SHUTTLING FOR LEARNING

'Learning'...is the beautiful process in the way of knowledge acquisition. What is meant by ‘knowledge acquisition’? What is the purpose of ‘learning’? The essence of education lies in these wonderful concepts. Understanding of those terms in its real sense make a huge change in our society. Lack of understanding or ignorance among the individuals leads to a state of chaos and disturbances.

While we turn around and notice, the nature taught us the system of equilibrium in every aspect of its functioning. It always shows a constant tendency for achieving the state of equilibrium in a disturbed or chaotic condition. This is same in the case of knowledge acquisition.Piaget postulated this as the concept of ‘equilibration’. ‘It can be defined as the innate tendency or continuous drive on the part of an organism to organize its experiences for obtaining optimal adaptation to the changing demands of the environment by maintaining a proper balance between its cognitive structure and the changing demands of the environment’. The state of equilibrium remains same until something makes a disturbance or pokes the existing system. This disturbance can be from nature, parents, teachers, friends and society. This disturbance makes a change in the existing system of knowledge. This process of destruction and construction of knowledge is the basis of knowledge acquisition.

What is knowledge? This is often misinterpreted or equated with information. Knowledge and information are different. Information is the collection of facts, terms, actions etc. Knowledge is the proper organization of information. This understanding is not actively dominating even in our teachers. This makes the situation more complex. NCF2005 also present its concern regarding this issue, it says there is a tendency to confuse knowledge with information this must be curbed from the system. The child should able to develop a taste of integrated knowledge not mere collection of information.instead nowadays the children are forced to take information with out any holdings or hooks.This 'insular' nature of information is the reason behind most of the problems in the life of student.which insist the child for rote learning.this widens the gap between knowledge and information.The practice and habit of filling information increase. This tendency curb every possible channel of creativity.the result is the generation of copying and pasting...here where one could find the happiness of learning??the journey becomes the tragic one...which leads to chaos and anxiety among the learner. our education system should promote or help the learner for the habit of knowledge acquisition and integrated development not for the collection of rote materials.

As per the cognitive theory of jean piaget, he emphasized the concept of schema -the building blocks of knowledge acquisition. schema can also be described as a mental structure of preconceived ideas, a framework representing some aspect of the world, or a system of organizing and perceiving new information.

According to cognitive theory, assimilation is the process of establishing connections or similarities with the new schema and the existing schema.once the individual finds a connection ,then the next process is to accommodate that new knowledge near to the existing one..this process repeats and form a satisfactory stage of equilibrium..unless a new disturbance or schema touches the existing one..this chaining process is the base of learning.

Knowledge is stored in the form of schema in the cognitive structure. Within the existing schema one could able to link or connect new information or knowledge. This in turn make more and more connections and finally leads to effective learning and knowledge acquisition. Despite these facts our education system of the country force the child to learn 'insular information'.here the student face the situation of connectionless cant connect the new information with the existing one..how this could happen??it is not the fault of child.they didn't see the arctic species or antartic species.they are familiar with the species or animals with in their region.despite these knowledge the child is forced to learn about the nature of species or animal which is out of their existing schema. This finally force the child into rote learning.this in-turn becomes the habit of the student.this habit completely destruct the beautiful nature of knowledge acquisition.instead of curiosity the child develops a kind of hatred towards learning.

Here the teacher have a significant role.The first is to create the ambience for learning.A free space is very important for the learner.freedom in their thought construct and create more than thinking in an intellectually congested classroom.each child should feel themselves valuable.that most important factor leads to great changes in our society.the prime factor in an individuals life is the feel for acceptance and esteem the child lack this feel in their primary classes itself further makes huge character problems.hence the ambiance for free thinking is highly essential.but the pathetic condition is that we are following a system where the learner interaction minimal, even in the midst of child centered learning.

The second factor is the act of guidance to the student. As vygotsky mentions ,teacher should be a 'facilitator' in the life of children. Proper connections in their existing schema of cognitive structure leads to better knowledge acquisition.

Here teacher plays a significant role for the proper hooking of knowledge.Teacher should intelligently chose proper pieces of knowledge or information which is already existing in the child. Those pieces of information help the child for proper connections.

If the selected bit of information didn’t find any connection in the existing schema of the child, then the teacher needs patience to select the next one.this process repeats untill the child connect the knowledge with their existing one.this process of shuttling repeats and repeats. For this teacher should know the context of learner. Psychological as well as the cultural background and backdrop..

context and culture plays a crucial role in the process of learning. The reason behind insular stand of knowledge is nothing but the rejection of culture and context in the curriculum. The more and more link of curriculum with context and culture generate connections available to the child. This further expand the cognitive structure of the student. Theory of social constructivism also enhancing the importance of culture in the development of cognition, through which vygotsky explains that the interaction of the learner with the environment and society influence the cognitive development of the learner.cultural background as well as the backdrops of the culture influence the learner. This should be a guiding factor for a teacher as well as for the curriculum construction. The flexibility and diversity in curricular experiences should promote instead of rigidity and stiffness. The initial stages in the life of child needs support and scaffolding. The potential of each child differs significantly. But with the help of a scaffolder or with the help of 'More Knowledgeable Other'{MKO} its possible to achieve the potential. The habit among the learner for knowledge acquisition and construction is the result of enthusiasm and curiosity within the individual. The main function and purpose of education is to minimize ignorance and to enhance the wisdom. Wisdom helps the individual to come out of evil and spread light.

“Light, my light, the world-filling light,

Rabinthranath Tagore

Let the light to enter into the world of ignorance......Let be in peace and harmony..

PLURALITY OF EXPERIENCE

Secondary Education commission or mudhaliyaar commission (1952-53) defined curriculum as the ‘’sum total of all the experiences that the student gains from the institution.’ ‘This single definition comprehensively contains the essence of curriculum. The entire concept of curriculum, focused on the gist of ‘experience’.

                                  Experience is the crux of curriculum. The comprehensive term 'experience' itself contains the multidimensional aspects of curriculum. The aggregate experience that a student gains or perceives in a period of time, comprise the curriculum of the given institution.

The 'plurality' in experiences later on determine and shape the character and personality of students. These plurality of experiences can be taken from multidimensional sources including relationships, conversations, celebrations, activities and interactions. Each student in a classroom takes or perceives experiences differently with same inputs or experience. Also curriculum act as a aid to 'choose' experiences, which creates a platform to build life above it. Here the selection of experiences impart a key role in one’s life, which finally makes the difference among individuals and society.

                              Each experience has its own colour and shape. Each experience is unique and special. There are a number of factors which distinguish between students, including heredity environment, culture and cultural backdrop. All these factors contribute to a person. Depends on these diverse factors, experience form among students. This diversity itself is the nature of our own country and tradition. Curriculum should not restrict these diversity in experience, instead promote the multifariousness in experience.

Experiences should not restrict in a ' framed box structure’. It should expel out based on the needs , levels and nature of the student. The cognitive, affective, psycho motor domains should enrich with those experiences. These enrichment is the very basis of curriculum.it should able to satisfy the thirst of the student.

                         But there are certain practices exist in our country, which 'compartmentalize' these diverse experiences, and spoils the essence of the curriculum. How the curriculum can be compartmentalize? The rigid structure of syllabus, tightly packed time tables, and the exam oriented teaching. These factors itself change the attitude of teachers and students. The ''contour lines of Exam'' is a big hurdle, which limits the space and opportunity for experiences and enrichment. These compactness and compartmentalization finally creates a kind of chaos and confusion among students. Here the pluralities of experience face the main hindrance, which is totally against the definition put forward by the secondary education commission.

           Another important dimension of this definition is the limits of experience. Experiences can be within and outside the school .it can be positive and negative, planned or unplanned, directional or omnidirectional. These extremities in experiences are also the part of curriculum. This heterogeneity or diversity in experiences plays a key role in the curriculum construction and implementation. This fact should be analyse and re-examine by the stakeholders, teachers, educationalists etc. to frame the most apt curriculum.

                                      The term “institution” in the definition also reflects certain factors.an institution is the result of a wide range of factors, which reflects the physiological psychological and historical factors of the local area where the given institution situated. The institution in a particular area contains the geographical, psychological, cultural and sociological remnants. An institution should not alienate from these remnants. Each institution should create its own curriculum by considering these factors. Which again enrich the plurality in experience among the students who belongs to the particular area. All these domains should take for consideration while preparing a curriculum. Such kinds of sensitivity should be shown from the part of curriculum constructors and implementer to satisfy or meet the expectations of the students and society.

          Everyone who include in this process is a part of curriculum. Each experience in the process is special and unique. Let the plurality of experience to enrich the curriculum. Even though there can be divergence in the outcome, let the experience be colorful and multifarious in its own nature.....