Aakash School Pilot Project Report on visit to Pandharpur schools for status report and feedback Visit on 24 th October 2013 By Dr. Kiran Khosla Mr. Pankaj Patil Submitted on 30th October, 2013 Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Bombay, Powai- 400076.
Abstract One day visit was made to Pandharpur(24/10/2013) to interact with the nodal centre (SVERI) and also obtain feedback from those schools which have undergone Aakash based learning campaigns during phases 1&2. All schools provided positive feedback and gave some useful suggestions. Suggestions were related to i) increasing content to include subjects such as mathematics, ii) making content delivery more rich by adding multimedia, iii) improving Aakash hardware namely, CPU speed, memory capacity and WiFi range and iv) to provide better training to teachers. Finally teaching plan for Semster-2 was communicated to schools and teachers were encouraged to assign activity based vacation projects to students.
Index 1. Objectives 2. Visit to SVERI 3. Visit to Schools 3.1. Darling Vidyamandir, Chale 3.2. New English school, Anawali 3.3. Daulatrao Vidyalaya, Kasegaon. 3.4. Shri Sitaram Maharaj Vidyalaya, Khardi 4. Semester-2 Teaching Plan 5. Teachers feedback form 6. Appendix-I: List of vacation projects
1. Objectives of Pandharpur visit: 1. To discuss deployment strategy of e-content for class-ix, second semester in schools. 2. Announcement of project work for students, to be submitted after Diwali Vacation. 3. Obtain feedback from teachers on our initiatives taken during phase I and II. 4. To obtain of requirement of e-content as well as applications to be developed in future. Date of Visit: 24 th October 2013 Contact Person: Mr. Antosh Dyade (Project Executive, SVERI, Pandharpur) 2. Visit to SVERI- Activities: i. Demonstrated Marathi language e-pub content developed at IIT Bombay. ii. Discussed distribution plan of projects for students for Diwali vacation. iii. Collected projects already completed by 9 th standard students of Shri Sitaram Maharaj Vidyalaya, Khardi. 3. School Visits- 3.1. Darling Vidyamandir, Chale Activities: i. Collected teaching plan for second semester ii. Interacted with students in 9th std, and assessed effectiveness of content and application deployed during phase I and II. Discussed importance of projects to be worked upon during Diwali vacation and discussed selected project topics. Observations submitted by teachers, i. Animations, figures, examples, etc., given in Kaksha book are helpful in understanding concepts. ii. Inquizitive/ Gurukilli applications are important for practicing problems. iii. Display of Aakash content on projector helps in displaying text & images with clarity. iv. Use more animations in Kaksha. v. Teachers need to be better trained on usage of Aakash tablets. vi. Students regularly download useful information from web for study purpose. vii. Interactive content for Mathematics needs to be developed and deployed. 3.2. New English school, Anawali Activities: i. Collected requirements for future content/ application development ii. Discussed usage problems in Aakash tablets. Teachers' Feedbacki. 3-D diagrams would be helpful for better understanding, of concepts for students. ii. Students generally use Aakash tablets, and use internet in case of any difficulty. iii. Wi-Fi range should be extended up to 100m, in school campus. iv. Students use Gurukilli for self evaluation. v. Teachers need to be trained on usage of Aakash tablets. vi. Video animations should be used more.
3.3. Daulatrao Vidyalaya, Kasegaon. Activities: i. Collected teaching plan for second semester ii. Collected requirements for future content/ application development. Teachers' Feedbacki. Kaksha helps to understand topics, which are difficult to explain, otherwise. ii. Students are using Inquizitive/Gurukilli for practicing problems, at home. iii. Concepts in language subjects available on web are displayed on projector screen through Aakash tablet. This helps the students to concentrate and better understanding. iv. Students are finding the new training methods useful and there is consequent improvement in results. v. Tablet processor speed should be improved. vi. Internal memory of the tablet should be increased as, students are unable to buy memory card on their own. vii. Improvement in attendance of students. viii. Content of all the subjects should be provided, also content should be provided for 10 th standard. ix. Battery back-up should be increased. 3.4. Meeting with Shri Sitaram Maharaj Vidyalaya, Khardi School teacheri. Collected requirements for future content/ application development. ii. Animations should have audio integration. 4. Semester-2 Teaching Plan Teaching Plan for All schools in 2 nd semester is as follows. Month Science (Units) Algebra (Units) Geometry(Units) December 4,2 5 6 January 13,8 6 7 February 14,9 7 8 March 15,16,17 8 - Projects listed in Appendix-I shall be communicated to schools by October 30 th.
5. Teachers Feedback form Feedback form used, to collect feedback from schools is shown below. आक श स क ल प यलट प र ज क ट, आयआयट म बई. शशक षक प रत स द फ मम न व - श ळ - ववषय - 1. 'कक ष ' य ई-ब क मध द ल ल मद त / व ड य / आन म शन स इ., त म ल स कल प समजण य स ठ उपय ग ठरत त क? कश? 2. ख ल ल ब बत त त मच मत क य आ? स ध रण य स ठ सल ल द य. ज म द त, इम जस- व ड य आन म शन स- 3. ग र ककल ल / Inquizitive अप ललक श प र क ट स स ठ म त वप र ण आ त क? कस? 4. आक श ट बल ट मध ल म द त प र ज क टर वर खवत क? स रच ससस ट म उपय ग ठरत क? 5. व र षणक पर क ष स ठ त मच र वषय सशकर वण य च, मद ण य स र क रम सल. व ब र- ड स बर- ज व र - फ ब र व र - म चण - एर प रल- 6.आक श प रकल प च य म ध यम त झ ल ल य स ध रर च आढ व घ य. र वद य र थय स ठ -
सशक ष क स ठ - श ळ स ठ - 7.आक श प रकल प मध स ध रण य स ठ प रनतस सल. स व क षर
Appendix-I Vacation projects Note: Students should be encouraged to do activity based projects which should involve data collection and field work. The project delivery should be on Aakash in a rich format which may include text, diagrams, graphs, spreadsheets pictures, photographs clicked on Aakash, animations, sound and video. Projects should include collection of data, analysis and presentation. Projects should be broadly on subjects such as mathematics, chemistry, physics, biology, environment science, and social studies List of projects (schools may add more to the following list) Food Pilferage and its side-effects (Biology) Irrigation (Biology) Usage of chemicals in sanitation and healthcare (Chemistry) Impact of air-pollution on the eco-system (Biology) Why Algebra and Geometry is important in the real-world? (Maths) Adverse impact of internet and technology on Human Mind (Science) Various modes of transport, their relative usefulness and significance to society Grow a kitchen garden with fast growing plants. Follow their growth by daily observing plants taking pictures. Show the effect of manure fertilizer, watering by setting up control experiments. Compile a list of trees in your town. Photographs, names, where else is it fouond, uses of flowers, bark etc. Birds around you. Pictures, sounds, identify, belong to which family special habits(e.g. migratory) Study areas of solid/liquid pollution in your city. You do not have access to measuring equipment. How will you quantify? How will you follow progress on work of removal of pollution? Study of sound pollution, dust pollution - sources, controls. Complete working cycle of any industry at Pandharpur. Complete farming process. Pollution (water, land, sound, air) sources, effects, solution. Nutrition Management (Daily food intake details, their effects, solution etc). Time Management & Discipline (Where being used? Where missing at pandharpur)? Study of different types of Soil Soil and climatic conditions requirement for different types of crops Natural/ Bio fertilizers for crops (any 10) Waste water management Garbage Management in Pandharpur city / any city Water Purification plant in Pandharpur Physics in everyday Life (Explain different physical phenomenons dealt in a day to day life)
Chemistry in Daily Life (Explain different chemical phenomenons involved in daily life) study and discussion of first aid treatments for different accidents. Herbal plants and usage for healing human being. Study of different species of (i) Birds, (ii) Snakes, iii) Insects and (iv) Any other animal Farming and agricultural businesses in Pandharpur Poultry Farming Water Irrigation systems for Farms Earthworm: Friend of Farmer