The paper by Jaipur based researchers Dr Lalit Kishore & Dr Alka Awasthi of Disha Foundation "Making Use of Educational Engineering Principles to Design Pattern Drawing Activity Book as Educational Artefact to Mitigate Dysgraphia Disability among Children" has been accepted for track five of the conference informed the organisers on August 28. The classroom transaction of the activities was done by special educator Varsa Tikkiwal.
"Taking cues from upcoming field of educational engineering which is different from educational technology, and more related to designing educational artefacts, usage and environments, an attempt was made to design an activity book for children with learning disability of dysgraphia consisting lack of drawing, handwriting and writing skills despite reasonable intelligent quotient and verbal communication skills," states the study.
Further, the mixed method of study consisting mini-focus consisting of a civil engineer and two disability education researchers; desk study on pattern drawing and challenges of children with dysgraphia; and activity book artefact designing research and development were used. The outcome of one month long research work within the framework of educational engineering was production of an activity book of A-4 size making use of scribbling and doodling followed by balancing segments and decorating them with patterns strokes identified from the English and Hindi alphabet.
The study adds that the procedure consisted of the steps of demonstration to assisted drawing to supervised drawing to independent drawing to practice of drawing to internalize the patterns leading to shaping of micro-muscles of hands to become apt for writing. For each drawing exercise, three patterns to be used at a time were identified and for each new exercise two previous patterns and one new pattern was used. The material was validated by a researcher and two special educators for clinical trial.