Teaching tools for India from veteran US educator

NEW DELHI - He is in India with his bag of education tools. Veteran US educator Samuel W. Micklus says creativity and critical thinking are key to education as opposed to learning by rote and he is about to let Indian schools know how.

“Schools relying on rote system and learning by memorisation should actively engage students in hands-on learning so that the lessons become a lifetime’s education - and not just cramming for tests,” Micklus, the New Jersey-based educator and creative think-tank, told IANS.

Micklus is spearheading an education project in 27 countries across the world that integrates activity-based group exercises with classroom lessons.

“The students and teachers are divided into groups and are assigned creative exercises to identify problems, analyse them critically and suggest a creative solution on a range of issues from technology to performance in education,” he said.

Micklus is in India to conduct workshops in schools across the country.

He is the president of Creative Competitions Inc. and the executive director of the Odyssey of the Mind, a popular and much-feted interschool-based creative problem solving programme.

Micklus has addressed teachers and students in workshops at Ryan International School, Delhi Public School, Vasant Valley School and Sanskriti School in the capital as a start-up initiative in India.

The Odyssey of the Mind and the Creative Competitions are known for their global “annual problem solving contest”. The competition, featured on television across the US, rewards out-of-the box and “stylish” solutions by teams of students and teachers.

The workshops are being sponsored by the Embassy of the United States and the government of India.

“The output of a student is determined by the ability to demonstrate learning. In the examination system, knowledge is not easy to evaluate. Some students can read a book and remember it while some need to see the applications.

“We try to create a problem-solving knowhow. It can help educators identify the breakdown and the solutions of the future,” Micklus said.

The educator said he wanted to introduce teachers in India to the Odyssey of the Mind concept and discuss methods to integrate techniques with classroom exercises.

“I am in the process of starting an association in India with a couple of teams,” Micklus said.

The member schools are handed out a list of long-term problem synopses to engage students. One such problem is “Nature Trail R” - a brain-game sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

“The problem requires teams to design, build and drive a human-powered vehicle and a camper that will go on a camping trip. When the vehicle arrives at the camp ground, the vehicle will overcome an obstacle, clean up the environment, encounter wildlife and undergo a repair,” Micklus said.

The performance will include a character that is in or near the camper to explain the experience as part of its role.

The Odyssey has six similar performance-based tailored modules like the “The Return to the Gift of Flight”, “Discovered Treasures”, “Column Structures” and “Food Court and Surprise Party”.

Citing a 1958 report by E. Paul Torrance, a famous American educator, to predict their creative achievements in adult life, Micklus said: “The comprehensive study found that highly creative students outperformed the highly intellectual ones in a ratio of 3:1.”

“India has to rethink its education mission and prepare fix doctors,” he added.

(Madhusree Chatterjee can be contacted at madhu.c@ians.in)