 The curriculum is the heart of the education process. It is a social tool that plays a powerful role to help shape the society. The social forces active in a society are reflected in its history, culture and the people living that culture. In realizing the vital role that schools need to play in keeping alive the cultural heritage, simultaneously also bringing in the elements of progressive developments and ideas, the curriculum of our educational institution was developed.
The curriculum, since the inception of our school, has been in the process of continuous and rigorous up gradation. Our curriculum very consciously takes into consideration the needs of the learners. Each child being unique has his own learning style and pace. Some stimulus works best for one kind of learners whilst something else works for others. Also, children may grasp and comprehend different situations differently. So whilst a child may be an auditory learner (learns through sounds/hearing the spoken language) in some situations, he may well be a kinesthetic learner (learns best through doing and interacting), a visual learner (learns through looking at images, mind-maps, demonstration and body language) or a tactile learner (learns through writing notes etc. and drawing pictures/diagrams) in others. Hence, taking into consideration the interest, needs and capacities of children of various age groups, the large / broad goals of teaching are discussed, researched and set. These also take into account the demands and learning standards of the various disciplines (subjects) to be achieved through various levels of teaching/learning through the schooling years.
Keeping pace with the technological innovations and cultural diffusion of ideas and developments, the design and key ideas that define our curriculum have also changed. These factors then play a major role in influencing every discussion taken regarding planning and development of a need-based curriculum. The learning experiences that need to be designed to facilitate the achievement of these goals then create a need for us to decide certain tangible Mediate Goals. Our school has very consciously taken its decision to design a skill-based approach by defining what we would like our children to be able to do.
Children observe the life around them and acquire varied skills even without any deliberate, formal teaching. This informal learning contributes tremendously in enriching the curriculum, making it more dynamic and creative.
 Emphasizing the importance of skills development in preparing children to be able to make their way in the real world, the focus of our teaching/learning process has taken a dynamic shift from ‘transmission of facts’ to ‘knowing how to acquire and evaluate information and how to use it in order to be able to make sense of the world.’ In the primary classes, integrated themes decided in consonance with the objectives to be achieved, enable learning to blossom in the most natural way. There is no compartmentalization into subjects, yet the learning of language and the key concepts of physics, chemistry, biology, social sciences and mathematics begins during these inception years.
At every increasing level then, this previous knowledge acts as the base to build on the concepts and skills development. This connectivity between “what is known” and “what needs to be known” helps both, teachers and children, to work on the experiences children develop in their junior classes.
For example, let’s see how hands-on experiences built through the junior classes helps to enable a better understanding of concepts in the senior classes…
Wooly Fun Magic
Rubbing plastic pens and combs to woolen sweaters to see the magic of attraction and repulsion. Children discover and observe what happens when they take these rubbed (charged) pens/combs very close to bit of paper, salt and pepper, plastic straws, a thin stream of running water in their taps.
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Children begin to observe two distinct patterns – of attraction and repulsion.
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They rub balloons with their hair and bring them very close to an empty cola can kept on the floor. Then re-do the same with filled cans. Observe the difference and try reasoning out.
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They observe washed clothes clinging tight to each other after they’ve been put through the rigorous rubbing in the dryer of the washing machines.
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They study about lightening..!
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Hence, static electricity and the transfer of electrons and charges are easily understood in senior classes.
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This resource-base of observational experiences further helps to conceptualize their learning. Children develop a more sound and deeper understanding of concepts in senior classes if the necessary concepts have been chosen, taught and learnt keeping in mind the real-world applications in the (junior &) senior classes. Research suggests that learning to solve problems in a variety of contexts fosters the development of abilities and skills that can be transferred to new contexts. Hence, the learning in higher classes has a very strong connection to the selection of contents and learning experiences designed to help children understand them in the junior classes. Even the guidelines set by the NCERT and their prescribed syllabus suggests learning to evolve through the grades. This theory of practice offers scope of implementation even in the co-curricular subjects like art, music and sports. From creating situations that foster creative expression to those that develop the necessary sub-skills, specific to each of these art and sports mediums, every level of learning has strong linkages to the base. Each of these subjects’ activities too has been designed keeping the end (the Broad Goals) in mind.
Hence, keeping the child at the centre, a beautiful world of problems is woven around him. All this to stimulate him to think, prompt him to act and motivate him to respect others in the same boat as him. This is what we are trying our curriculum to help us achieve. May it help our children to be able to make choices in their lives!
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