Empowering through Education_ Fostering learning and exploration of personal interests in school

1. Empowering through Education: Fostering learning and exploration of personal interests in school The modern world is riddled with choices that force the human mind to make decisions. It is believed that an average human makes about 35,000 decisions in a day. Yet, most schools drown students in cookie-cutter timetables and learning experiences eliminating all traces of flexibility and choice making. Standardized learning builds compliant individuals who face the danger of failure in the real world in the long term. In the short term, it leaves many children uninterested and bored in the classroom often mistaken for misbehavior or lack of academic bent. Educational philosopher John Dewey stated that education is life. Schools today must rise to this powerful statement and empower children with the tools and know-how to make decisions by fostering exploration through learning for Empowerment Through Education. Learning experiences should be embedded with choices that help students build a sense of identity. Scientific research also supports the incorporation of multiple means of expression to activate the parts of the brain where the sense of self resides. Imagine a classroom where the student gets the opportunity to respond to a text through fine art, visual art, or performing art. Or another classroom where they get to solve a scientific problem through the lens of social action. Through such experiences, not only does the student get to exercise their

2. decision-making muscles but they also get a chance to examine their strengths and interests. This in turn promotes intrinsic motivation and purpose. Students emerge from school into a world where they are expected to make life-long decisions about a career that they want to pursue. Most contemporary jobs were unheard of ten years ago. That itself is a clear indication of the fact that learning should promote the skills of exploration and reflection. So, how can schools do that actively? 1. Starting small with choice-based assignments: Consistently provide choices to students in their assignments wherever possible. These choices could include types of questions students have to answer to demonstrate their mastery or even the means of expression to do the same. Push students to think through the amount of time they would need to complete the assignment and the support they might need from peers or adults around them. By doing so, educators can promote strategy-building skills among students. ● Project-based learning: Project-based learning is an approach for empowering through education in which students work on real-world problems. It allows students to choose a problem that impacts them directly or aligns with their passion and interests. More importantly, it encourages students to think through a problem while giving them control over their learning. The outcome of the project also helps students see the impact of their work in the real world therefore leaving them with thoughts around their purpose in the scheme of things. Most importantly the collaborative aspect driven by feedback helps students identify their working styles as well. ● Extension learning resources: Educators should consider providing extension learning resources for empowering through education for the topics being covered in class. Students who are interested in exploring the topic further can peruse the resources at their own pace. This also builds the ability to research and synthesize learning independently. ● Interest groups or clubs: Schools should facilitate interest groups or clubs within the learning day. Students should receive exposure to all such groups in the early years so they get to dabble in the foundational skills of each group. Over time, with repeated exposure, students should be allowed to pursue excellence in a few groups. Schools should also facilitate reflection in these spaces which encourages students to question their competence and interest in the given area. Field trips: Field trips bring the theoretical knowledge of the world into practical view. By exploring spaces around them, students can get exposure to the various careers and ways in which knowledge is put into action daily. Field trips should be meticulously planned and should be purposeful exploration. These trips can be supported by mentor talks where students get to meet experts in the field who help them understand the demands of building a career in the real world. Incorporating opportunities for empowering through education and choice comes with its challenges in large-scale classrooms. Teachers might not get the chance to provide in-depth feedback to every student in their class. Without feedback and adequate reflection on any activity, exploration might be meaningless. Consider the following: the teacher asks students to create a report on how the climate of their city has been changing over the past decade. The students create individual reports. However, the teacher has daily assignments, planning, and administrative work as well. In

3. such a situation, reviewing and providing comments on individual student work might be cumbersome and take a backseat. The student leaves the rigorous experience unsure of how it developed their skills and mindsets and feels demotivated to take up such tasks in the future. Educators should therefore teach reflective models of thinking to students for empowerment through education which helps them ponder over all educational experiences independently or with the help of peers. More importantly, there should be an adequate balance of choice-based assignments and closed ones. Again, in the real world, individuals do not always have a choice, and thriving through structured experiences is also a skill that must be cultivated in schools. Ultimately, the Tech Mahindra Foundation rethinks how their learning environment and experiences are designed to facilitate a smooth transition into the world beyond.