The Curriculum – TN Critical Thinking

The Curriculum · Tamil Nadu Critical Thinking Curriculum · India Institute

↑ An India Institute Project

Phase 1 · Randomised Controlled Trial

RCT Complete · Report Forthcoming

Designing for the actual classroom

Curriculum development was preceded by a pre-baseline assessment and a set of classroom observations. India Institute surveyed students who were then in grades 7 and 8, the same cohort who would enter grades 8 and 9 when the intervention began. Around a dozen schools in the urban education block were visited; lessons were observed and discussions were held with teachers and school officials. The pre-baseline proficiency survey gave the team a clear sense of where students stood academically. The classroom observations helped identify how the new co-curricular subject could best be designed for this student group, and what pedagogical approach would work best for them.

What we found

The classroom observations and teacher engagement produced a clear picture across two dimensions.

📋 In the classroom: Teachers

Lessons focused primarily on completing exercises and answering set questions, rather than building understanding.

Fewer than one in ten teachers explained how knowledge could be applied beyond the classroom.

The overall classroom mode was primarily transmission-based, with limited emphasis on student-led inquiry or discussion.

Classroom dynamics were more active in larger schools, though the pedagogical pattern held broadly.

🎓 In the classroom: Students

Many students found spelling, reading, and writing difficult, particularly in English.

When engaged directly through discussion or open questions, students were highly enthusiastic.

Students were aspirational about their futures and motivated to learn.

Students were intelligent and willing to learn, showing curiosity and reasoning ability when actively engaged.

The pre-baseline survey told us where students stood academically. The classroom observations told us how they engaged with material and with each other. Together, they gave the curriculum design team a realistic picture to design from.

How the findings shaped the curriculum

Each of the pre-baseline findings translated directly into a design decision. The curriculum draws on the Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) framework (developed by Pratham) to address variable proficiency, ensuring that sessions are built around where students actually are rather than where the syllabus assumes them to be.

Oral-first delivery

A higher proportion of activities use spoken rather than written responses, so that literacy gaps do not become barriers to reasoning. A student who struggles to write an argument can still make one.

Suited to: students at varying levels of reading and writing proficiency

Team-based activities over individual tasks

Group tasks are prioritised throughout. This improves engagement, makes the curriculum inclusive across ability levels, and reflects how reasoning is exercised in real life: in conversation, not in isolation.

Suited to: building active participation and broad engagement across the group

Inclusive lesson design

Each lesson includes tasks designed for every ability level in the group, so no student is left without a meaningful role. Within a single session, students at different proficiency levels can engage at different depths with the same material.

Suited to: classrooms with students at multiple ability levels

Cultural and social grounding

Stories, riddles, and scenarios are drawn from Tamil social and cultural contexts, making the content immediately recognisable and relevant. Abstract reasoning is easier to learn when the examples are not abstract.

Suited to: students who are aspirational and engaged when content feels close to their lives

Bilingual availability

All materials are available in both Tamil and English. Instruction follows the medium of each school, ensuring no student is reasoning in a language they do not yet command confidently.

Suited to: schools with different mediums of instruction across the block

A session in practice

One of the core frameworks used in the curriculum is the CCR strategy (Clarity, Credibility, Relevance), which teaches students to evaluate any piece of information against three consistent questions. A typical session begins with a motivating question that has no obvious right answer:

Sample motivating question · Information evaluation lesson

"Who is right?
A: Older doctors are the best, so they should make health policy.
B: Younger doctors are the best, so they should make health policy."

Students are not told the answer. Instead, they are guided through the CCR framework:

C Clarity Is the claim precise enough to be evaluated?

C Credibility Is it supported by reliable evidence?

R Relevance Does the evidence actually support the conclusion?

Students identify what is missing from each argument, what evidence would be needed to evaluate it properly, and then apply the same framework to examples from their own lives. This discovery-based method inverts the transmission-first pedagogy observed in the pre-baseline: the concept follows the reasoning, not the other way around.

Assessment design

The end-line assessment was designed to measure critical thinking skills directly, using questions presented as scenarios drawn from everyday situations familiar to students. Rather than abstract logic problems, questions involve financial decisions, social claims, and common information environments that students in Tamil Nadu government schools actually encounter.

Question models were adapted from two established assessments: the 2020 Critical Thinking Test developed by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (Australia), and the critical thinking assessment from the William and Mary School of Education (United States). Both were adapted for the Tamil Nadu context in language, setting, and cultural register.

Ethics and research governance

All ethical research practices were followed throughout the study. Government permission was obtained at each stage of the project, and the ongoing engagement with Tamil Nadu School Education Department officials reinforced the project's commitment to transparent and accountable research. All personally identifiable information was de-identified before analysis, and findings are reported at the aggregate level only. Before the final report is published, a closed-door workshop will be held with policy and department leadership to review findings and implications.

Student motivation: In addition to the primary critical thinking assessment, a student motivation survey was administered using an adapted instrument from the Young Lives longitudinal study. Results from this component will be reported alongside the full findings when the report is released.