In this poignant, funny follow-up to his fabled 2006 talk, Sir Ken Robinson makes the case for a radical shift from standardized schools to personalized learning — creating conditions where kids’ natural talents can flourish.
Courtsey: TED
Posts Tagged ‘Education’
June 21st, 2010
Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution!
May 29th, 2010
“Holistic education”- Walk the Talk
Growing up to a certain age is always fun; it’s growing up after that, which is usually a pain. My schooling was in an era when ‘holistic education’ was something to practise and not a concept out of an education manual. In fact, my teachers or parents never used the term “holistic” at all – I doubt that it was in their lexicon at all!
My alma mater in Dehradun, in days of its former glory, was known for its education practices (for them ‘holistic education’ was the naturally organic and for many, the only form of education). In grade 11 & 12, I don’t remember leaving school before 5 in the evening throughout the academic year, and still doing extremely well in the “competitive exams” – there was so much to do and learn. The school calendar was carefully designed based on the weather conditions, inter-school events, school events, ceremonies and celebrations. It was a rare student whose evenings were spent in the homes of private tutors. The concept of coaching was non-existent and yet we made it to IITs, AFMCs, and premier colleges, universities in India and abroad.
Our teachers planned activities such that:
- All students got opportunities to be on stage, on the field, on the courts and anywhere and everywhere our hearts desired.
- Everyone had to do gymnastics in the primary grades and those who had aptitude and/or interest were encouraged to continue.
- Everyone had to be involved in singing or dancing or dramatics from as early as I can remember. We could choose on stage or backstage and select between classical, folk, western styles, depending on our personal profile.
- All had to participate in at least one Track & Field event and a game of our choice and boys and girls had the same options (except for cricket, which for some reason was a boys-only sport).
- Everyone in grade 11 & 12 had to be involved in organising school events like Sports Day, Annual Day, school assembly, school parties, fund-raising, and picnics.
- We all had to run cross-country marathons and hike our way to Mussoorie.
And I am talking a class strength of 35-40.
The school’s prime objective of making available these activities was to encourage participation and to help students discover themselves and to enable them to develop their skills of teamwork, competition and other left brained activities. These activities are designed to promote healthy competition among individuals, classes, Houses and other such classification or groupings.
Teachers planned and organised students’ and their own work such that in academics, we were a force to reckon with, producing the best overall results throughout the district, and sometimes, throughout the state.
Generally speaking, parents in my small town were not so rushed; ambitious but not blinded by it. They wanted returns for the fee that they paid to the school but they believed in “holistic returns”. They were willing partners to the school in their efforts to give us a well rounded education and encouraged us to participate and perform in a host of co-curricular activities.
When I look at most Grade 11 and 12 students today, I find myself resolving that my son, who is almost four, will not tread that path. He will not start playing sports just for the sake of performance and competition, dabble in music and arts for any exhibitionist reasons, gain knowledge for acing standardised tests, be so narrow-minded to believe that certain subjects will make or break his life, spend most of his life coaching for milestones in life & neglect coaching for life itself, confine learning to certain places, people and purposes, develops qualities of the head with the neglect of heart and hand, use ‘generation gap’ as a shield whenever he wishes to become incommunicado.
Whether this is wishful thinking or would actually result in one less lop-sided personality in the world – only time will tell!
May 1st, 2010
We don’t understand as much as we think we do
This is an interesting (albeit older) talk by Professor Jonathan Drori, visiting Professor at Bristol University (specialising in misconceptions in science and in the uses of technology for learning). This talk has particular relevance for the way education is imparted in schools and makes some particular observations on how the education system lets our children down.
Here is a synopsis of some of his observations.
- Some questions related to science (as administered by the author) were better answered by 7 year olds than by seasoned science professionals – a conclusion that he found surprising.
- Children (in Britain & in USA) understood some scientific concepts – magnetism and gravity – better before they went to school than afterwards. This was determined by comparing their performance before and after the teaching.
- Children get their ideas not from teachers (as teachers often think), but actually from common sense, from experience of the world around them, from all the things that go on between them and their peers and their parents.
- Experiential learning – or learning by doing is the best way to learn. Unless children learn with their hands or with everyday objects, they do not really understand concepts. An Exploratorium is an excellent way of teaching which breads love and passion for learning. By working (or fiddling) with objects / concepts / environment students complement their other learnings and prior knowledge. Fiddling not a replacement to formal learning but an important part of learning.
- Children are not empty vessels. They come with their own ideas and their own theories, and unless you work with their prior knowledge, then you won’t be able to shift them. The mental models that we have as children persist into adult-hood. As adults, one of the difficult things is that when people have preconceptions of how things works, it’s quite difficult to shift our position. Poor teaching actually does more harm than good.
- Testing as is currently undertaken in schools is not designed to assess understanding. In testing the most important thing is for children to articulate their models.
Courtesy: TED
April 8th, 2010
Youngme Moon: 14 ways to stifle creativity
Youngme Moon is a Professor of Business Administration in the General Management unit at the Harvard Business School
April 7th, 2010
Adora Svitak: What adults can learn from kids
Child prodigy Adora Svitak says the world needs “childish” thinking: bold ideas, wild creativity and especially optimism. Kids’ big dreams deserve high expectations, she says, starting with grownups’ willingness to learn from children as much as to teach.
Courtsey: TED