CHENNAI: Underneath ‘Math’ written in block letters, the blackboard reads ‘Geometry’. As the math teacher summons them, four Class V students in tiny blue uniforms line up in front of the blackboard. They break into four different yoga poses, almost like a flash mob.
“This is Trikonasana. What is the angle between the hand and the body?” asks N Geetha, their maths teacher. A class of about 30 responds in unison, “90 degrees. It is a right angle!” Geetha identifies one asana after another and students explain what an acute, obtuse and straight angle is.
Shri Khongurunathar Nursery and Primary school in Thiruvallur district decided to adopt a different approach to teaching and learning 10 months ago, when they joined hands with Shraddha, an education based social enterprise.
Shraddha, that believes that every student has different learning patterns, decided to advocate the theory of ‘Multiple Intelligence’ propounded by Howard Gardner, Harvard Graduate School. The theory contests the idea that single IQ is a test of intelligence and proposes instead, that there are eight kinds of it: musical-rhythmic, visual-spatial, verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic.
“Some children tend to best remember things when they are told a story, some remember pictures and some when they physically do an action related to it. We try and use all the eight forms of intelligence to present a topic so that all kinds of learners can take back something from it,” said Madhumathi Narayanan, co-founder of Shraddha.
The day’s science class happens in empty room where a snake and ladder board is laid out on the floor. The syllabus is to teach students to distinguish healthy food and junk food. Where there is a vegetable, fruit or protein, a ladder shoots up the board. Where there is a pizza, burger or fries, a snake slithers down the tiles. While one set of students roll the dice, their team mates ascend and descend the board, explaining the food to their contemporaries.
All faculty were trained by Shraddha through a boot-camp to drastically change their teaching methodologies to suit the best interest of students. Every class is a series of songs, dances, nature walks, activities, games, projects and group discussions stringed together.
“The teachers’ boot camp first worked on explaining their potential to change the country’s future through these children. Once their self-worth shot up, Shraddha encouraged them to innovate our existing lessons and the results are wonderful,” said V Jalaja, Headmistress of the school.
While students enjoyed their new approach to education, teachers too claimed that their learning curve was rising steeply. “Our self-esteem increased a lot when we saw that students want to come to our classes. We not only learned to make good use of technology, but we also learned how to communicate even complex ideas to children. Earlier, we were stuck explaining everything through words,” said P Poonguzhali, a social science teacher.
She added that absenteeism in the school had dropped and students never took leave unless they were sick. “We initially feared that each lesson would take too much time if we spent time on interaction, but, later we learned that students understood concepts faster and lesson plans always worked out in time when they co-operate,” she said.