The Hoshangabad Science Teaching Programme (HSTP)

1. The Hoshangabad Science Teaching Programme (HSTP) Amitabha Mukherjee Centre for Science Education and Communication University of Delhi am@csec.ernet.in • Presentation at South Asia Regional Conference on Education Quality • New Delhi • October 24-26, 2007

2. Contents • Background • Key features of HSTP • Classroom practices • Teacher Training • Textbook and kit • Examinations • Lessons learnt

3. Background • The Hoshangabad Science Teaching Programme (HSTP) started as a pilot project in 1972 in 16 schools in Hoshangabad district of the state of Madhya Pradesh (M.P.) • Addressed the question “Can science be taught better in an ordinary school?”

4. Background (contd.) • Started by two voluntary agencies – Kishore Bharati and Friends’ Rural Centre • Confined to the teaching of science in middle school – grades 6-8 • Partnership of University and College faculty with schoolteachers “Nothing the programme could do could possibly make things worse than they were”

5. “Nothing could be worse…” • Government schools - poor buildings, no library, no laboratory , no facilities • No experiments in science classes • Science taught as received knowledge • Authoritarian school teacher, often untrained in science • Docile children, no rewards for initiative, no questions in class – to maintain discipline

6. Brief Chronology • Pilot project in 16 schools from 1972 • Extended to all middle schools in the district in 1978 • EKLAVYA set up in 1982 • Expanded to clusters in 14 other districts in mid 1980s – ~1000 schools • Closed down by M.P. Govt in 2002 • Back to Contents

7. Key features of HSTP • Classroom processes based on experimentation • Teacher Training – intensive and continuing • Textbook and kit • Examination system • Back to Contents

8. Classroom practices • Children did experiments in groups of 4 • Recorded their own observations • Reported their findings to the whole class • Data from different groups pooled together to provide robust evidence • Conclusions arrived at after whole class discussions guided by teachers • Back to Contents

9. Teacher Training • 3-week training programmes every year for 3 years • Hands-on, textbook-based training • Every teacher trained to do every experiment and guide discussion in the classroom

10. Teacher Training (contd.) • Monthly meetings • School follow-up by trained resource teachers to handle problems in implementation • Manuals • Periodicals • Back to Contents

11. Textbook and kit • Textbook ‘Bal Vaigyanik’ (‘Child Scientist’) actually a book of instructions for experiments – no information content • Low-cost and locally available materials used as far as possible • Minimal kit supplied to all schools in adequate numbers

12. Examinations • No reform possible without reform of the examination system • Open-book, unlimited time exams, both annual and final middle school (grade 8) • Each student examined in theory as well as in experiment • Tests of conceptual clarity, logical ability, process skills – not rote learning • Back to Contents

13. Lessons learnt from HSTP • No programme of innovation can succeed unless teachers are convinced of the need for such change and work actively to bring it about • School teachers are almost completely isolated intellectually and it is important to work to break this down

14. Lessons learnt from HSTP - II • Some structural features can work across programmes – monthly meetings, cluster resource centres, … • Control over examinations is essential for any programme of innovation to succeed

15. Lessons learnt from HSTP - III • Innovations in curriculum/pedagogy may face a roadblock of school system functionality • Involvement of the community in programmes of educational reform is not only desirable, but may be crucial • Back to Contents

16. Thank you