The Chinese proverb goes “I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand” .The process of learning starts right from the mothers womb. Abhimanyu learned to create chakraviewh from his mothers womb. Now, let us observe a baby learning to walk. When he falls, we say it’s o.k., try again. Do we award grades for his performance or fail him if he does not learn to walk by the time he turns one? So he tries again, enjoys doing it, it never tires him out, falling does not daunt him and he succeeds. Hurray!
A child is a natural learner, he follows his instincts, he asks many questions, does not answer any tests for what he has learnt till then. We are easy that he will learn his way. There are many pre-schools in our country which encourage the play way style of learning. But as baby hood gives way to childhood; by the time he moves into the first standard, he goes back to the conventional methods of learning. Teaching is all about covering the curriculum, assignments all about written tests! Slowly, the child plays it safe, stops asking questions and starts answering them- only the questions and answers are not his own. Schooling, to him means learning what he is asked to learn.
First of all,to make learning interesting in schools, we should be open to a lot of change. If a small variation is brought to the old style of cramming of facts, school becomes an interesting place. Teachers should be ready to let go off the authoritarian style of teaching to nurture natural learning in children. This does not happen as most of the teachers run out of answers.
The demonstration of a method helps a lot in teaching difficult subject like math to class of 30-40 students. For instance, in a lesson about circles, circular discs or used CDs can be distributed to the students and asked to measure the circumference. We can see them running around for strings, scales etc. Some will encircle discs with strings, some will roll it on the scale to find the measurement. It is obvious that this itself gives rise to different methods of obtaining measurements, relation between, circumference and length, and a better understanding of concept.
In the same way, the concept of X axis or the number line can be taught by a student being asked to walk in a straight line along the floor, counting his steps and marking them. The point where he starts is zero and from there, if he walks back we get the negative numbers.
This is moreover a game. Please don’t mention the noise it is going to create in the class. But there is cent per cent participation, complete involvement of the students. The noisy class learns better than a silent class.
History is often seen as a boring subject as students have to memorize the chronological order of events and cannot see a relevance of the happenings in the modern world. Students can be divided into groups and discussions and debates about a particular event and its outcomes, can be organized. Learning follows.
Plays can be scripted to make languages lessons interesting. Discussions on books read, encourage the want to read. Discussions about television programs and sports must be encouraged. We should also help them write daily news papers in every school. Now there is a perfect communion of history, daily happenings, language and ideas in one class. Perhaps if we could reduce the time for curriculum learning and assign more time for activities.
Science, of course is interesting if learnt through experiments. Lets go back to the one year old that learns the principles of physics by bending, breaking, throwing and mouthing his toys. Schools must acquire enough lab equipment for each and every child to try what he has learnt. More audio visuals will help him remember facts.
Natural sciences can be taught outside the class room, through field trips and so on. For example in a concept about herbs, they can be asked to bring any herb of their choice to the class and discuss about it. Here we find the children learning from their experiences and knowledge they bring to class. How many different ideas can we expect in a neatly printed text book?
The teachers often complain that there are many children who misbehave in class, are arrogant bullies and do not listen to the teacher. Some are seen to be too fidgety to sit through. Some do not see a point in taking down notes or finishing assignments. The parents are pressurized; students are terrorized into doing it. Both school and home turn out to be war zones for the child. The parents and teachers keep wondering. What we should understand is that it is the dull teaching approach that he is rebelling against. Given a chance to apply his intelligence and all the time and space, we can expect change.
These are all easier said than done. So many parents are considering a new concept of “Home Schooling” or “Unschooling” the child. We should think how palatable is this idea is for us as all of us are from the old formal school system. We may argue that the child will fail to socialize and the ‘counter argument’ is that the parents, grand parents are his teachers; the siblings, neighborhood children, the grocer, the milk man, the house-help all form his society. In our present system, learning takes place from 8.a.m. to 3.p.m. or 9.a.m. to 4.p.m.If a child loses interest in class, then it is a waste of time. Doesn’t learning take place before and after these timings? Child should learn from his personal experience and knowledge. This encourages flexibility in thinking and cultivates enthusiasm in the child.
“How can a bird that is born for joy; Sit in a cage and sing” sings William Blake in his famous poem about the school boy. So parents! Lets empathies with our birds of joy. Let us be courageous enough to bring about ‘change’ for a better tomorrow. Let’s learn from our mistakes as our one year old baby had learned to get up after his fall. Let us understand education in its true meaning.
- Sreevidya Nambiar
