Memorizing facts mechanically can make for dry and mediocre learning. Education, however, needs to be effective and in the famous words of John Dewy, “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.’’ Therefore, learning has to be hands-on so that the child is not only able to retain most of the information but also the process is engaging and fun. In order to make learning effective, CBSE has introduced mandatory experiential learning in its schools from the year 2019-20. As one of the premier CBSE schools in Gurgaon we have decided to adopt experiential learning for its many benefits.
What’s experiential learning, you ask? Simply put, it is a practice of learning through doing. It ensures that the students get a hands-on experience with the learning material as opposed to studying from someone else’s experience or textbooks. It’s a holistic process wherein the students experience, observe, analyze, and experiment a concept. They get involved completely in the lessons as they are actively present and learn a variety of skills in the process. What more? Children of all grades can benefit from this form of learning.
Here’s how experiential learning gets implemented: There are a few steps to the process. The first is the use of real-life projects to learn a concept. The second step is reflecting on the results by asking the following questions: What did you observe? Why did that happen? Does that happen everywhere and always? And how can you use it? This method of experience, reflection and asking questions will help the students retain 75% of the concept that they just learned.
Besides, there are a host of other benefits in experiential learning. This method of learning keeps the students focused. It’s inclusive and caters to all students with diverse learning abilities. It’s also a faster process of learning that promotes critical thinking and problem-solving.
And, the teachers become facilitators, thereby, ensuring that learning is student-centered and flexible.
Here are some of the ways in which experiential learning can be implemented in CBSE schools in Gurgaon and their many benefits. To begin with, field trips are ideal to teach students Geography, culture, communication and a host of other subjects. A trip to the Taj Mahal not only ensures that the students witness a historical monument, but also experience cosmopolitan culture and understand tourism.
Besides, CBSE schools in Gurgaon can gets its students to volunteer at a local orphanage or old age home to interact with individuals from a different socio-economic setting. They can also get involved in community service by volunteering to clean parks or public spaces that have been littered or paint a bus stop. This is not only a lesson in dignity of labor but in effects of littering, the importance of cleanliness.
A trip to the zoo or a national park can teach the students to spot animals and learn all about plants and trees by observing the flora and fauna for real. This also makes the students aware that they share the planet with beautiful creatures that need to be protected and as a result they will become proactive in protecting the environment.
Furthermore, internships in government, private organizations or NGOs for high school students; building or working with models from scratch; crafts etc. are some of the ways in which students can enhance communication, problem-solving, creativity, build a scientific temper and more.
