Further clarifies some of the key strategies of the ABL classrooms/pedagogy in class room

 

Further clarifies some of the key strategies of the ABL classrooms/pedagogy in class room—

Learning Materials:

Incorporating English into the curriculum and use of 3-d materials in teaching Math. Properly and effectively using Black Board and ensuring teacher’s eye level to students. Adequate spaces in the classroom to accommodate group works and individual work. Learning materials are color-coded for each class level. Logos of animals and insects are used to represent different aspects of curriculum.

Vertical Grouping:

Older children become guide and helper for the younger ones. This encourages cooperation rather than competition. Vertical Grouping technique provides solution for multi grade classroom. Activity Based Learning (ABL) 7

 

Self-Evaluation:

Students use Self-Evaluation Cards in order to assess their performance/skills (sometimes with the help of the older children). This helps to nurture ‘no fear of failure’ within students.

Learning Ladder: Using Learning Ladders to teach various skills among the students. Students move forward step by step on the ladder after he/she finishes one.

 

Figure 01: Learning Ladder used in ABL pedagogy

 

Here, each shape represents an activity. Each chain represents a step/a competency. And chains of competencies represent a ladder. Learning ladders are useful for peer learning, guided learning, and individually paced learning. It gradually releases dependency from teacher to students.

Achievement Charts:

Achievement Charts are used to track the progress of the students. Teachers track every learner’s progress using these charts. It also shows position of the children in each skill-area. Monitoring students’ performance is combined with teacher’s tracking and students’ freedom to select his/her own pace of learning.

6. Theories Underpinning the Approach/Model

The ABL pedagogical approach is primarily based on the constructivist theory of learning. Constructivism (“Learning Theory,” )views learning as a process in which the learners actively construct or build new ideas or concepts based upon current and past knowledge. In other words, learning involves constructing one’s own knowledge from one’s own experience. Social constructivists further claims that knowledge is constructed when individuals engage socially in talk and activity about shared problems or tasks. Some of the variations of constructivism involve active learning, discovery learning and knowledge building. Constructivism promotes student’s free exploration with a given framework or structure. According to constructivism teacher’s role in the classroom is as a facilitator who would Activity Based Learning (ABL) 8

 

encourages students to discover principles for themselves and to construct knowledge by working to solve realistic problems. Thus it is clear that ABL pedagogical approach reflects exactly the way constructivism view learning and want learns to act. Some of the influential theorists, i. e., John Dewey, Jerome Bruner who falls under constructivism philosophical framework of learning underpin the ABL approach too. John Dewey emphasizes on creating the classroom a miniature community, teachers as facilitator, learner centered joyful learning. Moreover, Jerome Bruner talks about scaffolding, and spiraling the lessons. The reflection of John Dewey, and Jerome Bruner concepts of learning is very much visible in the ABL pedagogy.

7. Reflections on the Approach/Model

After the above discussions on various key features and principles of the ABL pedagogical approach, it is obvious that effective use of ABL pedagogical strategies can solve the above mentioned issues of Bangladesh’s primary education, i.e., poor quality of teaching learning process and virtual exclusion, poor assessment system, low achievement rate, high dropout and high repetition rate, memorizing and rote learning. Firstly, the ABL approach is based on various student friendly learning activities, where students have the freedom to select the activities of their own that make the ABL classroom purely student-centered and joyful. Such student-centered and joyful class environment hardly gives scope of virtually excluding the students. Secondly, the assessment system in the ABL pedagogy is in built in the teaching-learning process (students use Self-Evaluation and teachers use Achievement Charts) that can solve the improper assessment system existing in our primary education. Thirdly, using Learning Ladders (through colorful ABL Cards and various learning activities) strategy in order to teach students different skills can solve the issues like low achievement rate, high dropout and high repetition rate, memorizing and rote learning.

 

BACKGROUND

A British man, David Horsburgh is the pioneer behind ABL pedagogical approach. In 1944 around World War II, he came to India finally decided to settle down there. He was an innovative thinker and charismatic leader who started teaching in Rishi Valley School. He also joined the British Council and worked in Chennai and Bangalore for many years. After his voluntary retirement, he located a 7-acre site in Kolar District and opened his school, Neel Bagh. The school was based on an innovative idea of Horsburgh and known for its creative methods in teaching and well-planned learning materials. Horsburgh with his wife Doreen and son Nicholas developed a diverse curriculum, which included music, carpentry, sewing, masonry, gardening, as well as the usual school subjects, English, mathematics, Sanskrit, and Telugu. These pedagogic materials were systematically planned, with sketches and drawings and an occasional touch of humor. Later Horsburgh created a magnificent library in Neel Baugh that was accessible to teachers and students. This initiative of Horsburgh was later proved to be one of the pioneer and milestones in ABL (Mahapatra, 2004; “Activity-Based Learning in India,” n.d.).