The case study of Modern English School, Guwahati

It took Newton 20 years to formulate his Laws of Motion. It took many people hundreds of years to develop Algebra. Yet, we tend to finish these topics in 6-7 periods. Just when children begin to understand a concept, we start teaching the next topic. Why?

Because time is less. And there is a LOT to teach. This 'hurry' leads to children developing several misconceptions and a weak understanding of the concept. What is the hurry? And, is there a solution? Let us read on.

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Let us read the story of Modern English School, Guwahati

Modern English School is a prominent school in Guwahati This school decided to make a change in their system. They decided to implement Open Door's Thinking Assessment program in their curriculum. After teaching some important topics of Science and Math, Open Door would conduct two assessments in a gap of 7 days.

The first assessment (called Learning Assessment) would bring out misconceptions from children and the second assessment (called Re-learning assessment) would help teachers measure an improvement. In these particular questions of the 'Misconception Master' contest, we picked 4 questions asked in Open Door's Assessment conducted in Classes 5, 7, 8, and 9. These questions were a part of the first assessment (Learning assessment) and were asked after the topic was taught.

The first question that we asked in this contest was:

Q1. Eating habits of two persons are described in the figure. which among them is suffering from malnutrition.

(A) Only Rohan

(B) Only Raju - This was the misconception.

(C)  Both of them - Correct answer.

(D) None of them

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The correct answer to the question was [C]. But the results were surprising. 50.53% of the students thought that [B] was the correct answer.

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The second question that we asked in this contest was:

Q2. What is the subtraction of the fraction of shape shaded?

(A) 1/4 - This was the misconception.

(B) 3/4

(C) 1/2

(D) Subtraction can't be done - Correct answer.

The correct answer to the question was [D]. But the results were surprising. 56.52% of the students thought that [A] was the correct answer.

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The third question that we asked in this contest was:

Q3. The mass of an electron is 9.1 X 10^-31 and that of the proton is 1.6 X 10^-27, which of two is heavier?

(A) Electron - This was the misconception.

(B) Proton- Correct answer.

The correct answer to the question was [B]. But the results were surprising. 63% of the students thought that [A] was the correct answer.

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The fourth question that we asked in this contest was:

Q4. A person is throwing a ball. In the given figure, identify where the ball is accelerating. (Assuming no air & no gravity drag on the ball.)

(A) Only at point B

(B) In path AB - Correct answer.

(C)  In path BC- This was the misconception.

(D) In path AC

(E) It did not accelerate at all.

The correct answer to the question was [B]. But the results were surprising. 86% of the students thought that [B] was not the correct answer.

If you would like to know more about 'Thinking Assessment' click here.

We conducted a contest called the "Misconception Master," where teachers had to predict the common misconception students might have. The goal was to select the most common chosen incorrect answer among students. The winners were determined by analyzing the data from the "Open Door" Assessment, focusing on the above four questions. For instance, in the fourth question, the majority of students picked option [C], which was a common misconception. To win the contest, teachers needed to select option [C].

Winners of Misconception Master Contest🏆

We have given three titles to the winners

1. "Misconception Master" are those who picked the most common misconception in all the questions.

2. "Misconception Expert" are those who picked any three of the most common misconception in all the questions.

3. "Misconception Explorer" are those who picked any two of the most common misconception in all the questions.

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2724 teachers from 265 schools participated in the contest. These are the TOP 90 teachers who are being awarded with the title of MISCONCEPTION MASTER:

 👏 Aalmeen Siddiqui: City Montessori School,Lucknow

👏 Agnes Elvis Miranda: Ashoka Universal School - Wadala, Nashik.

👏 Ajay Kumar Aggarwal: The TonsBridge School,Dehradun

👏 Akhila Rashtrotthana:Vidya Kendra, Bangalore

👏Amit Tiwari: City Montessori School, Kanpur RoadCampus, Lucknow

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‍Click here to see the FULL LIST of the top 90 winners of Misconception Master Contest: 2nd edition.

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2724 teachers from 265 schools participated in the contest. These are the teachers ranked 91 to 769 who are being awarded with the title of MISCONCEPTION EXPERT:

👏 Akanksha Chakravarty: City Montessori School,Lucknow

👏 Alka Aggarwal: Maharaja Agarsain Public SchoolAshok Vihar

👏Ambika Kalyani N: Delhi School of Excellence,ATTAPUR, Hyderabad

👏Amrita Sharma: Vishwa bharti public school,Delhi

👏Ananth N: Orchard school,trichy

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Click here to see the FULL LIST of the teachers ranked 91 to 669 in Misconception Master Contest: 2nd edition.

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2724 teachers from 265 schools participated in the contest. These are the teachers ranked 770 to 1827 who are being awarded with the title of MISCONCEPTION EXPLORER:

👏 Varsha Joshi: Mount Index International SchoolIndore

👏 Vasantha Ajithkumar: Our Own English High School, Sharjah-Boys

👏 Venkata Srinivasarao.Sunkara: Paramita WorldSchool

👏 Vickylal Jain: Jasudben ML School

👏 Vikram Singh Rana: Delhi Public School, Ludhiana

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Click here to see the FULL LIST of the teachers ranked 770 to 1827 in Misconception Master Contest: 2nd edition.

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‍Do you want to know what happened after these question were asked at this school?

Every time a difficult topic is taught, children have misconceptions. In most of the cases, these misconceptions are never found. We assume that our students have understood the topic. But, if you ask good questions you will find out that children have only partially understood the topic. In the few cases where misconception is found, we tend to move to the text topic because 'time is short and we need to complete teaching many chapters'.

However, in this case, the teachers at this school retaught the areas where children had a misconception. They spent time discussing the areas of misconception again. After a few days, Open Door gave teachers a 'Re-learning Assessment' to take in their classroom. The result was surprising.‍

Learning Test:

Q1. Which of the following can be added or subtracted?

*This graph displays the number of students who chose each option.

After the learning test, teachers provide remediation by reteaching the topic, followed by the relearning test.

Relearning Test:

Q. Which of the following can be added or subtracted?

We observed a 100% improvement in the number of students who answered correctly compared to the learning test.

‍As a result of the process: For class 7th & 8th.

Assessment --> Remediation --> Re-assessment, it was found that: (These tables show an overall improvement in different classes)

As a result of the process: For class 5th & 9th.

Assessment --> Remediation --> Re-assessment, it was found that: (These tables show an overall improvement in different classes)

If you would like to know more about 'Thinking Assessment' click here

What do teachers at Modern English School, Guwahati, have to say about Open Door's Relearning model of Thinking assessment?

Click here to know more about 'Thinking Assessment'

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