Chapter One

INTRODUCTION

The National Curriculum Framework (NCF) - 2005 initiated a new phase of curriculum revision. First, new syllabi for Science and Mathematics for all stages of school education were developed. Based on these syllabi, new textbooks were developed. As a part of this effort, Physics textbooks for Classes XI and XII were published in 2006 and 2007, respectively.

One of the major concerns expressed in $\mathrm{NCF}-2005$ is regarding Examination Reform.

According to NCF-2005, “A good evaluation and examination system can become an integral part of the learning process and benefit both the learners themselves and the educational system by giving credible feedback”.

It further notes that,

“Education is concerned with preparing citizens for a meaningful and productive life, and evaluation should be a way of providing credible feedback on the extent to which we have been successful in imparting such an education. Seen from this perspective, current processes of evaluation, which measure and assess a very limited range of faculties, are highly inadequate and do not provide a complete picture of an individual’s abilitiy or progress towards fulfilling the aims of education”.

The purpose of assessment is to determine the extent to which learning has taken, on the one hand and to improve the teaching-learning process and instructional materials, on the other. It should inter alia be able to review the objectives that have been identified for different school stages by gauging the extent to which the capabilities of learners have been developed. Tests should be so designed that we must be able to gauge what children have learnt, and their ability to use this knowledge for problem-solving and application in the real world. In addition, they must also be able to test the processes of thinking to gauge if the learner has also learnt where to find information, how to use new information, and to analyse and evaluate the same. The types of questions that are set for assessment need to go beyond what is given in the book. Often children’s learning is restricted as teachers do not accept their