Human beings learned most lessons from nature and got the inspiration to invent. Seeing birds fly inspired them to create airplanes, while diving dolphins led to underwater vessels. Now, it’s time for the international education system to break classroom walls and explore beyond, much like ancient civilizations. This process prepares self-learners who are always inquisitive, exploring, and asking questions. NCF has provided rigid guidelines in this regard for competency development and a skillful learning environment in education systems. “Necessity is the mother of invention, and curiosity is the father.”
The present human race, influenced by luxury and convenience, has become too complacent and disinclined to explore and invent. This growing tendency towards laziness hampers our ability to innovate and discover new things. To counter this trend and inspire the next generation, we have implemented several unique initiatives to cultivate essential skills and a spirit of curiosity. Let’s walk through a few of my initiatives which we have created a niche in developing essential skills and fostering curiosity among pupils during their school years.
1.Development of Common Sense Laboratory: We converted two of our abandoned buses into a common sense lab with the following objectives:
Domestic appliances: Teaching and demonstrating the use of household appliances like washing machines, refrigerators, microwaves, ceiling fans, air conditioners, desert coolers, gas stoves, mixer grinders, fuses, toasters, thermos, etc. The working and basic circuits of these appliances are explained, including minor repairs involving capacitors, fuses, and motors.
Basic plumbing and electrical work: Teaching through experiential learning.
Vehicle maintenance: Teaching students how to change a tire, check battery water, clean plugs and carburetors, and perform small cycle repairs.
2.Wisdom Laboratory: "Great works are not performed by strength but by perseverance.
The students of the Preparatory Section are taken to the Wisdom Lab, originally a school bus now converted into a Wisdom Lab.
Screwing nuts: A daily activity teaching children to use a screwdriver to screw and unscrew nuts, and a wrench to tighten and loosen screws.
Fixed key use: Teaching the correct way to perform household chores, stimulating imagination through assembling, disassembling, and building.
Demonstrating the functioning and development of electronic gadgets and automobiles: Dismantling computers, UPS, CPUs, and other devices to explain the technological evolution from models available since 2001, covering the journey from floppy disks to modern drives. Similarly, dismantling circuits of radios, transistors, and tape recorders to illustrate their development up to the present day. The working of a bus engine and the role of different components in live operations are also demonstrated. Students can use their knowledge to prepare prototypes. One of the old buses was converted into a lab for this purpose as well.
3.Incubation centre for design thinking: This lab consists of various AI-based materials, including sensors, Arduino, motors, breadboards, ultrasonic devices, and robotics. Students create different kinds of prototypes through programming and 3D printing. The lab also includes AR and VR laboratory experiments, providing a comprehensive hands-on learning experience.
A paradigm shift in the classroom
Gaining knowledge extends beyond the traditional classroom setting. More opportunities to interact with nature provide greater exposure. Kindergarten students, with their bubbling neurons, have many challenging questions. This is the time to develop them as self-learners and independent thinkers. For instance, walking in the garden, they might ask:
Why is the sky blue?
Is the sky an umbrella?
Why isn’t it falling?
Why are trees living things but not walking?
Discussing such questions and satisfying their curiosity is difficult but important. Individuals are encouraged to ask more questions in groups. Taking them to local markets, post offices, or nearby villages offers unique experiences, such as witnessing cows being milked and butter being churned. Developing curriculum content based on local culture and traditions, or even creating new poems and prose connected to local communities and the environment, can be very beneficial for students.
Even at the middle and senior school levels, useful practices such as below can be followed:
Industry and community exposure: To gain a deeper understanding of real India, students can be made to visit local authorities, banks, traffic control centres, irrigation projects, dairy and poultry farms, and cottage industries.
Internships: Class XI students are sent to their future dream workplaces for real-time experiences. They participate in internship programs during summer vacations and receive certificates afterward. They visit hospitals, industries, lawyers, chartered accountants, NGOs, and government organizations.
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