Effectiveness of Academic Intervention on Learning of Environmental Science among Slow Learners

Abstract

The present study was conducted to find out the impact of teaching with intervention module on learning of the subject Environmental Science among slow learners, studying in the third class of Government Upper Primary Schools of Jaipur, Rajasthan. Out of total 53 slow learners identified from three schools of Jaipur, Rajasthan, slow learners of two schools were taught with intervention module in two different classroom settings: Remedial classes and Inclusive classrooms. The slow learners of the third school were taught with conventional methods by their subject teacher. The result showed significant improvement in the post-test score of slow learners in Environmental Science after being taught with an intervention module in both remedial classes and inclusive classroom settings. However, slow learners taught in inclusive classrooms scored higher in posttest as compared to those taught in remedial classes. No significant difference was found in the post-test score of normal students taught in remedial and inclusive classroom settings. Dealing with slow learners in the classroom is a universal matter of concern for all educators across the world so, the encouraging findings of this study can be an example for them. A simple change in the curriculum, pedagogy and classroom sitting arrangement that is pairing normal students with slow learners (peer tutoring) in regular classroom can bring a remarkable change in the achievement of not only slow learners but also of normal students. Besides this, there is a need for specific strategies and policies for making these students perform on par with normal students, such as allocation of more budget for training the workforce and establishing science and technology resource centers. The findings and limitations of the study suggest several possibilities for future empirical research in other subject at primary, secondary and higher level of education.