Description

PI: Jaison Manjaly

Project by: Indian Council of Social Science Research

Duration: 2019-2021

Brief Description of the project:  In 2016, 47 million youth in India dropped out of school by 10th standard; 32.3% of the dropouts in the age 10 – 14 cite ‘lack of motivation in class’ as a reason for discontinuing school. Next, ASER surveys from 2007 to 2017, and PISA 2009 reports also indicate that learning levels of the majority of kids in Indian schools is very low, and has not improved substantially over the years. Among many reasons for low learning levels and high drop-out rates is a lack of excitement and curiosity about learning is clearly a major factor. Our project aims to enhance the learning motivation of school children by inducing curiosity through a micro-level behavioural intervention: inculcating the curiosity motivation in the classroom. To do this, we expect to investigate in our labs the factors that affect curiosity, and then develop techniques to employ them in the context of Indian classrooms. We expect our proposed intervention to improve the motivation to learn, and therefore to improve learning levels as measured through grades and dropout rates.

Others involved (JRF, students or collaborations)
PhD Students: Adtiya Singh
MA and MSc Students: Vaishnavi S | Shruti Mehta | Sanya Jain | Sriranjani Manivasagam