Oj ki Khoj
Educational aid for kids in the low resource areas.
Tools Used:
Miro, Figma, Rhino
Keywords:
UX Research
Project Timeline: 2 weeks
Type: Group work (Ayan Kar, Shreya Malhotra, Adeeba)
01 Background
The COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted education system across India. There were children out there who were missing out on foundational learning at their crucial years of brain development. The most adversely affected are the children in rural or low-resourced areas because of the lack of electricity.
1.5 million schools closed due to the pandemic.
247
million children from schools were impacted.
12
million students are already out of school
24%
children has access to digital devises and internet connectivity.
The Great Divide
Covid-19 has greatly affected the access to education in India. Reports suggest that millions of students were affected by the restrictions and are now out of school. While school systems have tried to reach students by various means, the poorest children are hurt the most by the pandemic-related school closures.
ASER- Rural 2018 and 2020- Out of school children
20%
hike in school drop outs in rural areas of India in 2020
02 Research and Understanding the Problem
After getting the quantitative data from other sources, we got an idea about the problems faced by students in the pandemic situation. To understand the problem, we dig deeper into the education system and the initiatives took by them.
Interviews
Acknowledging this concern, we identified under-resourced government schools in the Delhi and Old Faridabad region. To gain a deeper understanding of the experiences of the various groups, we interacted with principals, teachers, and students from multiple schools. These interviews revealed to us various challenges faced by teachers and students, as well as initiatives undertaken by the schools and governments to ensure that the lack of opportunity to attend schools does not hamper the learning process of the students.
The schools visited for research are:
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Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya, JJ Camp, Naraina, New Delhi
-
MCD School, JJ Colony, New Delhi
-
Rajkiya Baal Prathmik Pathshala, Old Faridabad, Haryana
Interview Questions
What were the measures taken by the government to reach out to students ?
How did the teaching methodology evolve during the duration?
What are some of the issues faced by the students and
teachers ?
How did they manage to conduct classes in the pandemic and what were the modes of instruction?
How effective did they think the teaching and learning process was, as compared to before the lockdown?
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Timeline of Events
03 Persona
The persona describing in detail the situation of a student staying in a low resource area and facing hurdles in his studies.
' I am unable to adapt to this situation. '
Sagar gupta, 12
Student
Roles:
-
Meeting academic expectations.
-
Being Respectful and Punctual.
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Being in the best of behaviors.
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Maintain discipline in the class as well as in school.
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Do the assigned work on time.
Goals:
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Applaud each other’s successes.
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Finding an effective study system.
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Evolving and learning with parents.
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Learning new information while retaining the basics from earlier classes.
Pains:
-
Low Concentration Levels.
-
Problems with understanding basic concepts.
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Less resources.
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No or minimal Guidance.
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Lack of motivation.
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Lack of peer-to-peer interaction.
-
Difficult to relate textbook learning with practical knowledge.
The persona describing in detail the situation of a teacher who cannot reach out to her students for teaching them.
' I cannot reach out to my students without phones '
Priya Kumari, 38
Teacher
Roles:
-
The role of a teacher is to inspire, motivate, encourage and educate learners.
-
To impart knowledge to their students to help them learn new things about a specific group of subjects.
Goals:
-
Communicate and empathize with students efficiently
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Developing close relations with the students
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Guiding parents
-
Learn new methods of teaching.
-
Collaborate with other subject teachers to co create lessons
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Reaching out to max no. of students.
Pains:
-
Long Distance Travels
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Unavailability of proper equipment.
-
Apathy among students.
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Low or nil regular interactions with kids.
-
Health Risk during the Pandemic
Opportunities
The pandemic affected the mental health of children as they can't go out.
Primary education was being neglected as compared to higher education.
The curriculum and assignments became more uniform in the pandemic.
Certain concepts in physics are difficult to understand through only text and images.
These topics required demonstrations and hands-on experience.
Toy based pedagogy
No battery, electricity and internet involved
Involvement of community
Use of local resouces
Outdoor Activities
Key Findings
Design Brief
To design a kit to aid learning for students at under-resourced schools during the pandemic. The kit is to be designed for students in grades 6-7.
Various aspects in the design to be considered should include:
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Ease of stacking and transportation
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Low cost of production Durability and ease of use and understanding
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A kit that encourages repeated engagement to ensure reinforcement of concepts.
Methodology
Collecting Science Textbooks
Analysing NCERT and other board syllabus
Detailed study of identified topics
Identifying key areas of intervention
Determining Target Classes
Consolidating Relevant topics
Sorting out
similar topics
Syllabus of Grade 6
-
Motion and Measurement of Distances
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Light, Shadows and Reflections
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Electricity and Circuits
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Fun with Magnets
Syllabus of Grade 7
-
Motion and Time
-
Light
-
Electric Current and it’s Effects
Difficult Topics
Light
-
Reflections
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Mirrors
-
Lenses
Electric Current
-
Circuits
-
Movement of current
01 Concepts
After researching about toy-based pedagogy, its benefits, and its application all over the world. We went along with this broader idea and tested multiple concepts in constant collaboration with kids aged 10-12 years.
01 Electric Circuit
This toy consists of multiple modules- battery, wire, insulator, bulb, fuse, switch and marbles. These blocks can be arranged and stacked in different combinations. The only rule- complete the circuit by ensuring all the blocks are interconnected.
Battery Modules
Wire Modules
Insulator Modules
Bulb Modules
Marbles and fuse Modules
Switch Modules
Ball stops down due to hindrance, when the circuit is incomplete or wrong
02 Mirrors & Lenses
This band helps students understands which mirror and lens diverges and which one converges. It is a hands-on experience to assist the learning of mirrors and lenses.
Elastic Board
Sticks
Holes
Convex Side Diverging
Concave Side Converging
Elastic Board
Holes
Convex Lens Converging
Right Side View
Elastic Sticks
First inserted inside the band
Concave Lens Diverging
Band squeezed using fingers
03 Board Game
A board game in which instead of dice we used lenses to determine the next position of a player in the game
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Light Source
Target
Curved mirror peg
Convex mirror on one side and concave mirror on another side
Plane mirror peg
Target
Light
02 Design Development
After repetitive iterations and alterations, we came up with the final product named ''oj ki khoj''.The word oj means light therefore, the title means ''in search of light''.
Peg board has 6 x 7 grid of holes on the surface to put pegs on it. Board can be folded into a box which will act as the case for the components of the game.
Board Size: 240 x 280 x 40 mm
No. of Players: 1-2
Components: 1 Board, 1 Laser, 1 Target, 6 Pegs and 1 Mirror sheet
The product is a peg and board game. It consists of a folding board with holes, a light source (lighthouse peg), a target (ship peg), three straight slit pegs, three curved slit pegs, and mirror sheets. It is a single as well as a multiplayer game. When played in a group of 2, Player 1 fixes the light source and the target on the board. Player 2 inserts the mirror sheets on the pegs and then plugs them on the board, then rotates the pegs accordingly in a pursuit to direct the light from the source to the target. Player 2 has to complete the challenge in stipulated time to win the game. Alternate reflective surfaces like foil and chips packaging can be used instead of the mirror sheets, thus helping the child learn more.
Design Details
Packaging is done in bright hues of greens and blues to connect kids with the outdoor nature, as they were deprived of playing outside in pandemic
To make it compact, the peg board itself can be converted into a box to store the pegs and mirror sheet
Design Prototype
The light and target pegs are fixed on board, mirror pegs are placed and rotated to reflect the light on the target peg.
Final Presentation Video
Thank You !