Abstract
As envisaged by the NEP 2020, pedagogy must steadily evolve to make learning more experiential, holistic, inquiry-driven, discovery-oriented, learner-centered, retentive and enjoyable. The contrasting reality however, is that, classrooms today continue to be characterized by rote learning, lackadaisical attitude of learners and a disproportionate over-emphasis of the cognitive domain. The immediate need thus, is to liberate students’ minds from the existing stagnant state of ‘still learning’ so as to help them ascend to the desired academic altitudes of ‘skill learning’ proposed by the NEP 2020, imbuing learners with skill sets of the 21st century. Ushering in this paradigm shift would call for promoting ‘activity’ from the status of ‘noun to verb’ on the horizons of curricular transactions. Activity Based Learning (ABL) could well serve as a springboard to achieve that ideal. This Mixed Method Research endeavored to evaluate the efficiency of ABL in augmenting the development of the 3 domains of learning. The sample comprised of 100 B.Ed students of a private-aided Teacher Education college, affiliated to the University of Mumbai. An achievement test was administered to a sub-sample of 26 student teachers opting for the subject of Environmental Education. Correlation of their test scores with Domain-based Development indicated a significantly high positive relationship between the 2 variables, implying the effectiveness of ABL as a forerunner of Academic Achievement. Qualitative analysis of feedback procured through focus group interviews presented important implications that could prove helpful to classroom teachers to invigorate their existing curricula so as to make education primarily learner-centric.
Keywords: activity based learning (ABL), academic achievement, domain-based development