1

CHAPTER-I

INTRODUCTION

Since independence, India has made tremendous strides in the expansion of

educational facilities. The literacy rate of 5 per cent in 1901 that grew to about 19 per cent in

1951 (in the first 50 years of British reign) grew to more than 65 per cent during the next 50

years. Compared to a few million students in 1951, Indian education now reaches out to more

than 196 million students. This enormous gain in enrolment, largely gets reduced by massive

drop out at various levels especially between grades I and VIII. Also, students’ performances

are far from satisfactory level. Combining the two elements of drop out and performance,

what we achieve is: out of 100 children admitted in class I, only about 26 appears for grade X

examination; 13 pass out; and only about six complete XII grade examination; a large

majority of them pass in the third division. We need a quantum jump in improvement of

quality of education. President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, in his address to the Parliament

emphasized the need to build quality in education fast. Technology provides that

empowerment towards building quality in education.

Universalization of elementary education has been an evasive goal. Despite sustained

efforts, the Indian elementary school system remained apparently far away from the goal of

universalization. During the last several planned efforts, we could see remarkable increase in

the enrolments, due to provision of a school within the reach of the learners and the

community. However, the satisfactory levels of increased enrolments were pre-empted by the

high dropout rates. For instance, in the state of Andhra Pradesh, the gross enrolment ratios are

found to be 100 and above in several districts for the 6 to 10 years age group. However, for

the classes I to V, it is observed that about 32 per cent children dropout in between classes I

and V. The object of provision of school in all the areas and to all communities could not be

realized since we could not contain the appalling dropout rates. Hence, there is a need for a

retrospective look at the reasons for the children dropping at the primary or elementary stage

(Prasad, P., 2006)

2

Examine this from our day-to-day experiences. Quality of student learning and

performance depends largely upon the quality of teaching in the classroom. There is wide

variation in the quality of teachers and teaching from one school to another. Students have

restricted access to a good teacher. In a school, some have access to an excellent teacher of

mathematics, but not in Geography or English language; and yet some in other institution,

reverse may be the case. Technology network overcomes that important limitation. For

teaching say, Mathematics, or Physics or History from the teaching end (uplink station), we

need only about 10 excellent teachers who may be strewn around in the schools. Such

excellent teachers can be brought together to teach from the uplink stations, and every learner

can have access to the best of the teacher, the system has got. Also, students will have access

to interacting with such excellent teachers. Further, because of digital recording and

possibility of retrieval, such lessons can be revisited again for reinforcement. This process

will naturally enhance the quality of learning. “In March 1995, the White House challenged

the telecommunication industry to connect every classroom, library, clinic and hospital to the

information super highway by the year 2000”. The above quotes should suffice to make

Indian schools realize the importance of multimedia in schools (Benjamin, A.E.W. and

Shivakumar, P., 2007)

India has 627 thousand primary schools, and 111 million students. Over 42 million

children in the age-group of 6 to 14 years do not attend school. Only 47 percent of children

enrolled in the first class reach the final eighth class, a dropout rate of 53 percent.

Furthermore, over 100 thousand inhabited villages of the country do not have any facilities

for primary schooling.

In spite of these facts, India intends to provide education for all and it is an offence to

deprive a child of education. To school the 42 million out-of-school children, it would require

one million additional class rooms, and as many new teachers. Universities would require

thousands of additional senior faculty to educate one million qualified teachers. Add to this

the existing huge backlog of class-rooms and trained school teachers, and the numbers

become even more daunting.

Use of Instructional media in classroom enriches learning experiences of children.

Since this is an age of science and technology, the present day teachers must know to use

various media and instructional materials in the classroom environment. In this age of science

3

and technology, we can see the influence of media everywhere. We have seen the influence

of media in the education. This media influence in education helps teachers and students to

make changes in their skills and attitude. It also helps them to change from the traditional

teaching methods (Ponnusamy, P. & Natesan, M., 2003).

Many villages are not yet connected by all weather roads or have electricity

connections. The extension of quality education to remote and rural regions is even more

difficult for a large country like India with a multi-lingual and multi-cultural population. Why

does India have so many children out-of-school? Why do they drop-out? There are many

reasons:

Some children support their poor parents by participating in economic activities like

farming, beedi rolling (Beedi is a low priced local tobacco product, made using

manual labour), working on looms, and making products like carpets glass bangles,

firecrackers, match-boxes and match-sticks.

In urban areas, children from urban slums make a living or contribute to the family

earnings by way of rag-picking, shoe-shining, domestic help, cleaning cars, working

at road-side eateries and tea-shops.

Children of migrant families have seasonal employment, e.g. at saltpans, in farms, at

construction sites, and brick-kilns.

Children in remote or inaccessible villages have no convenient access to a school.

Schooling may be restricted due to social or religious practices, especially for

adolescent girls

Non-availability of teacher and textbooks, a lack of drinking water and sanitation

facilities in the school.

The school curriculum is uninteresting and irrelevant; children are taught via

memorising rather than discovering knowledge and learning, and frequent failure to

get promoted to the next class.

The school schedule and duration are not compatible with demands made by the

child’s family and economic activities, which means the opportunity cost of education

is high.

4

The school education does not enhance the employability. Indian planners and

administrators have been struggling to provide workable solutions. Compromises are

made in the required qualification for teachers by providing teachers with less than

the statuary education qualifications, but accepted after brief training (called “Para-

teachers”) to fill in the capacity gap. At present, there are more than 500 thousand

Para-teachers in a number of states. Non-formal and alternative schooling

programmes are also being provided to special categories of children, e.g. those of

migrant labourers.

Satellite based technology provides many answers to the above problems. Satellites

can provide education to villages which are not well connected, or where there is no

school and no teacher, where the school times are not convenient, or where the family

moves from one place of employment to another. Satellite based system can provide

easy and flexible connectivity, audio-visual education materials to improve quality

and they can make learning interesting. They can provide instructions in multiple

languages and social contexts, provide ease of monitoring, and often are compatible

with social or religious practices (which may prevent adolescent girls from going out

to attend regular schools). Moreover, they can reach illiterate adults too.

It is said that education makes a man “aman” whereas the primary education is of

prime importance in the sense that it is the first exposure of the child to this world. It prepares

the child competent for further education, exalts child’s personality and accelerates the

potentialities of the child and to say it is solely responsible in making a child a good citizen.

Moreover, primary education as we observe today, needs special and immediate attention of

the educator (Simlot, M.M., 1994). Singh and Singh (1986) stated that however, since the use

of TV for educational purposes is going to stay and expand, utilisation of TV in the

classroom may be made an essential component of the teacher’s training programmes in the

country. The sooner it is done, the better it would be. He also depicted that educational

programmes are relevant to the needs of the educational situation, the educational authorities

have assumed the responsibility of planning and production of the software. Studies indicate

that while adults and older children may learn from TV by themselves, young children find it

generally difficult to do so. They learn more from educational programmes viewing if an

5

adult motivates them before hand and takes an active role in drawing attention to the

important contents, terms and concepts while they watch.

An education system is an extremely complex framework in which diverse disciplines

and a multiplicity of agencies participate through a variety of instructional programmes.

Educational processes are also characterised by a futuristic thrust. Education is no longer the

prerogative of the privileged few, but on democratic principles, our Government believes in

imparting the fruits of education to all the citizens, of any caste, religion, urban or rural. The

infusion of communication technologies into teaching and learning has generated much

interest in educational research in recent years. A vast array of instructional strategies using

information and communication technologies has been carried out in research studies. They

include Simulations (Pfahl, Laitenberger, Ruhe, Dorsch and Krivobokova 2004), Online

learning (Hanafi, Zuraidah, Rozhar and Mohd. Zubir 2003), static and animated modes of

presentation (Sadiah, 2003), internet and World Wide Web (Finger, 2003), Multimedia

software (A. Guilar, Arena, Clarin, Hulamani and Monirade, Keong 2003), Microsoft Excel

(Munirah, Shafia and Zurida 2003) and Multimedia Learning package (MML) (Mohanty,

2008 and Madan, 2009). One of the most rapidly changing exciting areas of education in the

world today is the development of computer based learning materials, especially multimedia

teaching-learning programmes. Multimedia Approach manifested by the emergence and

convergence of technological advances has provided an important stepping stone in the

evolution of teaching-learning. The virtual world of seamless digital integration of text,

images, animation and sound offers a fundamental transformation in educational system.

Incorporation of instructional technology into conventional teaching method is certainly

effective in facilitating conceptual understanding and fostering active and independent

learning. The recipient is also an active participant in the experience, not only seeing and

hearing the message, but interacting with it as well. (Kamat and Shinde, 1998).

Nimarathi (2008) reported that by the use of multimedia, the students get a live vision

of life’s aspects and scientific factors, e.g. a diagram can be explained in detail with three-

dimensional effect which helps the students in understanding the lesson clearly. Numerous

studies have also shown that student’s academic achievement improved when taught through

multimedia approach (Kulik, 1994; Simkins, 2002; Patil 2006; Shikhare, 2007 and Madan,

2009). Various explanations have been put forward with regard to the cognitive benefits

6

provided by the use of various communications technologies in preparing multimedia

learning (MML) package of enhancing student’s conceptual understanding. Selinger (2004)

claimed that multimedia content helps to illustrate and explain difficult concept in ways that

were previously inaccessible through traditional teaching resources and methodologies.

Similarly, Ferror (2002) reported that the use of multimedia approach using interactive CD-

ROMS, Power point presentations and graphing software has been successful in generating

conceptual understanding in student’s studies conducted by researcher. Munirah, et al.

(2003), Chandra (2002) has also reported the use of different multimedia in bringing about

conceptual change. “Educational institutions, left to themselves may not be successful in

achieving the educational objectives of the developing societies without the support of the

new media”. (Media and Symbols – Nelson Henry). Hence, mass media, as channels of

education, gain relevance from their capacity to disseminate educational information to a

great number of people and make the present educational programmes more effective and

meaningful (Damayanthi, S. M.). During the last six decades Indian school education system,

especially primary or elementary has seen phenomenal growth in terms of access and

enrolment. However, inspite of provision of teacher and curricular reforms, the system could

not witness high retention rates. Thus, the problem of dropouts continues to plague the

primary level of school education. There is a need to examine the reasons time and again.

This study attempts to highlight the incidence of dropout and the reasons for the same. It also

suggests measures based on the specific reasons and the expressed opinions of the respondent

dropouts.

1.1 EDUSAT

EDUSAT beams lectures to 10,000 classrooms in technical universities and primary

schools across the country. But is the initiative a success? Is EDUSAT a ‘turkey in the

sky’?

EDUSAT is the acronym for Educational Satellite — a satellite dedicated to education

with as many as 74 channels — brain child of Dr. K. Kasturirangan and carefully nurtured by

Development and Educational Communication Unit (DECU) of ISRO under the leadership of

Sri B.S. Bhatia; concept and project documentation are contributions of Prof. Marmar

Mukhopadhyay of NIEPA. Actually, EDUSAT is a technology network of uplink stations in

selected national and state locations (to act as teaching ends), and downlink stations or

7

facilities in various educational institutions (as learning ends) supported by satellite. The

EDUSAT satellite has six Ku-Band transponders and six C-Band transponders, as shown in

the map below:

EDUSAT, according to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), is the first

exclusive satellite for serving the educational sector. It supports radio broadcasting, along

with audio-video on C-band and Ku-band, and is built around the concept of digital

interactive classrooms and a multimedia system. EDUSAT provides connectivity to schools,

colleges and higher levels of education and also support non-formal education including

developmental communication. The nation-wide beams are being harnessed by agencies like

IGNOU, NCERT and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), to reach

hundreds of Receive Only Terminals (ROTs) and Satellite Interactive Terminals (SITs)

located in schools and colleges, many in remote areas. India ventured into satellite based

learning experiment way back in 1975. The Satellite Instructional Television Experiment

(SITE) was an experimental satellite communications project, designed by NASA and the

Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) using the American Application Technology

Satellite (ATS-6, see figure 1.1). The project made available informational television

programs to rural India. The joint experiment ran for one year, from 1 August 1975 to 31 July

1976, covering more than 2500 villages in six Indian states. The experiment played a major

role in helping India to develop its own satellite network as part of its INSAT program.

The special SITE Research and Evaluation Cell under ISRO did the social research

and evaluation of SITE. This evaluation provided information about the reaction of the

villagers to different programs, and included the Impact Survey to measure the impact on

adults, the SITE Impact Survey Children (SIS-C) to measure the impact on school children,

and the qualitative anthropology study to measure change brought by TV in rural structure at

the macro level. Besides the social evaluation, a technical evaluation was also carried out to

help India develop future systems. Each major sub-system of the earth system was tested and

evaluated. The impact of the SITE transmissions was tremendous. For the entire year,

hundreds and thousands of villagers gathered around the television set and watched the

shows. During this unique experiment, programs pertaining to health, hygiene and family

planning were telecast directly to about 2,400 Indian villages over six states. The Problems

Evaluation studies concluded that the general interest and viewership was highest in the first

8

few months of the program (200 to 600 people per TV set) and then declined gradually (60 to

80 people per TV set). This was caused due by several factors like faulty television or

hardware, erratic electricity supply, and the villagers’ pre-occupation with domestic or

agricultural work.

1.1.1 Concept of EDUSAT

On the 21st September 2004, ISRO launched the 1950 kg EDUSAT satellite

dedicated to education EDUSAT, using India’s Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle

(GSLV-F01). The satellite has multiple regional beams, with their footprints covering the

entire country. EDUSAT provides connectivity to schools, colleges and higher education

institutes, and also to support non-formal education, including developmental

communication. EDUSAT is a collaborative effort of the Central Ministry of Human

Resource Development (MHRD) and ISRO. The implementation at the field level is carried

out by: Providing education access to the children in the age group 6–14 years is a

constitutional obligation and challenge for the union as well state governments, as the

development of elementary education is a key factor for a nation's development. Due to the

non-availability of required number of trained and expert teachers’ knowledge-divide exists

between students population of urban and rural/remote areas. To bridge this gap Distance

Learning or Tele-education is the best option. A dedicated satellite for the purpose EDUSAT

was launched. In the glare of the media flash bulbs about years ago, the Indian Space

Research Organisation (ISRO) launched EDUSAT, the world's first satellite dedicated

exclusively to education. Conceptualised by K. Kasturirangan, then the ISRO chairman,

EDUSAT was launched under the chairmanship of G. Madhavan Nair. Expectations were

naturally pitched high as the satellite made its way skyward on the evening of September 20,

2004. Possibilities for education suddenly seemed infinite. Space technology could now be

harnessed to “reach the unreached” and to “bridge the divide” between rural and urban

schools and colleges, ISRO predicted.

Virtual classrooms could solve the problem of the low teacher-student ratio.

EDUSAT, equipped with 12 transponders, each with a massive bandwidth of approximately

36 megahertz, beams lectures to 10,000 classrooms in technical universities and primary

schools across the country. These include the Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU)

in Karnataka, the Indira Gandhi National Open University in New Delhi, Anna University in

9

Chennai, the Technical Education Board in Rajasthan, the West Bengal University of

Technology in Kolkata, and Manipur University in Imphal. In Karnataka, for example, the

lectures are prepared by VTU and the Department of School Education Research and

Training (DSERT) for technical colleges and primary schools respectively. The lectures are

delivered by specialists in the fields and broadcast live from a studio with an uplink facility at

DSERT. The country’s first satellite dedicated exclusively to education, EDUSAT has

started impacting the way in which distance education is carried out for teacher training and

for providing support to remote classrooms. The Department of Space has activated one

National Hub to support national level networks. The initial focus of EDUSAT use has been

on teacher training at the BRCs. The SSA supports EDUSAT initiatives in seven states:

Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu and

Karnataka. In the first group of four states, the Rajiv Gandhi Project for EDUSAT supported

Elementary Education (RGPESEE) is in its pilot phase. One district in each state has been

taken up for the creation of infrastructure in schools and academic support structures to

receive satellite signals and for the development of educational content.

India faces the twin challenge of providing quality of life for her people and be

competitive in a globalized world. These are interrelated and interdependent. Without an

educated populace, India will not be able to be competitive in the global arena. Hence, an

educated India is an imperative for her to be competitive. Also, a literate and educated world

community is the only guarantee for a prosperous, peaceful and happy world living in

harmony. The E-9 conference in New Delhi in 1993 declared education as the only defence

of the country. It is not without reasons that beginning with the Jomtien conference in 1990,

the world came together in order to create an educated and ever learning world. This was

again reiterated in the Dakar conference in 2001. The spirit of an educated and continuously

learning world was the central theme of the report to the UNESCO by the International

Commission on Education for the 21st Century-Learning: The Treasure Within. For India the

challenge is educating one billion people, the number that is growing every year.

1.1.2 Why EDUSAT

The national Policy on Education, 1986 - 1992 (p.22) has rightly observed. “The

media have a profound influence on the minds of children as well as adults; some of them

tend to encourage consumerism, violence, etc., and have a deleterious effect. Radio and TV

10

programmes, which clearly militate against proper educational objectives, will be prevented.

Steps will be taken to discourage such trends in films and other media also. An active

movement will be started to promote the production of children’s films of high quality and

usefulness”. At present, multimedia have immense influence in communication field and are

playing an important role in literary, scientific and educational programmes.

It is no doubt a big challenge. If it appears to be a Utopia; it is a ‘necessary Utopia’.

The challenge, of course, is very complicated because of India’s multicultural, multi-

religious, multi-linguistic composition within a multiparty democratic polity. The issue of

educating the nation is equally complicated because of regional diversify and disparity, and

gender inequality in education. Educating such a complex fusion of a nation can be

accomplished in addition to organized conventional educational institutions by well planned

and well executed adjunct initiatives. EDUSAT is not the first and maiden effort in pressing

satellite in Indian education. The history of satellite in education spans over more than four

decades. There have been several landmark experiments with satellite in education including

interactive instruction. Satellite began to play its role in Indian education with the

introduction of educational television in 1961-62. Nonetheless, Indian landmark in satellite in

education is considered to be the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) in

1971. By mid 1990s, a committee comprising heads of major national institutions was

already involved in shaping the concept of a dedicated channel for education. Gyan - Darshan

and Gyan Vani are the dedicated television and radio channels in education. It would be

evident that EDUSAT is the culmination of years of micro and meso-level experiments in

satellite delivered interactive learning. Bates (1989) suggested such parameters as voice,

written language, colors, still pictures, animation, dramatic events and full movement where

we make the choice between media such as lectures, audio, print, computer and television.

1.1.3 Origin of EDUSAT

The first draft of the conceptual document that titled, 'Educating the Nation: Need for

a Dedicated Satellite' was presented to a group of experts comprising scientists, technologists

and a few former space scientists from ISRO in Pune. The 35 page document published

originally by DECU, and republished by NIEPA later, was organized around the challenge of

educating a nation-adult literacy, school education, higher and professional education,

massive gap between the targets and achievements so far, response to the challenge, policies,

11

programmes and ground realities, facilities on ground, content development, educational

software, and management-cost and budgeting, coordination and collaboration and

management structure.

The document contains elaborate details of developments in various levels of

education since independence with tables, charts and graphs. This brings into focus the

spectacular expansion, diversification and developments in education since independence,

with yet a massive gap in fulfilling national obligations in education. The innovative aspect

was highlighting the challenge of creating the Knowledge Society that requires educating i.e.

nation on a continuing basis. ‘Educating the Nation’ requires educating everyone in the

nation within and outside the school. 'In practical terms, education has to be provided in

curricular as well as in other areas. Should we accept this new paradigm of human

development, it offers us a three-dimensional challenge of education for all ages, education of

in and out-of-school people, and education in various occupations (Figure 1.1).

Fig. 1.1 Three-dimensional challenge of Educating the Nation

Edu

cati

on

Th

rou

gh A

ge

Educational Space (In and out of school)

Education within Occupation

12

Since the challenge is multifarious, colossal and complex, simple and routine response

will be grossly inadequate. Search for a possible solution must venture into the domains so

far unknown. Developments in technology, particularly in computers, television, Internet,

telephone, satellite, fiber-optic cabling, etc. provide significant and meaningful instruments to

respond to this challenge. Over the years, Indian scientists and technologists have developed

considerable mastery over such technological tools, and India has emerged as a major

software and leading satellite producing country with capabilities of launching its own

satellites. The document enlisted the following avenues:

One way TV broadcast

Interactive TV via phone in

Interactive TV through computer support through e-mail,

Video conferencing

Computer conferencing

Telephone conferencing

Web-based instruction etc.

The document contended that separate dedicated channels are required to service the

educational needs of different groups of learners in different languages. Accordingly, a

channel count was developed (Table 1.1). As mentioned earlier, the number of educational

channels had to be decided on the basis of careful need analysis in order to provide education

through 16 different regional languages. Adopting a wide range of interactive techniques, the

minimum number of channels was worked out to be 72. However, ISRO had maintained all

along that number of channels will not be a constraining factor. The original Channel Count

considered reaching out to every kind of citizens in the country with the basic spirit of

educating the nation. Another important feature was creating provision for delivery of non-

formal education through Hindi and English. Although this was not ideal, this was the most

feasible option given the large number of languages in which the people of India speak. The

other important feature was provision of state channels separately for school education, and

higher and professional education. It is only through such dedicated state channels that it will

be possible to deliver education through the regional languages. Original proposal of 72

channels were shown vide table 1.1.

13

Table 1.1 : The Channel Count

Content

Remarks

No of

Channels

School education One dedicated channel per state 28

Higher and professional

education

One dedicated channel per state

28

Science and technology for all Hindi and English (e.g. Discovery/National

Geographic)

02

Language learning Indian and foreign languages 01

Youth Channel Education in sports, music, dramatics, etc. 02

Executive and career

development

Continuing education of workforce-Hindi and

English

02

Gold Channel For senior citizens-Hindi and English 02

Women's development Hindi and English 02

Heritage Education in Indian scriptures and culture 01

Toddler's Channel Cartoon network type 02

Health Hindi and English 02

Total 72

1.1.4 Technology Configuration of EDUSAT

There are two components of the technology configuration, namely the space segment

and the ground segment. The requirement of the space segment is necessarily based on need

assessment. The initial analysis indicated a requirement of 72 channels and additional eight

channels for further expansion over 10 years and 14 transponders. Accordingly, the

configuration of the proposed satellite was (shows vide figure :

Three satellites each of:

KU band

1. To meet the former educational needs

4 regional beam, EIRP = 54dBw, G/T = 8dB/K

2. To meet nonformal educational needs

1 India beam EIRP 49dBw, G/T = 3dB/K

Extended C band

1. 1 national beam with 6 transponders

14

EIRP 37dBw, G/T-SdB/K

2. to support existing INSAT educational requirements

Fig. 1.2: Transponders of EDUSAT

The first satellite can be GSAT 3. The other two satellites can be with onboard

regeneration and multiplexing facilities like:

4dB advantage due to no back off goes to better availability

smaller uplink station due to link isolation, and

facing out of extended she band to accommodate OBP payload

The space segment needed to be corroborated with programmes and infrastructure

support at the ground level. The ground segment component was proposed to comprise:

use of DVB-RCS open standard in KU band

small two-way interactive remote stations at district levels

DRS at remote stations with WLL and repeater attached for talkback

In terms of geographical locations, ideally ground segment will require:

server and studio at state level

ROT at all primary and upper primary schools,

SIT at all DIETs and BRCs (Block Resource Centre),

SIT at all secondary and senior secondary schools,

SIT+ROT+CORDECT at all colleges and universities,

ROT+CORDECT at all gram panchayats:

15

The document also made a detailed assessment of facilities on ground, primarily

flagging the NIC network connecting all districts, expanding computer facilities in schools,

colleges and universities, the DRS installations for interactive teleconferencing in DIETs,

IGNOU Regional Centres and several other networks, expanding outreach of PSTN and

ISDN telephone networks throughout the country.

1.1.5 Organization and Management:

The conceptualization of the technology configuration, Channel Count in the given

backdrop of multilingual society that India is, organization and management of satellite based

education pose a serious challenge. Without active and significant involvement of the states,

there will be very little opportunity of making much headway in translating the magnificent

concept of EDUSAT. Accordingly, it was proposed to set up a Satellite Based Educational

and Instructional Technology Authority (SEITA) to provide direction and manage EDUSAT.

The proposed configuration is reproduced below:

Fig.:1.3 SEITA Composition (Satellite based Educational and Instructional

Chairman

Vice-Chairman-I Vice-Chairman-I

Secretary Secretariat

Members

Formal Education

NIEPA

NCERT (School Ed)

CEC/UGC (Higher Ed)

NOS (ED -School Ed)

IGNOU (ED - Higher Ed)

AICTE Technical &

Management Ed)

ICAR (AGri. Ed)

NCTE (Teacher Ed)

ICMR (Medical Ed)

Non-Formal

Education

Department of Adult

Education

Rural Development

Health and Family

Welfare

Women and Child

Development

Help Age India

16

Technology Authority

The proposal is to have a full-time secretary to assist the authority. As a general

pattern, it is visualized that the Department of Space will look after the space segment

whereas the Ministry of Human Resource Development will be responsible for the ground

segment; Ministry of Information Technology can be involved in management of IT

component of the ground segment; the member institutions will be responsible for content

development and development of relevant software. As mentioned earlier, the success of

EDUSAT will necessarily depend upon the involvement and contribution of the states.

Hence, the conceptual document proposed setting up of state authority in the pattern of

SIETA. The common parameter is setting up inter-ministerial authority of management of

EDUSAT at the national and state levels. As mentioned earlier, the conceptual document was

designed, produced and published by DECU, Ahmedabad for limited circulation. Later, it

was republished by NIEPA with permission from and acknowledgement to DECU for larger

circulation. The immediate inspiration for reprinting the copies was the national consultation

on EDUSAT where copies were needed for distribution among the participants. The

publication was free of charge from both DECU and NIEPA. The copies are still available

from the publication department of NIEPA.

While drafting the project document on EDUSAT, President APJ Abdul Kalam

appreciated the initiative of ISRO and mentioned with sense of pride about his Indian

mission on space technology. He, however, advised to look for alternative technologies also

like fibre-optic cable network. His basic contention was that there is a gap between the

audible sound and the lip movement, though extremely small, when communication is made

through satellite based technology. Although adult learners may not be distracted, 'children

are extremely sensitive and perceptive; they are likely to observe it and find fun in the

lessons'. His critical and penetrating observation is admirable. On his own, he picked up the

issue of students learning through virtual classroom methodology. He advised to package

learning and ensure that the students learn their contents and subjects and are able to get

scores in the examination which is extremely important for their future career. There are

about 8,000 private schools affiliated to CBSE and ICSE; then there are about 1250 Kendriya

Vidayalayas and Navodaya Vidyalayas. Private schools would not need any government

funding; they need to be involved and asked to install the reception facilities. KVs and NVs

are not only best of the schools but are also financially well provided by the government.

17

They too should be able to afford Rs. 2.50 lakhs from their annual budget for installing the

SIT terminals. There are two different faces of development so far. One is the development at

the instance of ISRO. It is characterized by achievements before time, holistic thinking as

indicated by launching pilot projects and proactive management approach by offering

technical and financial support. The development in education is characterized by slow pace,

loss of vision and restricting the growth through centralized management.

The constructivism is built into the multi-channel learning system. Multi-channel

learning system comprises multiple learning channels or opportunities to suit the learning

styles of students at various levels and at various ages. Such channels can be used either as

stand-alone or in combination with one another depending upon the educational goals and

learning styles of the learner. EDUSAT provides at least the following channels:

Virtual classrooms through two-way videoconferencing,

Educational broadcast with or without interactive facilities,

Virtual classrooms through computer conferencing -both real time as well as

asynchronous,

Digital storage and retrieval of educational software at convenience, and

Internet supported interactive learning.

1.1.6 Importance of EDUSAT

It is important to recognize that instructional science and technology is well

researched and well developed science and do not belong to the domain of common sense, as

it never was. For making effective use of EDUSAT, scientific principles and practices of

interactive learning have to be adopted. Then, there is the problem of understanding and

responsiveness to the science and techniques of interactive instruction. There is non-

responsiveness to the science of interactive learning among the uninformed planners and

managers of the education system in general, educational technology in particular. There is a

common belief and insistence that a teacher in the studio should present for half the time

followed by interaction. There is no pedagogical sanction for such an approach. For, it means

asking human minds not to be instantly inquisitive and curious; it must allow subsequent

contents to overcrowd and make learning victim of retroactive inhibition. To quote an

instance, we decided to host a two-way videoconferencing between experts at one end and a

18

group of eminent pedagogical scientists, namely the education professors from different

Indian universities at the other end. Both were connected through two-way video interactive

facilities. The experts at the teaching end started making the presentation right on time. When

a few of the participating professors wanted to ask questions within the first five minutes and

seek certain clarification from the experts on the other end, they realized to their dismay that

they cannot speak with the experts on the teaching end - the teaching end had switched off

their reception facility. Finally, one had to call on the telephone line from outside the studio

to the teaching end requesting them to open up their reception facility.

There is no pedagogical or andragogical sanction to this practice of half an hour

lecture followed by half an hour question-answer. This is based primarily on the belief that

students learn only when taught by the teacher which itself does not have any necessary

evidence. Student learning is guided and impacted by a large number of variables; teaching is

one of those variables. More significantly, learning is best achieved when a learner’s

inquisitiveness is met ‘on time’ which is called “just-in-time solution” in the world of

computers. Postponing the question and the interaction for half an hour not only dissuades the

learner and he or she loses the question itself but it also creates negative impact on learning

due to retroactive inhibition. The alternative pedagogy is: a few teachers with outstanding

teaching skills and competence in a particular subject can be selected. The teachers will

conduct the classes in the studio, may or may not be in presence of a live audience, with an

uplink facility. The live teaching session will be uplinked. The lessons will be downloaded in

the schools or colleges, as the case may be wherever SIT facilities are established. The

learner will be able to view the presentation by the teachers on the television screen; and ask

questions, make comments, or enter into interaction with the teacher. The learner intervention

will be uplinked which the teaching end can view. Teacher will have the facility or option to

accept an intervention. However, whenever he or she decides to accept an intervention, such

interaction will be audible and visible to all other learning centres. This will open up all the

reception or learning centres and the teaching centres into a virtual classroom across the state

and the nation.

The most significant advantage of this pedagogical process is the availability of best

of the teachers to all the students in a state or the country. Further, students across the state

will be able to interact with one another; this indirectly gives an opportunity for the average

19

and the poor students to be able to interact with the brilliant ones. From the angle of

administration and management, to teach a subject at its best through virtual classroom may

require five to ten excellent teachers who are available in any state. Hence, this provides a

quantum jump into instructional quality, with a paradigm shift in the pedagogical processes.

It is possible that many of the otherwise brilliant teachers may not be familiar with the

modern instructional aids. The teacher support material in the form of Power Point

presentations, computer graphics, animations, etc. can be prepared in advance; the selected

teachers can be trained in the use of such kind of aids to enhance their teaching ability. The

entire interactive instructional session should be recorded, digitized and stored in a software

archive in a server. A learner should be able to access any such session at his or her own time

and place. This will automatically become a mechanism of content generation. In two-way

videoconferencing, a reception centre classroom can have either a large screen television, 29

inch, that can comfortably help about 40 to 45 students to view. Alternatively, the reception

centre may have a computer terminal with an LCD projector. This can also accommodate

about 40 to 45 learners in one single unit. The virtual classroom can have many such units at

any given time, creating a large virtual classroom. Although there is no restriction to the size

of virtual classroom, empirical evidences indicate that for quality learning, virtual classrooms

should preferably comprise not more than 400 learners. Hence, for school level, most relevant

would be district level classrooms, for higher education optimal would be state level and for

professional education, virtual classroom can be national.

Compared to the two-way videoconferencing, computer-based virtual classrooms

require computer terminals, preferably one terminal for a maximum of three or four students.

This particular mode of virtual classroom will require significant expansion of availability of

computer terminals in schools and colleges. It will, hence, be more expensive. Further, the

cultural ethos of teaching-learning process in India demands a teacher figure. Whereas face-

to-face classrooms are ideal from the angle of classroom ethos, virtual classrooms through

two-way videoconferencing offers the second best choice; but it overcomes this marginal

limitations because of significantly different quality of teaching.

Accordingly, right pedagogical choice is two-way videoconferencing based virtual

classrooms as the main instructional platform for the school and undergraduate education.

20

Computer-based virtual classrooms are recommended for comparatively higher levels of

education, particularly professional education.

As mentioned earlier, the result is not very encouraging. There are several factors

associated with such frustrating results. Major ones are:

Educational television is alien to educational culture,

Time mismatch between ETV and schools

Poor quality of educational software,

Emphasis on enrichment programs rather than curriculum based programs,

Teachers are unfamiliar (and untrained) with the methods of integrating educational

broadcast programmes with curricular learning in the schools and colleges.

1.1.7 Functions of EDUSAT

There has been a steady shift in attitude towards television in general and educational

television in particular. The channels like National Geographic, Discovery, etc. have

provided a different orientation to what educational television can be. Further, there have

been some important innovations in building interactivity in the television programmes as

evident in the various news channels where the journalists from the field supplement

broadcasting from the studio. In many of the educational and entertainment programmes,

channels have introduced phone-in facility. Also, extensive cable television network almost

throughout the country, even in some of the rural areas, has taken large number of channels to

homes for a token payment. This new cultural and technological scenario can be fully

exploited and utilized to reconstruct educational broadcast for EDUSAT. Accordingly,

broadcast mode should be used outside the school and college hours, preferably in the

evenings, coupled with phone-in facilities so that the viewers can ask questions and seek

clarifications; it also implies that there should be a subject expert available in the studio

during the broadcast of the programme. Cable operators need to be involved so that

programmes can be taken to homes. If the programmes are directly onto the content and

curriculum and of quality and relevance, the programme shall be watched by millions and

will attract advertisers making cable operation viable. The pedagogy or delivery of education

through EDUSAT demands careful planning with open mind and receptivity to science of

education and human learning.

21

Fig. 1.4: Potential Uses of EDUSAT

Progress of EDUSAT’s organizational management at the ground level has naturally

been rather slow. This needs to be picked up as early as possible. There seems to be no other

alternative but get back to the original concept of inter-ministerial authority and full time staff

to look after EDUSAT by different stakeholders, including important national institutions that

can play their role freely and equally without subjugating the interests of one another. The

only interim arrangement is to constitute a national steering committee headed, may be, by

one of the former education secretaries, truly representing different interest groups. EDUSAT

is unconventional. It cannot be managed by conventional management approaches. It cannot

be managed by people who are entrenched within their own institutional framework, and

cocooned within administrative ‘tribalism’. It cannot be managed with myopic vision. It will

need, as the Union Education Secretary rightly said, ‘people who can think outside their

hats’. It will be necessary to follow the footsteps of ISRO to construct utilization of EDUSAT

in a project mode with dedicated authority, dedicated staff, dedicated fund and a culture of

social and economic accountability. There is a rich stock of experience in managing such

projects in different parts of the world as indicated in a chapter on international experience in

interactive television (Parhar, 2006). There are some outstanding experiences in managing

massive projects in mission mode in India. What is needed is an open minded approach to

learn from previous experiences. When the teacher teaches in front of the camera in the

uplink station, the audio and video signals gets beamed to the satellites. The satellite sends

22

signals back to the earth that can be received by the reception terminals, where the reception

dish antennas have been installed and are oriented towards the satellite transponders. The

teaching in the studio can now be seen and heard in the classrooms. The classroom is

provided either with a large 29 inch television, with a camera and audio equipments, or a

computer with an LCD projector and audio equipment. When a learner asks questions the

audio and visual signals gets beamed to the satellite which in turn sends it back to the

teaching ends. By using the facilities on the console, the teacher can see and hear the student.

Also, student will be visible to all the other learners in various others learning ends, creating a

virtual classroom. The network has the facility of recording the lessons taught at the teaching

end as well as the questions asked by the learners and store in digitized form in the server.

Lessons thus stored can be retrieved by anyone with access to computer. As a result, it will be

possible for a student to revisit and relive the classroom experience.

1.1.8 Will EDUSAT Replace Teachers?

No, Never, Nothing can replace the teacher, leave alone a technology network. Such

virtual classrooms involving best of the teachers will provide much needed additional support

and reinforcement and the teaching and learning processes in the schools, colleges and

universities for improving the quality of education. However, the effectiveness of the virtual

classroom will depend very largely upon the role played by the teachers in the classrooms.

For effective learning through virtual classrooms, the teachers in the teaching end and at the

reception end must, play the role of a team member (team teaching). The teacher at the

reception end will help students in formulating questions, seeking clarifications from the

virtual classroom teacher, solving problems on the spot, and also taking the lessons further

where virtual classroom teacher concludes. Eventually, this may help million of teachers

improve their own teaching. Is any good teacher in the classroom good enough to be the

teacher in the virtual classroom? Both ‘yes’ and ‘no’. Yes, because he or she has the

potentiality to become a good virtual classroom teacher. No, because just being a good

teacher in a conventional classroom is not enough to be an effective teacher in a virtual

classroom; it requires a few more additional skills over and above the knowledge of the

subject and ability to communicate in a face to face situation. Conventional classroom

consists of largely monologues of teachers where students remain passive listeners.

23

This is detrimental to achieving higher levels of cognition by the students. Interactive

learning is a necessary condition for achieving higher order cognition like application,

analysis, synthesis, creativity, etc. One of the important, rather necessary skills of a virtual

classroom teacher is to encourage students to raise their doubts, seek clarifications, make

observation and generates an interactive environment. Associated skill is to manage virtual

classrooms that often have 400 to 500 students - staggering and choosing questions to

respond, using generic reinforcements, etc. Ability to use audiovisual aids is an important

skill for the virtual classroom teachers. Unlike the conventional television broadcast or

conventional classroom of chalk and talk, the teachers will have to use a variety of

educational software to make virtual classrooms interesting and effective. Besides the

conventional aids like charts models, experimental demonstrations, teachers will also require

electronic aids like Power point presentation, computer animation, graphics, flash, etc.

Depending upon the nature of the subject and the theme, teacher may also use a fully

developed interactive CD followed by discussion with the learners at distant locations. In

EDUSAT, students can ask questions during the virtual class; it is also possible to post the

questions on the web site or sent by e-mail which the teacher can respond at his or her

convenience. Thus EDUSAT provides both time synchronous and asynchronous interaction.

1.2 CURIOSITY

“I think at, a child's birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with

the most useful gift, that gift should be curiosity.”

-Elean Roosevelt

Curiosity is an emotion related to natural inquisitive behaviour such as exploration,

investigation, and learning, evident by observation in human and many animal species. The

term can also be used to denote the behaviour itself being caused by the emotion of curiosity.

As this emotion represents a drive to know new things, curiosity is the fuel of science and all

other disciplines of human study.

Although curiosity is an innate capability of many living beings, it should not be

categorized as an instinct because it is not a fixed action pattern; rather it is an innate

basic emotion because while curiosity can be expressed in many ways, the expression of an

instinct is typically more fixed and less flexible. Curiosity is common to human beings at all

ages from infancy to old age, and is easy to observe in many other animal species. These

24

include apes, cats, fishes, reptiles, and insects; as well as many others. Many aspects of

exploration are shared among all beings, as all known terrestrial beings share similar aspects:

limited size and a need to seek out food sources.

1.2.1 Concept of Curiosity

Curiosity – a tendency to wonder, to inquire, to investigate, and to seek information

about anything novel or unknown – has not only contributed to a great deal of the world's

progress but it has been considered as one of the essential constituents for mental

development and the sign of a vigorous intellect. It has been recognised as an important

human characteristic or trait which contributes to learning, problem solving and creative

thinking. Curiosity is defined as a need, thirst or desire for knowledge. The concept of

curiosity is central to motivation. The term can be used as both a description of a specific

behavior as well as a hypothetical construct to explain the same behavior. Berlyne (1960)

believes that curiosity is a motivational prerequisite for exploratory behavior. The term

curiosity is used both as a description of a specific behavior as well as a hypothetical

construct to explain the same behavior. Exploration refers to all activities concerned with

gathering information about the environment. This leads to the conflict and question of

whether exploratory behavior should be defined in terms of the movements that an animal or

human performs while exploring or in terms of the goal or purpose of the behavior observed.

It is indicated from the review of related studies that the earlier attempts to study

curiosity in school children were primarily concerned with the quantity and quality of

children’s questions. However, a few researchers, in later years, have focused on other

aspects of children's curiosity. But curiosity has almost been a neglected area of research in

India. There was hardly any test available to be used to measure curiosity of elementary

school children of Hindi-speaking areas of India. That is why the investigator thought it a

fruitful exercise to conduct a research on curiosity of primary school learners.

According to Maw & Maw (1964):

“An elementary school child is said to demonstrate curiosity when he (1) reacts

positively to new, strange, incongruous, or mysterious elements in his environment by

moving toward them, by exploring them, or by manipulating them; (2) exhibits a need

or a desire to know more about himself and/or his environment; (3) scans his

25

surroundings seeking new experiences; and/or (4) persists in examining and/or

exploring stimuli in order to know more about them.”

What exactly is curiosity? Loewenstein (1994) pointed out four central issues of

curiosity: definition and dimensionally, cause, voluntary exposure to curiosity, and situational

determinants. He added a fifth issue of superficiality and intensity since he stated that

curiosity can arise, change focus or end abruptly. Loewenstein believe that despite its

transience, curiosity can be a powerful motivational force. “Curiosity often produces impulse

behavior and attempts at self control” (Loewenstein, 1994). Just look at the stories of Pandora

and Eve, in which curiosity causes people to expose themselves knowingly to terrible

consequences. Langevin (1971) has conducted research in the area of curiosity and classified

measures of curiosity into two categories. First, curiosity is viewed as a motivational state

and measured with behavioral indices. Second, he conceptualized curiosity as a personality

trait that is assessed by personality measures. It has been suggested that curiosity is not a

unitary construct. At the conceptual level there are numerous definitions of curiosity which

tend to encompass a broad range of characteristics. For Fowler (1965), boredom is one

prerequisite or motivation for curiosity.

Strong curiosity is the main motivation of many scientists. In fact, in its development

as wonder or admiration, it is generally curiosity that makes a human being want to become

an expert in a field of knowledge. Though humen are sometimes considered particularly

curious, they sometimes seem to miss the obvious when compared to other animals. What

seems to happen is that human curiosity about curiosity itself, combined with the ability to

think in an abstract way, lead to mimesis, fantasy and imagination - eventually leading to an

especially human way of thinking (“human reason”), which is abstract and self-aware,

or conscious. Some people have the feeling of curiosity to know what is after death.

The degree to which a person says that they have curiosity about trivia questions links

to activity in both in the Broca’s area in their left inferior frontal gyrus, and the putamen in

their basal ganglia. This suggests people that are curious activate both parts of their brain that

comprehend and anticipates information, and those in which such information acts as

a secondary reinforcer or reward. Curiosity also increased activity in memory areas such as

the hippocampus when subjects guessed trivia questions incorrectly and this suggests that it

might act to enhance a person's long term memory for surprising new information. Such

26

activation linked to curiosity predicted better recall of surprising answers one or two weeks

later. Dopamine receptors in part of the hippocampus called the dentate gyrus contribute to

the generation of curiosity in mice. These receptors are also important for plasticity and

learning and therefore are proposed to represent a molecular link between intelligence and

curiosity. The most exciting thing about multimedia is that it reaches all the senses and that is

why, its use in the field of education, is even more justified, “Say young, chairman of the

Department of Technology, Cognitive at the university of North Texas, Dentan, “Students all

given more fodder for their imaginations”. (Young 2005).

The earliest discussions of curiosity were conducted by philosophers and religious

thinkers and centered on the question of curiosity's moral status rather then on its

psychological underpinnings. Cicero referred to curiosity as a “passion for learning” and

argued that the story of Ulysses and the Sirens was really a parable about curiosity. Several

forms of curiosity related behavior such as search behavior, movement toward an unknown

object and asking questions are included in the area of motivational psychology, however,

curiosity does not fit well into the conceptual framework developed along the traditional

pathways of behavioral sciences. Firstly, the conception of an intrinsically motivated

behavioral system, which cannot be linked to a reducible drive raises serious questions about

motivational psychology since the 1950's. The idea of curiosity was rediscovered when

laboratory researchers wondered about the maze activities of the lab rat when none of the

drive states such as thirst or hunger were aroused. Secondly, Wohlwill (1981) states that the

curiosity phenomena cannot be investigated without reference to the natural environment of

an individual. Before 1950 curiosity was seen in the light of its social function, for example:

the eagerness or greed to get to know something new for the sake of newness, and in early

psychological literature the term curiosity had a negative connotation. The scientific term

“curiosity” is more neutral.

The most basic problem that has occupied curiosity researchers and theorists is the

underlying cause of curiosity. Is curiosity a primary or secondary drive? A primary drive is

inborn or innate whereas a secondary drive is learned or acquired. The research is

inconclusive. If secondary, from what more basic drive or motive does it derive? Older

theories oriented toward instinct and drive concepts. The defining feature is that curiosity

produces and unpleasant sensation (usually labeled arousal) that is reduced by exploratory

27

behavior. William James (1890) pointed out two kinds of curiosity. He emphasized the

biological function of curiosity as a mechanism of instinct driven behavior that serves in

approaching new objects. Approach and exploration are described as being characteristic

forms of behavior. The second kind of curiosity pointed out by James is “scientific curiosity”

and “metaphysical wonder” with which “the practical instinctive root has probably nothing to

do” rather “the philosophical brain responds to an inconsistency or a gap in its knowledge”.

In the psychoanalytical literature Freud views curiosity as a derivative of the sex drive. The

partial impulse of looking motivates the child's great interest in all things and all events that

have to do with sexuality. Whereas the looking impulse and curiosity are primarily sexual in

origin, the child's exploratory interest and desire for knowledge can be considered to be a by

product of cognitive development. Due to social pressure, sexual exploration is later

abandoned.

Blarer (1951) state that the inhibition of curiosity may result in different forms of

pathological behavior, such as depression, and higher levels of sensation-seeking or thrill

seeking behavior. Blarer proposed curiosity to be intrinsic to the individuals perceptions and

world experiences and thus Blarer has the basis for the intrinsic motivation viewpoint in

curiosity theory. Originally, Berlyne (1954a, 1960) thought that the aversive and drive-

reducing effect of deviations of the arousal potential from the individual's optimum level as

the underlying mechanism of curiosity. Since then, Berlyne has come to believe that curiosity

is externally stimulated, and that the curiosity drive is aroused by external stimuli specifically

stimulus conflict. This encompasses complexity, novelty and surprise. Berlyne believed that

in the short term, stimulus change and novelty is accompanied by physiological change.

However, over longer periods of time, investigating behaviors are not accompanied by

readily identifiable physiological changes.

1.2.2 Importance of Curiosity:

It makes mind active instead of passive. Curious people always ask questions and

search for answers in their minds. Their minds are always active. Since the mind is

like a muscle which becomes stronger through continual exercise, the mental exercise

caused by curiosity makes mind stronger and stronger.

It makes mind observant of new ideas. When a learner is curious about something, his

mind expects and anticipates new ideas related to it. When the ideas come he will

28

soon be recognized. Without curiosity, the ideas may pass right in front of him and

yet he misses them because his mind is not prepared to recognize them. Just think,

how many great ideas may have lost due to lack of curiosity?

It opens up new worlds and possibilities. By being curious learners will be able to see

new worlds and possibilities which are normally not visible. They are hidden behind

the surface of normal life, and it takes a curious mind to look beneath the surface and

discover these new worlds and possibilities.

It brings excitement into your life. The life of curious people is far from boring. It’s

neither dull nor routine. There are always new things that attract their attention, there

are always new ‘toys’ to play with. Instead of being bored, curious people have an

adventurous life.

1.2.3 How to Promote Curiosity

Primary School learners don't come with an owner’s manual, and sometimes it can be

hard to figure out how to nourish their minds as well as their bodies. Developing a curious,

inquisitive mind is just as important in parenting as developing a strong, healthy body. Do the

right things and teacher can promote curiosity in primary school learners:

Read the child, and pause to ask them questions about what they are reading such as,

“What do you think Red Riding Hood is looking for?” Try to make the questions open

ended, that is they can't be answered by a simple yes or no. This will allow the

children’s imagination to engage in possibilities beyond the basic storyline.

Ask them what they think about a movie they have just watched. Examples are,

“What was you're favourite part?” “How would you have done that different?” and

“What would be a better ending?” After a few movies, they will be thinking about

these things while they’re watching movies, and become more curious about the way

stories work.

Explore museums, historic sites and parks with the children. Encourage them to ask

questions: remember the basics: who, what, where, when, why and how.

Encourage the child to try new things, such as foods, crafts, sports and hobbies. Let

them expand their world and always encourage them to ask questions.

29

Motivate the child to learn new things by themselves so that teacher is setting an

example and don't be afraid to tell the children that they don't know something. Teach

the children how to find answers, both in books and online.

Unfortunately, many post-elementary students see school as a means to an end, and

have long stopped rushing home bursting with must-share information and asking non-stop

questions about the world and how things work.

It’s been said that children nowadays enter school as question marks, but come out as

periods, their curiosity stilled. Whatever happened to all that “why is the sky blue”

inquisitiveness, and how do we get it back? Best but: before blaming schools, parents should

think about home. Is it an electronic wonderland, or do books, magazines, newspapers,

almanacs, and encyclopaedias dominate the living space? Wide reading-plus plenty of

inquiring talk--holds the key. Hours of video gaming, television viewing, text and instant

messaging don’t. Be inquisitive and never lose own sense of wonder. Fortunately, it’s

contagious. Keep on asking questions, like what makes rainbows or what causes an itch.

Then go searching, find out, and share the news. Meanwhile, learn something new everyday–

like these cool facts–and pass it along to children and let them ask the questions like

Elephants are the only animals that can't jump, Women blink twice as often as men, It’s

physically impossible to lick your elbow. (Did you just try?), No English word rhymes

with month, Our eyes remain the same size from birth, but our noses and ears keep growing,

The shortest complete sentence in English is “Go” etc.

1.3 LINGUISTICS ABILITY

Education and communication are like two sides of the same coin. Information

dissemination is not the only function the communication performs. Mass Media are capable

of influencing the systems of education. They can help extend the reach of the educational

system. Mass Media can also help the education system to achieve its goals such as

conveying knowledge and improving the levels of information access. Together, they can

serve the larger interests of the society. Roger E.M. (1986) says “one important function of

telecommunications is to provide a substitute for transportation: instead of moving people to

ideas, telecommunications move the ideas to people.” Now-a-days, education dies not stop at

the borders of the campus. Media enables us to reach out and serve people wherever they are.

30

1.3.1 Concept of Linguistics ability

Linguistics is the scientific study of natural language. Linguistics encompasses a

number of sub-fields. An important topical division is between the study of language

structure (grammar) and the study of meaning (semantics and pragmatics). Grammar

encompasses morphology (the formation and composition of words), syntax (the rules that

determine how words combine into phrases and sentences) and phonology (the study of

sound systems and abstract sound units). Phonetics is a related branch of linguistics

concerned with the actual properties of speech sounds (phonemes), non-speech sounds, and

how they are produced and perceived. Other sub-disciplines of linguistics include the

following: evolutionary linguistics, which considers the origins of language; historical, which

explores language change; sociolinguistics, which looks at the relation between linguistic

variation and social structures; psycholinguistics, which explores the representation and

functioning of language in the mind; neurolinguistics, which looks at the representation of

language in the brain; language acquisition, which considers how children acquire their first

language and how children and adults acquire and learn their second and subsequent

languages; discourse analysis, which is concerned with the structure of texts and

conversations, and pragmatics with how meaning is transmitted based on a combination of

linguistic competence, non-linguistic knowledge, and the context of the speech act.

Language is a human being’s finest asset. Many essential human activities spring

from this unique characteristic by which we become detached from our physical world. As

far as we can tell, animals normally go into action because they are prompted by physical

stimuli (internal as well as external). A cat stalks a bird which has attracted attention; a dog

begs for food when it can smell or see it, when feeding rituals are set in motion or as a result

of ‘feeling’ hungry. In contrast, humen can indulge in reveries which take them well beyond

the present reality into the realms of abstract through. They communicate to themselves in

some symbolic form. Moreover, they can communicate their ideas to others by using these

symbolic forms. These two uses of language, personal and social communication, are very

important for teachers because their work is built around the efficient communication of

ideas. The importance of language competence and the role of teachers in making sure that

such competence is relentlessly encouraged in schools are the concern of both the teaching

profession and the Department for Education (EfE). A good number of studies in the area of

31

reading have been reported in India and abroad with various perspectives. The investigators

identified some of the factors that influence the achievement of children and included them in

their respective students. The following are some of the findings of the studies which dealt

with the related subject. Intelligence is found to be one of the important factors that influence

the reading achievement of children. Harry Bell (1942) Gray (1960), Hage and Shroud (1960)

and Odle Florance Neal (1976) found high correlation between the intelligence and reading

achievement of children. Hearing ability of children was studied in relation to their reading

achievement by Bond (1935), Witty and Kopel (1936), Kennedy (1942), Robinson (1946),

Henry (1947 & 1948) Polins (1953), Johnson (1957) and Weintralib (1972). They found high

and positive correlation between the hearing ability of children and their reading

achievement.

Dawe (1942) set up a special educational program involving pictures, stories,

excursions, and discussion sessions for eleven preschool-aged children living in a culturally

impoverished orphanage. These children were matched on age, sex, IQ and vocabulary status

with children in a control group who also resided in the orphanage. The investigator tried to

supplement the meagre word-concept experiences of the children in the experimental group

by a variety of direct experiences and a “rich” language commentary. “The child cannot

manipulate certain facts if his environment has kept him ignorant of those facts. In this sense,

the language training involved in the experiment is analogous to what goes on in the home

and school life of any child who is not neglected.”

Through the use of text, graphics, audio, video and animation, edutainment steers

away from the traditional teaching method. These multimedia appliances help to reinforce

learning, and make learning more fun rather than a hassle. Another advantage of edutainment

in that it allows the students to control their own learning pace. When students have the

ability to control the speed at which they learn the material, it usually required less time to

learn it (Attewell, 2001). Linguistics is narrowly defined as the scientific approach to the

study of language, but language can be approached from a variety of directions, and a number

of other intellectual disciplines are relevant to it and influence its study. Semiotics, for

example, is a related field concerned with the general study of signs and symbols both in

language and outside of it. Literary theorists study the use of language in artistic literature.

Linguistics additionally draws on work from such diverse fields as psychology, speech-

32

language pathology, informatics, computer science, philosophy, biology, human anatomy,

neuroscience, sociology, anthropology, and acoustics. Worbois (1942) has shown that the

school environment has a significant influence on language growth. Children attending one-

room and consolidated schools in the same rural area of Iowa were given a large battery of

vocabulary, information, and intelligence tests. The children enrolled in the consolidated

school were clearly superior in language development. When children in the one-room and

consolidated schools were matched on age, sex, and IQ, the pupils of the consolidated school

were much superior in verbal effectiveness.

Another striking case of the effects of cultural deprivation upon language retardation

is reported by Coppinger and Ammons (1952). They found Negro children in the first eight

grades to be about three years behind white children in vocabulary size as estimated by the

Ammons Picture Vocabulary Test.

Children notice certain features of language behaviour, and use these features to form

their own individual system of combination. However, the needs of communication, the

requirement for more words and more complex ways of combining them, force them to

approximate more and more to adult systems. So, of course, does the need to be under-stood

by a variety of other people. When his only communicant is his mother or his twin, the child

may be held back baby language. But as soon as he needs to speak to other members of the

community, the rules of the conventional code of language become more necessary (Herriot,

1971). Within the field, linguist is used to describe someone who either studies the field or

uses linguistic methodologies to study groups of languages or particular languages. Outside

the field, this term is commonly used to refer to people who speak many languages or have a

great vocabulary. Marsh Academic Dean for Worcester country school, Berlin, MD. Agrees

her school uses multimedia right through from the kindergarten to the senior grade. She says

both the students and teachers find it exciting to use the encyclopedias, research program,

presentation tools and curriculum specific CD-ROM that come under the banner of

Multimedia (Marsh 2007). “How can you measure linguistic skills and instruction suddenly

excels using multimedia? I’ve seen student’s manner when teachers used multimedia

approach. Multimedia takes children for beyond what would normally be learning through

the textbook. Multimedia works wonders”.

33

Historical linguistics studies the history and evolution of languages through

the comparative method. Often the aim of historical linguistics is to classify languages

in language families descending from a common ancestor. This evolves comparison of

elements in different languages to detect possible cognates in order to be able to reconstruct

how different languages have changed over time. This also involves the study of etymology,

the study of the history of single words. Historical linguistics is also called “diachronic

linguistics” and is opposed to “synchronic linguistics” that study languages in a given

moment in time without regarding its previous stages. In universities in the United States, the

historic perspective is often out of fashion. Historical linguistics was among the first

linguistic disciplines to emerge and was the most widely practiced form of linguistics in the

late 19th century. The shift in focus to a synchronic perspective started with Saussure and

became predominant in western linguistics with Noam Chomsky’s emphasis on the study of

the synchronic and universal aspects of language. Relationship between the study habits and

reading achievement of children was studied by Joshi and Chaudhary (1966) and Samuel and

Soundararaja Rao (1967). They established positive and significant relationship between the

study habits and reading skills of children. School is a common place where students acquire

linguistic skills, especially reading & writing. The studies conducted by Alagiriswamy (1970)

established significant difference between urban & rural schools with regard to the reading

achievement of children. Linguists nonetheless agree that the study of written language can

be worthwhile and valuable. For research that relies on corpus linguistics and computational

linguistics, written language is often much more convenient for processing large amounts of

linguistic data. Large corpora of spoken language are difficult to create and hard to find, and

are typically transcribed and written. Additionally, linguists have turned to text-based

discourse occurring in various formats of computer-mediated communication as a viable site

for linguistic inquiry.

The study of writing systems themselves is in any case considered a branch of

linguistics. There are a wide variety of approaches to linguistic study. These can be loosely

divided (although not without controversy) into formalist and functionalist approaches.

Formalist approaches stress the importance of linguistic forms, and seek explanations for the

structure of language from within the linguistic system itself. For example, the fact that

language shows recursion might be attributed to recursive rules. Functionalist linguists by

34

contrast view the structure of language as being driven by its function. For example, the fact

that languages often put topical information first in the sentence, may be due to a

communicative need to pair old information with new information in discourse. During the

last half of the twentieth century, following the work of Noam Chomsky, linguistics was

dominated by the generativist school. While formulated by Chomsky in part as a way to

explain how human beings acquire language and the biological constraints on this

acquisition, in practice it has largely been concerned with giving formal accounts of specific

phenomena in natural languages. Generative theory is modularist and formalist in character.

Formal linguistics remains the dominant paradigm for studying linguistics, though Chomsky's

writings have also gathered much criticism.

In the 1970s and 1980s, a new school of thought known as cognitive linguistics

emerged as a reaction to generativist theory. Led by theorists such as Ronald

Langacker and George Lakoff, linguists working within the realm of cognitive linguistics

posit that language is an emergent property of basic, general-purpose cognitive processes,

though cognitive linguistics has also been the subject of much criticism. In contrast to the

generativist school of linguistics, cognitive linguistics is non-modularist and functionalist in

character. Important developments in cognitive linguistics include cognitive grammar, frame

semantics, and conceptual metaphor, all of which are based on the idea that form-function

correspondences based on representations derived from embodied experience constitute the

basic units of language. Learning a new language is about much more than passing exams or

getting good marks. It is about opening up new life opportunities, making new friends in

different countries, experiencing other cultures and broadening your horizons. Language

learning is also about “training your brain”. Researches show that people who speak multiple

languages are better at problem solving. Language skills can improve your career prospects,

help you live in another country and boost your confidence. The European Union actively

encourages language learning at all ages, and a wide range of opportunities are available to

school learners. Languages are for everybody, whatever your age and whatever your reasons

for wanting to learn. They help to break down personal as well as national barriers, allowing

Europeans to communicate with each other, to work together and to move between countries.

1.3.2 How to learn?

35

Learning a language can be an enjoyable and deeply rewarding experience. The main

thing is to find a method that suits your needs and the amount of time they have available.

For example, learners can:

1. Learn by themselves- self-teaching courses are available in a wide variety of

languages and media, from DVDs and CD-ROMs to audio-cassettes and textbooks.

2. Watch TV - many broadcasting companies offer language courses via television or

radio programmes.

3. Surf the Internet - a growing number of websites offer lessons in foreign languages,

often with sound and pictures.

4. Learn with a teacher - the advantage of taking lessons with a group of other learners

is that students have friends to encourage them in their learning and a teacher to guide

them according to their specific needs.

5. Learn at work - more and more employers are recognising that foreign language

skills are vital to the success of their business, and many larger companies offer free

or subsidised language courses.

6. Find a partner - tandem learning involves a partnership of two native speakers,

working together through correspondence (e-mail/telephone, etc.)

Verbally linguistic learners excel in activities like reading and writing skills. They are

typically very well spoken, have good listening ability, a keenly developed memory and can

vividly recall what they have read and have heard spoken to them. The subject of language is

fascinating to people with this learning style, and learners will often find them engaged in

trying to learn new words and exploring different methods on how to use the language more

creatively, like in poetry and creative writing. They enjoy studying and trying to learn new

languages, trying to memorize reading materials, and playing games such as jig saw puzzles,

scrabble and other language oriented games. Sometimes actually reading the dictionary rather

than just looking up certain words proves to be a fun activity for them. Individuals with this

learning style learn better if they are instructed with the help of written and spoken materials.

They enjoy and engage more in activities that involve linguistic reasoning instead of visual

stimulation.

36

Doing math problems for the learners is easier when they are in the form of word

problems rather than equations. These learners will strongly engage in written projects,

dramatic arts, speech presentations, language classes, books, and most of all, journalism of

any style. Educators should look into activities like creative writing, essay question and

answers, verbal debate and word games to assist this particular learning style. If the teacher

can use words to explain ideas and concepts to the linguistic learner, they will learn the

material better and can also retain it more effectively to memory. Their strength resides in

their ability to process information both verbally and by the written word. Various task

tracking software and mind mapper techniques available on the market can. The fields that

these learners often seek out are journalism, English and foreign language teaching, creative

writing, news anchors, editorial positions, attorney, advertising, and freelance writing, public

speaking, dramatic arts, and poetry writing.

This goes a long way toward countering the complaint that language- using apes are

merely responding to cues from researchers or, at best, learning rote behaviour to get rewards

without really comprehending the meaning of the words they employ. Part of the problem is

that the authors are playing by rules laid down by their critics. It was Rene Descartes, who

fashioned the longstanding paradigm of animals as automatons [sic], incapable of doing

anything other than mindlessly responding to whatever forces impinge on them. Descartes

insisted that animals cannot even feel real pain or pleasure, much less understand or

remember the experience. In our era, this tradition has been carried on by linguistics experts

equally intent on preserving language and reason for the exclusive use of humans. Each time

an ape demonstrates either ability, the linguists set about redefining language and reason in

more complex and confusing ways, erecting yet more artificial barriers for primates to hurdle.

1.4 ACHIEVEMENT:

Academic achievement at any point is a cumulative function of current and prior

family, community, and school experiences. A study of the entire process would require

complete family, community, and school histories, and such data are rarely if ever available.

Indeed, the precise specification of what to measure is poorly understood. In the absence of

such information, analyses that study the contemporaneous relationship between the level of

achievement and school inputs for a single grade are obviously susceptible to omitted

variables biases from a number of sources. An alternative approach focuses on the

37

determinants of the rate of learning over specific time periods. Previous studies of

instructional media were mixed in their findings. While Dewan (1966) had found televised

instructional material effective, and Roy (1974) had found no significant effect on cognitive

clarity of students through the television lessons of Delhi and that as simulation and

utilization bases were the most affected, the present survey contains some frank evaluations

of school broadcasts and school telecasts. The advantage of the growth formulation is that it

eliminates a variety of confounding influences including the prior, and often unobserved,

history of parental and school inputs. This formulation, frequently referred to as a value-

added model, explicitly controls for variations in initial conditions when looking at how

schools influence performance during, say, a given school year. While such a value-added

framework by no means eliminates the potential for specification bias, the inclusion of initial

achievement as a means to account for past inputs reduces dramatically the likelihood that

omitted historical factors introduce significant bias.

Several national studies have also examined the impact of student mobility on the

academic performance of students across grade levels. These studies were based on a national

health survey that provided controls for the demographic characteristics of students but not

prior educational performance. These studies found that only frequent, three or more, family

moves predicted grade retention (Simpson & Fowler, 1994; Wood et al., 1993). However,

another study based on the same data found that even one residential move had a negative

impact on a combined measure of both academic and behavioral aspects of school

performance, although the negative association was found only among children who did not

live with both biological parents (Tucker, Marx, & Long, 1998). The authors suggest that

two-parent families may have more so-called "social capital" that can help mitigate the

effects of residential mobility (Coleman, 1987).

1.4.1 Concept of Achievement:

An academic achievement is something one do or achieve at school, college or

university - in class, in a laboratory, library or fieldwork. It does not include sport or music.

An academic achievement, such as graduating first in one's class, is sometimes a purely

quantitative matter, while having the findings of lengthy, comprehensive research published

by a recognized journal is also a notable academic achievement. Being named head or

38

chairman of a particular department at a university is both a professional and an academic

achievement. Some other relevant statements to define academic achievement are following:

Academic achievement is all about what students can actually do when they have

finished a course of study,

Degrees and programs list this information and call it “competencies”,

Competencies are measured as students graduate,

The results are used to improve program and degree outcomes,

Each degree or program publishes an annual report,

The report is a way of knowing how well an individual program or degree is doing in

preparing students,

Studies that do not control for the background characteristics of students consistently

find that mobile students have lower achievement on average than non-mobile or stable

students. For example, one national study of third-grade students found that frequent school

changes were associated with a host of problems, including nutrition and health problems,

below-grade-level reading scores, and retention in grade (U.S. General Accounting Office,

1994). Yet studies that do account for background differences find that mobility may be

more of a symptom than a cause of poor school performance. One study of mobile students in

Chicago found that half of the achievement differences between mobile and stable students

could be attributed to differences between the students that pre-dated their school changes

(Temple & Reynolds, 1997). One well-designed study of elementary students in Baltimore

found that although mobility during elementary school had a negative association with test

scores, grades, retention, and referral to special education in fifth grade, the association was

largely insignificant once controls were introduced for the family and academic performance

in first grade (Alexander, Entwisle, & Dauber, 1996). In other words, mobile students came

from poorer families and had lower academic performance before they were mobile, a finding

supported by other studies (Nelson et al., 1996).

There is significant effect of competency based teaching through video on student’s

attainment at primary level. The main aim of our educational system is to develop various

skills and knowledge among the students. So that they can live more effectively and

39

intelligently in the technological world. The traditional classroom teaching has emphasised

the transmission of knowledge only. The essence of best teaching is that the subject mater has

to be communicated effectively to the students to make them understand the basic ideas

(Natrajan, P & Natesan N., 2004).

Achievement is the level of learning and attainment in a particular area of the subject

in terms of knowledge, understanding, skills and applications. The main focus of educative

process is to improve the performance or learning of the students. The learning outcomes of

the students are measured with the help of their achievement or performance. Performance

assessment is the process of measuring the terminal behaviours of the students at the end of

instruction. It is the job of the teacher to measure whether the students have acquired the

component concepts, as on achievement, before proceeding with the instruction which

arranges these concepts in proper relationship for the learning of the principles. The

achievement is the end product of the instruction usually verbal performance.

Academic achievement is the performance of students in the field of education and

the types of environment found at home plays, perhaps, a very important role in determining

academic achievement in children. The environment assessed in home was related to

emotional and verbal responsivity, acceptance of child’s behaviour organisation of

environment, provision of play materials, parental involvement with child and opportunities

for variety in daily stimulation. The child rearing issue is of major concern in contemporary

society. childhood has been accepted to be the most sensitive and vulnerable stage of an

individual’s life during which care and nurturance pay a significant role. The mind of a child

is considered as clean slate (tabla rasa) on which attitudes, values, beliefs etc. can easily be

inscribed. The kind of care children receive is greatly reflected in their personalities. The

child needs to be handled scientifically so as to develop desirable behavioural patterns

leading to the emergence of good human being, which can contribute to the ultimate progress

of family in particular and society in general. It calls for an environment that encourages

activity, experimentation and manipulative experiences. Deficiencies in the environment

during this period may cause irreparable damage to future development of the child where no

subsequent attention may really make up the loss. According to Ballard, family was the

original social institution from which all other institutions develop. It is, in fact, the

foundation of all social organisations.

40

Joseph Mazzini was right when he said that the child comes to have the first lesson of

citizenship on mother's knee and father's kiss. The family or the home is an important agency

of education and has been exercising an everlasting and immediate influence on the

behaviour, character, conduct and personality of its members. Education the child is not the

exclusive responsibility of the school. Parents can and should play an important role in

shaping and building the career of their children. Home is the place where we learn our first

lessons of living together, working together, working in cooperation, helping each other,

learning lessons of mutual help and adjustment,

Old members of the family were very particular that their children should follow

moral code and accordingly they used to set good examples before him. They were very keen

that nothing should be done which in any way brought slur on the name of the, family. The

old members of the family used to narrate stories of great men who always stood for higher

ideals in life and thereby exhorted the youngsters to follow their examples. By participating

in the religious activities of the family children got opportunities for their spiritual

development. Generally speaking, all the members of the family had the same religious views

and in this way home imparted religious education to a considerable extent. Children used to

inherit pate occupations. They learnt everything by imitating older people and by getting

instruction from them. The sons learnt the vocations of their father and girls got training of

becoming good housewives from their mothers. Family has been a center of social gatherings

where the child has been learning social behaviour. The family developed a code of

behaviour for regulating the interaction of its members. This code was also to be observed

outside the family. In this way family was an important agency for developing social

behaviour and attitude.

Poor academic achievement in school may be the result of an interplay between child

factors and the environmental milieu. Studies have shown that the effects of poor academic

achievement during the early school years often carry over to the adolescent years, with a

higher proportion of school dropouts, behavioural problems and even delinquency among this

population. It is important not only to identify children who are coping poorly in the early

years of school, but also to look at factors that have an impact on school achievement. While

earlier studies have looked at the child’s medical and cognitive problems, and socioeconomic

background, more recent studies have emphasised the importance of family involvement and

41

the child’s intrinsic motivation. A local study on early primary school children showed a

weak but significant association between poor nutritional intake and academic achievement;

however, these children were from low socioeconomic areas and of a single ethnic origin.

Another study examined recurrent abdominal pain and academic performance in children

who had already completed six years of education. A cross-sectional study was then

undertaken in 2001 to identify low academic achievers among primary school children

attending urban national type primary schools in Malaysia and to determine the cognitive,

socio-demographic, medical and nutritional factors that contribute to poor achievement:

Here are a Few Words about our Focus on Academic Achievement that it is our hope

that all young people will -

attend school, arrive on time, go to all classes

read at grade level or above

do well in the sciences, mathematics and technology

persist to high school graduation

be appropriately identified and served for any special needs

obtain good grades (C or higher)

have access to and do well in academically challenging courses

have opportunities to apply their knowledge while in school (through work- based

learning or service-learning)

follow a coherent course sequence leading to postsecondary education

take standardized and institutional entrance exams (e.g. Stanford 9, California

Achievement Test, SAT, ACT, Achievement, and Advanced Placement tests) and

obtain competitive scores

make thoughtful guided decisions about school attendance and financing

enrol in school

have no need for remedial education in school

sustain academic achievement and good grades in school

42

sustain financial aid (reapply as needed)

sustain school enrolment

The launching of EDUSAT at one hand, and transmission through EDUSAT for

elementary education on the other hand, has widened access to quality education but it is yet

to bring a revolution in the field of elementary education pertaining to improving professional

development of teachers and improving learning achievement of children as well. One of the

objectives of this project is to promote a shift from current passive learning to active learning

and help children to construct their own knowledge. In the context of effectiveness of

EDUSAT to improve quality o teaching-learning process at elementary level DEP-SSA

conducted a study recently at Sidhi district of Madhya Pradesh to find out the effectiveness of

EDSUAT on learning achievement of children in Mathematic at primary grade.

1.5 JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY:

The primary objective of the primary education is to prepare the children for further

education, there is need to place total emphasis on learning of all subjects including language.

Use of instructional media in classroom enriches learning experiences of children. Since this

is an age of science and technology, the present day teachers must know to use various media

and instructional materials in the classroom environment. The present study is an attempt to

study the influence of satellite channel programmes on various cognitive aspects of primary

school students. Telecast of educational programmes helps learners to learn faster and

remember longer. While learner utilizes appropriate media in the classroom, teaching will

become real, arouse, and sustain interest, keep attention of the learner. Telecast of such

educational programmes is in the form of short length films.

There are of a great use in the teaching of primary students. They are more flexible

than Cinema and so they are quite useful in many respects. They are more directly associated

with the classroom. They are very useful for teaching grammar, oral and written composition

and for testing language skills. The outstanding advantages of satellite telecasts are gaining

popularity now-a-days in our country. The pictures itself is a source of clues for the pupil. He

can anticipate the vocabulary which will certainly be used. Other advantages of these are the

economy, simplicity of operation and the lengthened span if attention induced by the picture.

43

This study was a deliberate attempt to the influence of EDUSAT on certain cognitive aspects

i.e. curiosity, linguistic ability and achievement, of primary school students. The influence

measured by the students of schools having and not having EDUSAT. There has not been any

investigation regarding these variables and not been any proof of influence over students.

Hence, the investigator attempted to examine and compare the various cognitive aspects to

see influence of EDUSAT among primary school students. Primary learners were part of

study. Effect was seen by comparing the students studying in primary schools having as well

as not having EDUSAT. Thus effect could easily seen by comparing different dependent

variables.

The launch of EDUSAT has helped in providing quality instruction through video

programmes to students studying in the interior villages. The students have benefited from

the video programmes delivered through the Satellite. The benefit gained is in terms of gain

in knowledge and understanding of the content, improvement in attendance and holding

attention and interest in viewing programmes. The teacher involvement during the broadcast

as facilitator and conduct of Pre and Post broadcast activity is note worthy. Mayer and

Gallini (2007) found that coordinating text with pictures improved learning. They found that

students who were presented text with a narration by the teacher scored significantly higher

on retention, matching and transfer test. With the increase in development of science and

technology, there is change in pattern and innovation in educational system. Satellite

communication technology presents its special advantage and speciality. As India has used its

satellite for the educational purpose. It widens the teaching scale and contents of radio,

television and in universities. It improves the development of training of secondary and

primary teachers and of vocational education. It pushes forward the educational reform and

economic and educational development for the country. India is making effort on

transforming the educational satellite net to digital, interactive and Ku wave system with the

development of information technology. The study also focused on getting feedback about

use of the information technology resources. It concluded that interactive teaching and

transformed educational satellite net will play an important role in the country’s distance

education as it enhances academic achievement of primary school learners.

Students enjoy educational television programmes and multimedia prefers multimedia

learning materials and believe that multimedia as well as educational television programmes

44

help them to learn significantly (e.g. Bosco, 1989; Byant Brown, Silbeeberg & Flliot 1980;

Fletcher 1989, 1990, Holiday, Brunner & Donias, 1977; Rigney & Lutz, 1976; Samuels,

Biesbock & Terry, 1974; Moore, 1980).

1.6 STATEMENT OF THE STUDY:

“A STUDY OF EFFECT OF ‘EDUSAT’ ON CURIOSITY, LINGUISTIC ABILITY AND

ACHIEVEMENT OF PRIMARY SCHOOL LEARNERS”

1.7 OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS OF THE KEY WORDS:

(i) EDUSAT: EDUSAT (educational Satellite) launched by ISRO on 20th

September,

2004, aimed at meeting the demand for an interactive-based distance education system.

Actually, EDUSAT is a technology network of uplink stations in selected national and

state locations (to act as teaching ends), and downlink stations or facilities in various

educational institutions (as learning ends) supported by satellite.

In this study EDUSAT has been taken as an independent variable. The present study

has been conducted to see its impact on various dependent variables like curiosity,

linguistic ability and achievement of primary school learners.

(ii) Curiosity: According to Educational Dictionary Curiosity is a strong desire to know,

investigate or find out about something new. Curiosity is defined as a need, thirst or

desire for knowledge. Berlyne (1960) believes that the term curiosity is used both as a

description of a specific behaviour as well as a hypothetical construct to explain the

same behaviour.

In this study curiosity has been seen as the strong desire to know about new things

related to everyday life of the primary school learners.

(iii) Linguistic Ability: It refers to possession of ability in language skills either in first or

second languages. Mattingly (1972), described the linguistic ability is speaker’s or

listener’s ability to focus on the linguistic expression rather than on the linguistic

content, and to reflect consciously on certain linguistic symbols.

45

In the present study linguistic ability has been taken as dependent variable. Linguistic

ability has been seen in the area of the primary learners like there achievement in

listening and understanding and writing skill of English language.

(iv) Achievement: It refers to performance in school or college in a standardize series of

education test. According to Grondlund – “Achievement is the systematic procedure

for determining the amount a student has learnt through instructions.” In the present

study achievement of primary learners has been seen in the area of all subjects read by

the students in the schools. To see the achievement the investigator has prepared an

achievement test for primary school learners by taking into consideration all the

domains i.e. knowledge, understanding, application and skill.

1.8 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

A. CURIOSITY

O1.1 To compare the curiosity level of girls and boys of primary school having

EDUSAT.

O1.2 To compare the curiosity level of girls and boys of primary schools not having

EDUSAT.

O1.3 To compare the curiosity level of girls of primary schools having and not

having EDUSAT.

O1.4 To compare the curiosity level of boys of primary schools having and not

having EDUSAT.

O1.5 To compare the curiosity level of students of primary schools having and not

having EDUSAT.

B. LINGUISTIC ABILITY

O2.1 To compare the linguistic ability of girls and boys of primary schools having

EDUSAT.

O2.2 To compare linguistic ability of girls and boys of primary schools not having

EDUSAT.

46

O2.3 To compare linguistic ability of girls of primary schools having and not having

EDUSAT.

O2.4 To compare linguistic ability of boys of primary schools having and not

having EDUSAT.

O2.5 To compare linguistic ability of students of primary schools having and not

having EDUSAT.

C. ACHIEVEMENT

O3.1 To compare the achievement of girls and boys of primary schools having

EDUSAT.

O3.2 To compare achievement of girls and boys of primary schools not having

EDUSAT.

O3.3 To compare achievement of girls of primary schools having and not having

EDUSAT.

O3.4 To compare achievement of boys of primary schools having and not having

EDUSAT.

O3.5 To compare achievement of students of primary schools having and not

having EDUSAT.

1.9 HYPOTHESES OF THE STUDY:

A. CURIOSITY:

H1.1 There exists no significant difference in the curiosity level of girls and boys of

primary schools having EDUSAT.

H1.2 There exists no significant difference in the curiosity level of girls and boys of

primary schools not having EDUSAT.

H1.3 There exists no significant difference in the curiosity level of girls of primary

schools having and not having EDUSAT.

H1.4 There exists no significant difference in the curiosity level of boys of primary

schools having and not having EDUSAT.

47

H1.5 There exists no significant difference in the curiosity level of students of primary

schools having and not having EDUSAT.

B. LINGUISTIC ABILITY:

H2.1 There exists no significant difference in the linguistic ability of girls and boys of

primary schools having EDUSAT.

H2.2 There exists no significant difference in the linguistic ability of girls and boys of

primary schools not having EDUSAT.

H2.3 There exists no significant difference in the linguistic ability of girls of primary

schools having and not having EDUSAT.

H2.4 There exists no significant difference in the linguistic ability of boys of primary

schools having and not having EDUSAT.

H2.5 There exists no significant difference in the linguistic ability of students of

primary schools having and not having EDUSAT.

48

C. ACHIEVEMENT:

H3.1 There exists no significant difference in the achievement of girls and boys of

primary schools having EDUSAT.

H3.2 There exists no significant difference in the achievement of girls and boys of

primary schools not having EDUSAT.

H3.3 There exists no significant difference in the achievement of girls of primary

schools having and not having EDUSAT.

H3.4 There exists no significant difference in the achievement of boys of primary

schools having and not having EDUSAT.

H3.5 There exists no significant difference in the achievement of students of primary

schools having and not having EDUSAT.

1.10 DELIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY:

The study was delimited to:

i. Fourteen Primary schools: Seven primary schools having EDUSAT and Seven

primary schools not having EDUSAT.

ii. Six Hundred Students of Primary schools of Haryana.

iii. Students from class IV were taken as sample of study.

iv. The study was delimited to the students of primary schools of Haryana only.

v. The study was delimited to the primary schools of Haryana having and not having

EDUSAT.