Are we open for questions from our youngsters as a parent or a teacher or a brother or a sister? i don't think so. We show ourselves very liberal by allowing certain questions, however, there is a list where we exercise our authority to stop the reasoning practice. For example, as parents we don't like responding to questions that challenge our norms and customs. As teachers, we don't like students asking questions we are not sure about. But here I have a concern. Is it necessary that as an adult we know answers of each and every question? Or does every question have black and white answer? How can we raise a thinking generation if we don't give them freedom of opinion and question? Unfortunately, at the end we will get mere followers and not the leaders.
One of the critical incidents I observed in the class was when teacher asked students to raise questions out of the taught topic. To my surprise, students were silent. I thought they might have not understood the topic so I asked them to recap the whole session and they told me exactly what was taught to them. This was the true example of transmission mode of learning. When I reflected as a teacher and teacher educator, I realized that similar situation happens very frequently in our classrooms. One of the reasons could be that students don't know what to ask, why to ask and how to ask. The dilemma of our education systems is that classroom teaching is based on what syllabus asks for and not what learners need to. This results in the lack of interest as well as lack of conceptual understanding.
There are two main areas that lead to the above issue. One is the nature of curriculum. Are we focusing on the relevant and updated curriculum in our country? Do we teach our students about agriculture which is the biggest profession in our country? Where is the place of vocational training in our system? Out of many other issues, relevance is the biggest problem which results in the lack of motivation and clarity among the learners. Curriculum developers need to see the contextual realities and then link it with the appropriate and relevant content to make it interesting and applicable for the learners.
The second problem is pedagogy. As a teacher, do we make our students realized about the need and significance of the content we are teaching. Are we teaching different concepts as absolute facts or something which is application based and could be challenged. Our teaching methodology needs to be encapsulated with the constructivist approach of learning where we base our teaching on students' prior knowledge and learning gaps. This would help us to identify the alternative frameworks and as a result model some of the good questions in the class. Once students experience what to ask, why to ask and how to ask through teachers' modeling, they will learn and practice themselves.
Similarly as parents, we need to first develop this understanding with our children that questions may have grey areas to be discussed and challenged further. Adults, like all human beings, have limited knowledge and therefore don't have authority on ideas and knowledge. Once we develop this understanding, the second step is to practice them. For this, freedom of question is important. We encourage our children to ask questions and then facilitate them in finding out ways to reflect on their own questions.
I feel that as a nation, we need to have a shift in our attitude as adults. We should not control the thinking of our youth and making them slaves of existing norms, beliefs and practices. For this, first step would be to reflect our own practices (I meant questioning our own beliefs, perceptions and practices). Challenging oneself is the biggest challenge but would give positive fruit in a long run.
One of the critical incidents I observed in the class was when teacher asked students to raise questions out of the taught topic. To my surprise, students were silent. I thought they might have not understood the topic so I asked them to recap the whole session and they told me exactly what was taught to them. This was the true example of transmission mode of learning. When I reflected as a teacher and teacher educator, I realized that similar situation happens very frequently in our classrooms. One of the reasons could be that students don't know what to ask, why to ask and how to ask. The dilemma of our education systems is that classroom teaching is based on what syllabus asks for and not what learners need to. This results in the lack of interest as well as lack of conceptual understanding.
There are two main areas that lead to the above issue. One is the nature of curriculum. Are we focusing on the relevant and updated curriculum in our country? Do we teach our students about agriculture which is the biggest profession in our country? Where is the place of vocational training in our system? Out of many other issues, relevance is the biggest problem which results in the lack of motivation and clarity among the learners. Curriculum developers need to see the contextual realities and then link it with the appropriate and relevant content to make it interesting and applicable for the learners.
The second problem is pedagogy. As a teacher, do we make our students realized about the need and significance of the content we are teaching. Are we teaching different concepts as absolute facts or something which is application based and could be challenged. Our teaching methodology needs to be encapsulated with the constructivist approach of learning where we base our teaching on students' prior knowledge and learning gaps. This would help us to identify the alternative frameworks and as a result model some of the good questions in the class. Once students experience what to ask, why to ask and how to ask through teachers' modeling, they will learn and practice themselves.
Similarly as parents, we need to first develop this understanding with our children that questions may have grey areas to be discussed and challenged further. Adults, like all human beings, have limited knowledge and therefore don't have authority on ideas and knowledge. Once we develop this understanding, the second step is to practice them. For this, freedom of question is important. We encourage our children to ask questions and then facilitate them in finding out ways to reflect on their own questions.
I feel that as a nation, we need to have a shift in our attitude as adults. We should not control the thinking of our youth and making them slaves of existing norms, beliefs and practices. For this, first step would be to reflect our own practices (I meant questioning our own beliefs, perceptions and practices). Challenging oneself is the biggest challenge but would give positive fruit in a long run.
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