The Hoshangabad Science Teaching Programme (HSTP) Amitabha Mukherjee Centre for Science Education and Communication University of Delhi am@csec.ernet.in Presentation at South Asia Regional Conference on Education Quality New Delhi October 24-26, 2007

Contents Background Key features of HSTP Classroom practices Teacher Training Textbook and kit Examinations Lessons learnt

Background The Hoshangabad Science Teaching Programme (HSTP) started as a pilot project in 1972 in 16 schools in Hoshangabad district of the state of Madhya Pradesh (M.P.) Addressed the question “Can science be taught better in an ordinary school?”

Background (contd.) Started by two voluntary agencies – Kishore Bharati and Friends’ Rural Centre Confined to the teaching of science in middle school – grades 6-8 Partnership of University and College faculty with schoolteachers “Nothing the programme could do could possibly make things worse than they were”

“Nothing could be worse…” Government schools - poor buildings, no library, no laboratory , no facilities No experiments in science classes Science taught as received knowledge Authoritarian school teacher, often untrained in science Docile children, no rewards for initiative, no questions in class – to maintain discipline

Brief Chronology Pilot project in 16 schools from 1972 Extended to all middle schools in the district in 1978 EKLAVYA set up in 1982 Expanded to clusters in 14 other districts in mid 1980s – ~1000 schools Closed down by M.P. Govt in 2002 Back to Contents

Key features of HSTP Classroom processes based on experimentation Teacher Training – intensive and continuing Textbook and kit Examination system Back to Contents

Classroom practices Children did experiments in groups of 4 Recorded their own observations Reported their findings to the whole class Data from different groups pooled together to provide robust evidence Conclusions arrived at after whole class discussions guided by teachers Back to Contents

Teacher Training 3-week training programmes every year for 3 years Hands-on, textbook-based training Every teacher trained to do every experiment and guide discussion in the classroom

Teacher Training (contd.) Monthly meetings School follow-up by trained resource teachers to handle problems in implementation Manuals Periodicals Back to Contents

Textbook and kit Textbook ‘Bal Vaigyanik’ (‘Child Scientist’) actually a book of instructions for experiments – no information content Low-cost and locally available materials used as far as possible Minimal kit supplied to all schools in adequate numbers

Examinations No reform possible without reform of the examination system Open-book, unlimited time exams, both annual and final middle school (grade 8) Each student examined in theory as well as in experiment Tests of conceptual clarity, logical ability, process skills – not rote learning Back to Contents

Lessons learnt from HSTP No programme of innovation can succeed unless teachers are convinced of the need for such change and work actively to bring it about School teachers are almost completely isolated intellectually and it is important to work to break this down

Lessons learnt from HSTP - II Some structural features can work across programmes – monthly meetings, cluster resource centres, … Control over examinations is essential for any programme of innovation to succeed

Lessons learnt from HSTP - III Innovations in curriculum/pedagogy may face a roadblock of school system functionality Involvement of the community in programmes of educational reform is not only desirable, but may be crucial Back to Contents

Thank you