Saturday, 21 February 2015

MISCONCEPTIONS : SOCIAL STUDIES : People Of India & Heritage

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Today, we're up on Social Science, and continued the MISCONCEPTION SERIES, for the 3rd week. Its right, we take it as a common easy subject, but here with a twist it can create a major Misconception, look down and read the full article.





(1) Why was the question asked in ASSET test?

Recognizing national buildings and monuments of political, cultural and historical significance demonstrates how aware students are about their country.

(2) What did students answer?

1041 students attempted to answer this question. 36% of these students chose the correct answer C while 31% chose D – a common wrong answer.
Possible reasons for choosing A: This is another common wrong answer. Students may be under the impression that the Prime Minister is the main head of the country and hence needs to live in a house like this. Besides, since this is the first option, students may not have explored the other options to find out any other possibility. Inability to recognise important buildings in the country and the importance of the national leader also appears to be a problem.
Possible reasons for choosing B: Very few students have chosen this option, indicating that it could be a random guess.
Possible reasons for choosing D: Students probably see the shape of the dome and the pillars and mistake it for the Supreme Court of India. Students also do not seem to realize that the building of the Supreme Court of India is a court and not a place of residence.

(3) Learnings

When students do not recognize buildings and associate people with them, it indicates poor levels of general awareness and lack of exposure to visual images or information about the country and the world. Students should be able to understand the significance of India’s official buildings and symbols. Students’ limited engagement with the world outside the classroom, other than running through these only for a GK quiz, could be one reason for this confusion. For example, they may have heard of various government offices like the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Supreme Court, high courts, municipal corporations etc. but are not able to make a visual connection with the buildings.

(4) How do we handle this?

When teaching history or civics, familiarize students with various monuments and places related to the topic. Give it as an assignment, asking students to find out about these monuments and put them up on the bulletin board.
• Get students to collect pictures of various important buildings in the country and abroad and conduct a class quiz for their classmates.
• To test students, give them picture cards to identify. Guide students to recognize differences in the shape, size, colour etc. of the buildings.
• Ask them to arrange these pictures in different ways – for example, which one is the oldest, which are the ones that are used as offices, which are the ones used as residences, which one is the newest etc. Use their own answers to direct them towards understanding why they are wrong. Get them to write a two-line description on each picture.

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