“Active Intuitive Learning”
A group of 7-year-olds were excited about a project they wished to do in the academic year. They expressed deep concern over the dwindling number of their favourite animal, the Tiger. They were all animal lovers and wanted to contribute their bit towards saving the Tiger. I asked them to prepare a project and gave them a few tips. It was amazing to see 7-year-olds making a proposal for the entire Grade 2. They said, “Every Sulonian must save the tiger from extinction”. I did not know how serious they were, but I set a task for them to undertake a project on “Save Tiger”. If tigers were safe, then the whole ecosystem would have benefitted. I wanted them to shift their focus from being a beneficiary to being an owner of a responsibility. They may be very young, but when they own up a concern, they will see positive outcomes.
The journey began when talking about tigers, visits to the National Parks and talking to officials about “Adopting a tiger”. The money involved was huge. They made paper bags, pouches, and cards with tiger stripes, and the proceeds of the sales were their contribution to adopting a tiger.
Social Entrepreneurship can begin just when they are so young I saw the enthusiasm of doing the project and also of counting the money that they had collected. It may have been a very very small drop in the ocean, but all the same, it is priceless.
With the city of Thane going through lot of cuts in the water supply, children began to feel the need to save water. “Every drop counts”. Through street plays, music, dramatization, campaigns, projects, the message was sent far and wide.
The Std. IV students expressed their concern over rising fuel prices, increase in pollution levels, and increase in the number of vehicles through their project “Carpool”. They did street plays, dramas, skits, and campaigns on “Carpooling”. Each one of them spread a strong social message, not just on the themes that they had chosen to work on, but also to each one of us, that children are never too young to shoulder any responsibilities. It is very important for them to own a responsibility, their contribution may be in the form of Fine Arts or Performing Arts, but they get more energetic and learn far more lessons for life. There are many dimensions that they add to their own learning.
Time for “Active Intuitive Learning” to happen.
