An Experiential Approach to National Education

Some things take more than textbooks to bring across. Like the difference between sweet potato and tapioca. Or how henna designs are created and what makes the gasing (the top-like Malay toy) spin. Hands-on experiences, not books, are sometimes what best answer such questions.

At Admiralty Primary School, this type of experiential learning is used to instil National Education values and instincts. For example, sweet potato and tapioca comprised the main diet of people living through the Japanese Occupation in Singapore. Pupils learn about the suffering these people went through, and also pick up valuable scientific knowledge about tubers. Henna paintings and gasing, on the other hand, are part of Singapore’s colourful multi-cultural heritage.

These experiential learning experiences, spread across a range of subjects, have found a home in the school’s National Education Village. Conceptualised and developed over four years by the teachers, the village has four thematic trails – Science, Arts, Games and Healthy Lifestyle – each one packed with activities and challenges to engage pupils of all levels.

Experience is their teacher

Says vice-principal Mr Ramesh Mukundhan, “The village subscribes to education theorist David Kolb’s theory of learning, whereby new knowledge can be created when pupils’ experiences are consolidated and internalised. The village was set up to create an environment for pupils to understand the diversity of Singapore through authentic learning experiences. It also ties in with the school’s mission where pupils’ love for learning and discovery is nurtured.”

Every trail consists of several topics which come with different exercises and challenges. Need a better understanding of Singapore’s multi-cultural diversity? Take the Arts trail and find out more about batik painting, Chinese calligraphy and rangoli, a traditional Indian folk art of floor decoration. Besides learning artistic skills and exercising the creative juices, pupils also learn more about the history of these arts and the cultures they come from.

On the Games Trail, culture, physics and handicraft skills come together to provide pupils with memorable lessons. For example, pupils learn about the history of kites in different civilisations, make their own kites, and also learn about the dynamics of flight and how that applies to kites.

A village gone virtual

To complement the National Education Village, the school has also developed a digital version, which has opened up even more possibilities for the programme. In the virtual learning environment, pupils work in groups, armed with iPod Touches loaded with a customised application for the National Education Village. Pupils have to complete tasks and quizzes on the iPod Touch, and results are transmitted to a live web-based monitoring system, which teachers can use to keep track of the pupils’ progress.

Pupils can also learn independently as they carry out their research on the web. “Teachers can facilitate and monitor learning virtually, and work with multiple groups at the same time,” Mr Ramesh points out. “As the pupils publish their lessons on their blogs, their teachers can engage them in post-trail discussions.”

Mr Ramesh adds, “By using the digital trail, pupils are provided with an e-multimodal system to capture their learning, through writing, video, audio and photography.” Pupils can also use digital technology to create short movies using images, sounds and videos. Through this process, they learn to communicate their ideas through storytelling, while honing their technical as well as creative skills. Ultimately, concludes Mr Ramesh, “We believe that the values and attitudes acquired through experiential learning are likely to sink deeper than those learnt in the classroom.”