SAIIER 2014:Transition School

Nandanam Kindergarten		The Learning Community
Transition School

Entity::Transition School is a primary and middle school that serves the Auroville community. There are now about 160 students, ranging in age from 6-14 (grades 1 through 8). These students, and the adults that work with them, come from over 19 different countries and several states of India. This creates an interesting multi-cultural environment that offers thought-provoking opportunities for dynamic, creative teaching and learning experiences. It also exposes teachers and children to humanity’s rich cultural heritage and diversity. These children from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds grow together in an atmosphere of protected freedom and harmony, which fosters an aspiration for human unity.

Our program initiates what will hopefully be a life-long process of individual development towards a balance of body, mind, and spirit. The program includes reading, writing, maths, sciences, computer, environmental and social studies, French, Tamil, Awareness through the Body, arts, crafts and music. The children also participate in a regular sports program. Each subject is viewed as a tool for self-discovery, as well as an instrument for children to learn to express themselves and gain knowledge.

A value oriented program is the foundation of all of our work, and is integrated throughout the program and in the physical and psychological environment of the school. This year the theme that the school chose to study together was “The interconnectedness of all living things”. It was explored by all the classes and in different ways through: poetry, art, music, literature, science, history and our everyday experiences. Here is a report from the Activity::Awareness Through the Body team on their observations with the students.

Awareness through the body (ATB) at Grades 5-8

The school theme for this year was: Unity of all life/Connectedness-Interconnectedness. In ATB classes we approached the theme at an experiential level. We focused on Life as something that we can feel, experience and sense, both in our bodies and around us. Our aim was to assist children to sense how Life speaks to them, to find their own way into listening to Life. When we open up to Life we automatically enter in resonance with a sense of unity, the sense of interconnectedness of all Life.

Listening to the sense of life in the body and with the body Sensing Life in: Oneself, Another human being, A rock, A tree, The Earth

We built up on the self-sensing ability children had been developing over the years as part of the ATB program in the school. We spread the project throughout the year. We started by working on sensations so that children would clearly know what to pay attention to. We made a list of basic sensations and divided them in categories that children could easily understand and remember. After explaining the list and clarifying the words that children did not understand, we proposed different types of exercises where children could experience sensations and had to name them. For instance, touching different types of materials and giving a name for each touch sensation.

From here we moved onto sensing Life in one’s own body and again use the list of sensations to accurately name the sensations one would feel. They listened to the sensations of Life in their bodies and then shared 2 or 3 with the group. This was done often at the end of the class as a conclusion.

When children were familiar with this way of listening to the sensations in and around their bodies, we explored listening to another person’s body and been listened to by another person. For instance one child would lie down and another would softly place his hand at the sides of the head and both would be guided by us into listening to the sensation/s of Life.

To conclude the project we guided the children into exploring Life in the ATB garden. The children, once tuned to their sensations, were asked to come out to the garden blindfolded and listen to Life outdoors, giving special attention to trees, rocks, and the Earth itself.

After some of the sessions children took a moment to write about their experience. They did that in a brainstorm-like way. Here follow some examples of what they wrote; the following quotes are literal transcriptions from the ATB journals of children from 7th and 8th grade:

Sensing Life in oneself and in another person’s body

• I saw an image of black ink splashed on a grey surface. Life feels like a tingling vibration of many tiny moving things. Life feels like movement: twitching all the muscles of the body, the eyes and the jaw. I feel warmth, a presence or force. I felt and saw waving movement. (13 year old boy)
• I feel like his left brain is only working because I could feel movement, but in the right I felt no movement. Life feels like it moves everywhere and it breathes. Listening to life makes me think who I am and how I got this life. (13 year old boy)
• When I placed my hands on her head I felt really warm. On the left side I felt something knocking, on the right side everything felt really quiet inside. The left side felt much bigger or filled with something, the right felt empty and much smaller. At one point everything inside felt so quiet and empty. (14 year old girl)
• I felt waves. First they were slow and big but then they started become fast and small. These waves came one after the other. They went through my hands. When I was lying I could feel them in my head.

Sensing Life on the Earth, rocks and trees (outdoors blindfolded)

• When I touched one of my friends body I felt the heart beat, and some type of waves like the ocean, like the tide. When I went outside at first I wasn’t sure what to feel, but I made my body soft and somehow connected to the Earth. I felt all the living around me. When I went to the rock I could feel how dense it was, it also felt very still and peaceful. I sat and leaned against a tree and it felt like a cocoon, and all my thought and emotions were with the tree. It felt very nice, I could feel ants on my legs and a leaf fell on my hand, it all felt very different without the eyes. (14 year old boy)
• For me life feels amazing. Everything has a beat, trees, rocks and the Earth. For me the most interesting part was the tree. I sat in the middle of two branches and felt little animals inside the trunk, and in that moment I felt happy, no worries in my head, just happiness. (13 year old girl)
• When I felt the tree I felt its protection. When I touched the Earth, ground, I could feel how huge the Earth is, and how far it extends. Rocks gave me a soothing feeling, a relaxing one. (13 year old girl)
• I felt life talking to me with new and different words and voices. I felt life draw a picture with different colors and shapes. I felt that there is so much about life that we don’t see in our daily life because we don’t pay attention. (14 year old girl)
• I sat on a rock and I almost felt like it was living. It is like it was some creature stack with one emotion. When I was seating on the rock all my senses kind of became better, it is like I could feel better the wind, and the birds seemed louder. When I was leaning against the tree I also felt life but in a kind of different way. I felt that if the tree could speak and listen to other people, it would be the tree everybody came to for help; a wise tree. Somehow the tree was moving up and down, kind of breathing. When I was seating on the ground I felt its solidity. (14 year old girl)
• I laid on a rock and I felt: me and the rock as the same body but two different voices. (14 year old boy)
• When I was leaning against the tree and then lying down on the small rocks, I felt like I could just stay and relax there forever! It’s a really nice feeling having the rocks underneath you or the tree against your back, with the warm sun shining in my face. It’s as if these things can protect me, so I feel safe. (14 year old girl)
• An endless movement, even in the stones a soft low rush of vibration. In people, life is clear and strong, loudly beating hearts, strong breathing and endless change of tiny movements. In the Earth and stones life is harder to find, maybe because it’s a slower life, less clear. Life is warmth and movement. In the Earth life feels like a low hum, maybe if we took one breath in 1000 years it would sound like the life of the Earth. (14 year old girl)

We have seen that with this project, children felt more connected not only to Life around them but especially to a deeper sense of themselves. They also experienced that when one listens attentively to Life, something in oneself grows very calm and quiet.

Next year we plan to build upon the work of this year, to further develop the exploration into a more intimate connection with Life.

Learning from our Environment and Neighbors

There is a commitment to developing the whole child at Transition, and different learning styles are addressed through the implementation of different methods: cooperative learning, individual work, class projects and outings. This year the different classes participated in many different outings. Often these outings are linked with a project that the class has been working on in the classroom. There are many activities and areas of innovative work in Auroville and the surrounding area and we can all learn a lot from the people that we meet and the places that we go.

With meaningful lesson objectives and good planning, a field experience can engage students in learning and leave a lasting impression. Field trips and outings appeal to the students and offer many opportunities for learning.

Children were encouraged to write about the outings and put the writing in their portfolio. Teachers shared outcomes and learning experiences in discussion and have started to keep a file of people and places to visit and how to prepare for the visit.

The following brief reports demonstrate only some of the wide range of experiences that were offered to the children this year.

Grade 1 (White Tigers)

For their project on rain forests, the White Tigers (1st grade), visited the Auroville Botanical Gardens. They saw many different kinds of plants in the Orchid Garden, the Cactus Garden, and the Butterfly Garden. The highlight of their trip was playing the Web of Life Game which demonstrated how all things on earth are interconnected.

They also visited Pitchandikulum and saw the Medicinal Plants Garden. They saw many interesting things in the Nature Museum there, and looked at photos of Auroville from 40 years ago. They took a walk and saw how the barren area has changed to become a forest. They also saw artists at work painting sculptures and pictures of the local flora and fauna on granite.

Grade 2 (Jaguars)

This year the 2nd grade class did projects related to the Plant and Animal Kingdoms. As part of their study of plants, they planted a collective vegetable garden in which they grew a variety of vegetables. They also planted their own plants in individual pots. They maintained their garden themselves, and shared their harvest. They made mung bean sprouts which they offered at the school lunch to all students and teachers.

They went on a field trip to Revelation. Regina told them about the different kinds of trees and plants in Auroville. She also taught them the Mother's rain song.

They went by bicycle on a field trip to Discipline Farm. Jeff and his workers told them about the organically grown fruits and vegetables on the farm. They had a chance to look around and learn about weeding, compost, and the use of cow urine in farming. The also got to taste some of the produce.

In their project on the Animal Kingdom, they chose their favorite animals to do research on. They created posters to share and present their report.

They went on an all-day field trip to Vandaloor Zoo, where they saw many different animals, some of which they had never seen before. During the following week the students wrote about their trip to the zoo in their English class.

Grade 3

In order to enrich learning and get hands-on experience, we went on a number of outings and invited experts into our classroom when it was relevant to our projects.

When we were learning about Wellness, the class went on a trip to Pitanga to experience a Yoga class with Gala. The children were able to learn yoga asanas and breathing techniques. Some of the things children wrote after this session were: “I learned how to.... relax, stretch my body, get out of bed. I thought it would be easy but it was difficult. I loved yoga class!”

Another outing was to the Pour Tous Distribution Centre (PTDC) where we made pesto with Pierre. The children started from washing basil and squeezing lemons, all the way to bottling the finished product. Finally we sampled the result. For the first time, many children experienced food preparation from start to completion following a recipe. They also got a sense of how healthy food can taste great. After this outing some children wrote: It was fun making pesto. I loved eating it and I'd like to make it again. I thought it would be hard to make, but it was easy.

These exposures helped children further connect to what they learned in class about wellness. At the end of the term we had a party and everyone brought something to eat. The only criterion was it had to be healthy. There were fruits, hummus, vegetables, whole grain breads, etc. Everyone had fun and noted that they felt good because they enjoyed all the food, there was no junk and no one overate.

Another project this year was: All About Rocks. The project began with Jeff, an Aurovilian geologist, presenting the 3 main types of rocks and how they are formed. Each student brought 3 of their own stones and was helped to identify and classify them. We went on a trip to the Petrified Forest and a Granite mine in Tiruvakkarai accompanied by a knowledgeable parent and Jeff. Children were able to look at many different types of stones. When they understood how long wood took to petrify and rocks to form, they began to touch them with reverence. They collected some samples of rocks (identified with the help of the geologist) to take home and display in the classroom.

Another activity related to the project was making fossilized casts with plaster of paris. Unfortunately the plaster did not set properly and just cracked. However, one parent regularly makes dental impressions and came to our rescue. He brought professional dental plaster and made the fossilized casts with the kids two at a time. The kids were very engaged, liked to see the steps involved, and were delighted with the end result. Hopefully the children learned that when something goes wrong we (even teachers) can get help to try to turn a failure into a successful outcome.

All of these outings and experts to our classroom helped children connect to what they learned in class. It supported an awakening towards a joy for learning, stimulated interest in the subject area, and enhanced cooperative learning skills.

Grade 4: Garbology and field trips

The grade 4 class had regular classes centered on a Solid Waste curriculum designed in Auroville by WasteLess. It looks at waste generation in the world and around us and how we can learn to be conscious. It is a wonderful tool which can be used in many social studies - and science activities. We looked at the waste we generate in our households and in Auroville and how this gets disposed of (there is no 'away'!), we learned about mining minerals, oil manufacturing, industry, production, the goods we buy, the things we eat, their packaging and their various waste streams. We looked how different societies dispose of their waste, and many other aspects of waste and waste disposal. We made sure there were boxes in each classroom to collect waste paper (which goes to Auroville Papers, which in turn gave us a notebook made of that wastepaper!)

Aranya is a forest and sanctuary in Auroville, a bio-diversity conservation project, watershed model and educational center close to Usteri lake; a wetland that attracts thousands of migratory waterfowl. It encompasses 45 acres of plateau, pebble land and ravines and gullies. At one point of time the whole area was severely eroded and without any vegetative cover. In 1994 the IDRC (Int. Dev. Research Center) started a project to restore the TDEF (Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest) and restored the indigenous flora and fauna species to this land. Rain fed afforestation using saplings and genetic stock was undertaken and slowly the land recovered. Aranya receives many students and schools and has established Eco clubs for the nearby village children. The Transition School students learned from Saravana and Kundhavi; biologists working and living at Aranya, they walked the land, discovered the gullies and ravines, saw indigenous thorn bushes blooming and found fossil corals, and played the web of life game and observed the shy toddy cat baby. Aryany cooked us an amazing lunch of organic healthy food and the students were invited to come and stay overnight in the next school year!

Grade 5 (Golden Dragons): Arikamedu field trip

In 5th grade the subject of history is introduced to the students. About seven kilometers south of Pondicherry, there is an archaeological site, Virampatnam-Arikamedu, situated on the banks of the Ariankuppam River. This is the ideal location to give students an idea of archaeology. Arikamedu was a thriving centre for maritime trade during the Sangam Era (3rd century B.C. to 3rd century A.D.), named after the Tamil Sangams, legendary assemblies of scholars and poets. The port served as a trading centre between the East and West. Excavations have unearthed Roman amphorae, jewellery and coins. The ruins of an ancient, broken-down wall and tiny beads in the soil are the only remains of this ancient town.

Before the field trip, a slide show presentation was given to the children. It included Google earth maps of the area we would be visiting and photographs of archaeological artifacts that have been discovered at the site. The students also had an introduction to Sangam poetry, which reveals details of how ordinary people lived at the time, including children.

Three teachers and nineteen students travelled by bus to Arikamedu. First, we explored the area, discovering the ancient wall and measuring the bricks that are still lying on the ground. A walk along the river led to the field where the beads were made. The children dug in the soil and discovered the beads.

After this, we had snack, and then we found a tree where the children could relax in the shade. One teacher led the students through a visualization of how life would have been for a child in the Sangam Era. As a follow-up activity, the students completed a quiz on Arikamedu, and they created illustrated poems.

Grade 6 (Phoenix Firebirds): Vandaloor Zoo field trip

On 6th March 2014, we took the Phoenix Firebirds on an all day field trip to the Vandaloor Zoo in Chennai. We left in the early morning on the school bus and arrived at the zoo by mid morning, after stopping for breakfast on the way.

The children were very thrilled to see all these new animals they had never seen in real life before, such as the white tigers, the gorilla, the giraffes, the hippos and the bears.

In parallel to the field trip, the children had carried out their own internet research on the animals of their choice from a list of all the animals present at the zoo. This involved Science, as they learned about the animal's behavior and habits as well as Geography, as they had to find out the animal's natural habitat and world distribution and fill in that information on a map.

During the field trip the Phoenix Firebirds really bonded as a group. During our long walk around the zoo they always looked out for each other, waiting for one another, making sure nobody fell behind. The boys felt very responsible for the girls and always made sure everything was going well. They all had a great time on the way there and back, on the bus, listening to music, chatting and laughing. They shared all the food and snacks they had brought amongst each other. The field trip was a great success.

Grade 8 (Eagles): Bio-char, Solar energy and Adyar Poonga

This year the Grade 8 class went on several outings that were related to our study of science. Education and progress are central to the Auroville society and there are many activities and areas of research and innovative work, and this offers many opportunities to extend learning beyond the walls of the classroom.

Biochar: The eighth grade students (Eagles) worked on a project on Biochar during Jan-Feb 2014. The project was conducted by Deoyani Sarkhot.

First they had a power point presentation on Biochar, its benefits, applications and its manufacture. The students were also introduced to the use of charcoal in Auroville and the comparative data on the yields with and without charcoal on two Auroville farms (Annapurna and Discipline).

Also, they watched a film on the discovery of the "Terra Prata" - the black earth in Central Amazonia built over hundreds of years by the pre-European native Indians. Then they were taken on a field trip to Discipline farm where they saw the kiln that was being used to make charcoal and vermi-composting with charcoal. Deoyani and the volunteers at Discipline farm explained the functioning of the 30 kg capacity kiln. We then went to the large Cuppa Chai kiln across the road and saw the large 750 kg capacity kiln. In another class, the students spent two hours working with small stoves to make charcoal in Transition School and collected data about the mass of wood used and the mass of charcoal produced to get a sense of the efficiency of the stove. Finally they had a one-page questionnaire to answer questions about biochar, its manufacture and advantages.

This unit was part of the Science study of the Environment and it proved to be an inspiring one. The students seemed inspired and we have had a preliminary talk with Deoyani about doing it again with the next year's eighth grade.

Solar Energy: We were also introduced to solar energy through a visit to the AV Foundation building roof. The building is powered by solar panels. We were lucky to have the expertise of a young volunteer to AV who taught the students a lot.

Adyar Poonga: Additionally we had the opportunity to go to Adyar Eco Park (also known as Adyar Poonga) an ecological park set up by the Government of Tamil Nadu in the Adyar estuary area of Chennai. I have taken several grade 8 classes to the park, and it is a very inspiring example of how an ecologically damaged area can be restored to vibrant life. They can see how with hard work, dedication and the knowledge of science what can be done. This is important as sometimes children of this age feel overwhelmed with all of the news about ecological problems and disasters. After this trip they all wrote a personal narrative telling about the day, what they learned and how they felt about it.

Field trips and outings can be designed to effectively support student learning experiences in the classroom and offer new opportunities to explore and understand the topics. They also help children acquire skills such as cooperation, collaboration, communication and independent learning; this helps to prepare them for lifelong learning

Highlight: Progress in the Mathematics program

Every year at the end of the school year, the Transition Team sets aside time to discuss and evaluate the work of the school year. Many issues are approached, those issues that the members of the team are concerned about. Some years ago our mathematics program was a topic that we decided needed work. We had many meetings with teachers of mathematics, offered some workshops on hands on mathematics, explored new material and restructured some of the classes into flexible learning groups. This meant that we needed more people to help. This year the feedback that we got indicates there is improvement in the general mathematics level of our graduating students. This is an ongoing effort and we will continue. Here are two reports that demonstrate different ways that we have been working:

Building three-dimensional geometric shapes

This very popular activity is a great way for students to learn to measure accurately and use the tools in their geometry boxes. Additionally, students learned to calculate angles. We started by building a tetrahedron, then a cube, an octahedron, and finally, a dodecahedron. The children learned how to use a protractor, ruler and a pair of compasses. The shapes make beautiful hanging decorations in the classroom. Each student created their own colourful designs on the faces of the different shapes.

Presenting data in graphs

Having studied different ways of presenting data, the students chose survey questions. In small groups, they visited all the classes in Transition and collected information. They then used this information to work in groups and create bar graphs, line graphs, pie charts and pictographs to share with the rest of the school. This exercise included the questions: How many siblings do you have? Which is your favourite lunch day? Which nationality are you? Which languages do you speak? Which community do you live in? The children found out that there are students from 18 different countries studying at Transition School.

This data was shared with the community at the all school open house, and then it was presented to the whole school in assembly.

Khan Academy

During the school year July 2013 – May 2014 individualized beginners Mathematics was offered in our computer lab to 5th and 6th grade students. For this experiment the Maths section of the free website www.khanacademy.org was used as it received good reviews. The site offers hints and also videos to explain the level at hand. It builds up from 1st grade to college level in small incremental steps and allows users to go backwards or forwards at will, though it also makes suggestions for the next step. Five answers are to be given 100% correct in a row for a level to be ticked off as finished by the software. The repetition options of a website are important for a subject like Math. It generates different questions each time so thinking is stimulated over memorizing or copying.

It is very useful to let students align to their own level as a group of 20 in our context easily contains 3 to 4 different clusters with 1 or 2 students as extreme outliers. The fact that Khan Academy kept changing its layout to “improve” was not helpful.

The hampering factor for individualized Math learning at these levels is more perseverance than Mathematical intelligence. Those with the most self motivation/perseverance advanced furthest. Many an intelligent student balked at seeing a new level that looked slightly difficult. Only after the teacher “answered” an example they saw that it was easy and continued. Therefore a teacher is necessary to persuade many students to continue, not so much to explain any new Mathematical operation. We should encourage perseverance and self reliance more. Physically present “teachers” still have a role to play in the informatics age.

Outputs throughout the school

The range of output across the school is wide and varied. It includes:

• Posters
• Power Point presentations
• Photographs
• Work for the student portfolio
• Essays
• Theatre presentations and props
• Music and poetry presentations
• Student-written books
• Open House presentations
• Drawings
• Artwork and art exhibitions
• Teachers’ study days

Outcomes

All of this is a work in progress; we think that our work and concentration can help all of us (teachers and students) to develop:

• A sense of curiosity and wonder: the desire to keep learning.
• The chance to recognize and use our knowledge and special talents
• The ability to work and progress-perseverance
• Self-knowledge
• Cooperative learning and teamwork skills
• Self-esteem and self discipline
• A sense of independent learning
• A sense of well-being

Challenges

Our main challenges continue to be finding, training and keeping committed teachers who understand the aims of integral education. We will need to find more teachers in order to keep up with the growth of the population of children in Auroville.

Long-term goals

1. Further develop and improve the curriculum and educational approaches that support values and human unity, especially in the areas of science and social studies.
2. We plan to have more opportunities for teachers to study together. We will plan a minimum of three teachers’ study sessions.
3. We will continue to develop individualized learning methods for Integral Education
4. Further develop and research alternative and participatory forms of evaluation that reflect our child-centered, integral program. The portfolio and other forms of assessment are improving.