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Young World
Innovation in learning
S.S. KAVITHA
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It’s easier and more fun to understand concepts now.
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Photo: G. Moorthy
THROUGH ACTIVITY: Fun and easy.
Six-year-old R. Maniraj does not mind walking three to four kilometres up and down to reach his school. He marks his attendance. He monitors his health and hygiene chart, marks the weather chart after looking at the sky and above all with the help of a pack of lesson cards that has lessened the burden of learning, both physically and mentally.
Thanks to the activity-based learning programmes implemented at Dr. T. Thirugnanam Primary School in Madurai as part of the Sarva Shiksha Abiyan programme of Tamil Nadu, the school has provided a cartoon figure stand fixed to the wall which every student automatically marks as attendance as soon as they enter the classroom. The teachers mark the absentees.
“The unique aspect of this system is that teacher’s role becomes negligible as they take up the role of a facilitator,” says headmaster K. Saravanan and adds that everything is learnt and done by the students themselves under the guidance of teachers.
The system allows the students to learn at their own pace and nobody can move on to the next level unless they complete the previous level of learning, he says and notes that the schools have about 10 differently-abled children including mentally retarded and physically challenged.
R. Adaikalraj, a mentally retarded student, can read and write and above all move with other kids without discrimination.
Different methods
For children the system introduces words, objects and letter identification unlike the rote method, Mr. Saravanan says and adds that the children follow a chart similar to that of snakes and ladders that assesses their status or levels that helps them to choose the right cards which are marked with symbols to mark the level of the students.
Apart from symbols for subjects, the standard of students are identified with the use of the colour cards such as deep-red for first standard, deep green for second standard, deep blue for third standard and deep yellow for fourth standard.
For Tamil, animals are used while for English, vehicles serve the purpose. For mathematics it is birds, insects for science and types of lamps for social science. Similarly, the colour of the cards will differ and indicate the level of the students.
The school caters to the educational needs of about 395 students from standard I to IV and the management is planning to introduce the same method even in higher classes, Mr. Saravanan said.
Remembering his past learning experience in the first standard where he learnt through the traditional rote method where teachers alone played an active role, Maniraj said that he is happy that he could read and write Tamil and English well after he became part of the activity-based learning system.
The absence of chalk and the stick keeps the students at ease besides the display of paintings and models made by students. “I did this artificial plant. Isn’t it looking real?,” Maniraj asks and grabs a few other paintings and shows it to all. Self-learning is better learning than rote learning. Innovative methods are sure to make learning a rewarding experience.
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