salary: He wanted to make sure that the ‘salary’ was on the list, unlike before. For his previous choices, he knew that ‘salary’ wasn’t a criterion, but now quoting him, ‘also money’ – salary become an important criterion.

·         Location: Neither was location. He has roamed around the globe and this time he decided to stay close to his family.

·         Security: In terms of the job’s nature and continuity for another 10 years at least.

·         Stability: Of the institution

·         Growth: Of the sector, institution and his own skill sets

·         Mentors: Within the institution, within the sector for whom he taught he could seek guidance

·         Match/ Suiting: To his own temperament – whether we like it or not, not all of us are made the same

·         Marriage: Of course he is going to marry soon and doesn’t want his job nature to affect his personal life and vice versa.

As you could see the list was very personal for him and he was careful in listing it and defining it for himself. It could be different for somebody else.

Given the above criteria for the job, he rated each of the job profile he was offered on a scale of 1-3: 1 being bad, 2 being okay and 3 being good.

Here are his ratings:

Criteria	PK	MRT	AFC	TRS*
Salary	2	1	1	3
Location	3	1	2	3
Security	3	3	2	2
Stability	3	1	2	2
Growth	3	2	2	2
Mentors	1	2	3	1
Suiting	2	1	3	1
Marriage	2	1	1	3
Total	19	12	16	17

*Names of the organizations are changed.

Finally, he calculated the total of the ratings. Based on the above analysis and introspection, he did choose the job that rated the highest.

Now it has been a month since he joined the new organization.

The Art of Mathematics

I found this interesting question in one of the articles I was reading on Calculus,

“A rectangle is to be formed by using a piece of wire that is 36 inches long. What will its dimensions be if it encloses the greatest area?”

Here, we have a problem that states, the perimeter of a rectangle is 36 inches, and we have to deduce the dimensions of that rectangle (length and breadth) which will have the greatest area possible.

I have been trying to calculate that.

To cut the long story short, I have made the following table, given the fact that everybody knows that the formula.

Perimeter of a rectangle = 2 (l + b) units

Area of a rectangle = l X b sq. units

With the above conditions, the possible dimensions of the length and breadth should have a sum of l + b = 18

If, 2 (l + b) = 36,

Then, l + b = 18

So the possible dimensions are, 17 + 1, 16 + 2, and 15 + 3… so on

Table: Perimeter v/s Area of the rectangle

P=2(l+b)	36	36	36	36	36	36	36	36	36
l+b	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18
A=lXb	17	32	45	56	65	72	77	80	81
l	17	16	15	14	13	12	11	10	9
b	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9

I have even plotted a graph for that Perimeter against Area. 

With Perimeter being constant at 36 inches, the greatest area is achieved at 81 sq. inches, and the dimensions of length and breadth is 9 inches.

Here is the interesting part, it makes a square. Yes, the rectangle with the greatest area is a ‘square’.

I tried working out for other possible values of perimeter as well. For every problem, it comes that “area with the greatest rectangle is a square, for the given value of perimeter.”

So what?

If you  have constructing or living in a home, we could now deduce that best possible room with the maximum amount of space/ area will be a square with the same amount of mortar used (perimeter value).

But we don’t usually build square rooms, do we?

On the other hand, it has been a very common practice among us, as told by our forefathers, the best possible dimensions of a room will be a product of two consecutive odd numbers, say – 9 X 11, 11 X 13… etc… This has serious amount of scientific reasoning into it, for the product of two consecutive odd numbers is the ‘second best’ spacious dimension for the given amount of perimeter.

Interesting isn’t it?

So two conclusions that has kept me thinking were,

1. The possibility that there could be two rectangles with same perimeter but varying area
2. A square is the largest rectangle with maximum area for the given perimeter 

Oh the beauty of Maths!!