Can game-based learning using smartphones and tablets improve literacy and numeracy among India’s young school children? Results of the “Play ‘n’ Learn” initiative, a collaboration between the Qualcomm® Wireless Reach™ initiative and Sesame Workshop in India (SWI), suggests it can.
The Annual Status of Education Report 2013 finds that literacy and numeracy skills have declined in the past six years among children ages 5-16 who attend India’s rural schools. The Government of India, as well as private-sector and civil-sector businesses, are looking for innovative ways to reverse the decline and provide access to quality learning for all children. Among the challenges are a lack of engaging educational content, teacher shortages and poor infrastructure.
The “Play ‘n’ Learn” initiative demonstrates how the increasing adoption of smartphones in India has the potential to address these challenges and positively influence educational outcomes. It combines Qualcomm’s mobile technology and digital content from SWI’s popular Galli Galli Sim Sim outreach and television programs to improve access to quality educational content. The goal is to transform learning, regardless of a child’s socioeconomic status. “Play ‘n’ Learn” aligns well with the Government of India’s “Padhe Bharat, Badhe Bharat” program which aims to increase learning outcomes in Classes 1 to 3 in reading, writing and comprehension.
For the “Play ‘n’ Learn” initiative, SWI developed 25 fun and entertaining digital games which were mapped to the primary grade school curriculum for children ages 6-8. The games focused on vocabulary, comprehension, STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) concepts, shapes, natural habitats, numeracy, alphabets and spatial understanding in addition to promoting physical well-being through hand washing and sanitation. The games featured Galli Galli Sim Sim characters such as Raya, Boombah, Chamki, Elmo, Googly and Grover.
The first phase of Play ‘n’ Learn was conducted in a marginalized community in Delhi where smartphones were provided to children aged 6 to 8 and their families with pre-loaded content in the form of packaged games. In the second phase, in Delhi, the games were distributed among students in 12 classrooms (Classes 1, 2 and 3) of 4 primary schools of South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC). The in-school program was further extended to government run primary schools in two districts of Bihar- Patna and Vaishali. Altogether we reached out to more than 4,500 children in 57 schools in Bihar and 40 children from an under resourced community in Delhi.
Research using quantitative and qualitative methodologies studied the impact of introducing these games in the diverse settings. The results show:
• Children from Classes 1 and 2 had more than 1.5 times improvements in scores for word knowledge and imagination compared to children who were not exposed to the games. Boys who were exposed to the games showed four times greater gains in Hindi reading and five times greater gains in Hindi comprehension compared to boys who were not part of the intervention. Children in Classes 1 and 2 had more than 2.5 times improvements in scores for Hindi comprehension compared to children who were not exposed to the games. Among children exposed to the games, girls showed more than 1.5 times more gains in numeracy than boys.
• In the Delhi classrooms, children from Classes 1, 2 and 3 who were exposed to the games showed greater gains in comprehension, word knowledge and imagination than children who were not exposed to the games. Class 1 children who were exposed to the games showed three times the improvement in word knowledge and imagination than children who were not exposed to the games.
• Teachers observed that children’s engagement level in math and Hindi were higher when games focused on these subjects were used in classrooms.
• Teachers’ attitudes toward the use of multimedia in classrooms improved by the end of the intervention. The teachers reported that their comfort level increased after using the tablets in their classrooms. The majority of these teachers felt that tablet sessions should be introduced in Class 1.
• Half of the teachers in Delhi reported that the sessions with students and tablets improved attendance, especially on what the school referred to as “tablet session days”, and that the tablet sessions generated positive feedback from parents.
Through the learnings of the initiative we have been able to unpack and realize some of the related concepts of digital education. For digital learning to work there are some foundational skills that are required, the first and foremost is technology itself. Secondly, the understanding of how children will accept and have fun with technology, for which one needs to connect with children.
The “Play ‘n’ Learn” initiative has been so successful in demonstrating how mobile, game-based learning can lead to improved gains in reading and numeracy – essential skills for turning young children into life-long learners – that Qualcomm and SWI are now looking at ways to expand the “Play ‘n’ Learn” model for large-scale impact. For example, all of the games are now available for free download from the Google Play Store. To date, the games have been downloaded more than 69,000 times.
Digital intervention has opened doors for significant and qualitative improvements in children’s learning outcomes. Integrating content in the games and introducing them parallel with the NCERT and/ or state-level curricula would create greater consonance and facilitate the uptake of the digital intervention.
(The authors are Sashwati Banerjee, Managing Director, Sesame Workshop in India and Monalisa Sahoo, Senior Director, Marketing, Qualcomm India & South Asia)
Comments
0 comment