logiquids program in lower income group using logical reasoning skills...

A PROJECT ON IMPACTING LOGICAL REASONING SKILLS IN LOWER INCOME GROUP USING LOGIQUIDS PROGRAM

BY SIDHARTH AGRAWALCommon Application ID: 23151290

019 A Project on impacting logical reasoning skills in lower income group

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To Who It May Concern

This is to certify that Sidharth Agrawal interned at LogiQids limited from December 2018 to September 2019. LogiQids, started by IIM graduates, is an innovative web-based learning tool, to develop Logical Reasoning in kids at a young age. LogiQids aims at boosting brain development in kids and enhance various critical skill-sets like problem-solving, creativity and lateral thinking. It is India’s first company to formally introduce Logical Reasoning in the curriculum for kids.

Sidharth has shown keen interest in the product development research. He has been able to adapt and implement the program for Grade 4 students of Yasham. He has interacted with various functional segments at LogiQids and has gained an in depth understanding of the product development cycle in view of changing environment.

I wish him success in all his future endeavors.

For LogiQids limited

Mikin Lala,Co-Founder LogiQids


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OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT

TIME PERIOD OF THE PROJECT – The development of the worksheets and the material to

be taught was prepared over a period of 6 months and the classes were held over a period

of 3 months from August to October 2019.

CONDUCTED at Logiqids Office and Yasham foundation centre at G D SOMANI SCHOOL,

Cuffe Parade, Mumbai.

MY INTEREST IN THE SUBJECT –

Why is logic important?

I had interned at Logiqids to understand the product development cycle of a product, in

this case a logical ability-training program. During the course of the internship I was

impacted by the importance of logic; a skill not formally taught as a part of the school

curriculum. In the current academic context, it is very important to teach such skills to

children to ensure they are well prepared for modern life. The effectiveness of logical

reasoning is directly visible in the academic excellence of students. Students who are

trained to be critical thinkers and problem-solver are found to be smarter, and they

become the future innovators. Chancing upon an opportunity to work with the under

privileged kids was a perfect way to address the issue.

According to studies, 65% of students entering primary education are getting prepared for

jobs which are yet to be crated. Logiqids uses logic to force them to think outside the

conventional school of thought and learn how to approach problems in different ways

rather than knowing how to solve specific problems. This ability to approach problems will

be fundamental in the future where there will be unfamiliar jobs.

The idea of logical reasoning is to prepare for life rather than just to pass exams. The

idea is not just to provide them formal education, rather it is providing them with tools to

help train their mind to tackle any problem solving.

This program also helps to assess the skills of each student. It aids intervention, monitors

progress and sets the benchmark for the development of the aptitude program. Thus,

through this program, teachers can help identify students who need special attention.


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ACKNOWLEDEMENTS

I am grateful to Mr. Mikin Lala and Mr. Sumit Agarwal, co-founders of the Logiqids

program for constant guidance and the support I received throughout this process. Their

insights into the importance on logical reasoning was the key driver of the project.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Mrs. Sunita Mandelia, founder trustee of

the Yasham who was kind enough to allow me to pursue this study with the kids of Yasham.

She was very supportive of the idea and helped in implementation of the study.

Last but not the least I am grateful for the guidance and encouragement given by my

parents, without whose wisdom, love and support I would not have completed this project.

IMPORTANT

Through this project I hope to provide a scope for the children to expand on exposure to

logical reasoning skills lessons imparted to them in the course. It also aims to sensitise the

stakeholders involved in education to the importance of this facet of training. I hope this

becomes a starting point of the learning journey of these kids where they start enjoying the

logical reasoning classes and the stake holders incorporate it in the essential curriculum.

WHAT IS LOGIQIDS?

LogiQids is an educational platform which helps to develop logical reasoning in students

which aims at developing and enhancing skills which are relevant to today’s day and age like

Analytical reasoning, Critical-Thinking, Problem-Solving, Lateral-Thinking which aren’t

provided by the Indians educational system. This program is aimed at students from Senior-

Kg to Grade 9 as those are the years which are crucial for logical skill development.

Moreover, this program uses methods to personalise the learning of each student as the

ethos of the company is essentially that if a child is trained in the correct way can achieve

their true potential. They have tie-ups with 189 schools, enrolling over hundred thousand

students in 16 cities in India.

ABOUT THE NGO YASHAM


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The Yasham foundation aims to provide education to underprivileged children in order to

empower them to utilise their full potential. The organisation supplements formal education to

increase their proficiency in English and help in basic mathematical skills. These are free after

school classes run in G D Somani School. Moreover, kids are provided with milk and biscuits

which also serves as an incentive for parents to send the kids. Kids are primarily from

Ambedkar Nagar, which is a slum in South Mumbai overlooking the Arabian Sea, where the

main source of income is fishing. Most of women help out in sorting and processing the fishing

catch and delve in household chores. The children attend the school run by the local

municipality.


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PROCESS

The process is aimed at being unbiased to yield results, which will provide data about the

children along with helping their English skills. Initially, I administered a test was along with

the teachers. The kids were given help to understand the format of the questions and any

other queries, which will help them to adapt to the style of questioning and remove the bias

arising due to lack of English literacy. The test was given for 40 minutes constituting of 20

questions and the result were tabulated. This test helped me to understand the initial level

of each student and following this, 8 classes were given focusing on 2 subtopics (visual and

verbal reasoning) in order to help the children to start to think in a different way. Following

this, a final test was given to see the improvement in each child.

Designing the base line test

The base test was administered before the logic sessions. It was designed after observation

of the class for a whole day session, which is two and a half hours. The following issues

were identified-

The first language, which the children converse in is Marathi (local language), the second

is Hindi (national language) and all of them are only exposed to a very basic level of

English. Therefore, language became a potential barrier because the tests were initially in

English and for the children to understand the language, they needed to be modified.

The attention span of an average 8-10 year olds is at least 20 minutes but these are

children had difficulty sustaining extended periods of teaching time. Thus the class, which

will be of an hour was tough to teach because of less engagement and disciplinary

issues. So initial test was for 45 minutes only. Lesser time would not have been able to

test the kids amply.

The students have been exposed to a teaching style, which encourages rote learning and

not questioning and analysis. Thus, logic, which is fundamentally about questioning and

thinking has been a new concept for them and to change ones mindset it tough.

Encouraging the kids to raise questions and clarify their doubts was identified as a

challenge. Due to this reason a mix of easier questions from grade1 to grade 4 were

chosen.


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The logiqids program is designed to have a digital interface essentially but the kids don’t

have access to any digital device so the initial quiz which was web application based was

changed to worksheets on paper.

Results of the baseline test

The results show the majority of the class did not fair well in the test and lacked these

skills. This was in spite of keeping questions from a range of grade 1 level to grade 4

levels. The average for the test was 54%.

The kids had difficulty in understanding the concept of circling the right answer given

multiple choice questions as they have not been exposed to this style of question papers.

During the course of the test the class was repeatedly explained the instructions to

answer the questions.

English became a big challenge to understand even though the test was redesigned to be

self explanatory and with minimal English words. The English proficiency was at least 2

grades lower and the Grade 4 teacher corroborated this.

Planning and changing the program for the Yasham kids Based on the first test and the analysis of the results I decided to focus only on

- Sequences

- Basic visual logic

- Orientation in figures

Each class was designed to start from the basic block and then keep increasing g the

difficulty. Only one concept was explained and built upon in every class.

The concept done in the previous class was reinforced and then a new logic block

was added.

Although the preliminary test only used “circling the right answer” kind of questions, fill in

the blacks, matching, completing the sequence and analogies were also introduced.

Based on encouraging response and testing more complex logic puzzles like 4*4 Sudoku grid and magic squares were introduced.


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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS OF THE TESTS DONE POST EVERY CLASS

These tests were done as part of the iterative process to keep improving the instructions for

the next class. Further this also served as an indicator of the level of success of the lesson in

class done that day.

Test 2 Test 3 Test 4 Test 5

0-25% 1 2 0 0

25-50% 12 2 5 4

50-75% 15 10 11 8

75-100% 4 7 12 13

0-25% 25-50% 50-75% 75-100%0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Test 2Test 3Test 4Test 5

Analysis and interpretation

Performance in Test 3 had the maximum percentage in 50-75% range as the students

were tested on basic analogies and basic shapes in everyday objects- train, a clipart

picture of a clown.


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Test 2 involved basic sequences- numerical, alphabetical, visual, size gradation and

object orientation (direction). The kids were enthusiastic about the lesson and the test

was helpful in identifying weaker kids. These were also the kids who were not doing well

in mathematics and English in the school.

The kids performed best in Sudoku 4*4 challenge and analogies, which was the Test 5.

This was a revelation as they had not done it earlier. After being told of the rules of the

game they were quick to finish the whole set. This was the test were maximum number

of kids were in 75-100% range compared to all the other tests.

The results of the test on Magic squares has not been tabulated as the majority of the

kids faced problems with single and double digit addition and subtraction.

Another test, which was not tabulated was identifying and counting shapes from a

complex picture like the one given in appendix. This was again due to kids needing a lot

of handholding with the questions.

Final Test after instructional lessons

Utmost care was taken to ensure the final test was as close to the difficulty level as the

base line test.

As the kids had become familiar with the basic English vocabulary used in the preliminary

test no spoken translation or help was given.

Additional concept of a medium level 4 by 4 Sudoku was also tested

Results

Base Test Final test

0-25% 3 0

25-50% 10 10

50-75% 14 17

75-100% 3 2


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0 10 20 30 40 50 60

0-25%

25-50%

50-75%

75-100%

Base test Final test

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

1. Kids scoring 50-75% increased in the final test showing better performance in strict testing

conditions. Kids were separated out so that there was no chance of copying, in addition to

no help from the teachers at all.

2. The kids thoroughly enjoyed the worksheet, puzzles, games and team competitions style of

studying. As an instruction method these were able to motivate and keep the kids engaged.

3. Retention of the material taught in class definitely emerged as one of the big challenges.

This was evident from the better performance of tests conducted right after the class

compared to the last comprehensive test. Increasing the frequency of classes could be

one options and introduction of memory games should also be explored.

4. Time is a big constraint as the students are coming for two and a half hours post school.

Therefore to incorporate logic as a separate section besides Mathematics and English

will be difficult. Therefore I suggest logic skills become a part of Mathematics and

English classes to further the understanding and academic performance of the students.

Many research studies too, have already established a strong link between the logical

reasoning skills in students and their mathematical abilities, as well as academic

achievement. Much of children's mathematical knowledge is based on their


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understanding of its underlying logic. Much of their academic abilities and capability to

make smart, informed decisions stems from being logically strong.

5. Smaller group classes or individual classes are suggested for the students who are not

able to do more than a quarter of the worksheet questions consistently. This will help in

sorting out individual problems or lack of particular skill or knowledge base.


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TESTIMONIALS AND IMPRESSIONS OF THE STAKE HOLDERS

“ Mikin Lala, cofounder of LogiQids “Great to see the program being used for kids who would not usually have access to it”.

“ Sheetal Grade 4 teacher “The LogiQids program has been very helpful and made the kids learn logic and sequencing. It has increased logical reasoning in certain children and the program was very structured. It was amazing to see the children solve the Sudoku puzzles so quickly and easily which I thought would be too challenging to explain to them”

“ Sunita Mandelia, founder trustee of Yasham, “I am happy the Yasham kids got an opportunity to experience a well established program and this given us another skill to further incorporate in our teaching curriculum.”

“ Grade 4 kid “worksheets are fun” “ Grade 4 kid “I like the

team games we play in the class


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APPENDIX A: SAMPLE OF THE QUESTIONS DONE IN THE CLASS

Count the number of triangles in the figure

Complete the following series

Fill in the blanks

A BB CCC ___________ EEEEE ___________

Complete the Analogy

123 : 321 :: 456 : ______________


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APPENDIX B: SAMPLE OF THE QUESTIONS IN THE BASE LINE TEST AND

THE FINAL TEST

APPENDIX C: VARIOUS KINDS OF LOGICAL SKILLS


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The logiQids program instills the following skills in students:

1. Logical Reasoning - The basis of all logical reasoning is the power to think practically

with the facts in hand and join the dots. Logic is a form of common sense and is required

in all aspects of life: professional or personal. Whether one is an entrepreneur, artist,

engineer, lawyer, doctor or homemaker, everyone makes decisions, everyone has

problems to solve, and these require a clear application of logical reasoning abilities.

Through scenarios based questions, mathematical puzzles, and other brain teasers, this

ability is developed.

2. Deductive Reasoning (Conclusion) - This is the ability to think clearly and deduce

information. It checks how well can students draw conclusions and make decisions on

the basis of information or scenarios provided to them.

3. Data Handling (Multiple Instructions) - By giving students large volumes of data, multiple

if-else conditionals, and other instructions their data handling capacity, critical reasoning

and thought process is developed. They are able to learn how to comprehend

information and develop mind maps to fill the gaps in the given data.

4. Creativity (Puzzles) - Centered around out of the box thinking, creativity is developed by

pushing students to expand their vision and look beyond the obvious answers to the

problems presented to them. Conventional logic and patterns are not always the answer;

innovation is required in all stages of life.

5. Pattern Identification (Trends/Relationships) - The ability to identify patterns, trends and

relationships between given data sets is very useful in sharpening mental aptitude. Even

beyond school, in no matter what role a student finds himself in - they will be presented

with images, numbers, or other content which they will have to analyse at a glance and

find trends or patterns in.

6. Verbal Reasoning - Understanding the nuances of language in context and learning how

to use English properly - vocabulary, sentence structure, meaning in context, etc. is

crucial. English is the lingua franca of the modern world and having good comprehension

skills gives one an upper hand in all forms of negotiation, information understanding and

adds an edge in the way one presents information and interacts with others.


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7. Visual and Spatial Reasoning - This skill is all about attention to detail and being

focused. It develops visualizing skills - how to picture patterns, shapes and objects in

their mind, visualize different perspectives of an object/machine/design.

logiquids program in lower income group using logical reasoning skills...

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