Education
Immersive classrooms are the future.
For India to adapt to this radical change it would take decades. But by having children interact with people from all across the world they get introduced to this learning method and pick up a lot of things in a single interaction. For example, if Jon from Sweden is speaking to a class about the cur
Imagine schooling in a simulation machine. Or travel only through virtual reality.
With digital explosion, immense amount of data is available to students and teachers altering the way they read, learn and even play. But does this give us a true perception of the world? Does it motivate us to be real global citizens? Is this learning experiential? Is it collaborative, immersive?
If I ask you, how did you learn about World War 2 or about waste management or Shakespeare or formulae for volume; for most it is first a book, then perhaps the Internet.
Can we add a firsthand experience to this learning?
Sure you can! Connecting classrooms with international travelers in your city and listening to their personal stories of say World War, or waste segregation back home adds a new human dimension to learning which brings EQ, CQ alongwith IQ to the classroom.
We can’t learn things in isolation – proof is the new Phenomenon based education reform in Finland where they are doing away with subjects. Pasi Silander, Helinski’s development manager, explained: “What we need now is a different kind of education to prepare people for working life. Subject-specific lessons – an hour of history in the morning, an hour of geography in the afternoon – are already being phased out for 16-year-olds in the city’s upper schools. They are being replaced by what the Finns call “phenomenon” teaching – or teaching by topic. For instance, a teenager studying a vocational course might take “cafeteria services” lessons, which would include elements of math, languages (to help serve foreign customers), writing skills and communication skills.
For India to adapt to this radical change it would take decades. But by having children interact with people from all across the world they get introduced to this learning method and pick up a lot of things in a single interaction. For example, if Jon from Sweden is speaking to a class about the current crisis of Syrian refugees (politics), and answering questions whether that would lead to job loss for Swedish locals and result in diminishing resources (applied sciences) while still showing empathy and wanting to help the refugees in the time of need (emotional quotient).
If you as a teacher invite Charlotta from Finland, who is a yoga teacher currently, your classroom will learn about the northern lights in Finland, how Charlotta never had exams in school, how her friends who have had a baby from a live-in relationship still share the same legal rights, to how they have summer homes where even families like her’s coming from privileged homes use bucket water & candles for electricity to conserve nature.
This is a blend of being collaborative & phenomenon based learning methods wherein the child learns about countries through the everyday slice of life of a real person and their life journey so far. Kids get more and more curious about other’s ways of life, innovations in other countries, problems in the rest of the world and almost commit to making the world a better place. As they have met this person in flesh and blood, children sympathize with the traveler’s worries and celebrate their happiness all in a 90 minute conversation in the classroom.
If, between the ages of three and fifteen, a child attends 6 first-hand interactions with 6 travelers every year, then by the time they get out of school, they would have experienced more than 70-80 different countries and cultures. Can you even imagine what that child’s worldview will be like?
Have you ever thought as an Indian if you traveled to Paris and shared a presentation on yourself, your family, your friends, things you like to do, the environment issues in your city, the politics in our country, the festivals you celebrate, your profession; played Indian games with Parisian students and showed them things you use everyday like 4G phone Reliance JIO that costs only 15 Euros or Dharavi leather articles, or share how a chaiwala became our Prime Minister. Would you not change the image of India in their eyes? They get a peek into the culture, economic development, family structures, governance, passions and hobbies in India.
They learn India as a whole!
Pisa, an influential Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), ranking education systems across the world would earlier test students in math, science and reading abilities but are looking to include global competence as the fourth parameter for measuring a successful education system.
CIE, Cambridge International Examinations’ too has introduced Global Perspectives as an independent subject from grade 1-10 and this will be compulsory in Cambridge affiliated board schools from 2018.
21st century learning needs to foster the values like those below and that’s exactly what inviting travelers to your classroom can do!
By helping an entire generation grow up with regular exposure to different cultures and perspectives, we can bring about changes both behavioral and subliminal. Young people will grow more open-minded, adaptive and accepting; they will develop a higher cultural quotient, learn to challenge their biases and will act, create and evaluate themselves in the context of a much bigger, broader world.
Don’t you think that this generation that will be the future lawmakers of India should know that in Mexico an artist can pay tax with his paintings?
The writer is a speaker, inspired educationist & serial entrepreneur, Founder of City Sproutz & Co-Founder of Clap Global & Club Sproutz. The views are personal. More details can be found on aartichhabria.com