When children challenge the system

Today I went to a regular Science Toys workshop in Airoli, Navi Mumbai. It was a community center. There were around 40 children from 8 to 14 years of age packed in a room with little space of free movement. I had always found a tough time managing such a large group and keep their attention towards me. But I always try my best. Through the activities that I show them i.e. the very simple but attractive toys made by waste materials, I believe that we can have a nice enjoying and learningful time. I believe that even if my voice isn’t enough to grab their attention, at least the activities can do that job. But that doesn’t happen every time.

I along with my friend Sunil tried to do some interaction before starting our activity. We asked them to guess our names by asking five different questions to us that will give them clues of what is the name (of course not asking the actual name). We spent almost 15 minutes in explaining what we want them to do. We gave them examples how they can do it. With a lot of chaos running side by side, they managed to ask us different questions and were able to guess Sunil’s name.

Generally when my friend Vinayak takes this activity, it is quite an organized and enjoying one, but this time I thought I couldn’t create that excitement for this activity. And while some were listening to what was happening, some others were not attentive in the group.  However then I thought let’s take out my precious toys from the box which will pull everyone’s attention and get some discipline.

Indeed there were excited to see what I have when I told them that I have toys made by me through waste materials and that each toy has a science behind it. I took the first toy of ‘Changu Mangu’ based on the centrifugal force. I put a story behind the toy and tried to make it as attractive as possible. It is a toy where two table tennis balls are packed between two transparent plastic cups. I gave them the challenge that they have to separate Changu Mangu into two opposite corners. They were all excited for this. Many of them tried their hands on it but no one could do it. Finally I decided to jump in and reveal the secret which was by spinning the bottles after which the balls are thrown in two opposite directions. Up till this it was quite a good engaging activity. However, when I tried to hold a discussion on this, by asking why this is happening it went messy. Though many of them were listening and trying to think and answer on my question, others still were not interested and started chatting between themselves. It disturbed the class. I wasn’t in a position to guide the discussion in an ordered way.

After that I took many other toys. As long as I showed them the toy, it was good. But as soon as I decided to hold a discussion, it didn’t go well. My lack of skills in guiding the discussion came in the way. At the end, it became so chaotic that we had to close the session for the day. I had similar sessions before when handling children is no easier than flying an airplane.

We can look at this scenario through a number of perspectives. First of all, there is no doubt that a teacher (or a facilitator) should have the skills in guiding a class in an ordered manner. My friend is able to hold the same activities and discussion quite orderly and with a lot of enthusiasm than myself and he has some necessary skills that I don’t have, even though I am doing such kind of activities for almost five years. When thinking at a larger scale of application, let’s accept that many teachers won’t have the skill of keeping the attention and interest of children. And when they are not able to do it, they have to get harsh on them and force them to keep quite. But that is not the solution of course.

Our education methods are teacher-centered or teacher-directed, meaning that a teacher decides what will happen in the class and if the teacher isn’t good enough, the children won’t learn much. The teacher is the director of whatever learning happens in the class. We have to accept it no matter how much we talk about child-centered ways of learning. All child-centered ways ultimately depend on the skills of the teacher. What do we do then if we don’t have a skilled teacher? And to talk statistically, I don’t think that we can find more than 50% of teacher who can be termed ‘good’ keeping certain parameters in mind, especially if we include the government schools. That’s why our reports show that even after five years of schooling 52% of children cannot read a class 2 text.

I believe in the importance of the teacher, no doubt. A teacher is the one who has received a lot of respect since ages. But I question such a system where lack of skilled teacher spoils the learning outcome and we are failing in skilling at such a huge scale even at the level of providing basic literacy skills to a child. I am not talking about the real education that goes beyond literacy.

What do we do if we don’t have a skilled teacher and we have to accept that we won’t always find one or make one? Can a good education happen without the teacher becoming the sole initiator and director of learning? Indeed we require the teacher. No doubt. But if the equation is: good teacher = good learning, bad teacher = poor learning, I doubt if we could ever achieve a universal ‘Quality’ education. Can we create a system where learning is not dependent on the teacher or directed by teacher? Instead the teacher may have much different role to play in an entirely different learning system.

Signs of emerging pedagogy

It was Saturday and we had decided to learn some mathematics along with English on this day. I didn't had any maths topic to start with. I showed them a video of a pop-up house in my mobile which I thought they can make on the next day. It required to make four equilateral triangle to form a pyramid shape to make its roof. So this became the topic for the day: How to make an equilateral triangle and what is its basic property. Adil, one of the older child, knew how to make it which he had learnt in his school. He explained his method to me and did it using some geometric tools. Other students followed and tried to understand it. Some (of course) were not interested in this and they kept playing among each other. I wanted all of them to try making it as explained by Adil, since the next day's activity needed it. Two of them tried doing it. Other 3 - 4 weren't much interest.

Next day we started the activity. We decided to make one pop-up house among four children. This time they had to make the equilateral triangle perfectly. In Adil's group he took the initiative of making the triangle. Other's observed it. Other group member's couldn't do it since they were not much interested in it yesterday. But I taught the method again to them. This time they were more attentive. And I reminded them the need of learning maths I was teaching them yesterday. We used measurements in many other parts while making the toy. This was the first time we were precise in making toy and used measurements. Before this I allowed making them bad toys. I was happy that now they must have known the use of mathematics they learn in schools. And I thought I should be more happy that finally I saw the first sign of the pedagogy that I have been striving for from a long time. Of course, it is far from the ideal one which I have in my mind. But I should be satisfied that its process can now be started. 

A calm phase

Last two months seemed to go very slow with respect to any progress in the project. I hardly put much efforts to plan any new things or even the regular activities in the project due to the increasing pressure of academic requirements. Sometimes I couldn't even go to attend the class and was planned and handled entirely by the teacher.

It was satisfying to observe that children and the teacher planned new activities themselves and did it with the same level of enthusiasm as before. Some of my friends also visited the centre and took songs and other toy activities. I realised that I need not be the sole person to decide on the contents of the class. I am responsible more in structuring these activities into proper learning experiences by taking them in a certain manner, which requires a lot of thought and planning. It seems it cannot happen on its own. I was unable to do it and apparently there was no progress about this in the class.

The next steps are to be thoroughly in this direction. I lot of components such as artificial currency, tasks distribution among children had been discarded which I plan to start again with certain changes in them. I am still not sure how would the academic learning will start to take place among the children and what role the teacher will play in it. I think now its time to thoroughly work on the core part of the project i.e. the pedagogy.
Children's summer vacations are soon starting and many of them would be going to their villages they said. I haven't yet decided whether to add more children or not. So, many things are to be planned in coming days.

Some more creativity

Towards the main objective

It has been more than Four months and around fifty sessions with children of Vigyan Khel Ghar. It roughly goes to around 100 hours. I am not sure whether this should be called only the starting or now it has been long time. But I am still far from what I expect to achieve with the children. Though the center is called the 'Vigyan Khel Ghar' or Science Toy House, I haven't touched Science or Maths or any other subjects the way I intended. So I am experimenting different ways of implementing what I had in my mind.

Meanwhile the class size has now reduced to almost half due to various reasons. Some are not coming either due to their change in schedule and class timings not matching, while two have shifted their home to another community. Some seem to have lost the enthusiasm in the activities which they had earlier. Also it was decided that there would be a monthly fees of Rs. 15 for each child, which again made some to leave as they did not want to give the fees. So right now there are around 8 -10 children. Though it is quite possible to add new children, but I have decided not to add any more up to a month until I get free of my academic commitments.

Many things have happened since past month. Various management techniques used in sessions especially the use of artificial currency had been stopped since that seemed to create more chaos due to difficulty in managing them in a more organised way. Also lesser children did not needed such tool. Children had been planning to have a party with snacks, decorations and songs. It was decided to collect money for the same. But slowly due to reducing children and many of them not willing to contribute money it could not happen. However I had been working on another plan meanwhile. Though I can provide money for the party, I didn't wanted to do that and instead utilize this opportunity to motivate them to earn money by selling toys which they made. This ask them to make better and more perfect toys. Here comes the need to learn and apply mathematics concepts and know science wherever necessary. This was another experiment that I wanted to try to motivate since that forms the basis of incorporating hidden learning aspects of toys and is one of the main objectives of the project. With this aim, the children made their first toy of magic fan which was sold to a local balloon seller. Though we are still not sure whether it was sold since we could not meet the guy after that.

I am simultaneously working for training the teacher for managing the sessions. I am giving most of the planning and managing work to her such as deciding the activity and how to conducted it by giving required instructions. Due to lesser children, she is better able to manage and I give her inputs during the sessions itself. I have been able to communicate the learning objectives behind such activities which she wasn't aware earlier.

The focus right now is extracting the learning aspects of the activities by making better and better toys. Due to lesser children, it seems this objective is taking shape as seen from past few sessions. Children have started using measurements in their own way while working. Its now my responsibility to structure it in an organised way.

Children with the 'Magic Fan'

Searching innovations...

The project is teaching me a lot and there have been many things going in it at the classroom level as well as outside it. My aim of organizing the classroom in a structure is taking shape slowly and steadily and it is really testing my abilities of innovation. The children have so much energy which I want to use in the most creative way as possible. But until I’m able to achieve it, the experience is really exhausting.

One of the new techniques I have started in the class is the use of ‘Points’ or artificial currency. Here the all children received ten points initially which they have to spend in purchasing required materials to make toys. They earn more points by taking various classroom responsibilities like cleaning, managing materials, filling water, documenting tasks, etc. I wanted this to teach them things such as managing money, learning about basic money transactions which involve basic mathematics, taking responsibilities, etc. and also organize the classroom processes. So far this has been working quite well but requires a lot of improvement. I envision this to turn it into an assessment mechanism for learning in future.

The sessions are now taking place three days a week i.e. Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Saturday is a day for English and Urdu teaching. Apart from making toys sometimes we also play games, sing songs and now also want to include dancing. A new dance teacher is being identified and would be starting soon. There has been a lot of demand for a dance class and I also hope it be a good activity for channelizing children energies. I haven't touched any of the subjects of Science and Mathematics and I think it is still a later stage before I organise things to a certain level. 

Apart from classroom activities, I have been taking steps to spread the project to more children. I along with the NGO named, ‘Sarathya’ who is working in the same area, have been discussing ways of setting more centers and training teachers. As of now due to high academic pressure the steps for the same would be taken later in the month of February 2015. I have been also working on developing a similar curriculum for Science and Maths for another organization in Mumbai as demanded by them which would be another opportunity to spread the project. 

The learners of Vigyan Khel Ghar

Balancing the ship

'Vigyan Khel Ghar', the center I started for the project for my children is finally on its way of taking shape. As of 7th Nov. there have been a total of nine sessions with children that have been taking place twice a week, Fridays and Sundays. A total of twelve children had paid the initial amount of Rs. 20 for admitting in the center and have been quite regular.

Regular sessions are happening, many new toys, craft activities and games are taking place. Children are enjoying indeed. Not just because of the activities, but more because of the freedom I have tried to give them. They are free to play among themselves and chat. They like spending time with each other. Though there are also quarrels among them which take place occasionally. The center acts as a medium to bring them together. This has been the main achievement so far.

What it have been lacking is a structure, structure of how things will move in the session. I waited for it to evolve slowly on its own, where children can understand what problems are being faced or what the center needs to run efficiently and decide on things to be done based on these needs. It includes how activities and materials will be managed, who will take what responsibility, etc. Without this, it had been difficult to manage sessions when things often get chaotic and the facilitator (that is me) loose control of the group. Slowly this is taking shape and sessions are now in a direction to be more organised. This has been another small achievement. There are many learning opportunities in this which I want to bring up. I don't have a teacher yet to assist but hoping of one to join from the next session. I am also involved in making a Teacher Training Module for a larger group of trainees which I can use at a later stage.

As I am knowing the children more and more especially through the free chatting that have been taking place among themselves, I find many issues especially among the elder children which I feel a need to pay attention. Though I am not sure how am I going to do that but am in the process.

About me, I feel a more confident now than before. May be because of the small successes that I have been seeing. Though my goal of learning to take place in a more organised manner is still far away and I have been constantly thinking of it.

Starting...

There's a bit of satisfaction that things have started moving and moving quite speedily, but also an uncertainty and insecurity of how things will progress further. I am happy that finally I own a center and have named it as ‘Vigyan Khel Ghar’ or ‘Science Toy House’ and run it independently for the children and also getting quite a good response as a start and something new for the children. But have a lot of things that needs to set in place to gain stability and regularity of students which is one of the biggest challenges and I don't know how I am going to do it. 

At this point I feel the need to think at various levels and bring all of my skills into action. At the larger level, I find a need to build a rapport with not only the children but the parents as well in order to generate a credibility of the project. Things such as fees, timings, etc. have to be fixed that suits them. More important at the classroom level, I need to keep up the enthusiastic environment keeping up the learning that I intent to generate. I am yet to fully develop my classroom management skills. I also need to go into the deeper pedagogic aspects of the method as well which is the main focus presently for my project. 

I am happy that I have youths around me from the community as well as my institute who are equally interested in this initiative and ready to help me and provide constant feedback and suggestions on what I am doing. Here I remember the Doctoral Degree of Kindness I received from my earlier program director and coach Leslie which stated that now I am expert in finding kind people around. I am happy that it actually worked and am thankful to her for that.

Some Clicks

Vigyan Khel Ghar (Science Toy House)

The toys from trash

Ready to fly the paper helicopter

Flying the balloon rocket

Smiles from toys