P.V Sindhu at OAK MUN Event 2017

5 WAYS IN WHICH A GREAT TEACHER DEVELOPS A NATURE OF INQUIRY IN KIDS

Children are such curious creatures. When they want to know about something new, they want to explore it and while exploring they learn.

But, what makes children want to learn? According to research, it’s the joy of exploration — a hidden force that drives learning, critical thinking, and reasoning. This ability is curiosity. A great teacher provides opportunities to children to explore their environment and have access to books and information. The teacher encourages students to ask open ended questions, analyse data, connect with people and nature, and seek new learning experiences.

A teacher can develop curiosity by planning the following strategies

1) Social Collaboration

Students learn from meaningful experiences. They need to be engaged in group discussions, interviewing, finding out, analysing data, relating it with real life situations and reflecting on their learning by taking action.

2) Foster creativity

It is no surprise that creativity drives passion. Educators can foster creativity by allowing self-expression and having students pick their own topics whenever possible. Teachers can have students design their own rubric for a project, and teachers can approve it beforehand.

3) Allow Play time

Playing is said to stimulate the imagination and curiosity in children and helps in building problem solving skills. The components of playing are the same as learning (curiosity, discovery, novelty, risk-taking, trial and error, games and social learning). So, students need to be engaged in play.

4) Emotionally Connect

Teachers need to find out what really drives students. A lesson that taps into something a student cares about will produce more learning opportunities. According to some research studies, a positive learning environment that acknowledges emotion, improves problem-solving and creates better learning outcomes. Learning depends on the mental state of the learner, including how they feel physically, psychologically, and emotionally.

5) Encourage innovation

Teachers must allow students to approach assignments differently. Give opportunities for students to innovate and teach them that failure is a part of success. In the end, it is passion that drives all great things to be achieved. If passion is forgotten in classrooms, we are losing half the meaning of learning. As Einstein once said,“Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.”

Right Curriculum to Choose for Your Kids

Change happens fast in the world during which children face many challenges as they grow. And, in today’s fast-changing world, the ability to make decisions and solve problems is what they need to learn during their education. Because the problem-solving skills help students become more independent as well as excel in academics. Hence, choosing a curriculum that would fulfill the requirements of children’s future career is all that a parent need to look for.

Keeping pace in this turbo-charged world, curriculum evolves and new teaching methodologies developed to help kids reach this generation. While choosing the right curriculum, let’s understand the various benefits that each curriculum offers and which one fits the right for a kid.

Curriculum highlights:

IB – The International Baccalaureate Curriculum

The IB program requires students to study three highly respected programmes of international education, the PYP (Primary Years Program- KG to Grade 5), MYP (Middle Years Program – Grade 6-10), IBDP (Diploma Program for Grade 11 & 12) while completing the three core subjects: Creativity Activity Service (CAS), Extended Essay and Theory of Knowledge, which emphasis more on personal development of a child. It has no prescribed textbooks and has a lot of freedom in learning. Instead of rote learning, the focus is more on holistic education including analytical skills, language, arts, and humanities.

IGCSE – An English Curriculum

IGCSE is a precursor of the IB curriculum. It lays an excellent foundation for students who wish to continue with the IB Curriculum at the pre -university level. It is designed for the Grade 9 and 10 students with a balanced mix of practical experience and theoretical knowledge. Popularly known as an English language curriculum, it covers a wide range of subjects from a variety of areas which include Languages, Humanities, Social Sciences, Mathematics, Creative, Technical and Vocational, suitable for students whose first language is not English. IGCSE helps improve students’ learning performance by developing skills in creative thinking, inquiry, and problem-solving.

CBSE – The Indian Curriculum

The CBSE requires students to study the standardized textbooks of NCERT and appear the final examinations in Class 10 and 12. However, CBSE has made the Class 10 Board exam, optional. CBSE is suitable for those who want to go into the traditional routes of engineering and medical as the larger focus is on maths and science, and less on language.

Here are few things that a parent needs to evaluate while choosing the right curriculum:

Is the curriculum independent or teacher lead

In this fast-changing world, it’s important for our kids to match the change and face the challenges that come across. In terms of curriculum, these days we need to focus more on things that can support the wider goals of competencies and personal development instead of the subjects that are taught by the teacher that is available within the set of textbooks. Such kind of curriculum shows how learning within the subjects can be merged with the real-world experiences and contribute to the attainment of the wider goals.

Which is the suitable teaching method

Children learn knowledge according to the guidance they get from their education. Under the teaching method called ‘engagement’, students are urged to engage in the real-world which gives them the practical knowledge and help them process the information effectively. With respect to problem-solving, it has been seen in students that the standards-based teaching methods work better than the conventional teaching methods. The standards-based method has exhibited greater conceptual understanding in students and they perform at higher levels in academics.

What are the various student learning style

Every student has their own way of learning information. There are seven different interesting ways student learn including visual learners, aural learners, verbal learners, physical learners, social learners and logical learners. Students perform well while learning in a way that matches their personal learning style in a curriculum. Understanding the learning style of a kid is of paramount importance in order to choose the right curriculum to fit them in.

Oakridge aims for the holistic development of a child. Global exposure and international engagement platforms are provided during the course of the programs that equip children with a global outlook and real-world experience under all the above curriculums. Click to know more on the Oakridge’s IB Curriculum, IGCSE Curriculum, and CBSE Curriculum.