Tamil Nadu

Method to make learning easier on test bed

CHENNAI: Students of the Panchayat Union Middle School at Mel Padappai in the Kundrathur block say classroom learning has become easier these days.

Given that there has been no reduction in the syllabus or replacement of teachers in the recent past, why are students suddenly enjoying their classroom sessions more than they did earlier?

Teachers of the school attribute the change to the Active Learning Methodology (ALM), introduced in this school a month ago. Like this school, all the upper primary sections of government and aided schools in the State are in for a silent revolution, it seems. The School Education Department will launch the methodology for students of Standard VI, VII and VIII in nearly 10,000 middle schools.

An initiative of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) wing of the School Education Department, the methodology will replace the existing teaching-learning process that focuses on learning by rote. Hereafter, the teacher will cease to be on the lecture mode. Instead he or she will help the child learn in a manner that the student deems simple and effective.

This change was evident at the Panchayat Union Middle School, one of the 120 schools where the effectiveness of the methodology is being tested. In a Social Science class for Standard VII students, their teacher S. Nirmala asks them to read two pages covering the topic ‘Atmospheric layers’. For the five minutes that followed, students read line by line, their murmur filling the room. C. Gouthami, for instance, moves her index finger over the text slowly and reads aloud. Though she does not understand a few difficult words, she does not look intimidated. After the first reading, they underline unfamiliar words and ask their teacher what these mean. Then, they read the same passage all over again. Now comes the most exciting part for them. They recapture their understanding of the passage diagrammatically. In a few minutes, they walk up to the teacher one by one, flaunting their “mind maps,” as they call it.

At the end of the class, every student’s notebook has a pictorial explanation for atmospheric layers. Each of them consolidates the information in their “mind maps” and explains the concept to the rest of the class. The teacher observes how much they have learnt and corrects them, if need be.

“Children have tremendous potential. This methodology unleashes the learner in every student,” says SSA’s State Project Director M.P. Vijayakumar.

It not only eliminates learning by rote but also helps children learn on their own, with the teacher stepping in at challenging points.

“With several effective learning and retention techniques, every child gets the space for reading, comprehending, recalling and, more importantly, articulating what he or she perceives,” Mr. Vijayakumar says.

The methodology, he notes, contributes immensely to the all round development of every child. “The class is more interactive and participative. This increases children’s confidence and self-esteem, which are important elements of one’s emotional quotient.”

Teachers who completed their four-day training programme on Friday feel the methodology will help to tap the creative potential of students. “Our job will now be more interesting and useful, as we have to help the child figure out how to learn,” says a teacher from Kancheepuram district.

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