Category: February 2012

Adding the experience element

Harini Kumar Eliminating mediocrity in education is a motto of EZ Vidya, an education solutions provider for schools. What is it that mainstream schools are not doing that would need supplementary efforts from such organizations? Founded ten years ago in Chennai with the mission “Let the child blossom”, EZ Vidya provides products and services to schools with respect to academic curricula, training of teachers and helping schools enhance their approach to education. Chitra Ravi, founder and CEO of EZ Vidya says that technology has played an important role in their interventions, through their products. While they share schools’ basic objective of imparting knowledge, organizations like EZ Vidya propagate a different approach to learning that many schools are now lapping up and reaping the benefits of. “We noticed that teachers are unable to get into the mind of the learner, and this is where we come in,” says Chitra Ravi. “Through an interactive and participatory approach that addresses the learning needs of today, our products motivate children to learn by providing multiple stimuli.” EZ Vidya’s flagship product, Chrysalis – a complete information and communication technology (ICT) curriculum package that includes textbooks, workbooks and audio-visual material – offers what have come to be known as ‘21st century skills’. Schools that enroll with them replace their conventional materials with those provided by EZ Vidya, which ensures that there is a fit with the syllabus that the school follows. EZ Vidya also offers training for teachers in order to bridge the gap between education research and what is being imparted in schools. Curricula in mainstream Indian schools are often regarded as being heavy with content, weighing down students with concepts and definitions. Learning then becomes a weary, monotonous exercise that runs the risk of stunting a child’s personality growth. By using technology meaningfully, such products and services serve as a wake-up call to educators to improve their teaching methodology, question the basics, and offer a new curriculum while still adhering to the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) of 2005 and working within the guidelines laid out in national and state education policies. Through interactive workbooks, EZ Vidya seeks to trigger the thoughts of students by appealing to their different senses, giving them a chance to learn experientially rather than through a didactic method. For example, when a scientific phenomenon is explained through a poem to a student who likes poetry, it could create a more lasting impression than a simplistic definition that one usually sees in textbooks. Qualitative growth is

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The subject of the matter

Subject teachers at the school level have a major responsibility in terms of inculcating learning attitudes and generating interest in a particular subject. It is the passion for a subject that the teacher kindles in the student which takes him or her on a learning journey . It is only when a student cares deeply about a subject, is he motivated enough to share the learning with others.

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Planning a topic web

Ambika Parchure
It is important that a teacher creates a lesson plan before she begins to teach any subject. Some of the objectives that a teacher needs to keep in mind are: try to refer the topic across all subjects, keep the students engaged at all times, ask questions that will get the children to think. A cross-curicular topic web helps the child understand the subject more deeply and above all, the child has ownership of his learning.

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Family – A child’s academic barometer

Steven Paul Rudolph
There is a growing body of evidence which says that children’s success in learning and behaviour is closely linked to their parents’ involvement. Parents can help in their child’s education by helping them establish a routine, set study schedules and learning goals and generally take an interest in what the children are learning and talking to them about it.

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“Coloured” judgments

Geetha Durairajan

Often, in the course of our assignments, be it teaching or learning, we come across people about whom we tend to have pre-conceived notions depending upon the way they look or talk. These biases cloud our own judgments and we build our prejudices. This new column Touchstone will work as a reference point that allows us to measure our teaching, our accomplishments, in short , all that we do. It will, in fact, act as a mirror to all the things that we do and don’t do.

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The wonder wrought by words

Talitha Mathew

Words are like the ‘skin of our thoughts’. They are needed by students as food for the mind and spirit. They inspire, motivate and awaken the inner learning creature that can only be sustained, that can only grow and develop on a steady diet of meaning and symbol.

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Playtime = Learning time

Munusamy Raviraaj

Getting children to learn and incorporate value education in classrooms is a challenge faced by educators. A new fun and experiential learning aid for children in elementary schools called ‘Play and Improve’ helps teachers to talk about positive and negative attitudes in a fun way. Teachers can get across important messages with values to the children so that it is firmly imprinted in their minds. Read all about this exciting tool in this article.

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Balancing act!

Yasmin Jayathirtha

This article gives a description of how one can assemble a balance, how it can be used and tested and the important things to keep in mind.

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Puzzles and critical thinking

Solving puzzles helps to build self-esteem and confidence.Puzzles are excellent tools for channelling the energy of the young. They also develop the capacity to redefine a problem and the will to persevere.

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