Activity-based learning or ABL describes various pedagogical approaches to teaching. Its core premises include the requirement that learning should be based on conducting multiple experiments and live activities. The idea of ââactivity-based learning is rooted in the general notion that children are active learners rather than passive recipients of information. If children are given the opportunity to explore by themselves and provide an optimal learning environment then learning becomes fun and durable.
Video Activity-based learning in India
Activity-based learning history
Activity-based learning began around 1944 around World War II when a British man David Horsburgh came to India and finally decided to settle there. He is an innovative thinker and charismatic leader. He started teaching at Rishi Valley School. He joined the British Council and worked in Chennai and Bangalore for many years. After his voluntary retirement, he found a site of 7 acres (28,000 m 2 ) in Kolar District and opened his school, Neel Bagh. Neel Bagh is based on Horsburgh's innovative ideas and is known for his creative methods of teaching well-planned learning materials. Together with his wife, Doreen and his son Nicholas, Horsburgh developed a diverse curriculum, including music, carpentry, sewing, masonry, gardening, and regular school subjects, English, math, Sanskrit, and Telugu. These pedagogical materials are planned systematically, with sketches and drawings and occasional humorous touches. Then Horsburgh created a magnificent library in Neel Baugh that was accessible to teachers and students. The Horsburgh initiative later proved to be one of the pioneers and milestones in ABL. In modern times ABL is an educational method that was followed at the Chennai Corporations schools, from 2003, in an effort to provide special schools for children who have been released from forced labor.
Maps Activity-based learning in India
Institutional and Organizational Initiatives on activity-based learning
ABL in its contemporary form was first performed by Chennai Corporation in 13 schools on a trial basis in 2003, has been adopted by all 270 primary schools in the district. First designed and tested by the Rishi Valley School in Andhra Pradesh in the 90s, the Activity-Based Learning system has been successfully implemented in several Indian states and territories, including Karnataka, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana. Maharashtra, Chandigarh. In Tamil Nadu, UNICEF supported the Chennai Company to introduce the ABL method in Government schools. There are many organizations that cultivate and follow the principles of activity-based learning. Introduced Siksha evam Khelkud Samiti in Rajasthan, Sumavanam Village School in Andhra Pradesh, Walden's Path in Telangana and Vikasana School in Karnataka is a place founded on the principles of activity-based learning.
Philosophy
The ABL philosophy found its predecessor in the general sense that learning can best be done when initiated by the environment and motivated by providing an optimal opportunity for learning. Irreverence and freedom to express the environment always add the best learning outcomes.
Impact on India
Under the focus of instruction-based learning The main activity is in the child or we can say that it is one of the child-centered approaches. It develops self-learning skills among learners and allows a child to learn according to his or her skills. Activities here can be songs, Pictures, Rima, Role play to teach letters or words, solve mathematical problems, form sentences, understand social science or even the concept of science. The learner retrieves the Report Card only after completing all the steps in the subject. If a child is absent even one day he starts from the place he left unlike in the old system and the child must learn by himself from the missed part.
A key feature of the Activity Based Learning (ABL) method is that it uses child-friendly education tools to encourage self-learning and allows a child to learn according to his or her talents and skills. ABL serves as one of the child-centered and child-friendly educational models, which is a mandate of the Children's Rights Act for the Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE) in India.
The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan scheme by the Government has introduced many creative initiatives and methods to bring about changes in teaching methods for both teachers and learners. In the state of Tamil Nadu, primary schools have taken the initiative to use a methodology called Activity Based Learning through Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
Activity-based learning characteristics
A key feature of the ABL method is to use child-friendly education tools to encourage self-study and allow a child to learn according to his or her talents and skills. Under the system, the curriculum is divided into small units, each group of Self-Study Materials (SLM) consisting of interesting learning cards designed for English, Tamil, math, science and Social Sciences. When a child completes a group of cards, he completes a "milestone". Activities in every milestone include games, rhymes, drawing, and songs to teach letters or words, shaping sentences, doing math and science, or understanding concepts. The child takes the Exam Card only after completing all the milestones in the subject. In the general chart, the milestones are arranged in the form of a ladder and the child knows exactly the milestone he completed in the last lesson. It is a child-friendly way to evaluate and reinforce learning. If a child is not present one day, he goes on from where he left unlike in the old system where children have to learn for themselves what they miss.
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia