DIFFICULTIES FACED IN SCIENCE SUBJECT BY GRADE-VI STUDENTS IN KNOWLEDGE, COMPREHENSION AND APPLICATION DOMAIN

Science is about making sense of the world around us. In the process of learning science, it is assumed that all children are natural discoverers and as teachers our job is to provide a platform to allow children to make sense of their discoveries. However, in this process of teaching and learning, the component of assessment cannot be missed out. An appropriate assessment will not only be beneficial for the learner, the teacher and the parents, but also in general to the society at large to identify gaps in the teaching and learning process. This identification will help in bridging the gaps between the learner and the content. Hence the present study was undertaken to identify the difficulties faced by them in three domains namely knowledge, comprehension and application. The study has explored the means of developing grade level assessment tool in science subject for Grade-VI students as well as created a pathway to identify the concern areas. The test material was developed and was experimented with the typically developing students studying in Grade-VI. The content for the tool development was selected from the Grade-VI CBSE Science textbook. The test material had major focus on three domains such as Knowledge, Comprehension and Application.The selected participants of the study were students studying in Grade-VI in schools around Mysore. The outcome of the study reveals that the developed tool could be used as an achievement and diagnostic test material for Grade-VI students and it could help teachers in finding the level and grade appropriateness of students. Science is an interesting subject which is more of practical part than theory part but from the overall findings was observed that the student’s performance in Application domain is less and there is need to concentrate more on developing skill to survive in the day to day life it. In conclusion it is suggested that teaching-learning and assessment tasks should be carried out in such a way that it tests the child’s understanding the subject as well as his/her ability to apply learning in an appropriate way.