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When students read a piece of text, silently, on their own, teachers hope that their pupils understand the content. To assess their comprehension, teachers usually ask students to answer a variety of questions, which include multiple choice, fill-in-the-blanks, short and…
Teachers exhort students to read for pleasure as reading can transport people across space and time, and can transform and enrich their lives. While they appreciate the invaluable benefits of reading, unfortunately, teachers don’t necessarily have the luxury of time…
Though technology has invaded practically every nook of our lives, one aspect of education remains largely unchanged. Even as students are encouraged to do research, online and offline, the textbook continues to hold sway as the arbiter of truth. Across…
We seldom hear people in positions of power or authority declare that they are unsure or doubtful when asked a question in their area of expertise. In fact, if an expert confesses to not knowing, we often assume that they…
When I was in pre-university (Grade 11), I remember plodding through scores of differentiation and integration exercises. I was able to perform most problems in the textbook mechanistically and did well on tests and exams. While my procedural grasp of…
For education to be impactful, children need to appreciate the value of the tasks they engage in, for their own sake. Rather than embracing a utilitarian outlook, wherein schooling is prized only as a means to get admitted into college…
While thinking, in a deep sense, should be pivotal to education, our schools still prioritise rote or mechanistic learning. Though most Indian Boards now include HOTS or questions that require “higher-order thinking” wherein students have to analyse,..
In the last of a tetrad of articles on promoting creativity in children, I elaborate on the positives of play. Just as painting, playing the piano and participating in pantomimes can endow children with various skills and dispositions, good, old-fashioned…
A look into the age-old question of which is better: printed books or e-books? The first time I bought an e-book on Kindle, I was enchanted by the instantness of the transaction. While I have shifted more towards e-books, mainly…
In her book, How Art Works, psychologist Ellen Winner describes a prison program, aptly named, Shakespeare Behind Bars, where inmates, convicted of serious crimes, spent many months rehearsing for a Shakespeare play. Apparently, the recidivism rate of those who took part in…
Aruna Sankaranarayanan is the author of Zero Limits: Things Every 20 Something Should Know. She was the Founder & Director of PRAYATNA, a centre for children with learning difficulties in Bengaluru & Chennai for 22 years.