Redesign our country

SUPET — PBL Club — 1

It was my dream to start a project-based learning club in school. SUPET gave me the opportunity to try it out with 9th-grade students.

My work started with the selection process of the students to join my club. The class teacher of 9th grade helped me to select around 22–23 children to join the club. I designed a test paper that includes critical thinking, Creative Thinking, Comprehension, Problem Solving, and Sensitivity. This paper helped me to check the understanding of children. it was not designed to eliminate someone because they wrote the wrong answer. Actually, there were no right or wrong answers.

Read test paper

TimeLine :

1. We started our first session with an orientation meeting.

• We are going to do real life projects during this club. for example — fil making, publishing the school magazine, off the campus tour, tracking, working in ATL lab (making / tinkering)
• Will do projects mostly from our interest, problems, curiosity or external exposures
• The problem / Need from our school / hostel / village / local community or anything in the world.
• Curiosity: God is real or not? Ghost is real? why there is the reservation for girls? who makes money?
• External exposure: Meeting with artist, cyclist, fil maker, programer etc.

2. the Second session started with few boys interested in filmmaking. We watched short films together and started writing script for film focused on polution by plastic.

3.Third session was with all the 22 children. We had discussion about their curiosity. They asked very interesting questions which lead us to initatite new project called ‘Ye Mera Desh’.

• What is big bang?
• What is black hole?
• Who made the money?
• Why do people get married?
• Why do girls get reservations?
• Why do girls get less freedom in our hostel?

More questions were around social science. so I suggested starting a project that includes ‘designing our own country’. Children accepted the suggestion and started working on that.

The guiding questions are :

• What will change in the country if I get a chance to redesign it?
• How will be the education system? How will the government function? What will be our fundamental rights? What will be the environmental policy?
• How I can make it a happy place for everyone?

Inforamtion Gathering :

• children watched few videos on the internet about the happiest country in the world and noted down the points
• children asked questions to the social science teacher about the different methods/types of governance.

End Goal:

• We made two teams. Both the team will design their own country with a name & flag.
• They will present their country in assembly. They will share features of their country and ask other children to join them as citizens.

We are at the information-gathering stage. let see where this project will take us.