Diagnostic and Remedial Teaching

Diagnostic Test in Mathematics

Just as a doctor diagnoses a patient to find the nature, type and extent of his disease before prescribing

medicine, a teacher of Mathematics applies diagnostic test to diagnose the difficulties and weakness of the students. Through this test. weakness and difficulties of students in the instructional material consisting of one or more type of mathematics are diagnosed. In diagnostic test, both background and performance of the students are needed. Diagnostic tests are qualitative not the quantitative.

" Diagnostic test can easily be understood with the following example."

A bottle contains milk. Two questions can be arisen. How much milk is there in bottle and why is it full or empty? Question about the quantity of milk (how much milk) comes in achievement test while about quality, why the bottle is empty or pull Comes in diagnostic test. Hence, from the following example, an easy understanding can be made that diagnostic test are qualitative not quantitative. It undertakes to provide a picture of strengths and weaknesses or pupils in learning.

Types of Diagnostic Test

Diagnostic tests are mainly classified into two classes

1. Education Diagnostic Test

2. physical Diagnostic Test

Educational Diagnostic Test are related to study matter of education. These tests diagnose disorder of material according to level of class.

On the other hand, Physical or clinical Diagnostic Test age related to hearing, vision and other things that cause hindrance in the course of a child's learning.

Characteristics of Diagnostic Test

The diagnostic test should the following characteristics

1) It finds out weakness or deficiency of a child in learning of a contents

2) It is qualitative not quantitative

3) It is an effective tool for teachers that helps in planning and organising remedial teaching.

4) It is a based to form tutorial group so as a help the poor student to develop their performance in removing their difficulties.

5) It arranges the items in learning sequence so as to help the student in transferring of learning positions.

6) It adopts objective type tests only.

7) It fully emphasises on all learning and teaching points.

8) In diagnostic test, no score is made for correct answers, only wrong responses are taken into view in the sequence of contents.

9. It needs an expert or specialist to identify the cause for wrong answers.

Function of Diagnostic Test

It has mainly four function

Classification

* Attitude or musical level

* vocational Level

* Intellectual Level

Assessment of specific Abilities with Regard to

* Level of Abnormality

* Level of Depression and Anxiety

* Level of Adjustment

Remediation

* Special Education of Handicapped

* Remedial Teaching for Learning weakness

* Counselling for Mental Ailment

* Clinical Treatment for Physical Ailments

Etiology

* Study of diagnosis

Methods of Diagnosis

following methods are useful for diagnostics approaches.

Testing method

It involves several types-testing procedures Known as

* Educational Testing Method

* Psychological Testing Method

* Clinical Testing Method

Observation Method

It is subjective method and applied only for children for prognosis and diagnosis.

Diagnostic Test in School Subjects

Different subjects in different schools are according to level of classes. Student face several difficulties especially in language and arithmetic. To remove the doubts and difficulties of the students, different kinds of tests are designed, which are given below

Diagnostics Reading Test

Diagnostic reading test includes the following sub-tests.

- Poetry Comprehension and appreciation

- Vocabulary In different areas

- Meaning of sentences

- Paragraph  of comprehension

- Rate of reading and  Comprehension of poose.

Diagnostic Mathematical skill Test

This test is used to detect the following types of errors. Committed by the student during mathematical operations as addition, subtraction, Multiplication and Division.

- Carry over in addition

- Borrowing in addition

- Placement of decimal error

- Borrowing and reducing one from next

- Nothing wrong number

- Tables are not remembered in divisions

- Tables are not remembered in multiplication

Important steps of Diagnosis

There are five main steps of diagnosis using which, the process of diagnosis is forward.

1. First of all we try to know about the students who are facing this problem. For it, we use different methods about which we have read above.

2. We try to know about the area or type of questions where the child does mistakes.

3. After finding the nature of mistakes in step II we try to Know the reasons of their mistakes.

4. After knowing the reason is step III, we think about its solution. There is not any certain rule prove it. It depends on the nature of the problem.

5. After solving the problem, the process is not yet completed. After it, a teacher should think what he should do so that there problems may not occur in Future.

Steps for the preparation of Diagnostic Test

The following are the steps Used for preparing the diagnostic test

- formulate the objectives of outline or Contents.

- Analyse the contents into subtopics and its element

- Identify the difficulties in the order of sub-topics

- Analyse the items and modify them

- Prepare the final draft of the test

- Prepare manual of test

- Remedial devices and measures.

RED ALSO- What is remedial teaching?