Abstract:

This work seeks to decode the manner in which children from marginalised societies learn. This thesis establishes the mode in which children in primary schools in particular internalise misconceptions. It further establishes that experience-based pedagogy is not an effective method to enable learning with understanding among the children of the marginalised section of society (lower economic stratum).  
The underlying methodology is in three parts (1) initial correlational study, in which a phenomenon is observed and studied. (2) intermediate study using Phenomenography to establish the occurrence of the phenomenon in other geographic areas of the country, and (3) specific study, which entails studying 20 school children for 18 weeks, and finally, a focussed study on 3 students who dropped out of the group of 20 children.
The hypothesis is based on two main theoretical concepts. The first concept is based on that of Kolb’s experiential learning theory. This theory advocates the feedback mechanism and looping between reflection, analysis and observation. This process goes on until conceptual understanding is achieved. Another major theoretical basis is the Mediated Learning theory, which poses a major challenge in a classroom as the class consists of children with varied cognitive abilities. This research gives a deeper understanding of the issues prevalent in learning with understanding, amongst children of the lower economic stratum of the society. The last part of this research goes on to co-relate the parental expectation and student learning. The mode of learning is observed and analysed by co-relational comparisons. The larger purpose of this inquiry is to align the curriculum makers, enforcers and educators to the mode of learning in children living in slums, as this study inquires into the ontological nature of experience-based pedagogy and learning through experience-based pedagogy. This is also an attempt to explicate the relationship between Design research using experiential activities and conceptual understanding, if it exists. The research elucidates the crucial structure of experiential activities for understanding children’s endeavour in learning mathematical concepts and rational experiential activities that are a pragmatic approach to problem solving to ease the cognitive load of making a decision. 
The findings led to the emergence of a probable theory of how children learn in school, by investigating how children learn, misinterpret and internalise concepts. The learner is lost in a maze of self-generated, misunderstood or assumed concepts. The orientation of the learning trajectory is away from the expected goal of learning. At any point, the student may redirect learning towards the expected goal. If the learner is unable to re-orient towards the expected goal, he/she lives with misconceptions. The learning thus, was on a different plane. The students assumed that they have learnt the concept.
The factors leading to Disoriented learning are found to be multiple. Learners /students learn from peers who lack conceptual understanding. Students have ambiguity of the concept in real life. They cannot connect experiences of real life to concepts. Subject teachers have inefficiency and lack of in-depth knowledge of the subject. Students Lack motivation to study.  Student’s Emotional state and Social Activities affect learning and cause them to learn in a disoriented manner. Social media (movies, Television) has a great impact on children; they sometimes are influenced by the character roles played in movies. Children work as substitutes for the working parent, Single parents working and taking care of children cannot monitor the academics of the child. The society dictates the expectations from schools, and the modality of teaching. The society (parents and community) instils the “right” and “wrong” mode of teaching by the teachers in school, and that influences the children’s attitude towards schooling/education. Economic compulsions (children working to complement the income of the family), Illness, Food and Nutrition are some of the other factors that dictate the attitude of children towards education. 
Findings are corroborated by taking up the Topic of ‘Area and Perimeter’ of a Rectangle and observing how children fail to understand the concept and develop misconceptions. Grading akin to Van Haile system is designed and tested in this research. In case there are ‘gaps’ or misconceptions that require to be rectified; those errors are indicated by a scale called “Root Stability” in the year ending grades. As a remedial measure, it is essential that the student bridges the gap between the pre-requisites and the expected learning objective. Currently only the ‘right answers’ are represented in the grading. The misconceptions are not represented in the grading system. In case the student does not have a misconception and the answer shows that there is a lacuna, then the bridge course has to determine if the error due to lack of understanding or a careless mistake. 
The research study concludes with the finding that a unified curriculum is not conducive to learning among children belonging to the marginalised section of the society. Misconceptions in children occur during collaborative and peer learnings. The misconceptions over time are compounded and internalised. This research recommends a bridge course to be introduced in schools in order to help children who have no or insufficient pre-requisites to the topic of instruction in higher classes.