Learning by doing

All are aware of the fact that the real learning takes place outside the boundaries of the classrooms. All those who have been more successful in their life are the ones who did not gain knowledge only in the classrooms but also in the outside world. The initiative taken by Delhi University regarding the learning outside the classes is a welcome step and should be appreciated and followed by all. Many of us might be aware of a story in class VII or VIII Hindi textbook of UP board in the eighties, in which the writer explained the importance of visiting different places. Firsthand experience always gives us a better understanding of the things than what we learn in the classroom or in the books. Classrooms and books are very important but visiting different places and institutions make people aware of the real things by providing real life experiences in real life situations. While watching the telecast of the programe regarding the above mentioned step taken by DU, it was proved so well that when the girls were told about the submarines and the functioning of the ships, many of them were so impressed that they are now contemplating to join Indian Navy which furthermore gives enough opportunities to join the armed force services. Similarly, visit to ISRO and other places would have given them motivation and an opportunity to choose their profession as per their interest.

We are flooded with media advertisements in which the promoters of the colleges and schools explain about the infrastructure and the other facilities made available to the students. There are institutions which have air conditioned buildings but no facility of games and sports. The students are made to see the whole world through the use of audio visual and other facilities available. But the fact is that the impact of the artificial things cannot be the same as the real experience of seeing and doing things self. They not only  learn the things which they see but also get an opportunity to interact in a group. While they are out of the class and away from the help of the parents and other relatives they learn to manage things themselves. The students are exposed to easy as well as difficult situations and learn to adjust and solve the problems on their own. I remember the time in a school, where I worked for sixteen years,   the principal used to tell the teachers and the children about an outdoor/field destination and provide money as per their requirement and then ask them to manage things. Though at times we were puzzled as how to manage everything, but to our pleasant surprise we always found that the children adjusted within the resources provided and managed in a much better way than what we expected. Later, when we asked the principal the reason behind all that, his reply was that he wanted all of us to learn by practically doing the things self. The students and the teachers cherished the memories of doing and arranging things themselves much more than the ones who had gone for tailor made tours and excursions.

Though all realize and talk about the importance of visits and excursions but not much is done due to certain reasons. Along with this an initiative is to be taken by the educational institutions and the government to take some steps to promote such kind of learning. I can quote an example of NASA which has taken an initiative promoting the American space programme for the students of the international community. They have made it open to all the students of different countries to visit different locations and know more about the space programmes including the training of the astronauts, launching of satellites and the history of space programme etc.  This has proved beneficial particularly to those students who had interest in the space exploration. When people visit NASA they visit other parts of the country also which help both, the visitors as well as the host county. The write up I mentioned above was ‘Deshatan ke labh’ in which the writer had explained the advantage of visiting different places. NASA and other such organizations are doing exactly the same for the benefit of the students and other people.

Now the question is, if visiting places is so important then why many schools and colleges are not taking initiatives to exploit the potential of learning through educational trips, excursions and trekking etc. If we analysis it carefully then we find certain reasons responsible for that. First of all the load of the curriculum is told to be too much to complete within the time available during the years, because the number of working days comes out to be much less than what is required, hence the management is unable to decide about arranging the field trips for the students. Second reason is the security of  the students which is of utmost importance and the management finds it difficult to ensure hundred percent safe and secure visits. I remember an incident when the children of central school were taken on educational trip to Goa and despite the teachers’ best efforts and precautions few children went deep inside the sea and had problems.  In this case, the teacher incharges faced an enquiry and were stressed for quite long till they were given clearance. After this no teacher of that school was willing to escort the children for such tours.

Then what is the solution of these problems. I think the educational boards and universities should device the syllabus which has educational trips integrated in that. The burden of theory should be reduced and more of practical experience can be the part of curriculum. The educational excursions should also be highlighted in the report card/progress report and due credit should be given in the grade points/marks of the students who visit places as per the design of the curriculum. This will encourage all to take advantage of learning outside the classroom. Once this has been done the trips should be planned by the school/ college authorities well in advance with proper homework and advice to the students so that no unpleasant incident takes place until and unless it is a natural calamity. We also have to learn and teach our children that fear of untoward should not deter us from doing something which makes us a better human being and a good learner. If these visits are planned properly and we have a motivated team of educators, then no difficulty can stop us from doing what we want to do.

In the end, I would like to reiterate that teaching learning process should not be confined to the classroom only but the boundary should be demolished for exponential learning of the learners and that can be done when the curriculum and methodology of teaching and evaluation is revised in a manner which gives freedom to the learner and educators to explore beyond the boundary of classroom, using the tool of experience.