Teacher Facilitates Discussion-Based Learning In Classroom About Kitchens!

Opposed to the common belief in our society, learning is not synonymous to schooling. There is no one way in which learning happens. So while students are taught what to learn in school, the ‘How’ to learn is not clearly defined. When students are exposed only to ‘What’ they should learn, without touching on the ‘How’ part, chances of them actually learning something and retaining it is not very high. This is what also happens in the rote system we currently follow.

But slowly and steadily, we can see that many educators are shifting from rote methodologies towards inculcating important skills in students. There is an attempt to concentrate on achieving the learning outcomes, with interesting and meaningful ways. And though, we won’t deny the fact that it will take time for things to change completely, we are thrilled to see our government school teachers in Khekra taking significant steps in this direction.

Kitchen Comes Alive Inside A Classroom!

Recently on one of our visits to the government school in Noorpur Mujvida, a school which is working hard to bring in the much-needed change faster, we were captivated by their classroom’s ongoing lesson. The topic being explored in the class was Kitchen!

Instead of telling students about the topic right away, the teacher initiated the class by gathering the known knowledge from the students first. She asked, “Can you name the different dishes that are made in the kitchen at your home?” The students raised their hand and multiple answers were heard! The teacher acknowledged them before moving onto the next question.

She asked, “Now, can you tell me what are the spices that are used in making the dishes that you mentioned?” This time the hands raised were fewer in number, but still enough to bring out the names of most spices! By the end of the class, all students learned the names of different spices, ingredients and dishes, all of which came from the students, and not through the teacher.

Would you agree that learning happened in this class? The teacher gave no information. She only facilitated a discussion and the students themselves came up with the answers, and other students learned from their peer’s sharing!

When Teacher Takes On The Role Of A Facilitator

When a teacher is teaching from the textbook, the amount of information is limited to the textbook and her own knowledge, but when students are engaged through group discussions, it brings out a plethora of learning. The collective is able to come up with a lot more information, and the group discussions help them to remember and grasp the concepts much faster, especially when it’s connected to their daily routine.

If the above episode wasn’t awesome enough, there was another amazing thing that happened in the class. Instead of giving out the rest of the data to the students and get them to rote-learn, the teacher asked the students to come back the next day with the name of the remaining missed-out spices by checking their kitchen, and get the names of at least 5 more dishes! She also suggested that they try to cook one dish themselves.

Can you imagine the amount of learning that would have happened in every student’s house that night? Who says classrooms are the only place where learning can happen!

When Actual Learning Is Happening, Noise Is Music!

Next day, when we entered the class, there was peer learning happening in full steam even before the teacher had a chance to enter the classroom. The students were curious to compare notes with their friends and find out what they had found out, whether it matches, whether there was something new in their list which they hadn’t written, and so on! This noise was more like music to our ears; a music of knowledge flowing amongst the students!

Open-ended discussion-based learning may be mistaken as a lot of work at first glance, but in fact, it is much easier for the teachers. Instead of one-to-many distribution of knowledge, where a single teacher is expected to give all information to 50 children, this kind of learning model establishes a many-to-many network, where most of the exchange of information is done by the students themselves.

In addition, this lightens the burden from the teachers’ head collapsing the notion that- “Learning should come only from the teacher and the textbook!” When the students develop this understanding that learning can come from anywhere and from anyone, we just have to allow the classroom walls to be open so that knowledge can flow from all the places!

How can this many-to-many model of learning unfold and equip children to take charge of their learning/growth in every aspect of their lives?

Well, with that question in our minds and determination in our hearts, Team Tarkeybein looks forward to exploring different learning approaches along with our amazing government school teachers in Khekra.

If you resonate with our work, want to implement this model in your community, want to support this initiative, or just want to drop in some encouraging words, we invite you to write to us at tarkeybein@gmail.com :)