An Experimental Approach to ICT for Climate Change Awareness in Myanmar
Benjamin K. Blevins *
Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation, Hiroshima University, 1-5-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima City, Hiroshima, 739-8511, Japan
Nyi Nyi Htwe
Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation, Hiroshima University, 1-5-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima City, Hiroshima, 739-8511, Japan
Shree Kumar Maharjan
Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation, Hiroshima University, 1-5-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima City, Hiroshima, 739-8511, Japan
Shinji Kaneko
Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation, Hiroshima University, 1-5-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima City, Hiroshima, 739-8511, Japan
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The study explores the introduction of ICT into the classroom by conducting a randomised controlled experiment (RCT) among secondary schools in urban Myanmar. Using a lecture on climate change awareness, 942 students in five schools in Yangon and Mandalay participated in the experiment. For treatment groups, the lecture was video-based, with the teachers simply providing support to the contents of the video. In contrast, the teachers in the control groups presented the content of the video lecture without the video-aid. Student learning outcomes for those in the treatment group resulted in a mixture of outcomes divided on gender lines. The study suggests that ICT can simultaneously benefit certain students while impeding others, and thus should not be treated as a panacea to improve learning outcomes.
Keywords: ICT, Myanmar, primary school, climate change, RCT, difference-in-differences