The art of being a SciTeller
Mahak Katyal
By now most of us agree that stories are a good way of drawing the attention of a child and engaging him. But how exactly does one use these stories, say in a science class? What will the lesson plan be?
Mahak Katyal
By now most of us agree that stories are a good way of drawing the attention of a child and engaging him. But how exactly does one use these stories, say in a science class? What will the lesson plan be?
What is education? A question like this will have several answers, most of them focusing on the theoretical definition of the word. But in looking at education purely in terms of theory are we losing sight of what education means in practice?
Sharmila Govande The best classroom and the richest cupboard is roofed only by the sky – Margaret McMillan A young preteen couldn’t contain her excitement. While she enthusiastically told me about her trip, what caught my attention was the overall impact the trip had on her self-belief and the resulting confidence levels. The highly spirited girl was all about, ‘I Can’. I can stay away from my parents, I can do all my routine chores by myself, I can make friends with people I don’t know, I can ask for help from villagers, I can manage money, I can travel by the local bus…her list seemed never ending. This young girl was part of a unique programme organized by her school Jnana Prabodhini Gurukul, Nigdi. These outstation tours called, “Matrubhumi Parichay” (getting to know the motherland) aim at creating awareness, love, and sensitivity toward our people and our diverse culture and traditions. Listening to her talk, I wished that all schools thought similarly and organized such tours for their children – tours that bring children closer to people from different communities, rejoice in the differences, become sensitive to their culture and traditions and develop love for the nation and harmony in society. Today, schools offer various excursion programmes to their students, but very few come close to Jnana Prabodhini’s “Matrubhumi Parichay”. These programmes are broadly classified into – day trips and outstation tours. Day trips are day-long trips where students spend the day at the destination and are back home before night time. Day trips include field trips with specific learning objectives and day-long fun picnics. Students going for outstation tours spend a few days away from home and these include study tours and camps. There is no standard practice in naming such excursions and every school terms them differently – exposure visits, field visits, educational tours, camping tours, outstation trips, etc. The difference is not only in the terminology, but also in what kind of programs are included as excursions. Overnight camps conducted within the school premises, resource person visits, and class participation in events and competitions are also included in the excursion gamut. Shiv Nadar school, Noida a school inclusive in its approach and vision conducts grade specific outstation trips to places where children learn and get acquainted with our natural environment and history. They take the children into the wilderness, national parks, and forest reserves, or to historical sites. By living in a natural environment, the children not only learn various academic
Ankita Rajasekharan Humans have been a nomadic species for centuries before cultivation and settlement came in. We followed the course of nature, moving places as seasons and sources of food changed. Each time, the movement being guided by the need for protection, comfort, and ultimately survival. It was never an aimless wandering; each journey brought with it learning and skills that ensured and hold credit to this day for the human species having survived and progressed to the standards that we hold today. In interaction with nature, we learnt to make fire, build tools, follow the elephants to water, construct homes as birds build their nests, predicate a storm. The core being that learning accompanied movement. Travel, was a way of life. Travel has come to mean different things in today’s time – one travels for work, one travels for leisure, one travels in search of better jobs/homes, one travels to get away, one travels to experience life and culture. And then there is ‘educational travelling’, an aspect of school curriculum that is progressively becoming more and more popular. Most schools have for a long time had an annual school/class trip. This is usually a 2-3 day trip that a class takes together, mostly for leisure but sprinkled with some focused learning elements (visits to places of historic or cultural importance, dams or factories, etc.). Then there are day trips to museums, exhibitions, parks, local historic sites, etc. Most often these trips are justified to the school administration or budget department as having curricular significance and as being part of the ‘syllabus’ requirement. One finds it difficult to convince the school authority or even oneself as a facilitator as to the significance of travelling as part of the child’s schooling experience beyond the framework of syllabus and curriculum. What does it mean to take a trip? What does it mean to visit a place? What does it mean to travel? What does it mean to wander? Can these questions and discussions that follow find a space within the walls of a school? Could travelling be about just travelling and not necessarily about focused learning outcomes? Could a visit to a historic monument be just about visiting the monument…being in the presence of an ancient architectural marvel…could it be about just admiration…could it be about a visit that inspires one to want to know about the monument, it’s construction, the period it was constructed in and whatever else that it makes one think of…could this inspiration
Mehak Siddiqui Be it training underwater like an astronaut or debating with the élan of a UN diplomat, learning the German language in Switzerland, or operating a rover on simulated Mars terrain, there is arguably no professional experience that is out of reach for school students today. Gone are the days of the humble school picnic as specialized tours become an integral part of the academic calendar, and schools compete to provide unique learning experiences that both educate and inspire students to cultivate their passions. “Our tours offer an opportunity for students and schools to actually see the practical use of the concepts they study in their classrooms,” says Vishal Verma, Managing Director of Frontiers Edutainment, an innovative education tours company with offices in Gurgaon and Chennai. As the name suggests, Frontiers strives to bring in an element of enjoyment to enhance student engagement on trips. They offer a plethora of travel programmes catering to specific interests and skills-development of students. For instance, those interested in journalism can attend the prestigious Newsroom by the Bay programme at Stanford University, while science enthusiasts can visit centres of excellence such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the United States and the Space Academy of Singapore. Students can also participate in a range of festivals and competitions such as the London International Youth Science Forum, the Hugh O’Brian World Leadership Congress and Model United Nations conferences around the world. “We focus on making Students realize the immense possibilities available to them and this helps them gain a much broader perspective,” adds Verma. Frontiers Edutainment organizes an average of 10 to 12 tours every year, with between 400 and 500 students participating from schools in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Dehradun, and Bangalore. The company takes care of every little detail, right from organizing visas to air tickets, hotels, meals, and local transportation. The aim is to provide students with a seamless experience where they can bond with fellow students and cultivate team skills, develop confidence in their own abilities, and explore their talents. According to Verma, most schools choose to attend educational programmes at NASA Space Centres or academic tournaments like the World Scholar’s Cup and Model United Nations Conferences. At times, it is the parents who approach Frontiers with interest in sending their children on specific tours. The company then contacts the child’s school and the tour becomes possible if a sizeable number of students register. All arrangements and itineraries are finalized several months in advance, and
When ‘teachers’ are the focus of attention in a mainstream Hindi film, it is time to celebrate even though some of the characters in the film are stereotypes. ‘Chalk and Duster’ is a simple film with a simple story but makes teachers feel good about being in the profession.
Sameera Sood
What is play? Why is it important for children and how is it different from work? Children love to play and explore their environment. It helps them develop intellectual and social skills. It is different form work in the sense that play is something one chooses to do while work is something one has to perforce do. Since play is the basis of language and cognitive development, teachers must ensure that children get adequate opportunities to play in school.
Two separate events and some enthusiastic children set the stage for a rollicking evening of fun. At the kids fair where Teacher Plus participated, Manaswini Sridhar and Deepa Kiran, resource persons, engaged the children in a story writing and story telling session. Both the sessions saw children in an upbeat mood as they enjoyed writing and listening to the stories. Some of the prize-winning stories are featured here.
Two separate events and some enthusiastic children set the stage for a rollicking evening of fun. At the kids fair where Teacher Plus participated, Manaswini Sridhar and Deepa Kiran, resource persons, engaged the children in a story writing and story telling session. Both the sessions saw children in an upbeat mood as they enjoyed writing and listening to the stories. Some of the prize-winning stories are featured here.
Ragini Ramalingam
If you are interested in teaching English to underprivileged children or if you know someone who is not a teacher but would still like to volunteer, here is an organisation that can support you. Step up India , a Bangalore- based NGO enables skilled volunteers, not trained as teachers, to teach English in government schools in Karnataka. The programme and methodology is so designed that any volunteer can implement it at any point.
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