Several research studies have shown that language is clearly the key to communication and understanding in the classroom. What’s even more significant in facilitating learning is the use of the first language or mother tongue as the medium of instruction, especially for young children. Mindspark Gujarati is a small step in this direction.
A digital, self-learning and adaptive tool with Gujarati as the medium of instruction, Mindspark Gujarati aims to teach and improve the Math skills as well as language skills of Gujarati-medium school students.
The tool has two verticals – Ganit (Maths) and Bhasha (Language).
In July 2011, Mindspark (Maths) Ganit was introduced in 20 rural/ semi-urban schools for students of classes 3 to 5, with the financial support of Torrent Trust. Once the students are comfortable with the system, after a period of around three months, we propose to introduce Mindspark Bhasha to them.
Mindspark (Maths) Ganit
Mindspark (Maths) Ganit is a translation of Mindspark Maths. However, we have made changes and additions with regard to language, presentation and syllabus to customize the product to the target audience’s needs. Professional voice-over has been done for all content till class 5 to facilitate learning.
A student has two 30-minute sessions of Mindspark Ganit in a week. As per the request of teacher, specific topics may be activated to ensure that students solve problems on the same topics in Mindspark as well as in the classroom. This synchronization of classroom teaching and Mindspark sessions reinforces understanding.
Mindspark Bhasha
Mindspark Bhasha is being developed for students whose first language is Gujarati. Like Mindspark Ganit, Bhasha will be offered in two 30-minute sessions per week to class 3 to 5 students. A typical session will begin with an animated story/prose/poem/authentic, followed by slides explaining the meaning of difficult words from the content. This will be followed by replaying of the animated content to reinforce understanding.
After this, the student will answer text-based questions, which will be followed by free questions teaching and testing various knowledge areas, vocabulary, grammar, spelling, logical and creative thinking.
At the end of the 30-minute session, each student will get a report of his learning during the session, displaying the correctly answered as well as incorrect answers, with the option to revisit incorrectly answered questions. Teachers will also be able to track the progress of each student and take remedial action based on the reports generated as well as through the teacher interface.
Content selection and presentation
All the Content and questions have been chosen keeping in mind the level of vocabulary, sentence structure, theme and the appropriate learning level for the particular grade. Students are not expected to mug up anything – the focus is, understanding.
Educational Initiatives
Established in 2001, Educational Initiatives believes in making a difference in education through personalized learning and ensuring that students learn with understanding.
EI has over 15 years of expertise in education, with a deep understanding of child psychology and efficient methods of teaching, based on detailed research and a formidable database of student learning through ASSET.
Our detailed research has proven that children today respond to rote-based questions relatively well, however, they fail to answer unfamiliar or application based questions due to unclear core concepts.
Latest posts by Educational Initiatives (see all)
- MANY RED MARKS IN INDIAN SCHOOLS - April 16, 2016
- A WHOOPING 70 MILLION STUDENTS TAKE PRIVATE TUITIONS - April 7, 2016
- A high school senior got into 5 Ivy League schools and Stanford with this essay - April 4, 2016
