Learning across Disciplines

Channelizing the energies and integrating the interests of all children in a class can be effectively done through themes. All that the teacher needs to do is listen to children, be observant and be sensitive towards the questions being asked by them.  In this group of Class V all that the boys wanted to do at all times was to play football.   Scores were discussed in the class, players and their strategies, footballs would stay by their sides in the classroom and teachers would have a tough time engaging them and calming their energies.  Footballs were confiscated, boys were labelled as rowdy and yet they continued to talk abut football and run out of the class to practice a few kicks whenever the teachers were out of sight.

Being the Football World cup season, the enthusiasm, interest and excitement of children was at its peak.  So what does the teacher do now?  All the discussions during circle time continued to revolve around football, Brazil, and who was a better player and then there were plans of creating their own league.  So here was an opportunity for the teachers to take up a theme on 'Football' and create linkages across disciplines in interesting ways.  A web was created to understand what was it that the children wanted to explore and interested in knowing. Context was created by introducing the timeline of FIFA, when did the Indian team first qualify, what were the social and cultural contexts and why did the team not participate.  The experiences included; a card game to understand the terminology of football, watching the FIFA matches, researching on the countries who had participated and knowing their geographic locations on the world map.  Knowing about Brazil,  culture and festivals, places in Brazil where the matches were being organised and their geographic locations.  Weight of a football, how is it made, statistics of the matches - goals scored in each of the matches and their average, comparative study of scores, model of a football stadium.  Writing player profiles, character analysis of players, usage of similes to describe players, writing reports on matches.  

Football leagues across all groups of Class V were created and given names.  The theme continued for three weeks and inter class football matches were organised.  Social Science, Geography, Math, Language, Art and even Music was integrated as children created their own football anthem.  

Progressive Education - System or Mindset?

" I work with a progressive school" was my response to the question asked by somebody I met at a seminar few days ago.  "And what about you?" was my question to her.  With a smile came the reply "I try to be  a progressive teacher though I do not work with a progressive school." What followed was an exchange of thoughts, practices and our interpretations of 'what is progressive education'?

I have had the good fortune of having closely been associated with progressive education for over fifteen years now, first as a parent and later as a teacher.  My own schooling has been in a convent school, a very formal and conventional school set up. Getting good marks was very important and this almost defined the purpose of education for most of us.  Getting all the Math sums right in the test, each answer in the History test should not be less than three pages.  The more you write the more you would score. our History teacher would tell us.  It was never the other way that the more you know the more you would be able to think and write.  Answers had to be learnt word to word and then reproduced.  I particularly remember the Math teacher who threw chalks at us in the classroom and I hated him as much as I hated the subject.  English Literature  was my favourite subject and I looked forward to the class as much as I looked forward to being with the teacher.  She had made Shakespeare come alive for us and I could  visualise the characters in their Roman settings.  For the school annual day we did a drama on 'Midsummer Night's Dream', researched on the costumes, backdrops, created movements for the dances.  We became the characters and lived in the world of fantasy and imagination  for weeks and weeks.

It was the same school and two teachers who were part of the same system.  Yet one was able to create a love for the subject which lasts to this date; I relish literature, poems, prose, dramas and stories.  I never could understand Math, have a block for numbers till this day and was always scared of the subject. 

Then comes the question, is progressive a mindset or a system? People with progressive mindsets create a like minded community and the outcome is the system.  The true essence of education is the relationship between a knowledgeable caring adult and a motivated child in a democratic environment.  Learning guided by children's questions, child centric education where the child is the focal point.  The role of a teacher is to connect with each child as an individual, in order to comprehend her/his individual needs, learning style, social and cultural background, interests and abilities. All facilitators can be teachers but not all teachers can be facilitators.  There can be no clear compartmentalization between progressive and conventional schools or systems.  In a conventional school too there are facilitators who continue to make a difference because of their progressive mind sets or approaches.  Who create contexts for children, encourage them to ask questions, are sensitive and create the love for learning.  In a progressive school there can be teachers who are very conventional in their approaches and handling of children. Progressive education is a belief , a conviction, a thought process.

When my children enter the classroom, I am there to receive them - I communicate comfort and faith.  From their questions I pick up what is it that they would like to learn.  From my observations - I know how they would like to learn. We like to think in terms of  extreme opposites, formulate beliefs in terms of either /or, this or that and do not recognize intermediate possibilities.  When the bell rings, stop Math and begin Science.  But Science can be integrated with Math.  What is the present weather condition, what are the reasons for changes in weather, let us keep a record of the weather temperature for fifteen days and compare the data.  

Human capacities are diverse and personal so there cannot be a narrow view of intelligence.  Cultural progress and achievement depend on the cultivation of imagination and creativity.  While children learn from their observations, we learn from our observations about them.  While they learn from processes we facilitate, we learn from the process we go through to initiate the facilitation.  While children reflect on their day at school, we reflect on our day with them.   

What is important - Performance or Learning?

There is a significant difference between getting children to focus on their performance and getting them to think about the learning.  When children ask questions, go through a process, look for answers, think, discuss and apply; they learn and the learning stays with them.  The emphasis is not on performance but on construction of knowledge.  A topic in Science or Social Studies can be made very interesting when children do not simply go through the text in the book and learn the answers to reproduce them for a test. All the answers might be perfectly written but forgotten very soon and no connections built.  The answers were perfectly  learnt for a good performance in the test and then forgotten. what happened to the learning?

We are planning a holiday to Banglore.  There are four of us, the cost of each train ticket is Rs 500/-.  How much will be the total cost?  We will stay in a hotel for three days and the cost per night will be Rs. 900/- How much will we spend on the hotel stay?  The expenses towards food per person will be Rs. 300/- on all three days.  How much will we spend on food?  What will be the total expense towards this holiday? The teacher has set the minds of children in her class ticking and they think and apply their understanding of mathematical operations.  On the other hand a few  sums on multiplication and addition in the notebook can be very dry. 

The orientation towards performance and the orientation towards learning often pull in opposite directions.  Too much emphasis on performance reduces children's interest in learning.  They avoid challenging tasks when the objective is to prove how good they are, what are the grades they secure and what are the marks they get.  There is less inclination to engage with ideas, explore and discover.

The problem with testing and performance is that the results and achievement become more important.  The process of learning and love for learning become insignificant.  So the goal is defeated.