Impact of Remedial Teaching on Learning of Science among Low Achievers of Primary Classes

Abstract

Low achievers are those students in the classroom who stand on the lower rung of academic ladder.The attention span of the low achievers is relatively short, also they lack concentration. Regular classroom environment is preferred for the education of students with diverse needs, so remedial education is assigned to assist students in order to achieve expected competencies in core academic skills such as literacy and numeracy. The objective of the study was to identify the students with low academic achievement in primary classes, to determine the pretest knowledge of students with low academic achievement in science, to develop teaching material and to find out the effectiveness of remedial teaching on knowledge of science among students with low academic achievement of primary school. The study was conducted in five phases in two government schools of low socio-economic status were selected,random assignment of students in experimental and control group was done after identification of students with low academic achievement.Sample of the study comprised of 32 students in experimental group out of which 15 were identified as low achievers and 36 from control group,out of which 14 were identified as low achievers.Intervention in the form of remidial teaching was given and the results were analyzed using t teast. It was found that there was significant difference between pretest and post test scores of experimental group students taught through the teaching material, projects, charts, worksheets and concrete objects. Teaching through charts was found to be the most effective instructional strategy. However, there was no significant difference in pre-test and post-test of control group, because no different method of teaching or teaching material was not used there such as charts, projects etc.This reveals that the use of teaching material improves the motivation and increases the enthusiasm in the students.