Science Exhibition in Quaderia Burhani School

Reflection Note on Science-Exhibition

On 21st nov 2013  we held science exhibition in our school we gave students four topics on which they had to work ( grade  4^th to 10^th) The topics were  1) Energy 2) Electricity 3) Pollution 4)Environment

              Students did research work they prepared models. They come up with new ideas which were mind blowing. we encouraged them by asking questions on their prepared topics. They had prepared it so well that were giving answers to each & every questions some of them were working models also.

             Judges appreciated their work & give them prizes accordingly. Judgment was based on explanation, model prepared & on norms.

            Students of grade 5 prepared working model of water wheel which was in their syllabus some of them prepared classic models on electricity & pollution. Students of grade 6 to 8 had prepared working models on Hydroelectric power plant & on Wind energy. Some made models on body parts & diseases related due to malfunctioning of particular organ.

              Some students had made models on Global warming, Green house effect & explained effects of these on environment, Living & non- living things.

              So according to Kolb’s theory of experiential learning

              1^st stage- student did research work this was their Concrete Experience.

              2^nd stage- Visitors cross questioned on their prepared topics was Reflective observation.

              3^rd stage- Students came up with new ideas & learned through their own experiences was Abstract Conceptualisation.

              4^th stage- They observed peer’s work & decided to correct themselves in future that was active experimentation.

by zainab ali science teacher  

  

Quaderia burhani burhanpur childrens of 5th grade practising surface irrigation

Kolb's Cycle of Experiential Learning

Kolb's Cycle of Experiential Learning


I want to share my recent  experience in Experiential Teaching which I found to be very interesting and satisfying.
I gave an open ended exercise to my children to gather any interesting data they felt like.
I divided the children into various groups and encouraged them to think creatively about the data they would like to gather. I purposely did not provide any other guidance.
Groups came up with following options
1 Price list of fruits available in the local market
2 The number of people living on each floor of their chawl.
3 Price list of various brands of T.V.
4 The compositions of patients i.e. male ,female and children in the hospital opposite their chawl.
5  Different brands of chocolates and prices
Data collected by the groups was broadly on the following lines:

Price list of Fruits 
1 dozen Apples - 120 Rs
1 Kg Oranges  -  80 Rs.
1 Coconut  - 15 Rs.
6 Bananas  -  12 Rs.


No. of people living on each floor
Floor            No. Of Rooms                     Male             Female

Gr. Floor                   22                              12                 20
1st floor                     19                              14                 18
2 nd floor                   20                              15                 20

Price list of T.V. Sets
Sony     Rs.18,000
L.G.     Rs.  25000
Samsung  Rs.20,000
Sony        Rs.25000

Chocolates
Perk                   10 Rs.
Nestle Kitkat      x Rs.
Dairy Milk
Five Star

When they collected this data we brainstormed how this data is useful to us.
1 We found in the data on price list of fruits that prices were not comparable as some were  expressed in Kg and others in items or pieces etc.
2 Number of people living in the chawl
We found that while number of rooms on each floor is identical, the numbers reported by the students were different on each floor.
3 Total number of people according to their list were lower than the actual number living in the chawl.

I found out that the children reported lower number of people because some rooms were locked,  some members went away for work and they omitted to visit some rooms as they did not keep track.

Price list of T.Vs
They collected varying prices of the same brand but did not correlate with respective sizes.
Similarly in case of chocolates the children did not correlate the prices with the packet sizes.

After the discussion I taught them how to go about the collection of data
Students realised that:
 Data should be relevant.
Data should be authentic.
Data should be accurate.
Data should be comparable.

So according to Kolb's theory of experiential learning, learning takes place in four stages

1st stage - Concrete Experience 
Students went out to collect data,this was their experience.
2nd stage - Reflective Observation
We brainstormed on the data collected
3rd stage - Abstract Conceptualisation
Students learnt what kind of data should be collected and how to collect the data.
4th Stage -  Active Experimentation
Students planned the next activity on collecting data on how many cars,buses,taxies,motorcycles and scooters pass by on one side in 15 minutes.
They made their own tables.They made exact number of columns and rows.

Malala Yousafzai

Teacher Discussion from Mumbai Workshop

Mansi Panjwani

Introduction: As a Peace Educator

Dr. Daisaku Ikeda writes, “Fostering capable people- that is the purpose of education. And it is capable people fostered through education who will construct peace and create a new day.” 

As a child I had this ideal dream of wanting to change the world. However, it was not until my graduation, that I realized- education is key to bringing about peace in the world. It is what we choose to 'teach' and how we choose to 'teach' that can create a huge effect on someone's life and their life choices. 

After completing my Master's Degree in Conflict Analysis and Peacebuilding, I joined Teach for India (T.F.I) as a primary school teacher in a municipal school in Pune. I was convinced that I love being a teacher in the classroom with 30 students who have the ability to drive me crazy and drive me to work my hardest at the same time. I learnt, failed, failed some more, learnt some more, loved, felt loved, reflected and grew into a much more responsible person by the end of two years.

Post my classroom experience, I continued to work with Teach For India as a Manager to train teachers in their on-going development. In this past year, I pursued a Master's in Peace Education. I am on this new journey of learning and sharing what it means to educate for peace and by peaceful means- the kind of education that empowers the teacher and the learner together- asking questions like- How can we integrate core values of respect, sensitivity, compassion, critical understanding, cooperation into our daily curriculums as well as into our school policies and practices to make our immediate school envrionments more peaceful?

I am excited to learn with you and share my thoughts as our interaction grows. 

Looking forward to meet you all in Udaipur,

Mansi Arun Panjwani
   

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