Broaden the boundaries : Think independently

I asked a simple question to my colleagues and many of them responded with a lot of enthusiasm and the question was, from whom do we learn the most ? The question seemed to be simple but gave an opportunity to everyone to express what they felt to be an appropriate answer on their part. Some said they learn the most from mother, some learn  from the peer group, others were of the opinion that they learnt from their parents and the children . Many felt that their family contributed most in their learning. As they all are teachers so many told that they learn the most from their students. One or two said that the circumstances taught them a lot indirectly and there were many more answers like, one learns from his /her own mistakes.To me all answers were correct but the last answer was very close to my own feelings that we learn the most from our own experience with self and the other people we come in close contact with.
Though I did not want to test anybody`s knowledge but the idea was to arouse their curiosity and let them express their thoughts.In addition to getting an answer of my question, I realised one more thing that when you ask an open ended question, people are more at ease in answering or responding to that and this made me think seriously about the pattern  of the questions asked in the examination either in the school examination or public examination. If it is analysed carefully it will be found that many a times there are direct questions which have almost set answers and unfortunately the students are not given an opportunity to think and express their views but they write what was written in the book or dictated by the teachers. The educationists and the psychologist say that thinking should be provoked, which will lead to creativity. Multiple choice questions can be reliable and reduce the subjectivity on the part of the evaluator but they have very little scope for the child to think differently. The kind of questions asked in the examination mostly check the knowledge gained by the student or if I may say is test of how much the student has crammed.
This made me to think why is it so? For the answer of this question we should go to the class of a school and see what is happening there. In most of the cases, the teachers come prepared with something and without bothering whether the students are ready or not they start speaking and writing on the board. Many teachers have a habit of dictating definitions and the answers even before the children have been given the basic knowledge about the chapter.The children write what the teacher tells them without understanding anything. In some cases it has been observed that the teacher while checking the home work note book or the answer sheet deduct marks if the answer written is not as what he/ she had dictated to the kids or written in the book.If this would be the way teaching is done(no learning takes place, unfortunately only cramming is happening) then the questions will also be asked in the same manner and the children would not be allowed to think and answer in their own way. I do not say that all teachers do this but there are many in this category. At the same time they are not solely to be blamed for those but our teachers` training system and casual approach towards  these institutes also share the responsibility.Multiple choice questions are required in specific situations but what many people feel is that, the closed ended questions should be minimised and more emphasis to be given to open ended questions. For this the teachers would have to be very careful while teaching in the class. In spite of acting as teachers they should act as the facilitators and let the children learn from themselves. Though the  teachers` role will always remain important but students should also be given the feeling that they are equally important. The teachers should go to the class with positive attitude having a belief that the students are good. There may be be few odd cases in the class who might not  behave properly but that does not mean all are alike. If we want that students should learn from their own mistakes then the teachers should also be prepared to do the same because what you want from your students  you must set the right example first.
If the teaching allows the children to think independently then the open ended questions will be a great tool to measure the independent thinking of the students thereby extending their horizons in different directions and giving them a free space to express themselves.

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