Brewing Knowledge : Reading from What Did You Ask At School Today? by Kamala Mukunda

Fridays @ EBD

What Did You Ask At School Today? A Handbook Of Child Learning Book 1

Book by Kamala V. Mukunda

Discussion on student motivation and the role of assessment in learning.

Praise Effort, Not Ability: Carol Dweck's research shows praising effort (e.g., "You worked hard") fosters a growth mindset, leading students to choose challenging tasks. Praising ability ("You are so clever") creates a fixed mindset, causing students to avoid challenges to protect their self-image.
Prioritise Mastery Over Performance: A mastery-oriented classroom focuses on understanding and effort, where students attribute failure to lack of effort, not ability. This builds resilience and shifts the question from "Can I do this?" to "How can I do this?"
Replace Competition with Collaboration: Competition is a poor motivator that creates stress and social dysfunction. Collaborative learning, where students take ownership and responsibility for helping peers, builds essential real-world skills like teamwork and empathy.
Use Authentic Assessment for Learning: Traditional tests drive rote learning and anxiety. Authentic assessment (e.g., projects, portfolios) measures skills developed in class, provides meaningful feedback, and aligns assessment with pedagogical goals.

Traditional Classroom Models:
- Competitive: Focus on peer comparison.
- Cooperative: Focus on group achievement.
- Individualistic: Focus on self-mastery.
The "Curriculum Backwash Effect":
- High-stakes, knowledge-based tests force teachers to "teach to the test," neglecting deeper understanding and application.
- This creates significant problems:
  - Excessive time spent on test prep.
  - Motivation shifts from learning to outcomes.
  - High student and teacher anxiety.
  - Encourages cheating.
  - It can be unfair and depressing for students.

Carol Dweck's Research on Mindsets:
- Incremental Belief (Growth Mindset): Intelligence can increase with effort.
  - → Students are motivated to learn from challenges.
- Entity Belief (Fixed Mindset): Intelligence is a fixed trait.
  - → Students avoid challenging material to protect their self-image.
The Impact of Praise:
- Praising Ability ("You are so clever"):
  - Creates a feel-good state contingent on maintaining the "clever" image.
  - Implies poor performance means a lack of intelligence.
  - → Leads students to avoid future challenges.
- Praising effort ("You must have worked hard"):
  - Fosters resilience and a desire for growth.
  - → Leads students to choose more complex problems to learn from.

Collaborative Learning as an Alternative:
- Group projects and peer mentoring replace competition with teamwork.
- Benefits:
  - Builds essential real-world skills.
  - Fosters ownership and responsibility for peer success.
  - Develops empathy and a sense of community.
Participant Examples:
- Sneha: Group projects build team spirit.
- Suman: Discussion methods with a peer leader.
- Saman: Mixed-ability groups with a mentor for each child.

Authentic Assessment:
- Measures skills developed in class, not just rote facts.
- Examples: Open-ended questions, demonstrations, exhibits, and portfolios.
- Benefits:
  - Provides meaningful feedback for students and teachers.
  - Addresses emotional and moral issues of traditional testing.
Challenges to Wider Adoption:
- Time: More time-consuming for large student populations.
- Objectivity: Fear of losing objectivity compared to standardised tests.
Measurement Theory Fundamentals:
- Validity: A test measures what it is supposed to measure.
- Reliability: A test is free of measurement error (e.g., repeated testing yields similar results).

Sandeep Dutt: Share meeting summary, recording, and bookmark in the WhatsApp group.
Manisha Khanna: Invite participants to the Sunday School session at 10:30 AM with guest Kartik.
All Participants: