Knowledge
21st Century Pedagogy – Innovative Teaching Methods
I am very sure that innovations and modern pedagogy including Constructivist, Collaborative, Integrative, Reflective, and Inquiry-Based Learning will bring wonderful transformation to our global society and prosperous global life.
Any nation develops and attains prosperity and an attractive lifestyle based on effective contributions in work and citizenship. Transformation in educational systems to achieve objectives, curricula, pedagogies, and assessments to help all students attain the sophisticated outcomes requisite for 21st-century pedagogy. Innovation is inevitable.
21st-century pedagogy should be able to teach and reach all learners. Also, we should be able to Implement Technology, should be able to enclasp changes, foster student physical- mental developments, and inculcate dynamic thinking.
We have travelled a long way from misconception and fantasy from costly sophisticated labs to new innovative “Atal Tinkering Lab projects” but that’s just the beginning. Do we really require heavy financial support to innovate? Or we need to think differently. A glass of cold water can be obtained from a simple clay pot as well as a costly refrigerator.
- “The total cost of the Chandrayaan-2 mission is about $124 million, which includes a $31 million price tag for the launch and $93 million for the satellite. The cost is less than half of the budget of the Hollywood blockbuster “Avengers Endgame”, which had an estimated budget of $356 million.
- An innovative idea of a printer-like device, which can erase all data on a printed page fed to it making it plain and hence reusable by Arvind Gopalakrishnan, Class 11, Smt. Narbada Devi J. Agarwal Vivekananda Vidyalaya Jr College is no less
- Innovative models like Solar pulse thresher by Dipankar Das, Class 12, Govt. Senior Secondary School, Diglipur and Differentiating artificially and naturally ripened fruits by Neha, Class 12, Govt. Model Sr. Secondary School, PAP campus are equivalent to any great innovation and many more should be facilitated.
We know that the 5 pedagogical approaches are Constructivist, Collaborative, Integrative, Reflective, and Inquiry-Based Learning
Research in cognitive science has established that knowledge and skills are richly intertwined, rather than knowledge as content on which skills act as a process.
Our efforts to bring together concepts, methods, or languages from varied disciplines or established areas of expertise in order to explain a phenomenon, solve a problem, create a product, or raise a new question" are demonstrating interdisciplinary understanding.
Inclusive education (under NEP 2020) has a vast meaning, from special children to every member/learner including women power, has to be included in the mainstream of education.
There cannot be a better way to learn Patience, respect, and willingness while we deal with special children. They have unmatched potential; we need to explore it and channelise it properly. History speaks loudly about the landmark set by the special people like H Ramakrishnan (being denied admission in a regular school to getting rejected for a job due to his disability, currently CEO of SS Music television channel, Ravindra Jain, Satendra Singh, Dr. Suresh Advani and many more
Also, we cannot deny that Indian culture and values can be best taught by Mothers/parents and especially joint family where the things are live. Books cannot inculcate these “Samskaras” and “Sanskriti”. Why not start Inquiry-Based Learning from the family itself. Women can execute a very crucial role in terms of —– Learner, Contributor, Facilitator
Can we imagine India and in the larger context world growing without including 50% of the female population? Although not uniformly, but still major areas of the world have ignored women either snatching their rights in the name of religion or culture. They have not been given an equal opportunity but rather suppressed. What type of Constructivist, Collaborative, and Integrative approach we are following? Are we reflecting before talking big and making webinars/seminars on women empowerment and gender equality? Before we move on with a dream to have the best pedagogy, we must apply the concept of inclusive education and collaborative learning to all stakeholders of society has to contribute.
Let us develop a cognitive and social model of interdisciplinary learning, which is still a challenge.
In the USA, medical science is going for an integrated curriculum refers to a non-compartmentalized approach to basic science learning. As opposed to the traditional medical curriculum, which separates subjects such as embryology, physiology, pathology, and anatomy. Their pedagogy makes it mandatory for all medical students to study around organ system modules like "Cardiovascular" or "Gastrointestinal".
NEP2020 talks about experiential and Inquiry-Based Learning and these are not going to happen without collaborative and integrated learning.
Agriculture/ Farming can be fun if the children are given the opportunity to work and feel- experiential learning in terms of Agricultural science knowledge, Climatic impact, Entrepreneurship of Transportation and retailing, and also environmental aspects of preserving food and water for the next generation.
Children visiting zoos, museums, Dairy, Poultry, Fisheries, etc. to see, feel, discuss the question and learn can be the best method if done periodically. Pedagogy is meaningless if enclosed inside the classroom and does not promote research and development. Surely a way ahead towards Constructivist and Reflective learning.
Why not take children some time to a Garage/Motor repairing shop if they intend to be mechanical engineers and an Art facilitator can accompany them to talk about graphics of car design which is very demanding in the market as an innovative learning and integrated learning.
A single visit to the hospital can make them aware of all difficult terminology very familiar and connecting to life science and the medical world and hence will generate curiosity to dive deep into the medical field.
Why are we injecting hi-fi coaching to get into Medical/Engineering or any profession which they never wanted but are doing for the sake of parents? 21st Century pedagogy cannot be the pre-set frame/scale where the children will be fixed forcibly but it has to be flexible to assess multidimensional potential.
Every child is unique, we have to be equipped to facilitate them and assess them.
Experiential learning and the Application of concept is certainly going to be the key factor of Pedagogy.
Project Zero researchers at the Harvard Graduate School of Education have been studying interdisciplinary work across a range of settings. They have found interdisciplinary understanding to be crucial for modern-thinking students. Who knows the magic of transformation in pedagogy may come out with the wonders like Time equation and hence the Time machine to travel in our past and future?
I am very sure that innovations and modern pedagogy including Constructivist, Collaborative, Integrative, Reflective, and Inquiry-Based Learning will bring wonderful transformation to our global society and prosperous global life.
About the author:
Rajeev Kumar Singh is working as Principal, Skylark World School, Lucknow and has 22+ Years of experience in Education in the teaching-learning field in reputed organisations like Kendriya Vidyalaya, VidyaGyan (HCL), and other CBSE schools.