Several schools training children on answering application-based and critical-thinking questions

Several schools are training children on answering application-based and critical-thinking questions from junior classes by increasing the share of such questions in classrooms and exams.

In the new academic session, many schools have conducted meetings with teachers to draw up lesson plans incorporating such questions as early as Class II or, sometimes, even lower.

The earlier such questions are introduced, the more trained students would be to tackle critical-thinking questions in senior classes, the teachers said.

Multiple choice questions, answering questions after comprehending a statement, questions related to daily life and what children see around them are some ways in
which schools are gradually changing the assessment pattern.

“Children are naturally capable of thinking but when we condition them with straight, information-based, closed questions, the brain stops thinking,” said Damayanti Mukherjee, principal, Modern High School for Girls.

Assessments have to be designed in such a way they promote and encourage lateral thinking, she said.

A Class V question in geography in a school was based on two statements.

1. Planet A is larger in size than Planet B.

2. Planet A spins faster than Planet B.

Students had to choose the correct answer based on the information.

The options were: a) Both planets A and B will have the same duration of a day, b) A day on planet A will have a longer duration than planet B, c) A day on planet B will have a longer duration than planet A, d) Both planets A and B will have the same length of axis.

In another school, in a comprehension passage in Class IV, students were asked to find an antonym from the passage instead of writing the meanings of the words.

The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) introduced a greater percentage of critical-thinking questions in ICSE (Class X) and ISC (Class XII) in 2024 and their proportion will go up to 25 per cent next year.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) had 40 per cent competency-based questions this year.

“The earlier we introduce such questions, the easier it would be for students to comprehend and answer. We are doing it more aggressively now because that is the way forward,” said Koeli Dey, principal, Sushila Birla Girls’ School.

This will help students learn “the art of application” and benefit them in the long run, and not just to ace school or board exams, principals said.

“If students cannot apply their knowledge, their employability will go down,” said Dey.

Mukherjee said in higher education, students have to think on their own instead of being used to “readymade answers”.

Sangeeta Basu, vice-principal of Central Modern School, said the deviation in question papers makes a child think and answer instead of reproducing the text.

Several teachers, however, said parents of children in junior classes have to be more flexible and adaptive to change.

“More than children, parents are used to questions at the end of each chapter and when the teachers break out of that, they object,” said Amita Prasad, director, Indus Valley World School.

“There will be more open-ended questions and parents have to learn to accept the change and not express their annoyance or discomfort in front of the children because then children get impacted by it,” said Prasad.