Learning happens in three stages, Broadly the learning cycle is:
I DECIDE – The child decides what to do/learn based on the multitude of exposures the child has. Here is what we offer – a world map – where the ‘world’ is defined by whatever one can learn in this world! We have divided all learning content into NINE categories. Pl note as with any other categorization – there will be many overlaps – finally it is not important which category the child’s goal lies – till it excites the child. These categories are mapped out for a quick overview. Obviously, the detail of each category is almost infinite and hence left to a child’s exploring and facilitator’s exposing them. Remember a child of any age is free to choose any content from any map on any day! The nine maps are shown here in a slide show. To see the maps in “full view” click on the image. In the larger window, you can also scroll through the nine maps by clicking on them. Primarily this documentation is for our ‘internal’ reference – shared not so that you check what children are doing and what not :-(, rather shared so you get some reference points to explore the vast ocean of learning. While this gives the overall framework of learning at Aarohi – the actual learning comes in millions of ways. Also often three stages often merge into each other and become one process. So Children decide what they want to do/learn (content) and how they want to do/learn it (process). Often these goals involve making (a cake), creating (a movie), building (a house of pets), exploring (gardening or poetry), researching (about Ashoka the king), and so on.
I DO – Most of the endeavors span multiple contents, skills, and abilities. Most of the endeavors necessitate many methods, tools, resources, and interactions. It’s a very dynamic process with peers, facilitators, and anybody else constantly adding value and challenges and sometimes guidance to it. At the end of the day, I can reflect back on what I did, liked, found tough, want to do more, and so on. Reflection can be on what they did, how they did, resources used people interaction, emotions, etc. You can see many such endeavors documented in the blogs
I REFLECT – To reflect is to digest my food – Deeper meaningful learning happens when I critically understand: “What worked, what didn’t work, what happened, what did not happen, what was easy, what was difficult, what was frustrating, what I would change, what I want to continue…”. Also, I use discussion and feedback as pathways to expand myself: so I reflect with parents at home and at the campus with peers, facilitators, and others in the community. Documenting my journey in an online portfolio is an attempt to compose my experiences. This portfolio could fulfill multiple needs – to reflect and self assess, to express, to track ones work, to see results, to showcase to others, to get feedback, to prove my credentials, to feel good about myself, and yes as memories forever 🙂