Stardom

If you guys don't already know, I study at Vasant Valley School. The school is absolutely the most brilliant system I have ever seen, and accepted that I haven't seen all that many, but I have seen enough to know how to differentiate between a good system and a bad one. As part of trying to develop students into well rounded individuals, they help us take part in a variety of activities, like the one organised on the 18^th of February for star gazing.

When I reached the school, the terrace was crowded with children.  Kids from junior school were all there, standing in queues in front of the telescopes, waiting to see the moon. True, the moon looked hazy and yellow, without any craters. Yet, the excitement level could not be subdued by that. One boy had got a laser torch and was busy making patterns on passing air planes, becoming the most wanted boy there. Another girl had gotten her camera and was taking beautiful pictures of the moon.

Full Moon

But the boy that caught my attention was from class four. I’ve known him for a few years and his cuteness has never not made my heart skip a beat! When I started talking to Anirudh Kaushik, he showed me Orion, and told me there was a new star being formed close by. When I asked him how a new star is formed, he was stumped. Pulling me by my hand, he went to someone he thought would know the answer – his older brother. When we couldn’t find the answer there, we looked up a Blackberry. But the explanation flew over our heads. Finally, we approached the science teachers, who directed us towards a man we thought was a scientist.

With the scientist’s stern nature and precise vocabulary, all I got was a gist of three sentences: ‘there are lots of gas and dust particles. When the temperature and pressure rise, they come together. This forms a star.’ I figured this much was enough to satisfy his curiosity and very soon, every student present had heard this version of the birth of a star.



Birth of a Star



However, less than a few minutes had passed before Anirudh was tugging my arm again. “Didi didi, I forgot!” Laughing I asked him what a dust particle was. His face told me I needed to explain. Then, I asked him about temperature. He explained this to me in an animated voice, with plenty of hand gestures. Happy, I demonstrated pressure to him, by pressing his head down. He understood in no time at all. Eventually, he seemed to comprehend the entire concept.

I thought the job was done. However, he came to me fifteen odd minutes later, wanting me to repeat the story again. I realised that he needed input that would last, something interactive and memorable. So, I conducted a short and sweet skit with a group of children, while Anirudh watched on. Each child became a dust particle, and when I said “GO” and moved my hands around to indicate rise in temperature and pressure, they circled and came towards one point.

The Play

The expression on Anirudh’s face made a few things quite certain in my mind. First, this was the only time he had actually figured out the answer. Second, it wasn’t going to leave him in a hurry. And third, every child in his class was going to hear about it the next day.

This small incident made me realise something many educationists around the world still don’t understand  something that Vasant Valley has been implementing for years. Traditional methods of learning are not efficient. If a child rote learns, his/ her exams may go off well, just like Anirudh was able to parrot the statement to every one for the first few minutes. However, that learning doesn’t stay with a person very long, needs constant repetition and is near impossible to apply. Instead, interactive learning, which is active and forms a kind of story or something else that is easy to remember, usually stays with a person for much longer, exactly like the play got crystallised in Anirudh’s mind. And that is the kind of learning we need today.