EVS

Introduction

                                       Environment consists of both formal and informal standards of living organisms and non living organisms. Human beings  destroying the environment as day passes, it will lead to the destruction of birds, animals, plants and human beings. Environmental education aims to provide general awareness to the humanity about the protection of environment.

Environmental Education

                                              Environmental education is the teaching of individuals, and communities in transmitting to a society that is knowledgeable of the environment and its associated problems and motivated to solve them.

Environmental Education in India

                                              Environmental education in the formal school curriculum has been influenced by two national policy documents: National Curriculum Framework (2005) and the Directive of the Supreme court in response to a 1991 petition filled by shri M C Mehta. Based on it, an environment perspective is to be added to all subjects, from standard I to XII.  The Government of India also makes environmental education as a compulsory subject in the higher education system. And even in the B. Ed curriculum, environmental education has a major role.

Problems Faced in Imparting Environmental Education

                                              Some of the major problems facing environmental education in the country can be described as follows:

1.    Attitudinal Barrier

                                              Research findings show that children consider several areas are more important than EE and also felt that it is not useful for their career. Thus, they totally ignore environmental education and most of the institutions neglect environmental education from the curriculum and include some other subjects like Yoga, spoken English.

2.    Lack of Environmental Training Modules

                                              The status of environmental training programs and its contents are not satisfactory.

3.    Lack of Preparedness of Teachers

                                              Another barrier to EE activities is the reluctance of support and lack of preparedness on part of the teachers.

4.    Inadequate School Curriculum

                                              No one can deny that the current curriculum is focused on age old teaching practices prevailing over decades and is responsible for development of stress among students and thereby affecting their normal developments. We need to develop curriculum which will develop skills and attitudes in the students.

5.    Ineffective Environmental Education Programs and Policies

                                              Without a doubt, the present EE programs are not satisfied or sufficient to drive students for opting environment as a career option. Few steps are taken by Ministry of Environment and Forest, India. However, the implementation of these steps and policies is a major challenge.

6.    Lack of Environmental Awareness and Lack of Organizational Support

                                              There is also need for better communication and collaboration with developed countries. There is need of extensive teachers training and their participation in workshops and conferences to expose them with new environmental education materials, techniques and information.

7.    Resource Constraints

                                              Lack of resources is one of the major problems that is being encountered in the promotion of education in the country. Any environment education programme requires adequate resources, both in terms of money and personnel, if it is to be implemented successfully.

8.    High Dropout Rate

                                              Because of high dropout rate in our education system, teachers are left with no option but to begin the Environmental Education component from the primary classes to ensure that the students, even if they dropout later, are sensitized to the environment problems.

9.    Social Constraints

                                              Sometimes conclusions drawn from the study of EE may dash with the prevailing social, religious and political thinking. This clash thinking may lead to undesirable confrontation too.

10.Difficulty in Assessment

                                              Assessment of the  work done as part of EE is difficult as many a time it is difficult to think of a common yardstick to evaluate the work done under different projects.

11.  A shortage of trained education officers in EE in the government to plan, organize, implement and monitor environmental education programmes in schools.

12.  Weak monitoring system.

13.  Lack of good communication networks, cooperation and coordination within and among the various governmental and non- governmental organizations.

14.  Lack of appropriate legislative frameworks, enforcement and institutional support.

15.  Lack of commitment and involvement on the part of the people concerned.

16.  High turnover of staff in schools and government

Conclusion

                                              As environmental education is needed to protect our environment, we must pay proper attention to the environmental education in our education system. Thus, we must make proper remedial measures to overcome the hurdles in the implementation of environmental education.

Bibliography

Nagarajan,K., & Nithyasri, N.(2017). Environmental education. Chennai: Sriram Publishers.

Singh,Y.K.(2014). Environmental education. New Delhi: APH Publishing House.

Chand, J. (2014). Teaching of environmental Science. Delhi : Anash Publishing House.

Ham,S. (1998). Barriers to environmental education. Retrieved from:

        https://www.researchgate.com.

Domain Dependency

                                            Domain Dependency

Introduction

            Learning is not an event. It is a process. It is the continual growth and change in the brain’s architecture that results from the many way we take in information, process it, connect it, catalogue it, and use it. Learning is consisting of three major domains. Thus, the evaluations also concentrate on the domains.

Domain- Meaning

            Domain means an area of interest or an area over which a person has control.

            It also a particular interest, activity, type of knowledge.

Background of Domains in Learning

            During 1950’s, Benjamin S. Bloom led a team of educational psychologists in the analysis of the academic learning behaviors. He aimed to develop a system with different categories of learning behavior to assist in the design and assessment of educational learning. The results of his approach produced what is known today in the field of education as Bloom’s taxonomy. The designed learning domains are:

·       Cognitive: Mental Skills (Knowledge), Consisting six levels.

·       Affective: Growth in emotional or feeling areas. (5 levels)

·       Psychomotor: Manual/ physical skills (7 levels)

1)     Cognitive domain:

      Cognitive domain deals with how a student acquires processes and utilizes the knowledge. It is the thinking domain. This domain focuses on intellectual skills and is familiar to educators. It has the following six levels;

Knowledge: It is the recalling of previously learnt materials.

Comprehension: It is the grasping of the meaning of materials.

Application: It is the use of previously learnt materials in new situations.

Analysis: It is the breaking down of materials into their components and clarifying organization structure.

Synthesis: It means creatively putting parts together to produce a new whole.

Evaluation: It means judging the value of a material based on personal values   and opinions.

2)    Affective Domain

                 Affective domain is critical for learning, but is often not specifically addressed. This domain focuses on attitude, motivation, willingness to learn, participate, valuing, what is being learned and incorporating these discipline values into real life. The levels in it are;

  Receiving: Students passively listens/pays attention.

  Responding: The student actively participates in the learning process and reacts.

  Valuing: The student can put together different values, information and ideas and accommodate them within his own schema.

              Characterizing: The student holds a particular value or belief that now exerts influence on his behaviour so that it becomes a characteristic.

3)    Psychomotor Domain

   The domain of behaviour that includes physical moment, co-ordination and use of motor skills is called psychomotor domain. The levels are:

Imitation: Observing and patterning behaviour after someone else.

Manipulation: Being able to perform certain actions by following instructions and practicing?

Precision: Refining and becoming more exact. A few errors are apparent.

Articulation: Coordinating a series of actions, achieving harmony and internal consistency.

Naturalisation:  Having high level performance, become natural and spontaneous.

Importance of Domain Dependence during Classroom Assessment

               Teachers must know the concepts, knowledge and skills to be taught within a domain, the precursors necessary for acquiring them, and what a successful performance in each looks like. With this knowledge they are able to define a learning progression of sub goals toward the desired learning that will act as the framework to guide assessment and instruction. A sufficiently detailed progression will also supply the resources for recognizing when the students have successful performances and when they have not, and in providing them with proper feedback about their learning status in relation to goals.

Ways to Measure Cognitive Domain

·       Class discussion

·       Organized class notes

·       Tutorials

·       Provide sufficient information through charts

·       Self cheek quizzes

·       Conducting course seminars and viva voce

·       Practice questions with answers and ‘expert’ explanations.

Assessment Tools for Affective Domain

Self report: Individual gives an account of his attitude or feeling toward a concept, idea/people.

eg: why don’t I like mathematics?

ü  Rating scales: Set of categories designed to elicit information about a quantitative attribute in subject/ideas.

ü  Semantic Differential scales: helps to assess an individual’s reaction to specific words, ideas, concepts.

eg: Good____________________________ Bad

3210123.

ü  Thurshone Scale: addressed the issue of how favorable an individual is with regard to a given issue.

ü  Likert Scales: This requires an individual to fide on a box to report whether they ‘strongly agree’, ‘agree’, ‘undecided’, ‘disagree’ or ‘strongly disagree’.

ü  Checklists: Here the teacher/Student marks as ‘absent’ or ‘present’.

Assessment Tools for Psychomotor Domain

ü  Performing arts

ü  Training using computers, projectors

ü  Competitions

ü  Physical education activities

Conclusion

               The assessment of various learning domains are very important in the educational process. Thus, it is necessary make the students aware of the learning objectives and apply various assessment tools for assessing learning domains.

Bibliography

Jamaludeen, K. (2012).Effective teaching of English. Manjeri: Quality Publishers.

Kalaiyarasan, G. (2012). Curriculum development. Delhi: APH Publishing House.

Kasilingam,G.,RamalingamM.,& Chinnavan, E.(2014).Journal of young pharmacists.   

            Malaysia: AIMST University.

My seminar photos

Poster Presentation Certificates

Bethlahem paper presentation

                     

                  CHALLENGES  IN  ACHIEVING  INCLUSIVE  EDUCATION

ASHMI. K. RAJ.* & JINCY.J.**

*I B.ED

**I B.ED

HOLY TRINITY COLLEGE OF EDUCATION,

MELPALAI, EDAICODE POST.

ABSTRACT                Inclusiveeducation is implemented for the children with disabilities. But in the contemporary scenario implementation of inclusive education is troublesome. Its importance is neglected and is considered as worthless. Along with this, there are many challenges which inhibit the growth of inclusive education. On the whole, the major reason for the challenges in its implementation is the lack of consideration for the children with disability. This paper presents elaborately the major challenges in achieving inclusive education. KEYWORDS:Inclusive education, disability, implementation, attitude, challenge.

 

Introduction

            For a long time those concerned with the field of education have been grappling with the serious question of what kind of education to provide for children especially in the context of varying and different abilities of the students. Traditionally education had come to be separated into two types namely, general education and special education. It had been believed earlier that children with differing needs and especially those with special needs must be given education separately. The educationists now feel that each child should be allowed to learn in his own way along with his peer group. Inclusive education in essence stands for equality, and accepts every child with his or her own unique capabilities.

Inclusive Education

            Inclusive education is a learning environment that promotes the full personal, academic and professional development of all learners irrespective of race, class, color, gender, disability, sexual preference, learning styles and language.

            Inclusive education means children, regardless of ability are taught in general education classrooms with same age peers.

History of Inclusive Education

            The Kothari commission highlighted the importance of educating children with disabilities during the post independent period. In 1980’s the then ministry of welfare, government of India realized the crucial need of an institution to monitor and regulate the HRD programs in the field of disability rehabilitation. Till 1990’s, 90% of India’s estimated 40 million children in the age group, four to sixteen years with physical and mental disabilities are being excluded from mainstream education. In the year 1997, the philosophy of inclusive education is added in district primary education program (DPEP). National curriculum framework (NCF) 2005 has laid a clear context of inclusive education. In 2005, the ministry of Human Resource Development implemented a National Action Plan for the inclusion in education of children and youth with disabilities. Furthermore, Integrated Education of the Disabled Children (IEDC) was revised and renamed as “Inclusive Education of the Disabled at secondary stage” (IEDSS) in 2009-2010 to provide assistance to provide assistance for the inclusive education of the disabled children at 9^th and 10^th classes. This scheme is now subsumed under RashtriyaMadyamicShikshaAbhiyan (RMSA) from 2013. (Gnanam, D. & Shanmugaboopathi.,2016)

Aims and Objectives of Inclusive Education

v Education for all

v Protection of rights

v Identification of skills

v Development of social consciousness

v To prepare for new challenges

v Development of brotherhood

v To improve quality of education (Umadevi, M. R.,2010)

Need and Importance of Inclusive Education

v To fulfill the constitutional responsibilities

v To enable children to stay with their families

v For the development of healthy relationship

v For achieving the universalization

v Developing feeling of self-respect

v For the use of modern technology

v For social equality

v Self-reliant (Singh. J. D.,2016)

Challenges in Implementing Inclusive Education

Negative Attitude

Negative attitude of both parents and teachers affects inclusive education scenario in India. Teachers tend to be broadly positive about the principle of inclusion while at the same time, viewing its practical implementation as problematic. A number of studies found that general education teachers are not supportive of inclusive education. The parents of normal children have a negative attitude that the education of their children may spoil.(Mathew,2013)

Inappropriate Curriculum

            In any education system, the curriculum is one of the major obstacles or tools to facilitate the development of more inclusive system. In our country of diversity, curriculum is designed centrally, hence which leaves little flexibility for local adaptations or for teachers to experiment and try out new approaches in order to involve the children with disability in the active learning process. As a result of the knowledge based curriculum, the examinations are also too much content oriented rather than success oriented which is the demand of the flexible inclusive curriculum. (Sanjeev, K, 2007).

Untrained Teachers

            For implementing the inclusive education successfully, it is important that teachers must have positive attitudes towards learners with special needs. But, because of lack of knowledge, education, understanding, or effort the teachers give inappropriate substitute work to the learners,which eventually leads to learners dissatisfaction and poor quality of learning.  Another important feature of the schools is high teacher- student ratios (average 1:45) and where it is expected that learners of diverse abilities have be taught together. At the first place, there is a scarcity of trained teachers to deal with the diversity and secondly, it is very wrong to assume to deal with 45 learners with diversity. (Mitiku, W, 2014).

Lack of Adaptive Technology

            Students with disabilities generally have different kind of learning needs, modes of perceptions and preferences so the classroom environment must provide them with an access to content materials that are consistent with their learning preferences and needs. Such adoptions may include use adapted laboratory equipments with tactile markings, providing hearing or speech aids to the students, provision of a facilitator to support a student’s access, use of audio-recorded texts, Braille, large print materials, peer support, additional time fewer items or questions to address, multi model presentations etc. But a general survey of Indian classrooms shows a marked shortage of such resources. (Rasheed, S, 1998).

Social Factors

            Many parents as well as community consider that the students with disability are worthless for the society. So they give least importance for their education. It leads to the low enrollment of children with disability in school.

Inadequate Funding

            Insufficient funding is a chief threat to the implementation of inclusion. It is reflected in the scarcity of resources like insufficient classrooms, lack of teacher and dearth of qualified staff, scarce learning materials and absence of support. .(Sporoso, S. A., &  Lensink, J. M,1998). Eventhough fund is allotted for inclusive education it does not reach them for better implementation

Physical Challenges

            In some districts, students with physical disabilities are expected to attend schools that are inaccessible to them. In economically deprived school systems, especially those in rural areas dilapidated and poorly cared for buildings can restrict accessibility. Some of these facilities are not safe or healthy for any students. Many schools don’t have the facilities to properly accommodate students with special needs, and local governments lack either the funds or the resolve to provide financial help. The lack of wheel chair ramps in school buildings, parks, playgrounds, washrooms and public transportation is a main difficulty identified by several students with disabilities when going to school. Undoubtedly, most school structures do not respond to this requirement. (Walker, D. K, 2011).

Policies as a Challenge

            Policy challenges are frequently related to a lack of awareness or reinforcement of existing laws and regulations that require programs and activities be accessible to people with disabilities. Some of the examples are;

·       Denying qualified individuals with disabilities the opportunity to participate in or benefit from federally funded programs, services or other benefits

·       Denying individuals with disabilities access to programs , services, benefits or opportunities to participate

·       Denying reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities, so they can perform the essential functions of the job for which they have applied or have been hired to perform.

Suggestions for Implementing Inclusive Education

            Some of the suggestions for inclusive education are as follows:

v Only a positive attitude can bring a great success in inclusive education. So, it is essential that the teachers, who are the key backbones should develop a positive attitude for a successful implementation.

v An appropriate curriculum should be framed which facilitates flexibility to the teachers to make changes for the active learning process and also it should be success oriented.

v The teacher student ratio should be decreased (1: 25). (Mitiku, W, 2014)

v  Provide quality training to the teachers based on inclusive education.

v New method of technology and provisions should be used to the students so that it can enhance the better implementation of inclusive education.

v Government should take steps to check whether the funds provided for the inclusive education reaches for its implementation and provisioning.

v Changes can be brought in the existing laws and policies, so that it can enhance the quality of inclusive education.

CONCLUSION

            Inclusive education is implemented for the welfare of children with disability. There are many challenges in implementing inclusive education. It is the responsibility of each and every teacher’s to eradicate the challenges for the better implementation of inclusive education for the welfare of children with disability.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Mathew, A. (2013). Learning disabilities and remediation. Hyderabad: Neelkamal

            Publication Private Limited.

Sharma, R.A. (2007). Fundamentals of special education. Meerut: R Lall Book Depot.

Umadevi, M.R. (2010). Special education: A practical approach to educating children with

            social needs. Hyderabad: Neelkamal Publication Private Limited.

Gnanam, D.,&Shanmugaboopathi. (2016). Contemporary India and Education. Chennai:  

            Samritha publications.

Walker,D.K.(2011). Common barriers to participation experienced by people with

            disabilities. Retrieved from: www.brighthub.com.

 Rasheed,S.(1998). Barriers associated with inclusive education. Retrieved from;

          www.beighthubeducation.com.

Singh,J.D.(2016). Inclusive education in India-concept, need and challenges. Retrieved from:

            https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301675529.

Sanjeev,K.(2007).Inclusive education in India. Retrieved from:

            http://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/ejie.

Sposaro,S.A. &Lensink,J.M.(1998). Barriers to implementing inclusion practices.Retrieved

            from: http://scholaworks.gvsu.edu/theses.

Mitiku, W.(2014). Challenges and opportunities to implement inclusive education.Retrieved

            from: www.academia.com.

my science day poster presentation