Abstract/Notes: The objective of this small study was to elicit responses from early childhood teachers in India on mathematics learning strategies and to measure the extent of finger counting technique adopted by the teachers in teaching young children. Specifically, the research focused on the effective ways of teaching mathematics to children in India, and examined teachers’ approach to number counting. In India, children were taught by their parents or by their teachers to use fingers to count. The qualitative study conducted by the researcher further enriched the topic with first‐hand comments by the teachers. Although the finger counting method was not the only process that teachers would adopt, it was embedded in the culture and taken into consideration while infusing mathematics skills. The teachers confirmed adopting the Indian method of finger counting in their teaching strategy; some specified that the method helped children to undertake addition and subtraction of carrying and borrowing, as counting by objects could not be available all the time. Although the study is limited by its small sample to the unique mathematics learning experience in India, it provides readers with a glimpse of culturally responsive teaching methods and an alternative mathematics teaching strategy.

Language: English

DOI: 10.1080/09669760500446374

ISSN: 0966-9760

Abstract/Notes: Western scholarship usually ignores the contributions from other civilizations, India for instance. At the same time, contemporary India seems to have forgotten to some extent the deepest achievements of its own tradition. Moreover, modern culture has often produced some kind of despise against ancient traditions as opposed to the freedom and emancipation of the modern world. This paper tries to unveil all the depth and beauty of Indian philosophy of education, especially through major traditions such as Vedas, Upanishads and Vedanta. It also tries to show that the pedagogic message of the sages of modern India revives all the depth of the ancient tradition. This long history of holistic education in India through 35 centuries may enrich the Western insights with figures such as Steiner, Montessori or Dewey, aware that intercultural dialogue will be one of the major challenges of the XXIst century. It becomes crystal clear through this paper that the vision of integral education in Indian culture was inseparable from the spiritual/ mystical dimension, or to put in reverse terms, the spiritual domain constituted the very foundation of the educational process in Indian philosophy of education, a fundamental point that would be again emphasized by Indian modern philosophers such as Vivekananda, Aurobindo and even Krishnamurti.

Language: English

DOI: 10.29121/granthaalayah.v6.i6.2018.1373

ISSN: 2394-3629, 2350-0530

Abstract/Notes: A study was undertaken to investigate how to prepare Base of Pyramid (BOP) children in India for creativity. The quasi-experiment study involved seventy 5th grade BOP students from two municipality schools in Mumbai, India. The training group students were given Design Thinking training spread over two action research cycles, while the control group received no intervention. The present study reports on findings from the second action research cycle during which the training group received training on divergent thinking skills—skills required for Design Thinking. The data was collected using classroom worksheets and intervention test sheets, and the objective was to find answers to how ideation took place during creative work and whether divergent thinking skills—as a part of Design Thinking training—helped in improving creative ability. The quantitative analysis of The Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) inspired intervention test sheets indicated an overall significant difference in creative ability indicator scores of students who received intervention over those who did not. Furthermore, the significant difference was found for figural tasks but not for verbal tasks. The present study also showed how a mixed-method analysis can be useful for capturing socio-cultural elements, measuring relevant idea generation and identifying the need for different creative confidence-building strategies. The study identified language as a barrier for idea expression in the case of BOP students for whom language of instruction at school was different from language spoken at home. The study recommended socio-techno entrepreneurs to use this challenge as an opportunity for becoming stakeholders in creativity skilling for BOP students.

Language: English

DOI: 10.1016/j.tsc.2020.100652

ISSN: 1871-1871

Language: English

ISSN: 1538-6619

Language: English

ISSN: 0571-1142

Language: English

ISSN: 0519-0959

Language: English

ISSN: 1071-6246

Abstract/Notes: SDG-4 is composed of seven outcome targets and three means of implementation, and early childhood education is one of them. It has been mentioned that by 2030, we should ensure that all children have access to quality early childhood upliftment, care, and pre-primary education so that children are p...

Language: English

Published: Hershey, Pennsylvania: IGI Global, 2022

ISBN: 978-1-66845-113-7

Abstract/Notes: The long history of Montessori education in India dates to 1915, and it was expanded through Maria and Mario Montessori's work in India between 1939 to 1946 and 1947 to 1949. The article characterizes a century of Montessori education in India as a series of adapted, competing, and contested framings with key disputes over Montessori education's intended purpose, audience, and how much it could be adapted. First, from 1915 to 1939, Montessori education was connected to the Indian independence movement as nation-building education, but it was eclipsed by a parallel rise of elite, private Montessori schools, a framing reinforced by Maria Montessori's insistence on fidelity to her method. Starting in the 1950s, other Indian educators adapted Montessori for poor children, an emphasis that continues today with government and foundation-funded schools. Finally, in the last thirty years, India's new middle class has driven demand for early childhood education, leading to branded Montessori franchises, some bearing little resemblance to Montessori's original pedagogy.

Language: English

DOI: 10.1017/heq.2022.25

ISSN: 0018-2680, 1748-5959

Abstract/Notes: We report on a study that was conducted in an urban city center, Bangalore, India. The participants included 1,052 students from Grades 1, 3 and 5, who came from different home language backgrounds and attended schools where the language of instruction was English. The students’ L2 English reading skills were measured using DIBELS and Easy CBM. The purpose of this study was to examine relations between basic skills, fluency, and comprehension. Using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), for students in Grade 1, we found reading skills mapped on to three latent factors: “letter sounds”, “letter names” and “fluency and comprehension”. For students in Grade 3, we found reading skills mapped on to two latent factors: “word and passage level fluency and comprehension” and “sentence and retell level fluency and comprehension”. For students in Grade 5, we found reading skills mapped on to two latent factors: “fluency” and “comprehension”. Implications for reading assessment and instruction practices within the Indian context will be discussed.

Language: English

DOI: 10.26855/er.2023.08.001

ISSN: 2575-7946, 2575-7938