MEDIUM IS A MESS-OF-AGE

Ananya Agrawal

Masters of Design, New Media Design, 2016 NID, Gandhinagar, India Digital publication of student document for private circulation only published by National Institute of Design, India Š 2019 by ALL RIGHTS RESERVED No part of this document may be produced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photography, recording or any information storage & retrieval system, without prior permission from the publisher for noncommercial purpose.

Copyrights of all artworks, illustrations, images used in this document belong to their respective owner/ creator.

Project guide: Dr. Jignesh Khakhar, NID Documented, Designed & Edited by: Ananya Agrawal

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Originality Statement I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and it contains no full or substantial copy of previously published material, or it does not even contain substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or final graduation of any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in this graduation project. Moreover I also declare that none of the concepts are borrowed or copied without due acknowledgement. I further declare that the intellectual content of this graduation project is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project’s design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged. This graduation project (or part of it) was not and will not be submitted as assessed work in any other academic course.

Student Name in Full: ANANYA AGRAWAL Signature: Date:

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Copyright Statement I hereby grant the National Institute of Design the right to archive and to make available my graduation project/thesis/dissertation in whole or in part in the Institute’s Knowledge Management Centre in all forms of media, now or hereafter known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act. I have either used no substantial portions of copyright material in my document or I have obtained permission to use copyright material.

Child Name in Full: ANANYA AGRAWAL Signature: Date:

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MEDIUM IS A MESS-OF-AGE ON EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING AND ASSIGNMENT DESIGN FOR GRADE 2-10 STUDENTS OF JHAMTSE GATSAL CHILDREN’S COMMUNITY

Post Graduate Project Document by ANANYA AGRAWAL

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Fig 1: Group photo of New Media Design 2016 after the first Jury

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Fig 2: Group photo of Jhamtse Gatsal Children’s Community’s Teaching Staff, Working Staff and Higher Grade Children after the Re-visioning Jhamtse Gatsal Workshop

acknowledgement “What a mess of a room she made, but then good things are a bit messy, I suppose…”

I would like to thank Genla and Vasudha for letting the children and myself explore the messiest versions of us and also hope that we did not disappoint them with our explorations. Thank you, Anita Ma’am, for helping me manage classes when children got out of hand in their ‘mischief managed’ mode.

Most importantly, thank you to all my students at Jhamtse Gatsal Children’s Community for living and growing over the project with me and introducing me to the nuances of being a teacher.

Since a part of my work dealt with teaching of thinking in schools, Edward De Bono’s “six thinking hats” concept is a must mention. So be it for my fellow teaching staff, the thinking hats who were my constant support throughout the project- Sunil Kumar Rath, the black hat who ensured that I question and set adequate feedback mechanisms for all her experiments; Ishika Das, Humaira Shareef, Tselha Wangmo and Prerana Kodur, the yellow hats and her go to people in those over thinking days; Minoti Ma’am, Gen Jambey and Gen Tsangpo, the green hats exposing me to the rich Monpa culture and helping me establish relationships between the new and old teaching-learning methods; Meenakshi Prabhu, Tenzin Dhondul, Gen Kelsang, Ophelia Lobo, Shalom Logos and Uday Nair, the red hats, helping me figure out classroom management techniques and understand child psychology better; Gombu Ma’am, Subhraj Sir, Saurabh, Teke Sir and Kalvinder Sir, for being the white hats, facilitating the process, providing me with the access and resources and many a times a helping hand to make the work smoother.

A special thanks to the working staff of the community- Ama Tenzin, Ama Yangzom and Ama Kesang for giving permissions and encouraging children for going on field trips and spending additional hours doing Lakpar activities; Gen Ngawang, the one-man arher, for the knowledge he shared with us on a number of topics and most importantly for his local medicinal knowledge and cures he provided to her accident prone self; Gen Lham Dorjee, Pradeep Dada and Pasang mama for always helping the children and me with resources and relevant training on wood work when needed; Dorjee bhaiya for always bringing with care all those endless packages for kids from Tezpur and also,

never saying no to her chain of questions; Sapna didi for always being a run away and spending sleepless nights with us whenever we needed any stitching advice, however weird our demands might have been (remember the exoskeleton?); KRT Bhaiya, Ngodup, Sonam didi, Dakpa, Phool Maya didi, Pema didi and all the other kitchen staff for always pampering me and making sure that I do not conduct classes on empty stomach and also lending the kitchen to the children for our experiments with food and organic products.

I would also like to thank my partners in crime and motivational squad at National Institute of Design- Shafali Jain (Special thanks for visiting me in “Arunachal ke jungle”), Tripti Bajaj, Hardik Taneja, Pranshu Kumar Chaudhary, Arvind Patil, Swapnesh Samaiya, Isha Gahlot, Sumit Baruah and the entire NMD’16 for being there through thick and thin, especially to Devang Kantharia for giving a push when it was needed most.

A big thank you to my parents for letting me undertake this project and work in a remote location, even though the distance and lack of network in a connected world scared them to bits.

Last but foremost, I would like to thank my mentor, Dr Jignesh Khakhar for his guidance and for being the pillar of strength of this stubborn student of his throughout the duration of this project.

This has been one interesting year of exploration for me, taking the role of a teacher and a learner in the same time period, getting to understand the pains and gains at both ends. Gen Kelsang once introduced me to a beautiful quote by Eric Allen which I would like to share here: “Everyone is my teacher, Some I seek, Some I subconsciously attract Often I learn simply By observing others Some may be completely unaware that I am learning from them Yet I bow deep in gratitude.”

A shout out and Tashi Delek to all those who have been a part of this journey!

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Fig 3: The youngest bunch of Curious Minds at Jhamtse Gatsal Children’s Community 10

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MEDIUM IS A MESS-OF-AGE

PROJECT ABSTRACT

“All media are extensions of some human faculty- psychic or physical.” [6] ― Marshall McLuhan

Acknowledging the lifelong learnings that stem from participative, hands-on work witnessed in the local tradition of ‘Lakpar’ practiced by the Monpa tribe in Arunachal Pradesh, Jhamtse Gatsal Children’s Community initiated the Lakpar Fellowship in partnership with the Pema Chodron Foundation in April 2018.

The community hoped to explore alternative methods to learning through this initiative, their main challenge being the remoteness of the place, which restricts its reach to a range of material resources and digital information.

It’s been more than 50 years since Marshall McLuhan first described the importance of media being not as much in the information it carries, but what it is doing to us in terms of shaping our behaviour, the way we think and possibly also the way our brains are structured. By definition, experiential learning needs to indulge with a range of media in order to deliver multisensory experiences in the real-world setup by engaging with it from cognitive, emotional, and physical standpoints. Experiential learning in the post-modern world is supposed to be a blended form of learning which essentially has rich content, including, field trips, hands-on experiments, simple videos, robotics, and much more. However, the availability of such media remains limited to the privileged few, and the knowledge of delivering medium appropriate learning to even fewer, mostly finding home in alternative education setup and the like. As the world moves towards adopting STREAM learning methods to meet the needs of 21st century education, India’s classrooms are either still following mechanised, rote learning or too engrossed in the digital screen to look beyond it. This situation makes these classrooms and the instruction delivery methods they follow, neither at par to handle a child’s pedagogical needs nor in tandem with the changing times. It is thus that the very mediums which were meant to be messengers of knowledge have become a mess of this age. The project is an attempt to relook at the mediums of knowledge exchange in the school environment and the project title is a reflection of the same.

Young children are said to best build upon what is taught when drawing from their socio-cultural environments and their personal interpretations of material artefacts, a learning stream which is cut down in today’s micromanaged classroom spaces. In places with adequate exposure to digital technology, child driven learning methods are better practiced. However, there again, limited knowledge of assignment design and instruction delivery methods, leads to the negligence of other material mediums in favour of “pictures under glass”. In this new age mess, the unique context of Jhamtse Gatsal comes with an opportunity to better understand the design for learning, especially in remote contexts which have limited dependence on technology at present. The project is an attempt to build a more comprehensive understanding of mediums of learning and the ways of incorporating 21st century skills to help them to adapt to changing times, looking at them in relationship to locally available material mediums. Action research has been used as the primary method for building insights, the fellow having stayed in the community, employed as a teacher there, during this period.

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contents 1.

2.

Introduction 1.1 About National Institute of Design 1.2 About New Media Design

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Background 2.1 Project Brief 2.2 The Triad: Education, Medium, Culture 2.3 Education Scenario in Arunachal Pradesh 2.4 About Monpa Tribe 2.5 About Jhamtse Gatsal Children’s Community 2.6 A Day in the Life of a Jhamtse Gatsal Teacher 2.7 About Lakpar Fellowship

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3.

Research Plan 3.1 From Outside to Inside 3.2 Setting Fellowship Objectives 3.3 Research Questions 3.4 Research Methodology 3.5 Timeline

28 30 32 33 35

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Piloting of Assignment Design Methods 4.1 Understanding Material as a Medium Synapse 4.2 The Ever Evolving Medium of Learning 4.3 Action and Sound 4.4 Visual 4.5 Written 4.6 Material 4.7 Mechanics 4.8 Electronics 4.9 Digital Tech 4.10 Fusion Tech 4.11 Designing for Learning

40 42 44 54 64 76 128 144 148 154 167

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Evaluation Structures 5.1 On Learning Outcomes and Periodic Evaluations 5.2 Lakpar Report Cards 5.3 Lakpar Program Feedbacks 5.4 Lakpar Examination 5.5 Internal Reviews and Juries 5.6 Lakpar Choikan: The End of the Year Exhibition 5.7 Something Borrowed: Co-Creation with the Community 5.8 Pedagogy Testing with Government Schools 5.9 New Beginnings: Soap Incubatees

170 172 176 180 190 208 210 212 214

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Indeginous Classrooms of the Future 6.1 Futuristic Model 1 6.2 Transitory Model 2 6.3 A Stapoo Approach for Arunachal Schools

220 222 224

7.

Reflections 7.1 The Mind-Market Debate 7.2 Ethics for Technology in Education 7.3 Indian Policy Experiments with Education 7.4 Conflicts of a System Designer

230 231 232 233

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01 INTRODUCTION

Fig 4: Made by Tenzin Drolma C Graduation Project by Ananya Agrawal|

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Fig 7: Relaxed

Fig 6: Reflective

Fig 5: Different moods of National Institute of Design

Fig 8: Creative

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Fig 9: Gray

1.1 about national institute of design National Institute of Design (NID), established in 1961 as an autonomous Institution under the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, is one of the foremost multidisciplinary Institutions in the field of design education, applied research, training, design consultancy services, and outreach programmes. NID has been accorded as “Institute of National Importance” by Act of Parliament, under the National Institute of Design Act, 2014.

The Industrial Policy Resolution of 1956, led the government of India to invite the design team of Charles and Ray Eames to recommend a program of design to serve as an aid to small industries in India. On the basis of their document, ‘The India Report’[5], the government of India set up the National Institute of Design in 1961 as an autonomous national institution for research, service and training in industrial design and visual communication.

NID envisaged an “institute of design, research and service”: each term vital in its inter-relation. In this space, the “Designer” was to be groomed as both, a herald of the latest high heel, and also as a missionary of the well-made mundane. Charles Eames was famously fascinated by everyday objects like the ‘lota’, which he referred to as the product of not an individual “design” intention but the coalescence of many generations of intention, its organic process of making representing the contemporary thought process needed by design. Design thus established itself in India as an act of intellection, the encounter of historically enriched imagination with the constraints of the real, in search of scalable solutions to practical problems.

As design adapted and evolved with the changing needs of times, its essence now lay in a combination of these elements: function, form, and mass accessibility. To create objects and ways of living for a democratic age, well designed products, processes, services or systems needed to embody a distinctive cultural language which amalgamated the past and future, as well as were economically viable for the masses. Touching upon the needs of the society on the scale which India needed, a designer’s role became to act as enablers “to help others solve their own problems”.

The institute has three connected active campuses, Main Campus-Ahmedabad, Post Graduate Campus - Gandhinagar and the R&D Campus -Bengaluru.

National Institute of Design, Gandhinagar is an extension campus of National Institute of Design, situated in the city of Gandhinagar. It provides postgraduate courses in Lifestyle and Accessory Design, New Media Design, Transportation and Automobile Design, Apparel Design, Strategic Design Management and Toy and Game Design. The Gandhinagar campus is also popularly known by the students and faculty as the reflective campus due to its quiet and open surroundings. The campus life offers a multi-cultural experience to its students, celebrating diversity and uniqueness together.

References: [1] https://dipp.gov.in/about-us/autonomous-institutionss/national-institute-design [2] https://www.nid.edu/ [3] http://design-for-india.blogspot.com/

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Fig 11: Paint on Glass, An Animation Module Exploration

Fig 10: Ardhviram, a mixed media performance art piece created using wearable tech 4

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Fig 12: Memories from the New Media Studio Space

1.2 about new media design “The phenomenon of communication is something that affects a world, not a country.” [5] - Eames India Report The 21st century, popularly known as the internet age, changed the way this world perceives and communicates information. This wave was also felt by the design community which felt the need to work upon an integrable approach to incorporate this new medium of expression with the traditional material mediums. Relooking at the ‘India Report’ in the light of this new need which arose; internet and other representative technology could now be metaphorically seen as the new age “lota” which was being co-created by multiple participants every minute. Distinguishable changes from this organic process of technology creation were visible in the actions, especially in the way technology and people were moulding each other with each passing year. Design practices thus started paving a way towards defining active, conscious and ethical relationships with these technological resources or new media while also bringing in a cultural understanding to it, borrowing from the old media.

New Media Design, a post graduate design department at National Institute of Design, Gandhinagar attempts to examine the impact or perceived change that technologies may have on mankind in the future. The thoughtful and appropriate application of technology at an individual, organizational and national level can lead to significant economic benefits, while being aware of its cultural impact.

Through a historical grounding in art, craft and design practices; surveying of scientific and technology landscape of the world; and building an ability to keenly observe the cultural fabric of the country, students of new media aim to develop integrated and context relevant solutions for addressing contemporary issues. There are three primary objectives of the programme: • • •

Exploring / critically examining the relationship between technology and culture.

Gaining competency in judging the appropriate application of technology.

Developing insights leading to the invention of new technology.

Or as the faculty and students like to quote, “Hello, we are severely changing. #now” References: [4] http://cargocollective.com/nmd/About-Us/solo [5] The India Report, 1958, Charles Eames and Ray Eames

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02 BACKGROUND

Fig 13: Made by Pratima Sutradhaar

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Fig 15: Gen Jambey’s family being exposed to digital technology

Fig 14: Tashi Drolma studying for exams

Fig 16: Class 6,7,8 children picking recyclable waste from the dumping area at Mani 8

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2.1 project brief “We look at the present through a rear-view mirror. We march backwards into the future.”

[6] – Marshall McLuhan Inspired by the values of the age-old tradition of ‘Lakpar’ practiced by the Monpa Tribe (to which most children of the community belong) and to provide an education that is meaningful to the children, Jhamtse Gatsal, an NGO based in Arunachal Pradesh, started a community space called Lakpar in 2018 in partnership with the Pema Chodron Foundation.

Following this, a Fellowship was formalized to translate this vision of Lakpar into practice. The session 2018-2019 focused on recruiting enthusiasts from the streams of (i) Art and Craft (ii) Construction and Woodwork (iii) Science and Mathematics. The domains were to evolve in future depending on how this piolet turned out. According to the Fellowship document shared during the time of recruitment, a Lakpar Fellow had the following responsibilities: •

• • • •

S/he will create the curriculum and conceptualize, design and execute teaching modules for children from Grades 5 to 12. (Grade 11 and 12 was excluded from the program later due to these being crutial years for them to prepare for university entrances) S/he will facilitate daily classes/workshops (5 days a week) for Grades 5 to 12.

S/he will conceptualize and execute at least one Design Challenge, which nudges the children to solve interesting challenges in a resourceful and creative manner.

S/he will build and maintain inclusive partnerships with relevant organizations in their respective stream.

S/he will document progress, achievements and challenges in the process.

S/he will also create a qualitative and quantitative impact report at the end of the Fellowship period, thus enabling a smooth transition for the next Fellow.

The recruitment formalized in June with the fellow taking complete ownership of the Lakpar space for the Art and Craft stream. No fellow was selected for Construction and Woodwork and the higher-grade physics and math teacher, Mr Sunil Kumar Rath, was to assist the fellow in the Science and Mathematics Lakpar classes. Being the first Fellow, the fellow was given the freedom to build the Lakpar space from scratch, starting from recommending and procuring resources, like tools, stationary etc. Even before the arrival at the space, work had started as the fellow busied herself with tasks like preparing and initiating procurement of the list of stationaries needed and familiarizing herself with a background study of the space.

Deriving from the early -on phone and face to face interactions with Genla, Vasudha and Sunil: the first vision for the Lakpar program was environmental sustainability; waste management was a major issue at the community, most of the waste getting burnt and previous attempts at waste collection and segregation having failed because the community wasn’t aware of how to re-purpose the collected waste. The second vision for the space was to be a source of financial sustainability, to generate revenue out of the products created in this space in time, leading to the creation of multiple children run SMEs and MSMEs which can sustain the NGO in the long run, without having to bring in funds from outside. The third vision for this space was cultural sustainability, to better prepare their children for the outside world while keeping the values they learnt at Gatsal intact- Jhamtse Gatsal’s first batch of grade 12 graduates had recently been admitted to colleges in 2018 and were seen facing difficulties in establishing themselves as thought leaders in their respective domains which was the ultimate vision of the community for its children.

In this early conversation, it was suggested that two things which needed foremost attention were: a sense of ownership of children on the activities undertaken and the trust and support of the school management on each child’s capability to make their own choices. It was believed that without a conscious approach towards the mentioned aspects, anything introduced in the Lakpar classes would not be able to adapt to future constraints and thereby fade in time. It was also discussed how one year’s time frame to achieve the larger goals was too short and the attempt of the Fellowship would be to lay a stable foundation of the program which can be built upon by future fellows. The school management had agreed to this and thus began the journey of this project.

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2.2 the triad

MEDIUM

“All media work us over completely. They are so pervasive in their personal, political, economic, aesthetic, psychological, moral, ethical, and social consequences that they leave no part of us untouched, unaffected, unaltered. The medium is the message. Any understanding of social and cultural change is impossible without a knowledge of the way media work as environments.” [6] – Marshall McLuhan

“Most social scientists today view culture as consisting primarily of the symbolic, ideational, and intangible aspects of human societies. It is the values, symbols, interpretations, and perspectives that distinguish one people from another in modernized societies. People within a culture usually interpret the meaning of symbols, artefacts, and behaviours in the same or in similar ways.” [7] - Cherry A. McGee Banks, James A. Banks

CULTURE

EDUCATION “To educate the child rightly is to help him to understand the total process of himself; for it is only when there is integration of the mind and heart in everyday action that there can be intelligence and inward transformation. To do this, the educator himself must be integrated; so, the right kind of education is of the highest importance, not only for the young, but also for the older generation if they are willing to learn and are not too set in their ways.” [8] - Jiddu Krishnamurthy

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2.3 education scenario in arunachal pradesh Arunachal Pradesh or the land of the dawn lit mountains, is a north-eastern state of India. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south and shares international borders with Bhutan in the west, Heranmar in the east, and the disputed McMahon Line border with China in the north. As per projections, population of Arunachal Pradesh in 2019 was 16.75 lakhs. Arunachal Pradesh has 28 major tribes, 100 sub-tribes, and 50 distinct languages and dialects.

[9] The speakers of major languages of the state according to the 2001 census are Nyishi, Adi, Bengali, Nepali, Hindi, Monpa, Assamese, Wancho, Tangsa, Mishmi, Mishing, Nocte, and Others. Due to this huge linguistic variation, the language commonly used for communication between tribes is Hindi while the commonly taught third language in schools is Bhoti which can be accorded to the Tibetian influence in the region. Also, a lot of children from this region choose to go to Dharamshala and other regions with Tibetian Buddhist influence for higher studies where a knowledge of Bhoti might come handy.

year 2015-2016. A minimal +2.2% increment in Governance Processes Aiding Outcomes has been seen while small states like Nagaland have made +23.1% increment. The change in performance in the Outcomes category is -7.7% with notably low performance in Learning, Access and Infrastructure and Facilities for Outcomes domain. Change in scores in Access Outcomes category from Base Year to Reference Year has shown 20.2% decrease for the state, majorly owing to poor performance on ‘Transition rate from Primary to Upper Primary Level’ and ‘Adjusted NER at Secondary Level’

Arunachal Pradesh is a sparcely populated state with a population density of 17 persons per sq. km. and about 4.9 lakh children between 0-14 years, spread across the state. This has led most good schools in the region to operate in a residential school mode, with children learning to live away from their families at a very early age. An incident from field visit recorded an account of an old woman who wasn’t able to communicate with her child when he returned after spending a long time at school because he had forgotten their native language after being away for long and she did not know how to speak any other language.

Other findings from Children of India 2018 are that as compared to the rest of the nation, the Union Territories have a better Child Sex Ratio, for Arunachal this number is 972. [10] From on field findings, this can be attributed to the polyandry being a popular practice in the tribes here in older times, and also family’s clear preference towards a girl child. It is therefore that the state schemes for girl children create a disparity between the children here, the male children not taking them very well. Arunachal’s state rank in School Education Quality Index (SEQI) 2016-2017 Report [11] by NITI Aayog is 8 (last) in small states category, its performance deteriorating by -2.1% as compared to base

Fig 17: Small States Outcomes mapping as given by SEQI 2016-2017

According to Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) [12] 60.8% schools in Arunachal have no dedicated Physical Education Period and 71.6% have no Physical Education Teacher in spite of the state’s exemplary performance in Khelo India 2019 (14 medals) and 31st East Zone Junior Athletics Championship 2019 (gold medal) which has led to higher officials emphasise on quality Physical Education, highlighting the sports quota.

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Fig 18: A village map of Arunachal as drawn by volunteers of ASER 2018

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Fig 19: Display Board in Govt. Middle School, Kharteng

ASER also highlights that 35.2% children of the age 3 are enrolled in Anganwadi while 51.5% children of age 8 are enrolled in Government schools.

Very little difference is observed in the performance of children from government vs private schools and also in the performance of girls and boys.

Arunachal Pradesh has the lowest literacy rates in the country, below 80% and a high drop out rate of more than 7.6% and about 7.52% child workers (10-14 years) recorded in rural areas. According to ASER only 31.2% grade IV children could read Words while only 36.7% grade V children could recognize numbers from 10-99.

From field insights, a lot of old teachers in this region are from the Northen parts of India. According to one of the teachers, this could be because when recession hit India in the 90s, a lot of government teachers accepted jobs in the North Eastern region through State entrances and have ever since stayed in this place. Several initiatives are being undertaken by the State Government to upgrade the school quality standards like State Teacher Awards, e-portal for a more organized transfer and posting of teachers, creating a channel for grievance collection, organizing mock drills under Safety and Community awareness programme for well being of children during natural disasters, Tele Education in GHSS and GHS schools etc. but there are a lot of execution gaps due to which these efforts are not taking shape. For instance, during one visit to a governemnt school the Headmaster happily showed a projector, asking the fellow if she knew how to use it. When

Fig 20: Top performing children being fasilitated by Government Officials

she went ahead to use the projector, she found out that the HDMI cable needed to connect the projector to the desktop was missing. The situation also revealed that the teachers were not trained on how to use this new technology even though the infrastructure expenditure hand been done. The region had very poor internet facility as well as good reading materials and the headmaster was really happy to receive some offline content for reference offered by the fellow.

This highlights that a lot of systemic planning needs to be done on the education front by Arunachal if they wish to leapfrog towards achieving quality education outcomes.

References: [6]Understanding Media: The Extentions of Man, 1964, Marshall McLuhan [7] Multicultural Education: Issues and Perspectives, 7th edition, James A Banks, Cherry A McGee Banks [8] Education and the Significance of Life, 1974, Jiddu Krishnamurti [9] Mobilising language, imagining region: Use of Bhoti in West Arunachal Pradesh, 2013, Swargajyoti Gohain [10] Children of India 2018, A Statistical Appraisal, Ministry of Statstics and Programme Implementation, Government of India [11] School Education Quality Index, 2016-2017, NITI Aayog [12] Annual Status of Education Report(ASER), 2018, Pratham, non-profit

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2.4 about monpa tribe

The word “Monpa” or people (pa) in the land of (Mon)yul has been used by Tibetans to denote “people living in lowlands” for a long time. The Monpa people are speakers of Tibeto-Burman languages and can be divided into three subcategories. The Tawang Monpa live in the Tawang region (Tawang district), the Dirang Monpa in the Dirang region, and the Kalaktang Monpa in the Kalaktang region in West Kameng. The Tawang Monpa people—in the broad sense of the term—can be divided into five subgroups: the Tawang Monpa in the limited sense (in and around Tawang area); the Pangchenpa (inhabiting area around Zemithang); the Dakpanangpa (Dakpanang); the Tshosumpa (Tshosum); and the Mago-Thingbupa (Mago, Lukguthang and Thingbu).

A PESTLE analysis is a framework to analyse the macro-environmental factors that may have a profound impact on a research, especially useful when doing a situational analysis when starting out. Below is the brief of the PESTLE analysis done to build a focused cultural understanding of the Tawang Monpas, the predominant tribe in the area of study: Political: Historically, King Kala Wangpo, ruler of Tana (Tawang) in the 7th Century C.E., and his queen named Khando Drawa Zangmo of Lhagayala (West Kameng) are the most popular figures in the Monpa folklore. Grade 5 student Tenzin Drolma ‘C’, had introduced the class to this story during the puppetry assignment. The people back then used to believe in the Bon religion and worship elements of nature. They had been introduced to Tibetan and Bhutanese culture due to trade. Shortly after, due to a scheme by Lang Darma to ascend the throne of Tibet, Lhase Tsangma, the son of the then king Tri Ralpachen, was sent to exile in the Monyul region and the king was assassinated.

During the reign of Tri Ralpachen, peace was achieved between the Tibetan Empire and the Chinese Tang dynasty. A peace pact was formally concluded in 821–22, and stone monuments inscribed with the pact were set up in Lhasa and Changan. However, Lang Darma’s reign came in with disturbances. Meanwhile, Prince Tsangma and his entourage settled in Mon and married Alo Dondup Gyal’s daughter. The couple had two princes. These two sons controlled fragmented local Mon rulers and founded a strong kingdom.

Fig 21: An old woman in the village in the Traditional Monpa attire 14

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After the treaty of Yandabo, 1826, the British Government took over the administration of Assam and the North-Eastern Frontier Tract. Though they interfered in the administration of the Ahom kingdom, they rarely interfered in the affairs of North-Eastern Frontier Tract. As a result of Simla conference in

1914 a boundary line known as Mac Mohan line was drawn between India and Tibet, Tawang formally coming under the Indian jurisdiction. The Sino-Indian Border Conflict, was a war between China and India that occurred in 1962. The disputed Himalayan border was the main pretext for war after which there were efforts by the Indian Government to strengthen the living conditions of this border area. Till 1972, Arunachal Pradesh was known as the North East Frontier Agency (NEFA) after which it gained the status of Union Territory. It became a full-fledged state on February 20, 1987. A lot of Tibetan refugees came to settle down in this part of the country and a lot of “Free Tibet” merchandise can be seen in the local markets.

Bon religion is the popular faith in this region. Tsangyang Gyatso, the Sixth Dalai Lama who was born in Urgyeling, a village south of Tawang. One of the most important Buddhist monasteries, the Tawang Monastery, built after the vision

by Merak Lama, is also situated here. All-important rituals of birth, marriage and death are carried out according to this amalgamated faith. The fellow had an opportunity to be a part of both birth and death ceremonies and familiarize herself with the customs during her stay. While, Torgya festival sees a vibrant mix of local crafts, food, mask dances; sports like archery are popularly seen during the Losar festival along with the intake of the local drink called “chhang”.

Fig 22: A view of the Sela pass during winters [15]

BJP is the current ruling party in the state. Even with little awareness about politics in the villages the region saw a 66% voter turnout in the 2019 General Elections. As per field insights, oftentimes young men from different villages are seen engrossed in violent fights during the time of campaigns as they believe that only if a village votes for the ruling party will the party work for the betterment of that village.

Social: Tawang Monpa language is closer to Tibetan because of the geographic proximity of Tawang to Tibet. However, very few people know how to communicate in fluent Tibetian, Hindi being better understood when interacting with locals in the market. Buddhism with amalgamated traditions of

Fig 23: The White Tara, a famous religious place Graduation Project by Ananya Agrawal|

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Economical: According to occupation based classification, Brokpa are branch of Monpa who rear animals. Tsongpa are those who remain engaged in trades or trading. Whereas, Zoba practice handicraft or construction work and thereby they may be categorized as artisans.

Most of the tribe depends on agriculture for a living. Tawang’s higher altitude areas with colder temperatures see yak and sheep breeders, while in lower altitudes crops are also planted. Trading has been another important occupation in these parts. A classic example of this is the traditional Monpa dress: In olden times, the silk for the dress known as aliane, was acquired from Tangla area and Udalguri (Assam); the dying of the silk was done with a colorant made from lac in Bhutan. Rava and Bodo people would then weave the fabric which was sold in Monpa villages and stitched into their traditional shingka and khanjar.

Long before these imports started, the locals wore woollen shingka made of yarn from yak wool and other clothes made of white cotton and silk. The locals are still familiar with a number of crafts but there is no well-established market for the same which is why many skilled workers depend on unskilled labor like construction for additional income. Since the tribe was isolated from the outside world and practiced the barter system for a long time, the modern understanding of money and employment is still not well perceived by them.

Fig 24: Local food, mainly Churpi (cheese and chilli) and Beef

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Fig 25: Children of Jhamtse Gatsal performing the local Yak Dance

Technological: Kameng Hydel Power project in Arunachal Pradesh is the latest step taken by the government to introduce renewable energy to the region. Apart from this a lot of homes in the villages can been seen lit with a small Solar Panels and there have been efforts to bring basic amenities like toilets and basic connectivity like roads to the region. There was limited access to internet in the region during the time of study and there were also areas where the Bhutan signals were seen to be stronger than Indian networks. Also, people had very little familiarity to computers, mobile phones etc. which was just getting introduced to the people here. Infact, the children of Jhamtse Gatsal were introduced to laptops and basic typing just 2 months prior to the fellow’s joining.

Legal: The region falls under restricted area and official permission is required to enter the state by visitors other than natives in the form of Inner Line Permit. For a long period in history, even this provision was not there which is the main reason for the region’s isolation. The recent Citizenship (Amendment) Bill created a significant amount of controversy amongst the people here.

The Tibetan Refugees also held a separate meeting to discuss the same which concluded in them witnessing limited impact of the bill, having been given separate legal cards for their stay. The Tibetans born in India between 1950 and 1987 are also eligible for Indian passports and voting rights although a lot more awareness is needed on ground for its fair execution. Also, most people here

belong to ST category so general definition of equity outcomes doesn’t work here.

Arunachal is not a part of the Sixth State Schedule which gives the tribal population an autonoher on land or trading rights. Another recent controversy in this region has been regarding villager protests against non-compensation of land by Border Roads Organisation (BRO) which has been engaged in widening of roads.

Fig 27: Forest Fires in the region due to crop burning

Fig 26: Disposal pits installed under Swatch Bharat Mission

References: [13] Himalayan Nature and Tibetan Buddhist Culture in Arunachal Pradesh, India: A study of Monpa, Kazuharu Mizuno and Lobsang Tenpa [14] Socio-economic and Cultural Life of the Monpas of Arunachal Pradesh, Chhomu [15] https://sg.inflibnet.ac.in/ [16] A Development Profile of Arunachal Pradesh, Department of Planning, GovtAP

Environmental: The Tawang area falls in high altitude mountain region.

Conifers like pine etc. are commonly found in the forest area and rice and millets are a staple diet of the people here. Apart from this, a range of medicinal plants and commercial plants used for dyeing and making perfumes are found here.

The area experiences very little rainfall and often succumbs to water shortage.

Flash floods and landslides are common in the rainy season while heavy snowfall is seen in winters, blocking roads, causing accidents and destroying schools and houses. The farmers here still practice stubble burning which results in forest fires which are sometimes so bad that one can witness burnt leaves dropping from the sky. The children and teachers in school have been seen to actively fight these fires to stop them from spreading in the premises. Waste is another common issue in this region which is mostly burnt or has to been transported to Tezpur, Assam for disposal as there is no waste management unit in the state. Sela pass is still the only corridor to enter Tawang which is often blocked because of snow and landslide.

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Fig 28: Locating Jhamtse Gatsal on the map of India [20]

Fig 29: A view of Jhamtse Gatsal Children’s Community from the helicopter 18

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Fig 30: The new classrooms at Jhamtse Gatsal

2.5 ABOUT JHAMTSE GATSAL CHILDREN’S COMMUNITY Jhamtse Gatsal (jhaam’-tsay gah’-tsal) is Tibetan for “garden of love and compassion.” [17] Founded in 2006 by a former Buddhist monk, Lobsang Phuntsok, Jhamtse Gatsal Children’s Community is currently home to 90 at risk children from disadvantaged backgrounds studying in grades from Pre KG to Grade 12.

Jhamtse Gatsal lies in the district of Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, India, and the children come from nearby villages. Each of these children has a background of adversity and are first generation learners. The community’s driving goal is to provide these children with better lives, helping them to achieve their fullest potential. Jhamtse Gatsal has received a Unique Achievement Award from the Buddhist Cultural Preservation for their contribution to the society and the Spirit of Humanity Award by Americares India Foundation for their contribution in the field of education..

Genla recalls that he had a childhood full of fear and inadequacy which led him to envision a place where different kids with different challenges felt accepted. This dream was realized when Jhamtse Gatsal opened its doors in 2006, to educate children in need from nearby villages. Quoting him from the Emher winning documentary “Tashi and the Monk”, “How far will kindness take you?” As of today, kindness has brought the community far enough to bring up their children with a gardener mindset, nurturing their differences and empowering them to become the future leaders of this community. Genla shared in a workshop at the community that to bring about any kind of selftransformation the most aspect is ‘shedding’ as opposed to adding– Shedding of that negative image of self or shedding of the ‘ego-service’ which many a times becomes coupled with the act of ‘social service’. He believes a broom to be symbolic of this internal cleansing which happens by the act of shedding. To quote Rumi, “Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” By living in this close-knit Community and supporting each other as family, the children develop their innate qualities of love, compassion, and wisdom, and practice integrating these principles into all aspects of their daily lives. The education, healthcare, food, learning resources etc. that children receive at the Community are provided at no cost to them or their family.

Fig 31: A picture of the little ones from the archives

Gen Lobsang Phuntsok (Genla) believes Jhamtse Gatsal to be a place for selftransformation for both children and adults driven by the kinship of mankind.

Fig 32: Genla with his infamous broom Graduation Project by Ananya Agrawal|

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The values which drive the education of children are – Awakened Mind, Kind Heart and Healthy Body.

Awakened Mind Education – Schooling in the villages is often unavailable, erratic, or lacks adequate resources such as trained teachers. The community follows the CBSE curriculum providing the core subjects of Math, Science, Social Studies, Hindi, Tibetan and English. Teachers at Jhamtse are both local and also recruited from all over India. A lot of teachers tend to stay back for longer periods but there are also circumstances when teachers leave early at the cost of children’ studies which is why the community recently introduced contract-based recruitment.

The 2018-2019 session had 19 teaching staff for 90 kids, maintaining a good teacher-child ratio to give adequate personal attention to each child. There are separate classrooms till Grade 5 and dedicated classrooms for every subject from Grade 6 and above, each class having a dedicated cupboard with learning resources for that subject. The children move between classrooms for study.

Kind Heart Families – Many of the children have lost one or both parents, or have been neglected, abused, or exploited. This is why Jhamtse Gatsal believes emotional security to be a key aspect of their ecosystem. Each child is a part of a family, cared for by an Ama la (house mother) and stays in Khim Sang (family house).

At the time of study there were three such family houses with a dedicated Ama la. The older children are often seen with their Ama las, helping with chores. Apart from this, there is no distinction or hierarchy between community members- teaching staff, kitchen staff, children, admin, construction staff and other working staff clean, cook, work and celebrate together. In fact, the children here celebrate “staff day” and not teachers’ day, every September, which effectively feels like the biggest festival of the year with almost week-long celebrations and lots of pampering to the staff. The annual budget meeting and other discussions also take into account opinions of each community member.

Cultural Preservation – Rapid modernization and lack of respect for the simple lifestyle in Monpa villages is resulting in loss of the Monpa culture and language. The children at the community are taught to preserve their Monpa and Tibetan cultures through learning traditional dance, songs, musical instruments, visual art, and languages. The children pray twice a day and celebrate different kinds of festivals together. They are also sought after to participate in cultural performances, receiving high praise and awards.

Fig 34: Giving Food and spending time at Dhudhungar School

Fig 33: Giving Food and spending time at Dhudhungar School 20

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Community Outreach – The children are taught compassion by helping villages in the region. One such initiative is where the community has no dinner nights. All children, teaching and working staff fast and the ration saved from this is sent to the nearby Dhudhungar school. The community members are often seen to support the nearby poor schools by donating books, food and clothing, healthcare etc. Trips are organized for the children to such places to see value in what they have. Once in a year, educational trips are also organized to regions in and outside Arunachal which help provide a cross cultural exposure apart from experiential subject knowledge.

Healthy Body Food & Gardening – Community members are provided clean drinking water and nutritious food. The waste food is kept to be minimum and along with vegetable peels etc. is sent to the in-house vermicomposting pit. The children also help the staff grow and prepare food. The community has a small greenhouse and organic garden with a drip irrigation system where they grow vegetables, a facility which they are planning to expand soon. The Ama las and other local staff in the community are fond of gardening and are also sometimes sent outside for learning new agri-techniques and seed preservation methods.

preparing an activity, song or drama for presentation during the assembly. Each day’s assembly has a dedicated theme and assemblies are exchanged by Grades on a weekly basis. The school hours also have a dedicated reflection time every day which the children spend with their class teachers by doing various activities like meditating, painting, having heart to heart discussions or just looking at the clouds and giving themselves some “me” time.

Healthcare – The children are taught healthy practices of maintaining personal hygiene, teeth brushing, exercising, and keeping their environment clean. They are also provided medical and dental care- this support is often given by the inhouse local medicine expert- Gen Ngawang, the local doctors from the Lumla hospital or by foreign nationals visiting the community on voluntary basis for conducting health checkups. The dogs living in the community are cleaned and fed voluntarily by the teachers and children and are annually vaccinated and undergo check-ups by volunteering veterinary practitioners.

Sustainable Living – Apart from regular studies, the children engage in learning skills like- masonry, using both stone and brick, carpentry skills, kitchen practices, fabricating and maintaining solar LED lamps, maintaining electrical appliances, welding techniques, plumbing, natural building techniques and the like. Genla often reminisces how the community was literally built by the children themselves, brick by brick. This practice still remains, the new community houses and cob-houses also built by the community together.

Self-Discovery – During the unstructured time or in between study sessions or activities the children and teaching and working staff are given time to explore their creativity or just have fun. During this period, one can spot different sets of people engaging in a range of activities like playing music, familiarizing themselves with computers, dancing, playing football/volleyball/cricket/table tennis/carrom or simply skipping around the fields, knitting, gardening or braiding each other’s hair. Younger children often prepare imaginary “meals,” delicately mixing ingredients of dirt, leaves and water or playing “five stones” with pebbles. Often the class teachers can be spotted with their students

Fig 35: Sending bricks up the hill for construction

The school year begins in May and ends in mid-March. Children who have families or guardians, go home to their families and villages for a 45-day winter break at the end of the school year. They also have a 15-day vacation after their half-yearly examinations. This helps the children maintain ties to their villages.

Some of the older children choose to remain at Jhamtse Gatsal to help in major projects that are on-going.

References: [17] http://jhamtsegatsal.org/ [18] https://www.facebook.com/jhamtse.gatsal [19] https://yourstory.com/socialstory/2019/07/arunachal-pradesh-mago-educationwaste-management [20] http://defencenews.in/article/China-shreds-30,000-maps-depicting-Arunachalas-part-of-India,-says-report-583795

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Fig 36: Children celebrating Vasudha Ma’am’s birthday

Fig 37: A glimpse of the tea-snacks and music hour

Fig 38: Teaching and working staff cooking together

Fig 39: Bornfire party on the fellow’s last night at the community

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2.6 a day in the life of a jhamtse gatsal teacher

12:40pm to 1:50pm: Lunch hour. Teachers spend some quality time with each other, discussing issues in class, some topic of interest or simply pulling eachother’s leg or feeding their adopted dogs on way back to the room.

At Jhamtse Gatsal, a teacher is seen more as a parent and a friend than only a teacher, focusing on the all-round development of the children and not just teaching the subject matter. A typical day in the life of a teacher at Jhamtse Gatsal looks something like this:

1:50pm to 3:30pm: 6th and 7th period was conducted. The teachers who do not have scheduled classes in any of these 7 allotted timeslots are often seen researching and reading for classes in the library or in their rooms. (Downloading new teaching resources and printing stuff formed an important part of this given the low access to internet and materials). Another activity introduced in 2018-2019 session for teachers to participate in during these free hours was peer reviews in which teachers went to watch, learn from and give feedback to fellow teachers.

5:30 am to 5:45 am: Surrounding Cleaning Duty with 2 children (only on allotted day, once a week). Intensive community cleaning of classrooms, rooms, jungles etc. happens every Saturday.

5:45am to 6:45am: Cleaning of Bathrooms, Toilets, Brooming corridor area (teachers’ corridor duty) This time is also spent by some teachers to do meditation, yoga, go for walks, freshen up, prepare for the day’s classes or just to catch up on some extra sleep (after finishing corridor duties, of course!).

6:45am to 7:00am: Breakfast is served in the kitchen- mostly chapati-sabzi, ricedal or porrige, served with hot tea. Sleepy faces of teachers dragging their bowls and mugs to the kitchen are greeted with ‘Tashi Delek’ (Good day greetings), smiles and hugs by the forever energetic children.

7:00am to 7:45am: Taking Shower, freshening and dressing up for classes (especially worthy of note every Wednesday which is a traditional day) 7:45am to 8:10am: Everyone gathers and takes part in the assembly,the HeadTeacher makes announcements, if any, following which the children and teachers proceed towards classes.

8:10am to 10:40am: First three periods of 50 minutes each. Be ready to be greeted with surprise parties by children on special occasions.

10:40am to 11:00am: Morning Tea break. The kitchen staff brings tea and some fruit or light snack to common area and distrubutes it to everyone.

11:00am to 12:40pm: The classes resume with 4th and 5th period.

3:30pm to 5:45pm: Evening snacks and Tea time. Semi-Structured and unstructured activities like Reflection time, Additional classes on Communication/ Music/ Computer/Art/Sports are conducted in this hour.

5:45pm to 6:45pm: Generally free hours, meant for teachers and children to relax, unwind or pursue their own interests. Every Wednesday this time is given to Ama la-Teachers meetings which are like parent-teacher sessions where each child is separately spoken of, with a focus on children facing challenges, as observed from their behavior in both Khim Sang and Classroom, discussing how to work together to bring them up. Every Friday saw similar sessions with only the teachers, exchanging their learnings, planning collaborative events/ lessons and the like 6:45pm to 7:10pm: Dinner break 7:10pm to 9:00pm: This time is meant for teachers to plan for the next day or work on voluntary projects and for children to do their homework and revision.

Many-a-times teachers choose to stay in classes and give remedial sessions to anyone who needs some extra work on a particular subject. This time is also utilized by teachers to help the children to prepare for assembly, prepare them for performances for any upcoming event, or just spend some extra time with them in Khim Sangs before retiring to bed. On other nights, teachers like to spend this time cooking and eating momos in the kitchen and dancing and singing by the bornfire.

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Fig 40: The first poster for the fellowship releases

Fig 41: MoS Kiren Rijiju, Arunachal Pradesh’s CM Mr Pema Khandu, MLA Tsering Tashi looking at the vermicomposting pit in Jhamtse Gatsal during their visit 24

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Fig 42: Making rangoli with children prior to Diwali festival

2.7 about lakpar fellowship In Monpa, ‘Lak’ means hands while ‘par’ means to collectively enhance, loosely translating to “hands coming together.”. The tradition of Lakpar in Monpa culture therefore is a harbinger of sustainability, which brings the community together to join hands during peak agriculture season, building a new house for a fellow neighbour or in times of need.

Inspired by this Lakpar tradition of selfless service, Jhamtse Gatsal started the Lakpar project in 2018, in partnership with the Pema Chodron Foundation, to build collaboration, confidence, creativity and problem-solving skills for the children and Community. Genla believes that the word’s essence lies in “educating the hands, body and self” while also encouraging community spirit, togetherness and exchange, these when put together, creating an environment for sustainable education.

Talking about sustainability in educational practices during a workshop at the community, Genla put forth a question to the crowd, “How many of us prepare our children for life as opposed to jobs?” Following this he said that the traditional system of education which used to focus on thinking, doing and being is becoming more relevant in today’s world. “We need to unlearn, re-learn, and transform,” he said, at various points during the workshop.

Lakpar was thus envisioned to be less of a physical space and more of a mindset, aiming to build a) collaboration – where everyone, irrespective of age and designation, works as collaborators and peers, b) confidence – where everyone tries and sometimes fails without the fear of getting judged or evaluated, c)creativity – where everyone develops their unique artistic voice, which can be cultivated into lifelong vocations and d) problem solving – where everyone works to address the everyday needs of the Community.

for the session, under the category of Art and Craft and was given the sole responsibility for the planning and execution of the activities in the space, being assisted by Mr Sunil Kumar Rath and other teachers at various stages of the programme’s execution. The insights from this first year of the programme’s development were to guide the roadmap for the program in years to come.

One of the first things to be done when starting out, was to work with the children and Genla to construct our own meaning of Lakpar. The Grade 9 and 10 students (the oldest bunch who were a part of the program) helped create this definition. The questions posed to trigger this enquiry were: What is art for you?

What is Lakpar for you?

Is art related to Lakpar? Give reasons for your answer.

What do you hope to learn in Lakpar class?

The children came up with far more insightful answers than one can imagine and it is from their words that the following definition was derived: Lakpar is a culture of relationship and exchange. This relationship has to be first built with oneself- by clearly expressing our thoughts and allowing self-discovery, then with the surroundings- by obseriving our actions in correlation to the environment, and lastly with people- by imagining new ideas together and collaborating to achieve a shared goal, educating the body, mind and heart in the process.

Lakpar Fellowship in its first session 2018-19 was to be a 1-year long Fellowship Program where the Fellow would work full time with Jhamtse Gatsal to build and nurture the Lakpar space in a scalable and sustainable manner. For this session, Lakpar was to start with three streams – a) Art and Craft, b) Construction and Wood Working and c) Science and Mathematics. Jhamtse Gatsal planned to add more streams like Electronics, Textiles and Metal-working to the Lakpar at a later time. As the events phased out, the fellow was the only one recruited Graduation Project by Ananya Agrawal|

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03 RESEARCH PLAN

Fig 43: Made by Lobsang Dadron

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Fig 45: The first iteration of the Timetable with Lakpar Period

Fig 44: If you read Lobsang Dadron’s travel journal on her trip to Shillong bottom-up it could well summarize the journey of this project 28

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Fig 46: The stationary cupboard arrives in the Lakpar room

3.1 from outside to inside “There’s a light when we close our eyes, the light of what we want to do more than anything else in the world. Trust that light. Follow wherever it leads.” [21] — Richard Bach There is no denying the fact that the decision to work in the education sector stemmed from the fellow’s own insecurities as a child. She used to have difficulty in writing as a toddler and was never a great performer when it came to memorization and numbers. She believes that it was the experiential learning environment of the design institute which brought out the best in her and that if such a system of learning was introduced to the school education domain, it could do wonders. Conversations with people closely connected to this sector as well as print media highlighted how education is emerging into a major industrywith more focus on money making and very little on building pedagogical understanding or reducing the accessibility gap of educational resources. These motivations led the fellow to accept the offer by Jhamtse Gatsal and set out on an expedition to a remote village in Arunachal Pradesh to explore the teachinglearning possibilities there.

The fellow was accompanied by her father on her first day of this new school life as well- her determination fell short in convincing him that she could set out on this adventure on her own and he wanted to ensure the safety aspect himself. Even after reaching the space, the fellow still found it difficult to convince her father that she was going to manage just fine, especially due to the lack of network access which has become an essential requirement for families in this age of constant connectivity. However, he had to cooperate with her stubbornness and gave her his blessings, heading back the same day. Her first introduction to the children happened during breakfast in the kitchen and the second one during assembly when she was welcomed with a “khata” into the community, which was a ritual of the place. According to her, she instantly got along with the youngest bunch due to her interest in storytelling. They would run to her in free hours with a book from the library and insisted that she read to them, a habit which continued till the very end of her tenure. Although, in the later half the fellow made it a rule that she would read out to them only if they read out loud to me in return.

The material resources for the classes arrived almost after a month of joining even though the order had been placed two weeks before setting out for the place. Till this time, the fellow had to manage with some basic stationary that she was carrying with her and also request Minoti Ma’am who was responsible for the stationary department to issue a few resources on her name. She also helped arrange for a cupboard to organize classroom supplies, which eventually arrived from Tezpur, Assam. Apart from this Ishika, another fellow teacher, gave her a “baksa” full of art supplies left by the previous arts teacher and showed her the Ama la store room where waste materials like cardboard, old books, thermocol, clothes etc had been collected. From here the fellow brought some cardboard boxes and thermocol which over time, with the help of the children became shelves for children to keep their projects and files in and softboards for mind mapping and presentation. Gen Ngawang also gave the fellow some old, working solar panels and e-waste from which certain parts could be extracted and re-used.

During this period, the fellow also surveyed the school library and made a list of additional books that could help children with project work during Lakpar classes. However, they could not be bought as we were out of budget at that time and the list was saved for later. Some basic electronics were purchased from the local market with the help of Sunil and some advanced electronics like Arduino Boards and sensors were ordered online. Ishika had recently made space for a small computer lab in the library in which the fellow helped install some visual communication, audio-video editing and programming based digital software for use, over time. It was easily evident that a large amount of her time was going to be spent arranging for and managing material resources while also coming up with assignments designed around them.

Sunil and Vasudha asked the fellow if she would like to start teaching right away or would first like to become accustomed to the environment and get to know the children better. Starting early on and getting to know the children during this process of teaching-learning was her preferred choice as she began her experiments with this program.

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INTEGRABLE

REFLEXIVE

RELATABLE

AFFORDABLE

SUSTAINABLE

“The real product of art education is not the works of art, but the child. We have to keep that firmly in mind–though it goes against several grains. What you need to do as a teacher of art is create kids who make good art, think well as artists and have an artistic mind.” [24] -Louis Hetland, 8 Studio Habits

Fig 47: Six core practices influencing the research and execution of the fellowship 30

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EXPERIENTIAL

3.2 setting fellowship objectives Before moving towards developing assignments, the program objectives and outcomes needed to be defined clearly. This was done as a two-step processi) Defining the touch points which would influence the assignment design ii) Detailing the short-term outcomes or deliverables for the fellowship period Six core values were identified which were to influence the research and execution practices over the course of the fellowship which are as below: The designed system of work should be 1. AFFORDABLE - Locally available materials should be encouraged for usage as much as possible. External tools and equipment brought in the space for exposure should be well-thought of and low-cost.

2. RELATABLE - A good understanding of the cultural context of the place and child pedagogy should be developed such that the children are able to better grasp the concepts introduced without the need of spoon-feeding.

3. INTEGRABLE - The existing systems of work in the community and also the national school education framework should be thoroughly understood such that the new concepts and skills help to strengthen the “what is” or enable a smooth transition into the alternative.

4. REFLEXIVE - Active learning, systemic evaluation and adaptation should be practiced by establishing continuous feedback mechanisms and also giving time to oneself and the other stakeholders to reflect and evolve.

Also, to document the learnings over the course of the fellowship.

5. SUSTAINABLE - The fellow should act as a facilitator and avoid micromanagement to let the children evolve as thought leaders. Also, involving as many people in the process as possible and introducing them to these designed methods of teaching-learning is important, such that they can be taken forward in a flexible manner, even in the absence of the fellow.

6. EXPERIENTIAL - The curriculum should be learner-centric, multisensory and multidisciplinary in nature to help the children express themselves and their experience with a raised consciousness.

For defining the outcomes, the UNESCO’s four pillars of learning for 21st century education [22] were mapped to the values Jhamtse Gatsal’s value system.

These outcomes got better defined during the course of the fellowship and were detailed out further in the end of the year reports. At the end of the fellowship period, the children should be able inculcate the following values: HEALTHY BODY or learning to do • Re-think existing waste as a material resource for creating new artefacts, reduce future waste by coming up with sustainable alternatives/promoting local crafts.

• Be able to better express their thoughts, ideas, emotions • Become familiar with a range of new materials and methods and be able to connect them to their social environment AWAKENED MIND or learning to know • Build an understanding of design fundamentals • Discover themselves and the domain of interest they wish to explore further • Be able to draw connections between subjects, ideas and mediums and mix them to create unique experiences KIND HEART or learning to live together, learning to be • Be better prepared to face the challenges of the outside world while being comfortable in their own skin. Be able to connect to their past while also letting go of certain painful memories to trigger self growth • Help each other grow by collaborating and contributing to each other’s learning • Be sensitive to their surroundings and work towards the benefit of the community.

References: [21] Curious Lives, 2005, Richard Bach [22] Learning: The Treasure Within, International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century to UNESCO, 1996 [23] https://www.uvic.ca/learningandteaching/faculty/resources/instructional/ assignment/index.php [24] http://www.everyarteverychild.org/assessment/studiohabits.html

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3.3 research questions The design process was led by enquiries posed at various stages of the project, and further directed by the open coding of the research insights which emerge from these enquiries. This enabled the design practice in the space to organically evolve over time. This process is formally known as Grounded Theory research methodology. A few of the many enquiries which guided the design process for this particular project (in no particular order) are as below: What makes an alternative school “alternative” ? Why are alternative schools separate from regular ones?

To what extent is the quality of a child’s project output the reflection of the teacher’s abilities? How can a teacher consciously reduce micromanagement of her children’ projects to give them space to learn, think, make and grow?

When do we call a child’s work of art, “good”?

How are art, craft and design separate from each other? How are they related?

How does one’s position in the society influence this choice?

Should the entry to and exit from this space have any rules? Why? Why not? If yes, then Who should define them and how?

How are the challenges of teaching in a remote context different from the urban context? What are the similarities?

How can waste be a material medium for developing teaching tool and project-based learning? Can it help to raise the mindfulness towards waste? Can it pave way for waste reduction or would it end up justifying its production?

What kind of resources are needed for the execution of such a program?

How can this need be limited and optimized? What are the local skills and material resources which can be brought into the design?

How does a fusion knowledge system bringing together traditional and modern knowledge systems, look like?

How does a “maker” and a “medium” inform each other?

How does a culture influence behaviors? How can the practices in a space influence new behaviors or encourage the old?

How can more stakeholders be involved in the project keeping their priorities and needs in mind?

What kind of ethical considerations need to be taken care of when introducing a new material medium/technology in the space?

What are the ground level limitations in implementing art-based learning?

What are the possibilities? What are the challenges faced by teachers in such an implementation?

What bias do I bring to the project?

How can we assess learning outcomes for 21st century skills in a qualitative but standardized manner?

What interests, abilities and experiences do the learners bring to the program?

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How related or unrelated are “learning for self growth and learning for employment? What kind of learning should school education encourage?

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How can teachers be assisted to discover their design process? How can materials aid this discovery?

How can the program maintain a balance between “teaching” of skills and self-discovery?

3.4 research methodology As a part of the selection procedure for the fellowship the fellow had proposed a detailed curriculum after doing some secondary research on curriculum design, existing art curriculums and assignments, Monpa culture, applications of waste etc. This initially proposed curriculum focused on three primary modes of teaching, namely, Material, Theory and Performance. The level of assignment complexity was differentiated by Grades, divinding them into three groups- Grade 2 to 5, Grade 6 to 8 and Grade 9 to 12. The modules were broken down into seven themes, distributed across the three groups in this suggested curriculum with ideas of assignments that can be built around them(1) Awakening the Senses (2) Re-visiting Historical Perspectives (3) Design Fundamentals (4) About People and Spaces (5) About Play (6) About Technology (7) Crafting Stories. This suggested curriculum was not used directly but it helped to build a premise of the research methodology needed for the design of the Lakpar curriculum.

Curriculum design can be defined as the step-by-step process used to create positive improvements in the course offered. Any curriculum is designed in two levels- Curriculum Development and Curriculum Planning.

A horizontal and a vertical flow is essential for any curriculum development.

[28] [29] A vertical curriculum links knowledge from one lesson to the next across a program of study, while a horizontal curriculum integrates knowledge across different classes or disciplines. In this way, basic skills and knowledge are both developed and reinforced as other elements are introduced into study. Two broad categories—the product model and the process model. The process model, as followed in this study, is more open-ended, and focuses on how learning develops over a period of time.

Curriculum planning involves the implementation of different types of instructional strategies and organizational methods that are focused on achieving optimal child development and child learning outcomes. While planning a curriculum, one needs to identity- what will be done, who will do it and when, as well as what the objective of each module is. From there, they can start exploring various approaches and teaching methods that can help them achieve the learning goals. There are three commonly used strategies which drive the curriculum plan—subject-centred, learner-centred, and problem-

centred curriculum design. The Learner-centred curriculum design approach revolves around child needs, interests and goals. This aims to empower learners by shaping their education through choices. Differentiated instructional plans provide an opportunity to the learners to select assignments or teaching and learning experiences, or activities. By secondary research, this form of curriculum design has been shown to engage and motivate children and improve their decision-making capabilities. The drawback to this form of curriculum design is that it can create pressure on the educator to source materials specific to each child’s learning needs. This can also be challenging due to teaching time constraints. Balancing individual child interests with the institution’s required outcomes could also prove to be a daunting.

Keeping in mind the above strategies, the fellow made a comprehensive list of outcomes any art education should focus on, keeping the list of subjects on one side and cultural practices of the space on the other. At the centre of this mapping were kept the Fellowship Objectives. In addition to this, the softboard consisted of a To Do-Doing-Done section and a weekly highlight section made with OHP sheets. The daily, weekly and monthly calendar was also kept on the side for reference. As time passed, gifts by children got pinned up and pasted around this board and more detailed mappings were done by putting charts on walls.

Action research was used as the primary method for deriving project insights and piloting of systems. By definition, action research is a form of collective reflective enquiry undertaken by participants in social situations in order to improve the rationality and justice of their own social or educational practices, as well as their understanding of these practices and the situations in which these practices are carried out (Kemmis & McTaggart). Action research [26] is seen to be especially beneficial as a practice to be followed by teachers in classrooms as it offers teachers a systematic (Frabutt et al., 2008), collaborative (Kemmis & McTaggart, 1988), and participatory (Holter & Frabutt, 2012; Mills, 2011) process of inquiry that actively seeks to address or redress areas of concern.

Additionally, action research provides teachers with the technical skills and specialised knowledge required to effect positive change within classrooms, schools, and communities (Johnson, 2012; Stringer, 2008) by their actions being constantly informed by data.

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• •

Community gains certain awareness and develops skills with the fellow, The fellow drives the research and derives from the data collected while the community contributes in some minor decision making.

Community based participatory research approach was not possible in this case as the project was at a very early stage to clearly define scope of engagement of the members and a timeline which complimented their other engagements.

Fig 49: Physical boards pinned up in the room for mapping

Fig 48: Action research cycle (adapted from Stringer, 2004)

The famous “Jawaja Project” taken up by NID [27] is a successful example of community engagement during action research which served as an important reference while building the fellow’s research practice. According to how this document differentiates between Traditional Research, Research in and with the Community, and Community-based Participatory Research, Research in and with the community, was identified as the action research method followed in this study which is based on the following principles: • People in the community act as participants, 34

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References: [25] Understanding by Design, Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J., 2005 [26] The importance of action research in teacher education programs, Gregory S. C. Hine, Issues in Educational Research, 23(2), 2013 [27] Rural Craftsmen and their work, Haku Shah, National Institute of Design Ahmedabad, 1970 [28] https://cornerstoneseducation.co.uk/how-to-design-your-curriculum/ [29] https://tophat.com/blog/curriculum-development-models-design/ [30] https://www.aeseducation.com/career-readiness/what-are-21st-century-skills

3.5 timeline

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The most important and difficult part of any assignment design is understanding the needs of children and tailoring the assignments around it. For this reason the first pilot (Getting Acquainted) was purely focused on exposing the children to multiple materials and methods, observing their responses to these. The action research approach further helped to better design every new assignment from the learnings of the old. Beyond classes, a lot of time was spent simply talking to the children and building a relationship with them on a personal level or giving individual attention which was not always possible during class hours.

The fellowship started with taking photographs of children and distributing files and other stationary to each child for personal use. An attempt was made to keep records of child activities on both a collective and an individual level which later came handy in both designing new assignments and also creating child profiles in the end of the year reports. As this was the first time the fellow was teaching full time, there were a lot of organizational issues and learnings especially in terms of classroom and resource management. Most of the photographic documentation of the work done during the fellowship period is by the children, taken in an arbitary manner as it took some time to put systems of work in place.

The observations from the first pilot helped infer learning preferences of the children. A deep correlation was seen between learning styles [32] and material affinity of the children. In simpler words, a child’s attention and retention span in class was seen to be much higher if working with a particular type of material. The best possible way to place this broad category of material in the socio-political context of the region was to channel it through the medium of crafts. This insight led the fellow to map the material preferences of children to the crafts of the region.

The following four themes emerged by studying the recurring pattern in this mapping: -NATURALISTS: Children with an affinity towards nature who would prefer learning through engaging in activities like farming, studying about medicinal plants or animal care or creating plant based products.

-LIFESTYLERS: Children interested in learning about making lifestyle products like weaving, stitching, jewellery making or with an affinity towards soft materials like cloth, paper, fibre etc.

-BUILDERS: Children with an affinity towards hard materials like wood, metal or learning architecture, green building, carpentry, wood carving or mechanics -RHYTHHerSTS: Children with an affinity towards performance arts like dance, music, sports or interested in reading, storytelling, photography, animation, learning and capturing traditional folklore etc.

Fig 50: A page from the child log file maintained

Some assignments and their variations were repeated in between groups which have been mentioned only once. Many assignments were conducted in parallel between within groups and efforts have been made to sequentialize the same in writing. Also, there were many unplanned classes or classes which were spent in cleaning, organizing or preparing for upcoming events and festivals which have been intentionally left out. Collaborative sessions with visitors or subject teachers have been given special mention where suitable. For Pilot 1, the classes were divided into three groups: Class 2 to 5 with 8 children, Class 6 to 8 with 25 children, Class 9 and 10 with 19 children. Class 10 had to discontinue by the end of first pilot because they needed to focus on academics.

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The above patterns can be different for different classrooms as per the region and child inclinations. Over the duration of the second pilot (Exploring Emerged Themes) the sessions attempted at creating a balance between skilling and independent learning in the above mentioned domains. The fellow also tried to focus on “material� as a subject of philosophical inquiry, [33] paying attention to improvisation, collaboration, understanding material life cycles and need for material reproduction or innovation. On discussion with older staff the fellow was told there had already been an attempt to implement a model of experiential learning by teaching subjects through gardening, carpentry etc. but without much enthusiasm from the children. One of the reasons behind this could be that these were activities children had grown up doing.

Any skilling thus needed to be able to move beyond validation of prior knowledge and evoke curiosity through artistic explorations, backed by scientific enquiry.

On the organisation front, the fellow needed to move from grade-based distribution to domain-based distribution of children, creating mixed age classrooms [34] for each domain. Best way to design assignments for mixed age classrooms was to follow a level approach for distribution of assignments.

The child needed to move from a lower grade of difficulty to a higher grade of difficulty such that each child could progress at his/her own pace. However, since Grades 4 and below had different pedagogical needs from assignments separate assignments were planned for them. Apart from this, all classes needed to be merged for which the timetable needed to be altered to shift Lakpar classes to the same time slot i.e. the last class of the day. This had to be done keeping teachers’ schedules in mind and taking their opinion into consideration. Parallelly, children had to be kept in loop about the change of events. A session was held to brief them about these domains and collect their preferences. While most of them stuck to their earlier material preferences, a few decided to explore something different. Three sessions- Lifestyle, Building and Nature, were conducted once a week each while the Rhythmists were merged with these three categories. While one group was with attending a session with the fellow, the other two had to work on practice assignments or worksheets.

To supervise the class for these two groups, help was taken from Minoti Ma’am and Gombu Ma’am. Parallel attempts were made to understand the experiential learning theory and cultural backgrounds of children better. For the latter, a village map was created with the help of the children and village visits were planned during weekends along with focused conversations with the teachers and Ama las.

Experiential learning or learning through reflection on doing, as an educational practice was witnessed in 1930s, its base set by philosophers like Maria Montessori, Rudolf Steiner, and later popularised by education philosopher David A. Kolb, who, along with John Fry, developed the experiential learning theory, in 1984. Back in the ages, Pathsalas and Maktabs in India also imparted key aspects of primary education to its children in the form of various activities undertaken in an open environment under the supervision of Guru or Maulavi.

The curriculum consisted of reading, writing and arithmetic (both written and oral) taught on locally made slates and pencils. There was no regular period of admission- a pupil could join the school at any time and leave itwhen he had acquired all that he desired to know. In bigger schools the senior pupils were appointed to teach the junior ones. However, this system of learning was accessible only to a priveledged few. Charles Grant was one of the first propanants of European science and literature in India, followed by the William

Carey and other evangelists in late 1790s and early 1800s who opened free boarding schools for poor children which gave instructions in Sanskrit, Persian and Bengali as well as doctrines of Christianity. The accessibility of the European formal method of education was further improved with the paper manufacturing and printing press which were introduced soon after, the introduction supported by political intentions. The size of the problem encouraged a standardized teaching learning instructional method which continued as a practice in India for over two centuries. An increase in alternative education as an idea and practice can be recognized in India from the 1970s onwards propagated by social reformers like Vivekananda, Dayanand Saraswati, Syed Ahmed Khan, Jyotiba Phule, Savitribai Phule, Rokeya Shekhawat Hossein and others. The governmental policy to set up a National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) in 1989 was found to be the most popular step in this regard but alternative schools still remain “alternative and isolated” primarily because of difficulty in integration of such methods on scale in a measurable format amongst other reasons. Out of the multiple methods that are popular for implementation of experiential learning, Project Based Learning (PjBL), Activity Based Learning (ABL) and Inquiry Based Learning (IBL) have been intensively used and contextualized to the needs of the children in Jhamtse Gatsal in light of 21st century skills. While ABL approach was found to be more subject centric PjBL and IBL were more child-centric and multidisciplinary.

These methods have been discussed as in the following chapter in relationship to material. Quoting John Dewey, “Method means arrangement of subject matter which makes it most effective in use. Never is method something outside of the material.” [31] References: [31] John Dewey’s Philosophy of Education: An Introduction and Recontextualization for our times, 2012, J Garrison, S Neubert, K Reich [32] Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century, Howard Gardner, 1999 [33] A Philosophy of Material Culture: Action, Function and Mind, Beth Preston, 2013 [34] https://miniapplemontessori.com/the-mixed-age-advantage-why-montessoriclassrooms-combine-younger-and-older-children/ [35] History of Education in Modern India 1757-2012, Suresh Chandra Ghosh, Fourth Edition, 2013 [36] Alternative Schooling in India, Sage Publications, 2007 [37] History of Alternative Schooling in India- A Brief Study, Linoy A Tharakan, Intercontinental Journal of Human Resouce Research Review, 2016 [38] http://web.nios.ac.in/ [39] https://www.outlife.in/experiential-learning.html [40] opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/chapter/4-4-models-for-teaching-by-doing/ Graduation Project by Ananya Agrawal|

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04 PILOTING ASSIGNMENT DESIGN METHODS

Fig 51: Made by Sonam Gyatso

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Fig 52: Infographic showing how material mediums are a bridge a child’s needs and the learning environment 40

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4.1 understanding material as a medium synapse We are as we are and we live as we do because of the interplay of our inherent natures and the world around us. The idea that some characteristics of a person are explained by the person’s intrinsic nature, whilst others reflect the influence of the environment is as old as times of Aristotle or even before. In 1983 an American development psychologist Howard Gardner [42] theorized that people do not have just an intellectual capacity, but have many kinds of intelligence, stemming from their intrinsic nature, including musical, interpersonal, spatial-visual, and linguistic intelligences which according to him share a correlation with the learning styles of children. These intelligences can also be perceived as the ways in which different people perceive people, materials and spaces around them. A simple test of this is that if you as a teacher leave your class in a flee market for an hour, how each will emerge with a very different artefact from the same sample space of things by the end of it.

Recent philosophical analyses of the innate/acquired distinction identify innate traits with those produced by particular patterns of interaction between genes and environment. These innate traits are said to be continually adapting to the environment, rooted in the principles of constructivism [43] which believes learning to be an active process of acquiring knowledge through engagement of self with the other. Although there are no distinct boundaries, for discussion purpose, let us consider this ‘self ’ to be something that is ‘inside’ of you while the ‘other’ is an extension of self that is shaped by the interactions with the environment ‘outside’ of you. It is these intangible boundaries between the self and the other which shape one’s world view. While our senses and intelligences shape the way we see the world, the material/ mediums in our immediate learning environment shape us.

Mediums of learning can span over a wide array of channels, starting from bodily movement to fusion technology, sharing a deep correlation with what one learns and how one learns. Each one of these channels, or mediums, have their own unique characteristics, much like the children learning from them. A lot can therefore be said about how a child learns by simply studying a child’s local environment and how he/she engages with it. For this document I would like to term this inclination towards a particular material or method for enhanced engagement in learning as his/her material affinity.

Material things are the embodiment of local knowledge in matter which comprises of facts and relates to the entire system of concepts, beliefs and perceptions that people hold about the world around them. This includes the way people observe and measure their surroundings, how they solve problems and validate new information. When looked at in the context of learning, children are surrounded by locally available material artefacts all the time with which they make sense of their world. Similar to the flee market approach, if children are left with a range of material mediums in a class repeatedly, a teacher can easily notice a pattern in the preferred mode of material engagement of the child. Zooming out of a classroom space, the teacher would be able to realize the importance of the surrounding environment like the locally available materials, skills and the terrain etc. in influencing a child’s inclination towards a medium of learning. These mediums are also in their essence are multidisciplinary and a single medium can be used to teach a range of concepts in Mathematics, Sciences, Language and Social Studies. One can also argue about the appropriateness of a medium for a message delivery but then again there has neither been a singularity in the type of message a medium carries or the type of medium through which a particular message can be delivered. Also, when more than one material is being used in class to understand the same central concept, the child not only learns from their own discovery, but also of their peers, who are approaching the same central concept in a different manner.

While intelligence is something abstract and best known to the child, the choice of material mediums or material affinity is how this intelligence best manifests in the real world. By a close observation of a child’s background, what a child prefers doing when left on their own, their material preferences and popular mediums of instructional design in that space and time, a teacher can better facilitate the hows of assignment design. Material can therefore be seen as a bridge between the outside and the inside, an understanding of which can help shape better learning environments. This chapter is a compilation of the action research done during the period of the project to understand how the active use of materials in assignment design can support a child’s learning.

References: [41] The Hundred Languages of Children, The Reggio Emelia Approach, Carolyn Edwards, Leila Gandini, George Forman, 1998 [42] Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom, 4th Edition, 1994, Thomas Armstrong [43] The construction of Reality in the Child, 1950, Jean Piaget Graduation Project by Ananya Agrawal|

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4.2 the ever evolving medium of learning “As you are reading these words, you are taking part in one of the wonders of the natural world. For you and I belong to a species with a remarkable ability: we can shape events in each other’s brains with remarkable precision.” - Steven Pinker (The Language Instinct: The new science of Language and the Mind)

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according to their instruction heaviness, ranging from teacher- driven to childdriven, on the y axis, for ease of navigation. The section ends with a note on the importance of knowing the mediums of delivery in association with the learning needs. Written in first person, the section compiles each assignment using the following sub-headings: ASSIGNMENT NUMBER: For the purpose of indexing OBJECTIVE: To clearly determine the learning outcomes of the assignment

The word “medium” can have different connotations in different settings, but for this project it has primarily been used for speaking about mediums of learning or formal education delivery. Three essential processes, namely, “data capture”, “information transfer” and “new knowledge creation” have always been cruitial to any kind of formal learning which closely share their evolutionary history with the origins of language and communication. In his book ‘From Hand to Mouth: The Origins of Language’, Michael Corballis states, “Language developed much more gradually, starting with the gestures of apes, then gathering momentum as the bipedal hominids evolved. What may have distinguished Homo sapiens was the final switch from a mixture of gestural and vocal communication to an autonomous vocal language, embellished by gesture but not dependent on it “. For a long period in time the mediums of information transfer were limited to action and sound, known as the “Shruti and Smriti” or to listen and remember, in Indian history. While these constructs of verbal language were still evolving, human beings had also started figuring out the means of visual communication in the form of petroglyphs and pictograms, its earliest occurance dated back to 30,000 BC. With the advent of manuscripts, hand written information could be passed forward from one generation to the other which was speeded forwarded with the industrial revolution and the printing press, which also helped increase a common man’s access to information. Though material was always central to any kind of information dissemination, introduction to material based methods of learning in formal education was a much later development, still unknown to a large audience to this date. Perception of information further changed due to developments in mechanics and electronics; reaching its peak in the age of internet and digital technology. As per speculations, the future of learning mediums peaks into the direction of tagible media interfaces and fusion tech.

TARGETTED SKILL: The focus 21st century skill(s) in the assignment design and if it can be re-defined and integrated in a particular subject(s)

In this section, a classification of assignments has been done according to this medium evolution timeline on the x axis while distributing the assignments

**Please note that sub-headings have been omitted if not relevant to the particular assignment.

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RESOURCES: The raw materials needed or the space required for conducting the assignment PROCESS: The assignment context followed by its execution broken down into a sequence of steps. Some assignments were conducted in a period of few days but have been put together here.

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT TIPS: Any new learning captured during execution which can be kept in mind by any teacher for smoothly conducting the particular assignment or any other assignment of a similar nature.

REFLECTION: Before every new type of assignment, the children were supposed to share what they “Wondered” or wanted to learn about the topic going to be introduced and once the session concluded, they had to share what they “Learned” and what “Improvements” could be done when conducting a similar assignment in future. This also formed the basis of the periodic feedback.mechanism as shared in evaluation structures chapter. Insights from the same, along with some anecdotes and self reflection have been shared here.

POSSIBLE VARIATIONS: Based on the reflection certain suggestions for improvement in future or ideas on how the assignment can be aligned to any particular subject have been shared here.

REFERENCES: Existing resources, theoretical concepts or paedagogical references guiding the assignment design with a brief description and relevant links fall under this sub-heading.

Fig 53: Classification of assignments based on the Complexity vs Medium Evolution over Time Graduation Project by Ananya Agrawal|

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4.3 action and sound: ASSIGNMENT 1: Alphabet Dance OBJECTIVE: • To conduct an ice breaking activity in a performative manner TARGETTED SKILL: Creativity, Self-Awareness, Language PROCESS: 1. This was the first class with Grades 2 to 5. For this the children were asked to spell out their names using their body, instead of speaking it out loud.

2. Once everyone was done, we still had some time left so we stood in a circle and played name, place, animal, thing using the same alphabet dance method. [44] REFLECTION: With the children moving around the class, creating alphabets using their hands, legs and waist, the class took a funny and enjoyable tone. I had worked with children of this age group earlier and was much more comfortable interacting with them as compared to other age groups. Due to my previous interactions with children of this age, I was also aware that this age group is always high on energy and needs the educator also to be highly engaged and animated due to which I chose this particular activity to get to know them.

References: [44] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VloEiK4Ihj8

Fig 54: Children spelling out names using body

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ASSIGNMENT 2: Super Ball

ASSIGNMENT 3: Waste Seggregation

OBJECTIVE:

OBJECTIVE:

• An ice breaking activity to get to know the children and their unique traits, in their own words

• To introduce children to different waste material categories produced in the community on an everyday basis

TARGETTED SKILL: Collaboration, Attentiveness

TARGETTED SKILL: Curiosity, Social Studies, Science

RESOURCES: Volleyball or Balloon

RESOURCES: Latex gloves

PROCESS:

PROCESS:

This was the first activity conducted with Grades 6 to 8. Since this particular batch size was large (of about 25 teenagers), as compared to others, to keep them active and attentive while introductions were on, I thought of introducing them to an adapted version of the John Britton’s ball game. [45] We called it the Super Ball.

The community had not started collecting waste at the time this assignment was conducted. To better understand the kind of waste generated in the community, we conducted a walk from one end of the community to the other and picked up materials that according to the children’s opinion, could be washed and recycled.

1. The first rule for playing the game was to stand in a circle and be attentive enough to catch it. The ball could be thrown to any person in the circle at any point in the game.

2. If a child catches the ball they were supposed to shout out their name followed by one unique fact about themselves or demonstrating their superpower or a skill they were really good at.

REFLECTION: The gamification of introductions for these bunch of teenagers not only helped to keep them engaged but also build trust, me being a part of this circle and accepting of their quirks.

References: [45] ensemblephysicaltheatre.wordpress.com/the-ball-game/

1. The children had to pick up one material that looked interesting to them from the discarded materials (trash).

2. After washing this material thoroughly, we returned to the classroom and each person had to name the material picked and the possible ways (at least three) that the material could be recycled according to them.

3. All collected material was kept on the table as we moved on to re-clustering it and identifying the waste categories applicable to the community.

REFLECTION: Most the the children unanimously wrote the possible uses of the plastic bottles, metal cans and tetra packs etc. as containers, to either make flower pots or pencil stands and the like. A lot of exposure was evidently needed to help them think beyond these ideations.

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Fig 56: On lifting each other up, literally and metaphorically

Fig 55: The Human Pyramid 46

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Fig 57: Community circle during a Buddhist ritual

ASSIGNMENT 4: Human Structures OBJECTIVE: • To work on team building as an interpersonal skill TARGETTED SKILL: Collaboration PROCESS: It was observed that the children were having difficulty in working together on group assignments which made it important to conduct focused assignments on developing team building as an interpersonal skill. The design of these assignments needed to be such that it was not preachy while also being able to communicate why learning to work in a team is important. Physical activities were therefore chosen as a medium to communicate this.

1. The first task was to successfully conduct a trust fall. For setting up a trust fall [46] the class stood in concentric circles, making pairs of two.

The person who would fall needed to stand with his/her eyes shut and hands folded across the chest, falling straight and stiff without bending knees. The person who would catch stood behind the person falling, close enough to catch the faller, but far enough such that the faller had adequate falling space. Being caught during a free fall helps establish trust between the participating pairs.

2. Initially children chose their pairs themselves as per their comfort.

However, as the game progressed, people catching were switched and the faller was not supposed to see who was catching till the fall had happened.

3. Next, we proceeded to perform a simple lift. This was to be done in teams of three where two people had to stand with their arms stiff and lower this structure to let a third person sit on it. They could then easily lift this third person using the strength of their arms together.

4. The last assignment in this series was to make human pyramids [47]. This was the most difficult task as at even an ounce of complaint or slightest fidgeting, the structure could collapse. It took a while for everyone to come together to create a balanced pyramid which was seen to touch the roof of the classroom.

REFLECTION: It was surprisingly amusing to see how the children who had trust issues could easily be identified by just the first round of the trust fall exercise. As the assignments progressed, the children actively tried to dismiss their fears to stay a part of the class.

POSSIBLE VARIATIONS: Kinesology [48] has been found to be an effective way to address physical and emotional concerns in teens without the use of excessive councelling which the children of this age group are likely to dismiss or find intrusive. [49] [50] Another relatable exercise for team building can be the circle of oath which a performative way of goal setting, collectively pledging for what they believe in. This is inspired from how the community stands in a huge circle, solemnly throwing a pinch of tsampa or roasted flour in the air for letting in good vibes during local festivals. Such a formal pledge if backed by self reflection is likely to be followed more seriously by the children as compared to following a teacher’s command to do something.

References: [46] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cyw_Kvu0Zs [47] https://www.activeoutdoors.info/the-human-pyramid-team-building-game/ [48] https://www.emmasternberg.com.au/kinesiology/children/ [49] Ready, Set , Breathe, Carla Naumburg, 2015 [50] Sitting Like a Frog, Herla Kabat Zinn, 2013

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ASSIGNMENT 5: Night Camping OBJECTIVE: • To inculcate a sense of independence and interdependence in the youngest bunch of kids through night camping [51] TARGETTED SKILL: Problem Solving, Collaboration, Leadership RESOURCES: camping tent, water bottles, sleeping bags, matchbox, Maggi packets, utensils, torch PROCESS: The assignment was inspired by a prose in the book ‘Totto Chan’. [51] The children had been wanting to go stargazing for days before the idea finally came to fruition. We together planned where we would camp (given the constraint of staying inside the community), settling for the open grounds beyond the cob house to be the perfect spot. Following this, the camping departments were divided to be taken care of amongst ourselves in all seriousness, much to the amusement of other community members. Being the leader of this tiny tot gang, my department included getting permissions sorted, especially from the house mothers’ or Ama las. They weren’t very happy about the youngest children staying up late to party with the new teacher in cold. However, an assuring smile was able to do the trick and they gave in. Other departments included food, making fire, making the tent and organizing activities.

On the night of camping the children assembled outside my room early (a little more obedient than usual) and we marched towards the camping area singing along the way. Though we were camping within the school premises, the children were supposed to use only the essentials they had brought, along with collecting fire wood, cooking and setting up their tent on their own. For instance, when we were left with just one match in the box and the fire was still not ready, the children insisted on going back, but I was adamant that we will eat raw Maggi if nothing works out but stay put in the place. Thankfully for them, the last match did do the trick and we could savour the cooked Maggi. I was playing only the supervisory role and the frustrations and fun of doing these tasks on their own was to be handled by the children themselves in their respective teams. Once we were done with the setting up and had our tummies full, we lay down under the starry sky and spoke about constellations and stories behind them. The children then tried to trace their own patterns in the stars and construct stories around these new figures. (Can you create your own constellation? What does it look like? What is the story behind the same?) There was a point when even this hyperactive little bunch did not want to talk any more and just be mesmerized by the sights around them or be lost in their world of dreams. We finally got up from our comfortable shells once it started getting colder. After a session of ghost stories inside the tent, we started packing up and heading back to the community.

REFLECTION: This night’s discussions made me think about how children are always full of stories or their own opinion of things which need to be listened to and challenged by the teachers to support constructive learning. Once the Ama las were more confident about children being able to carry themselves independently on outings, they were more open about giving permissions. This resulted in frequent trips with the children for early morning bird watching, observing how local houses were made, painting flowers and leaves together or just learning about the local culture from the children. Such activities if done consistently, help increase the observation and listening skills of children and build a close connection with nature.

References: [51] Totto Chan: The little girl at the window, Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, 2012 [52] https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/camping-kids.html

Fig 58: Third person perspective of the night camping [52] 48

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ASSIGNMENT 6: Eurythmics OBJECTIVE: • To work on listening as a skill using performance and rhythm as a medium TARGETTED SKILL: Self Awareness, Creativity

cal notes. Each note was given a unique step any one child at random, which the others had to replicate. Once all seven notes had been given a unique step the children repeated it a couple of times to remember it.

4. After this, I played a slow music, mixing the notes on the piano. The children now had to recognize the note being played and perform the corresponding step.

RESOURCES:Any musical instrument, open space to move freely PROCESS: Apart from my regular duties as a Lakpar teacher I had also been spending time with Tselha and Gen Lham Dorjee to learn a thing or two about traditional (Tibetan and Monpa respectively) music and dance. I even got the chance of choreographing a dance piece with the children for Independence Day celebrations. I believe that performance arts like music and dance are one of the best ways to discipline your body, bringing attentiveness and listening to the forefront. Generally traditional art forms are passed between people through such a rigorous training. However, more often than not, people are trained through replication or even if improvision is there its either in the music or the movement, one at a time.

Merriam webster dictionary defines Eurythmics as “the art of harmonious bodily movement especially through expressive timed motion in response to improvised music.�

Such an assignment introduces active improvisation in performance arts and helps the performer discover his/her own style. This assignment was also inspired by a prose in Totto Chan [51] and modified according to need.

1. When starting out, I took the piano and asked the children close their eyes, paying attention only to the frequency of the beat. With each beat they had to move one step in any direction. If they moved too much in a direction, they would be bumping into someone, entering their space.

The children therefore needed to build an awareness of the space along with their own movements. Slowly and steadily, a repetition of patterns could be seen in the children according to their interpretation of music and their sense of movement in space.

2. Once the children were more comfortable about moving in space, the frequency of playing was made slower and faster at random intervals to which they had to match their movement.

3. For the next exercise, the children had to pay attention to the musi-

Fig 59: Child Playing Yangquin or Hammered Dulcimer Tibetan instrument

REFLECTION: The children had most fun in creating their own steps for different notes. The activity if repeated everyday for a small duration can not only help build listening skills but also help in building their creativity through improvisation. This can be treated like jam sessions but with both music and dance involved. The local instruments can be engaged with here like Yangquin or the Hammered Dulcimer [Fig 59] instead of the piano once the children are familiar to the process such that the children themselves can take full charge of the same.

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Fig 60: Collecting Chutug (sour fruit) for making pickle

Fig 62: Understanding Social-Emotional Learning better [53]

Fig 61: Trekking with children to the nearby villages 50

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Social Emotional Learning: Once the first few weeks had passed, it started becoming evident that Grades 6 to 8 or children who were just entering teens needed a lot more personal attention than the other two age groups. For this it was important to spend more quality time to get to know them better which was done by going on treks. This was an activity these children were never seen to be tired of. While sometimes it was okay for these trips to be about talking, chatting, fruit picking and just another walk in the sun, at other times these trips needed to be driven by a certain objective to serve as a guided observation exercise. These field visits helped me better understand the context better as well. Parallely, I conducted secondary research on paedagogical frameworks involved in Social Emotional Leadring and how they can be connected to the design of assignments. Some of the insights from these readings were as below: Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) has been globally seen to lead to positive outcomes, ranging from increased test scores and graduation rates to improved prosocial skills that support child success in school and beyond. SEL is also considered an important aspect of holistic child education and is an essential part of 21st century skills. It has therefore become important to educate teachers about how they can integrate these skills in practice via pre-service and inservice teacher training. Fig 59 shows ten key aspects of SEL which can be integrated in classrooms in the following ways:

exercises can be consiously introduced for situational awareness.

6. Social Development: Collaboration and communication can be made a part of academic work by teachers by introducing planned group assignments and making social and emotional learning an important part of aftermath discussions.

7. Emotional Development: Emotional Awareness is the first step towards emotional development. An easy way to do this is letting children track their emotions throughout the day as an emotional trail through visual or written word, thus creating a starting point for dialogue and action.

8. Motivation: Any intrinsic motivation stems from an unmet need of humans. As a teacher it is important to identify this unmet need of the concerned child and how that can be tapped as an encouragement, rather than resorting to praise and criticism.

9. Positive Separations: Human responses to situations lie in years of conditioning hidden in their previous experiences. If new expreiences can be constructed on this with a certain amount of relatability and yet maintaining a positive separation, it can help relook things.

10. Resiliance: Problem solving based design projects help children be better prepared for dealing with the uncertainaties in life.

References: [53] https://imgbin.com/png/q60faZ4n/early-years-learning-framework-education-emotional-intelligence-png

Making Decisions: By creating multiple opportunities within classrooms for self-directed, choice-based work and play, thereby letting children make small decisions for themselves at a young age.

Managing Behaviours: Creating open classrooms where children can reflect out loud about situations and how they had responded to them in past, accepting the highs and lows they are experiencing as normal to any growing individual.

3. Resolving Conflict: Encouraging children to stop and think about the conflict, deconstructing why the conflict exists in the first place and the positive and negative consequences of how they are planning to mediate the conflict.

4. Anger Management: A popular tool to address this as propogated

by Budhhism is meditation. This is a very common monastic practice which can be taught young in schools.

5. Learning Through Play: Games, physical activities or role play 1.

2.

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Fig 64: Children being introduced to the Six Thinking Hats Concept

Fig 63: Edward De Bono’s 6 Thinking Hats, Source: Storyboard That

Fig 65: Children Role-Playing and Ideating with the Thinking Hats on 52

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ASSIGNMENT 7: Thinking Hats OBJECTIVE: • To introduce De Bono’s Thinking Hats [54] concept via role play TARGETTED SKILL: Problem Solving, Initiative, Collaboration RESOURCES: Coloured paper to make hats, Situation cards PROCESS: I wanted to introduce children to research methodologies with a pinch of drama as opposed to the inherent seriousness of such exercises. I related this assignment’s design to the Gram Panchayats [55] in villages where the villagers go with their problems. The ‘Panch’ or the village council memebers elected by the villagers are supposed to be wise people with various skillsets who look at the problem with varying perspectives and come up with solutions to the same.

situations like “school bags are too heavy” or “water shortage at the community” or “clothes get torn quickly”. Once the children were more comfortable with giving solutions, we moved to the originally suggested process where the children had to frame the problem statement as well. One of the funniest solutions I remember was by Lungta Nyima who came up with a crawling robot which sucked water from wet clothes and vomited drinking water into jugs. In the annual feedbacks, a lot of children highlighted that they had never expected they would have to think so much during Lakpar classes, which was interesting to note.

References:

[54] http://www.debonogroup.com/six_thinking_hats.php [55] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gram_panchayat

The people wearing the hat here were thus supposed to be six council members who had to look at the given problem through the lens of the unique skills that their hats gave them. The white hat could deduce all the facts in/related to the situation, the red hat highlighted the positive and negative emotional aspects of a situation, the green hat came up with all kinds of ideas to solve a problem (the wackiest ones were also welcome), the black hat pointed out the cons of the ideas while the yellow hat pointed out the pros or why the ideas work. The blue hat or the Sarpanch hat managed the process and also gave the concluding remark to the situation.

1. The children were supposed to sit in a circle and assume the roles the hats bestowed on them, on a rotational basis.

2. The ones not wearing the hat were the common ‘janta’ who had to be ready with any problem that they could think of, drawing from their lives. The wise ones with the hat had to then lead the discussions and come up with solutions to these problems.

REFLECTION: I had to lead two dummy discussions to make the children comfortable with the process. Although the child leader was involved in weekly meetings with the teachers, most of the decisions were still taken by the older people and the children were not very comfortable with the idea of thinking and making decisions for themselves. Till they became comfortable with the process, we worked with situation cards where I had already written relatable Graduation Project by Ananya Agrawal|

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Fig 67: A sheet from the sketching assignment

Fig 66: A student painting on glass 54

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Fig 68: Children working on the human posture assignment

4.4 visual: ASSIGNMENT 8: Human Anatoher OBJECTIVE: • To learn to see and draw human anatomy [58][59] TARGETTED SKILL: Social Awareness, Communication RESOURCES: Glass Paints, Glass Paint Outliner, Pencil, Paper PROCESS: 1. To create an interesting replication exercise for children I decided to use the medium of glass paints. Children were introduced to human body structures and basic proportions as they traced them on pieces of glass with the help of an otliner. (Alternatively OHP sheets or any transparent sheet can be used. Luckily we found some old glass pieces lying around went ahead with the traditional medium) 2. To add realism to this basic understanding of human anatomy we moved to pen and paper exercises. Children were given a worksheet which required them to replicate the pre-drawn human sketches on the left hand side of the page, onto the right side. The face and body proportions were discussed in a lot more detail for this assignment. [56] [57]

3. The next exercise required the children to observe a model (one of the classmates) and sketch the posture in 5 minutes (per model), in as much detail as possible.

REFLECTION: While glass painting exercise successfully kept the hyperactive teenagers busy, paper and pen sketching exercises were not able to accomplish the same. One of the reasons why glass painting was able to engage better was the uniqueness of the medium as compared to tracing on paper. Such an engagement and learning can also be achieved in a cost efficient manner, using “mehndi” or a paste made of dried leaves of henna plant. Though this is generally used on body, it can also be used on paper. However, certain details can only be captured using pen and pencil which interested very few children while for the rest it was mandated against their will. Also, some children were seen to be fascinated by the process of cutting of glass while others enjoyed the interplay of the glass paints with light. While these serve well as explorations they do not capture the original objective of introducing human anatomy well.

The overall attention span and retention of the activity was low. However, children like Tsangpa of Grade 8, who had taken a backseat in the material exercises conducted till now, were seen to take deep interest in drawing. According to Tsangpa it was the first time he had really stood out in something and had even been complimented by his peers for his work. He also expressed his desire to study drawing and sketching more if he gets the opportunity.

References: [56] https://www.thedrawingsource.com/proportions-of-the-face.html [57] https://drawpaintacadeher.com/gesture-drawing/ [58] https://www.artistsnetwork.com/art-techniques/beginner-artist/drawinganatomy-for-beginners/ [59] https://design.tutsplus.com/articles/human-anatoher-fundamentals-learning-tosee-and-draw-energy--vector-17027

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ASSIGNMENT 9: Favorite Things OBJECTIVE: • To observe dynamics between the children through an activity-based method TARGETTED SKILL: Collaboration RESOURCES: Chart paper, crayons PROCESS: 1. The children were made to sit in two groups of 4 each and asked to draw the favourite things of the person sitting opposite to them.

Fig 69: Drawings by the Children

Fig 70: Children working in the library 56

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REFLECTION: This was the second assignment for the youngest age group (Grades 2 to 5). When starting out with the assignment the children were fidgety, some wanting to change their partner while some others asuming what their partner liked and drawing it without asking. Seeing that I was firm about them getting along with each other, they eventually yielded to it.

ASSIGNMENT 10: Colour Theory OBJECTIVE: •

To introduce colour theory basics to children

TARGETTED SKILL: Communication, Creativity, Art, Science RESOURCES: Paints, Brushes PROCESS: 1. We started with talking about primary colours- red, yellow and blue and mapping them on the colour wheel. We then spoke of the secondary colours which are made by combining adjacent primary colours- orange, green and purple. Tertiary colours were made by a combination of primary and secondary colours. These are also called the purest forms of colours or hues. After this introduction, children proceeded to individually make colour wheels.

2. Colours can also be categorized based on temperature. Red, orange and yellow and a mix of these fall in the warm category while blue, purpule and green and its combinations fall in the cool category. We discussed how these inferences can also be drawn from elements found in nature like the sun and the water bodies or rain.

3. Next, we discussed tint, shade and tone. A tint is a lighter value of a hue that involves adding the neutral colour of white to the hue.

Darker values are known as shades. They involve adding black, another neutral colour. When both white and black (grey) are added to a hue, the result is called a tone.

4. The children were given simple worksheets to practice these colour concepts using mediums of their choice.

5. While the younger kids were working on these worksheets, the older ones were gathered for a discussion on the scientific principal of reflection of light and colour perception. This was followed by a debate on Newton’s view of color as a scientific measurement vs Goethe’s view [67] of colour as a subjective experience. [64] [65]

Fig 71: Sheets from the colour wheel exercise

REFLECTION: Some assignments in the worksheet already had pre-defined sketches which needed to be filled with colours while the others were around nature replication. The children were seen to be most interested in knowing about warm and cool colours and their association to how we feel about our surroundings and the objects in it. Keeping this insight in mind assignments could have been created around designing spaces [61] [62] or graphics [60] [63] [66] using colours. There were logistical issues and also time constraints with trying out something like this during the time frame due to which we had to skip it.

References: [60] https://www.paulolyslager.com/how-color-influences-user-experience/ [61] https://freshome.com/inspiration/room-color-and-how-it-affects-your-mood/ [62] https://www.colourexperience.ch/ [63] https://usabilitygeek.com/colour-user-experience-psychology/ [64] https://library.si.edu/exhibition/color-in-a-new-light/science [65] Turner: An Early Experiment with Colour Theory, Gerald E. Finley, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 30, 1967 [66] https://www.canva.com/learn/color-meanings-symbolism/ [67] https://www.brainpickings.org/2012/08/17/goethe-theory-of-colours/

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Fig 72: A child showing his assignment on object drawings

Fig 73: 3D object created for practice 58

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Fig 74: A child’s ideation, trying to create everyday objects from 3D shapes

ASSIGNMENT 11: Object Drawing OBJECTIVE: • To introduce basics of object sketching by replication • To introduce to ways of seeing with focus on objects TARGETTED SKILL: Creativity, Communication, Mathematics[68] RESOURCES: Paper, Pencil, existing simple 3D objects like lock, water bottle etc. or 3D structures created with paper [Ref Fig. 73] PROCESS: 1. The children were shown how curves and lines can be used as basic elements to create any other 2D shape. A correlation was drawn with the concept of tangents in mathematics here. Tangents and axis lines were thereby taken help of to draw circles and ellipses freehand. Children then practiced drawing straight lines and circles without using rulers 2. A worksheet was created for the children containing references on how to deconstruct everyday objects into lines and ellipses, along with replication focused practice exercises.

3. The children were taught the four basic object views used for engineering drawing, namely top view, front view, isometric view and orthographic view.

After an introduction to the topic, they were given some objects to sketch and practice these concepts. These objects were a mix of everyday objects and especially created paper objects. [70] 4. Children were given a brainstorming exercise in which they had to put together three or more three dimensional shapes to create everyday objects.

REFLECTION: In translating 3D objects to 2D drawings on paper, children have to particularly work on observation skills to practice getting shapes and proportion right. In this way they can also learn to visually deconstruct and reconstruct any object which is an important aspect of design studies. Children were seen to be particularly interested in drawing freehand ellipses and were seen experimenting with tangent angles and size of the axis, excitedly showing their discoveries to their subject teachers. A lot more stress needs to be there on the practice of these concepts which was missing from the assignment planning.

POSSIBLE VARIATIONS: Children can be taught a range of geometry topics by translating physical 3D objects/ object parts to 2D. For example, angle properties can be taught by physically measuring angles in tables or shelves in a classroom. This can help to give a practical exposure to the applications of the topic alongside gamification to keep children interested. Boolean operations[69] on polygons like Union, Combine, Subtract, Intersect can also be physically introduced using translucent, color sheets to add more dimension to topics like combination of solids.

References: [68] https://www.mathsisfun.com/geometry/ [69] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boolean_operations_on_polygons [70] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPj2qBLnbi4

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT TIPS: The 3D object drawing exercise was kept in groups with the object in centre and three to five children sitting around it in a circle. An interesting outcome of this was that the children drew the same object from different angles which helped them notice how people can look at the same thing in different ways.

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ASSIGNMENT 12: Wall Painting OBJECTIVE: • To build a preliminary understanding of art by discussion and discovery • To see how this understanding can be applied to the task at hand (wall painting) • To be able to work in groups and appreciate the uniqueness of people in this process TARGETTED SKILL: Collaboration, Creativity, Social Awareness RESOURCES: Reading resources, Paper, Pencil, Wall Paint, Tupentine oil, brushes of different sizes, Old newspaper PROCESS: Some students and teachers from Fettes College, Scotland were in the community during this time. Their art teacher, Clare had approached me inquiring if they could do some wall painting in the community. On asking around I was told that the old classrooms could do with some makeover.

Brainstorming which is a popular approach to draw associations between ideas in a free-thinking environment was used for group engagement and synergic discussions, thus achieving maximum output in a minimum time. [72] The junior and senior school teachers were quite excited to participate in this process as well. The assignment was conducted in multiple sessions, overview of the process being as below: 1. The children were asked to sit in a circle and share one unique thing they already knew about art.

2. All children were now given 30 minutes to discover something new about art by referring to books, internet or talking to people.

3. We then discussed about the most important aspects of wall art. The space being painted, message the artwork communicates and the composition or the way visual elements were arranged- were derived as the main elements.

Brainstorming for every classroom was done keeping these in mind.

4. Child tribes [71] were created based on the preference of either the tribe leader (teacher in-charge of the classroom) or the subject.

5. These groups got together to ideate and put together a few sketches.

6. Elements were borrowed from these sketches and finalized for painting on walls.

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Fig 75: Child Painting the English Classroom

7. Tips and tricks of wall painting shared during the process.

REFLECTION: Since I was still new to the community at this point in time, the task helped in getting better acquainted. Fettes College and Jhamtse Gatsal children were also deliberately kept in mixed groups so that they could get to know each other in the process. The risky bit was leaving a permanent mark on the wall without being aware of skill sets of children, where the involvement of old teachers was of help.

References: [71] The Alternative: School Within a School, Martha Allen, 2016 [72] https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/brainstorming

ASSIGNMENT 13: Doodle4Google OBJECTIVE: • To encourage creative thinking using challenge-based learning TARGETTED SKILL: Creativity, Initiative, Self-Awareness PROCESS: Doodle 4 google [73] is an annual competition by Google to reward young artists from Grades 2 to 10. The winning doodle from this competition features on Google homepage on 14th November. The theme for 2018 was “what inspires you”. Children from grades 5 to 8 worked on a range concepts which were submitted as entries to the competition. Although none of the entries got selected, the creative process followed by the children to address the challenge was helped them grow and learn.

References: [73] https://www.google.com/doodles/doodle-4-google-2018-india-winner Fig 76: Lham Tashi, Grade 7 ideating on how rainbows inspire him

Fig 77: Submission by Abhijeet, Grade 5 on Nature as his inspiration

Fig 78: Submission by Tsonam Tsomu, Grade 6 on Stories as her inspiration Graduation Project by Ananya Agrawal|

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Fig 79: Some mood paintings by Grade 9 kept by the window to dry

Fig 80: A mood painting by Grade 7 child

Fig 81: A Grade 10 child working on her mood painting

Fig 82: Children from Grades 2 to 5 working on Hand Painting

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ASSIGNMENT 14: Colour & Emotion OBJECTIVE: • To connect to the more emotional parts of oneself by using art as a medium [74] [77] • To freely interpret a piece of work through one’s own experience and viewpoints TARGETTED SKILL: Self Awareness, Communication, Language RESOURCES: Poster/Water color paints, papers PROCESS: 1. The children were assigned various emotions to work upon, on a chit picking basis.

2. They were now asked to close their eyes and think of at least one incident in their life when they had felt that particular emotion.

3. Following this reflection, they were given paints and asked to paint that emotion using their hands.

4. After the paintings had dried up, the class shared their interpretations of the paintings one by one. This was followed by an elaboration of the art work by the child who had created it.

5. The strokes used while representing the emotions were also thoroughly discussed. Different representations for a same underlying emotion were brought to notice while also highlighting the relationship between emotion and colour [75].

REFLECTION: Although emotions are not visual and they don’t have any colours, children can associate them with certain colours. Some of these linkages derive from experience, while others are created by associations with physical objects. e.g. while bright and yellow colour of the sun was unanimously considered “happy”, the “blue” rain drops were happy for some and sad for others.

POSSIBLE VARIATIONS: The assignment was originally conducted with Grades 9 and 10 only as groups with classes 6 to 8 and 3 to 5 were still too young by age to engage in such abstract emotional concepts. However, the sensory experience of simply using colours on paper can also have a therapeutic effect while also channelling the inner creativity. [76] On this pretext these groups were engaged in a hand painting exercise. Also, for these two groups the exercise was conducted outside, sitting on the grass, to create a more free and lighter atmosphere to work.

References: [74] Teaching emotion and creativity skills through art: A workshop for children, The International Journal of Creativity and Problem Solving, 2015 [75] https://design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/art-therapy-paint-what-you-feel--cms-29956 [76] https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/syne.html [77] https://www.edutopia.org/article/how-creating-visual-art-contributes-sel

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT TIPS: Before starting out with discussions, the children were made to stand in a circle and swear a solemn oath to (a) be silent and listen with full attention to the person speaking as it shows your respect for the speaker (b) listen without judgements (c) keep the discussions to themselves such that the speaker feels more comfortable in sharing their thoughts and feelings (d) speak openly without hesitation or fear of judgement. The circle of oath was able to bring in a certain amount of seriousness and decorum to the class which the class maintained by themselves throughout the session without any external interference by her side.

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4.5 written: On Note Taking The children at Jhamtse Gatsal were often seen to be disinterested in tasks which involve writing, especially note-taking, unless they were being dictated what is to be written, which takes away the very purpose of notes according to teachers. The teachers believed that maintaining notes were important for children because: 1. They help in interpreting what is being taught in the child’s own words 2. They help to streamline organic thoughts into linear content, thus giving meaning to otherwise cluttered thoughts in one’s head.

For the children this activity was difficult as they had trouble writing. This can also be attributed to the fact that although the children were taught three different scripts i.e. Hindi, English and Bhoti; their mother tongue Monpa in which they are conditioned to think, has no script of its own. It is hence that I decided to take a session where the children were introduced to five popular notetaking styles [78] [81] especially stressing on sketch notes [79] [80] or visual note taking as a practice. A summary of these is as below: Cornell Method: Divide your paper into two columns: the narrower left column (called the “cue” column) contains keywords, important terminology, or major concepts, and the wider right column (called the “outline” column) contains notes or descriptions associated with those terms. A summary section with re-stated facts is at the bottom of the page.

Outline Method: uses numbers, letters, or even Roman numerals to identify and classify information based on levels of importance or relationship.

Charting Method: A matrix or spreadsheet with clearly identified descriptors for each of the columns and/or rows.

Sentence Method: writing down complete sentences along with your own set of developed abbreviations and symbols.

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Mind-Mapping Method: Visually representing information - by using bubbles, lines, boxes, or other visual markers to represent relationships, sequence, and importance.

Sketch Notes: Visual elements like lettering, separators, connectors, bullets, frames and simple doodles were introduced here. We also had a discussion on 5 simple elements of art- dot, line, curve, triangle and circle and how anything you want to represent can be simply drawn by a combination of this. One need not be an artist or an expert at drawing to create sketch notes. Children were excited to learn about how they can personalize in such a manner while also create their own library of elements which they can use as a substitute of words, wherever relevant.

References: [78] https://miamioh.instructure.com/courses/62085/pages/note-taking-styles [79] The Sketchnotes Handbook, Mike Rohde, 2013 [80] http://lirc.rchk.edu.hk/fun-note-taking.html [81] https://www.gvsu.edu/cms4/asset/91D2F15F-DAF4-C2F7B659ECCACE9E7375/1five_methods_of_notetaking.docx_updated_7-09.pdf

Guided Reading and Comprehension Strategy for Language

The High School English teacher, Meena introduced me to a method called “Reciprocal Reading” [82] [83] to work on the children’ language comprehension.

She had started experimenting with the same by trying this strategy in her language classes first. Here, she gave the children multiple worksheets with a passage along with some sample questions based on the four steps of reciprocal reading- predict, clarify, question and summarise. She had then divided the class into four groups each assigned with a focus step they needed to work on. While every worksheet came with variations, a general flow of things was as described: the clarification group could been seen sitting with a dictionary, finding meanings to difficult words and phrases; the questioning group was to pose questions on the given text; the summarize group had to explain what was happening in the text in simple words; while the predict group was to speculate what might happen next. The groups were shuffled for as the passages progressed such that all kids had been a part of each step at least once. The energy of the class during these sessions and the observations on where each child was lacking, motivated her to try creating focused assignments for individual children. She soon introduced similar assignments for her literature classes as well. Games like scrabble, taboo were also seen to be a huge hit amongst older children.

At the same point in time, the junior school English teacher, Ophelia was also seen to be trying to work on language skills. As per observations, she was also seen using reciprocal reading methods but by orally putting forth her questions to children during classes instead of a written format. Since she was teaching the younger grades, she also used to give a special focus to phonetics [85] and used various interactive methods like creating word wall, using TFI’s level-based excel sheets to track progress in language and comprehension skills[84].

Fig 83: Reciprocal Reading Steps[82]

References: [82]https://www.nbss.ie/sites/default/files/publications/reiciprocal_teaching_strategy_handout__copy_2_0.pdf [83] Reciprocal Teaching at Work: Powerful Strategies and Lessons for Improving Reading Comprehension, Lori Oczkus, 2018 [84] https://www.teachforindia.org/our-model/ [85] https://twistedsifter.com/2019/04/phonetic-english-map-of-the-human-mouth/

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Fig 84: Children interviewing villagers under the guidance of English Teacher, Meena

Fig 85: Grade 9 and 11 being introduced to journaling concepts

Fig 86: The first edition of The Voice released in print

Fig 87: A page from the journal of one of the child travellers

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Journaling and Journalism: As mentioned earlier, High School English Teacher, Meena used to actively try new teaching methods to make her classes interesting. One such endeavour by her was “The Voice”, a child-run quarterly newspaper with a focus on highlighting stories in and around the community. I happened to be a part of one of the first village scouts of “The Voice”, prior to the first edition. By then she had already taken classes for her then 12th Graders on how to conduct interviews and write reports. The village interviews were to be conducted by children in groups of three- one person to ask questions and conduct the interview, the other two to write notes and do a photographic documentation.

As the newspaper started taking shape, the class had discussions on the kind of sections Jhamtse Gatsal newsletter should have, the layout, differences between opinion articles and reports etc. The team also picked up relevant software like Adobe InDesign to bring in some professionalism to their work.

Once the project had paced up a bit and started getting appropriate recognition by the community as well as the sponsors of the children worldwide, we had discussions on making the project more sustainable. What emerged as a good practice from this was to involve all the teachers in the project, especially the language teachers. It was observed that the topics taught in language classes had a direct application in the domain of journalism. Meena worked intensely to draw these parallels between the subjects and soon after presented the same in teacher’s meeting. Teachers readily agreed to participate and soon the newspaper expanded to include articles in English, Hindi and Tibetan, contributed by both teachers and children. Some of these emerged from classroom stories and assignments while the others were well-compiled documentations of events happening in and around the community. Meena also created core groups of children from all age groups interested in reporting, editing, photography and design and started taking skilling sessions for them.

While this was happening on the journalism front, Meena was also leading the sponsored trip for Grades 9 and 11 to Mawlynnong, Cherrapunji and ICAR Guwahati. For this, we came up with an idea of merging travel journals with reporting to learn reflect and remember their experiences better. This session was taken by me as an extension of the note taking and observation exercises.

1. We started with planning the trip. Although a basic roadmap of the journey was there, the children were to read up on the places they were to visit to be more informed about the place, know what is already documented, frame questions on what they wish to know such that they gain newer insights during the trip.

2. Next, we identified the domains of interest from the questions children had about the place, mostly centred around- terrain, language, food, cultural practices, livelihood. They were told not to get limited by these domains while they were learning more about them, and keep their eyes and ears open for new experiences. They were suggested to maintain logs of the day’s highlights and low points.

3. Last, we discussed about the visual aspects of the journal. While kids could primarily use doodling and sketching for the same, they were also given ideas on how they could write letters to themselves during their journey using colour sheets, stick collectables like leaves, flowers and feathers, cloth swatches of the local fabric or even maybe wrappers of the food items they enjoyed having. These elements helped give a personal touch to their journals which were pieces of art in themselves when children were back from their trip.

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Inquiry Based Learning and Guided Discussions The middle school social sciences teacher, Ishika, had introduced me to the concept of “Need Web Method” of teaching social studies during my period of stay which I would like to share next. Ishika observed that basic needs of man fall into these 6 categories which can be closely compared to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, namely [ref: Fig85]: Breathing, Food (Physiological), Protection (Safety), Reproduction, Emotional (Love/Belonging), Movement (Esteem, Self-actualization). She also showed me how every topic in social studies can be treated as a subset of these six key domains. For example, the discussion on need for “movement” in her class had led to brainstorming on the “Evolution of man” and “transportation” as connected topics. The latter had further led to “different forms of transportation” and “travelling” eg. transportation of man, as subsets. She was having trouble in managing these discussions and linking them with theory, for which creating a strategy using Child Directed Inquiry [86] [87] and Guided Discussion [88] [89] methods came handy.

The first most important thing for a teacher to conduct such a session is defining a discussion boundary based on the learning outcomes of the subject(s) (can follow a multidisciplinary approach as well), for the year. This boundary can be flexible, as long as: diving in too deep is not pedagogically heavy for the child, the discussions are preferably directed towards a pre-determined enquiry such that they are not scattered all over the place, and conclusions or synthesis sessions are effectively able to sum up what has been learnt. “What I knew” “What I learnt” and “What I wish to know” type feedbacks can come handy in collectively determining certain parts of these learning outcomes for the next session. This way the teacher can keep herself more prepared for where the discussions can be headed. Peer learning would be an essential part of such a form of learning, especially if multiple enquiries are conducted in parallel.

Concious efforts need to be made by the teacher to facilitate this as well as to clarify doubts regularly and avoid any misinformation from spreading.

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Fig 88: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Source: http://www.roarwap.com/

References: [86] The Curious Classroom, 10 structures for Teaching with Child Directed Inquiry, Harvey “Smokey” Daniels, 2017 [87] Being the Change: Lessons and Strategies to Teach Social Comprehension, Sara K Ahmed, 2018 [88] https://loyalsock.experiencethehope.com/wp-content/uploads/TeachingThrough-Guided-Discussion-Teacher-Notes.pdf [89] https://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/4-phases-inquiry-based-learningguide-teachers/

ASSIGNMENT 15: Question the Answers OBJECTIVE: • To encourage a questioning attitude in children • To introduce the 5Ws and 1H method of enquiry TARGETTED SKILL: Critical Thinking, History, Political Science, Social Studies [92] RESOURCES: Pen, paper, newspaper clippings PROCESS: 1. Printout of a controversial media article was given to children to read.

2. Children were introduced to What, Why, Who, When, Where and How as starting points of enquiries and given examples on how to frame questions around it. [90] 3. Then the class was asked to individually come up with as many questions as possible based on the article.

4. This was followed by a discussion on how these questions can serve as a starting point for a fact-based critical enquiry into media write-ups, to form one’s own opinion on the same.

set of themes which can sum up all the data in chapters while also encourage a sharing of opinions. Example themes could be something like- “patriarchy” or “religion”. After identifying the repetition of themes across topics, the data can be re-organized around the theme. An existing outcome based methodology which mirrors this idea is the Frame Routine which can be an interesting refernce for teachers for restructuring their sessions. [91] The children here also held elections to select their captain who took part in community decisions, which is a good model to replicate across schools. Apart from this, as told by Gen Sangpo, Buddhist monastries practice “Samye Debates” [93] to question their doctrines, which is considered a way of intellectual and moral development by them. This can be introduced in schools of the region as a more relatable practice of critical thinking, especially for civics and political science classes.

References: [90] https://libguides.nus.edu.sg/geq1917/ask [91] https://blogs.lt.vt.edu/patriciakgarvey/files/2017/05/Garvey-SIM-Routines-inAction.pdf [92] Social Studies For Secondary Schools: Teaching to Learn, Learning to Teach, Alan J. Singer, 2009 [93] https://www.tibettravel.org/tibet-travel-advice/monk-debate-in-tibet.html

REFLECTION: The article I chose was based on China’s invasion of Tibet.

This was done to establish a relativity with child backgrounds which was seen to have an effect on their interest levels and class participation. Following this assignment, I worked on each of the question sheets prepared by the children and gave comments on what worked and what could be improved in the way questions had been framed by them as feedback.

POSSIBLE VARIATIONS: Re-visioning history exercises emerged as a result of discussions with the then history teacher in the community, Prerana, on how to make history lessons more interesting. One such exercise was about establishing relationships of current affairs with past affairs by tracing the historical timeline of its occurance. Another was about writing speculative stories (alternative futures) inspired by historical trends which have been seen to repeat themselves over time or across spaces. The third was about imagining alternate histories if certain key incidents in history had never occurred. The last discussion was on how the teachers can make curriculum delivery more interesting. One idea we spoke about was about was centering the classes around a comprehensive Graduation Project by Ananya Agrawal|

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ASSIGNMENT 16: Decision Making OBJECTIVE: • To introduce to questioning and decision making TARGETTED SKILL: Critical Thinking, Social Awareness, Adaptability RESOURCES: Paper and pen PROCESS: 1. The session started with a role play task. [94] As per the problem statement, the world was about to end and you as the mission lead needed to start a new life on another planet. The constraint was that you could only take along 5 people with you in the rocket. Each child was given a character with a specified age, occupation and basic persona. Everyone sat down in a circle and one by one tried to give a convincing reason as to why they should be taken. The other children needed to find flaws in this reasoning to reduce the chances of the person being taken.

2. Once everyone was done speaking, the children made decisions on which 5 people would they take if they were leading the space crew and why they chose those five people.

3. Next exercise was to introduce children to the 7-step decision making process. [95] (a) Relax and Breathe (b) Take a step back and analyse facts in the situation at hand (c) What is the problem? (d) Suggest alternative solutions (e) Suggest positive and negative consequences of each solution (f) Relook these solutions keeping in mind what is important to you? (g) Make the decision. A few situational tests were given to let the children practice these 7 steps.

REFLECTION: Children were not able to understand the objective well first (rocket) activity. Another issue with the first activity was that not in the all children were comfortable with the idea of role playing and speaking out loud. The second method of conducting the assignment i.e. via situational tests therefore worked better. This gave the children space to reflect on these situations individually. Also, since these situations were more relatable to them, they understood the purpose of the assignment better and did not dismiss it as a game..

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Fig 89: A response sheet from one of the situational tests given

References: [94] The Child Leadership Challenge: Activities Book, James M. Kouzes, Barry Z. Posner, Beth High, Gary M. Morgan [95] https://moodle.isq.pt/mod/book/view.php?id=592&chapterid=563 [96] https://www.salto-youth.net/downloads/4-17-1789/Booklet%20Intercultural%20Communication%20Resource%20Pack.pdf

ASSIGNMENT 17: Behavior Study OBJECTIVE: •

To understand behavioural patterns in animals taking dogs as a case study

TARGETTED SKILL: Curiosity, Science, Social Studies RESOURCES: Camera, notebook, pen PROCESS: Almost all the children in the community adored dogs and took care of them as their own even though they couldn’t directly understand the language of the species. Also, a lot of children in the nature group (during the second pilot) wished to become veterinarians. This is why observing dog behavior became an obvious choice for the assignment.

1. The session started with watching a video on how different species, including humans, have evolved over time and the role “natural selection” [99][100]plays in adaptation to changing environments over time.

We watched another video on how dogs had evolved from wolves to understand this concept of natural selection better.

2. Next, we spoke about how bodies are conditioned to respond to a stimulus in a certain way in accordance with their survival instincts.

It is when certain responses are repeatedly encouraged with positive consequences that they develop as a behaviour while behaviours with negative responses are discarded. [101] This discussion was followed by an observation exercise where the children had to record different body language of dogs and draw inferences on dog behavior. [102][103] REFLECTION: We concluded the discussion with talking about how we often study about how many legs and eyes the animals have but we rarely study about why different animals respond to the same situation in different ways. For example, birds leave behind their offspings once touched by humans while dogs take it as an act of trust building. These insticts majorly derive from how the species have evolved and adapted to the changing environments over time. We also spoke about how being able to read an animal’s body language can can help predict their possible responses to situations. The discussions were fruitful but there was a lot of grumbling with respect to the writing bit.

Fig 90: Documentation of Dog behaviour by a child

POSSIBLE VARIATIONS: Instead of this being limited to an observation based exercise, the children could have been told to try and introduce new behaviour patterns in different animals. A popular way of doing so with dogs is known as “clicker training”. [98] This could have evolved in a way such that children first tried to understand how the animal responds to different stimuli followed by children trying to make the dogs give an expected response to a repeated stimuli, by rewarding a particular behaviour. For older kids, this could have served as an interesting assignment to study nudge theory of behavioral economics [97] which again is applicable to humans as well.

References: [97] Nudge theory, Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler, 2008 [98] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wv1uvvqaSw [99] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_KWmzLObQ4 [100] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcpB_986wyk&t=105s [101] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kgii4IcKCOg [102] https://centerforshelterdogs.tufts.edu/dog-behavior/dog-communication-andbody-language/ [103] https://www.allthingsdogs.com/dog-body-language/

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Fig 91: A writeup by Tsonam Tsomu 72

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Fig 92: Story frames drawn by Sonam Lhamu

ASSIGNMENT 18: Shape of Stories OBJECTIVE: •

To introduce the children to storytelling concepts

TARGETTED SKILL: Creativity, Language RESOURCES: Paper, Pencil PROCESS: 1. As Kurt Vonnegut [104] would say, any story has two main elements- the ‘good fortune’ (good) and the ‘ill fortune’ (bad) of the protagonist. These two elements could be represented on the top and the bottom of the y-axis respectively. The x-axis focuses on the changes in situations of a character over time, its one end denoted as ‘beginning’ and the other as ‘end’.

2. The session started with the children narrating their favorite stories, one at a time while the rest of the class tried to plot its shape. It was soon visible, (as highlighted in Kurt’s thesis as well) that most storylines moved on a curve of bad to good, good to bad or bad to worse.

However, the truest or the most real stories were those which let the readers decide the good and bad for themselves instead of enforcing the writers morality on the readers.

3. Followed by this, the children were left for the day to look around and write about any conversation, object, person or thing that they found interesting without worrying about the story bit.

4. In the next session the children were introduced to the concept of storyboarding or how a story unfolds for a reader. One might first write the story as they imagine, (in a chronological sequence), but to grab the interest of the reader, it had to be re-written in a sequence such that it could hold the interest of the reader till the very end. One way to do this restructuring was to break down the story into visually drawn frames. As a practice, we played a song which had a main character going through different situations and the children had to draw a new box every time the situation or surroundings of the character changed.

5. Last, the children had to visually show their pre-written story, cut these visual frames with scissors and rearrange their sequence to make it more gripping.

Fig 93: Tenzin’s interpretation of a song as visual

REFLECTION: Visually showing the written data helped children see it from a different perspective and also spot how their characters were moving in the story.

References: [104] https://nofilmschool.com/2016/11/emotional-arcs-6-storytelling-kurt-vonnegut

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ASSIGNMENT 19: Qualitative Research OBJECTIVE: • To be comfortable with verbally articulating visual observations • To introduce to qualitative research methods in the process [105] TARGETTED SKILL: Critical Thinking, Social Studies RESOURCES: Pen, paper PROCESS: 1. To begin with, the children had to spread around the open area and observe one stationary object, describing it in as much detail as possible in the given amount of time.

2. Once done, they picked up chits of a person from the class whom they would observe for one whole day. They were instructed to strictly avoid any interpretations at this stage and keep the writing purely descriptive.

3. When they were done writing, the class sat down in a circle and collectively worked on finding patterns in what they had written and how and how much could be derived from this data.

4. Next, they had to speak to the same classmate for a pre-determined time and come back to transcribe the conversation. The data from the previous observation was compared and contrasted with the data from the conversation. This was done using grounded theory methods of data analysis. [106] This methodology can be very organic and complex in nature and was simplified for the children in the following way- (a) First, one had to look at all the data sheets several times and see if any word or similar meaning expression had been repeated such that it can emerge as a prominent category. (b) Draw relationships between these identified categories and also check if it stays consistent or does it vary across data. (c) Now, look at these relationships in association with the focus object to draw inferences.

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT TIPS: Giving a time duration for observation was of help as children were seen to be always looking for distractions when they had to write about things. To build focus and bring detail into observations, they needed to spend time with something silently for a long duration which needs an external push.

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REFLECTION: While the sketching based observation exercises focused on giving visual detail and noticing how people could draw the same object in different ways, this exercise was meant to make the children comfortable with writing observations and also notice certain similarities in how people look at things. For example, for stationary objects the prominent categories that emerged were about its colours, textures, position in the space, light, reflection etc, its interpretations based on how it made someone feel. However, when observing each other, they were mostly seen to observe and write observations based on body language [107] and draw interpretations with a focus on the emotions and feelings of the person. A conversation followed by the same exercise brought forth various assumptions that children had put forth in the previous (purely observation based) data.

The children were not comfortable with writing and to work on this inhibition I assured them that grammar was the least of her concern. Also, that they could write in any language and even use a mix of languages as long as they were able to communicate it to me for discussion. One of the children, Pratima chose to do a voice recording instead which was also interesting.

References: [105] https://www.thoughtco.com/qualitative-research-methods-3026555 [106]http://changingminds.org/explanations/research/analysis/ethnographic_coding. htm [107] https://www.scienceofpeople.com/body-language/

ASSIGNMENT 20: Looking Inward OBJECTIVE: • To introduce reflection, observation, listening and communication as key principles for strengthening emotional intelligence TARGETTED SKILL: Self-Awareness, Social Studies RESOURCES: Paper and pen PROCESS: 1. We started out with the children writing about their first memory of Jhamtse Gatsal in detail. The children were free to use doodles alongside writing if they wished to.

2. Following this, we collectively discussed how patterns in written data can be decoded to reveal aspects of one’s own personalities, or help to “look inwards” which Gen la stresses on as a reflective practice.

3. In the next session we repeated the observation exercise, but this time they had to go out in the community to do the same. Once they returned and wrote about their observation, it was again decoded to highlight how certain parts of their observations tied up to their own personalities.

4. After this reflection they were sent around again to initiate a conversation with someone: observe, talk, listen, and transcribe it once they were back. Inferences were drawn based on this new write-up and a discussion was held on the learnings from this.

Fig 94: A memory shared by child as part of reflection

POSSIBLE VARIATIONS: The mentioned exercise was conducted with Grades 9 and 10 as the complexity of the same was not suitable for lower grades.

However, the younger age group (Grades 6 to 8) were also given a simpler reflective exercise where they had to record their activities in detail for a week and then try to identify personal habits based on it.

REFLECTION: The memory decoding exercise helped the children see how their assumptions about others or their own responses to situations in everyday life were closely linked to their past experiences. This was also seen to bring a certain amount of sensitivity to their design projects. The first memory of Jhamtse Gatsal was chosen as a starting point as it was a shared emotion of immense transformation from fear and helplessness to confidence and growth for these children. Also, though shared, this emotion had been lived and remembered differently by different children. It is hence that the details were able to highlight aspects of their personalities. The children were advised to keep personal journals, spending at least 15 minutes everyday on such reflections, a follow-up of which was not taken.

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4.6 material: ASSIGNMENT 21: Cloth Activities OBJECTIVE: • To use threads and fabrics as materials for resource-based learning. [108] TARGETTED SKILL: Cultural Literacy RESOURCES: Old sweaters, waste thread, needle and thread, bangle PROCESS: 1. Woollen puppets were made by cutting off arms of old sweaters and stitching them from the top to make heads since we did not have old socks. The detailing was done by using buttons, old cloth pieces and small woollen threads.

2. In the next session we pleated threads along the circumference of a bangle and then knotted in pattern to make a basket.

ASSIGNMENT 22: Tetrapack Lamp OBJECTIVE: • To emphasise the importance of group work [110] through craft TARGETTED SKILL: Collaboration RESOURCES: Washed and dried tetrapacks, cellotape, scissors, marker and scale PROCESS: We broke down the chosen task of creating tertrapack lamps into cutting the tetrapacks open, measuring the width of strips, cutting the strips, folding strips into trianglular units and joining the triangular units to create hexagons. The children were supposed to identify their own role in this rhythm of work and be deft at it, passing over their work to the next person, together creating a tetrapack lamp for the class.

Fig 96: Tetrapack lamp

Fig 95: Tashi Drolma and Phuntsok’s Hand Puppet REFLECTION: Resource -based learning (RBL) uses available resources multiple times and in multiple ways to support a variety of learning needs.

[1] These exercises not just helped develop motor skills in children but also helped me to observe their familiarity and comfort with different materials.

For instance, Tashi Drolma, a special needs child, had been struggling to do keep pace with the class and do assignments till this point. However, when working with cloth, she showed much better learning ability and a higher sense of engagement as compared to others in class.

References: [108] Resource-Based Learning, Janette R. Hill, Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning, 2012 76

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POSSIBLE VARIATIONS: Children can be encouraged to define their own structure using these smaller triangular units instead of sticking to a pre-defined design.

References: [109] https://inhabitat.com/edward-chew-creates-stunning-geometric-lamps-fromrecycled-tetra-paks/ [110] Designing Groupwork, Elizabeth G Cohen, 1994

make so that the children could play with them after class. [112] [113] 3. Pop Up card activity [115] wasn’t a planned one but was held as the children wanted to celebrate their most loved teacher, Minoti Ma’am’s birthday. Children used blades and scissors to create really adorable cards which were decorated in her class along with the other creations. We baked pan cakes later in the evening with the help of the music teacher, Tselha as a surprise for Minoti Ma’am.

Fig 97: How to make a paper bead, Source: http://big-beadlittle-bead.blogspot.com/2011/05/making-paper-beads.html

ASSIGNMENT 23: Paper Activities OBJECTIVE: • To introduce how 2D shapes can be transformed to create 3D forms, using paper as a material TARGETTED SKILL: Material Literacy, Persistance RESOURCES: Old magazines, empty refills, stretchable string, glue PROCESS: 1. The children were given strips of two shapes- triangular and rectangular. They had to roll these around an old pen refill and stick the end with glue to make paper beads. Once they got a hang of the process of making, they were told to experiment with the length and width of the shapes. They could also try and experiment with other shapes and observe the form of the final bead. These beads could later be stringed together to make bracelets.

2. The next two activities were to test how well children were being able to follow and keep up with instructions. For this I used origami as the medium which is said to be an example of “schematic learning through repeatable actions”. [114] Purse and pinwheel were chosen as objects to

Fig 98: Celebrating Minoti Ma’am’s birthday with cake, pinwheels and pop up cards

REFLECTION: The children of this age group are good at observing and replicating. Due to this, as a teacher you need to keep continually creating with the children. Even though assignments with this age group were very direct and explicit, a lot of learning happened by the endless questions asked by the children during the replication of these crafts. According to Reggio Emilia, this cycle of inquiry re-emerges as and when an encounter between children and materials coincides with their imagination or interest. This cycle when recorded by a teacher or saved in an artefact, to be retold by children and teachers, becomes a provocation to pursue the encounter into the future in order to gain a new perspective. [111] The children were also seen to be highly sensitive of their surroundings and to constantly seek opinion of their peers and authority for their actions. Whatever a teacher says directly or indirectly is therefore of value to them so a teacher needs to be really careful of his/her actions around them.

References: [111] In the Spirit of the Studio: Learning from the Atelier of Reggio Emilia, Lella Gandini, Lynn Hill, Louise Cadwell, and Charles Schwall, 2005 [112] https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/how-to-make-an-origami-purse-4125447 [113] https://m.wikihow.com/Make-an-Origami-Pinwheel [114] http://home.earthlink.net/~robertcubie/origami/edu.html [115] https://www.redtedart.com/pop-up-card-how-to-projects/

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Fig 99: Gluing waste thermocol to make softboard

Fig 101: Sorting stationary and tools into drawers 78

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Fig 100: Cutting waste cardboard to make storage shelves

Fig 102: Sorting waste materials into boxes

ASSIGNMENT 24: Sustainable Classroom OBJECTIVE: • To organize and personalize the classroom space in a sustainable manner TARGETTED SKILL: Collaboration, Curiosity, Adaptability RESOURCES: Old cardboards, cellotape, scissor, thermacol from packaging, muslin cloth, all pins, fevicol PROCESS: By this time, the school captain had already initiated waste seggregation.

Following this, under the new initiative called “Koryuk Sangyup” dustbins were created and placed at four different corners of the community. The recyclable waste was brought to the Lakpar classroom every Sunday. Children helped with any further sorting and cleaning of waste as well as in creating organizers for classroom from the collected materials. The 6,7,8 grades were most involved in this task as they were old enough to execute the complexity of the operation and young enough to give the take out the time and effort that the task demanded without being overburdened. Following resources were created for the classroom using these materials:

3. Seggregating Textbooks, Notebooks and Empty pages: A lot of old notebooks and textbooks which had been discarded were lying in class for recycling. Textbooks had to be separated from notebooks as they have a different page thickness. Also, some textbooks could be reused if the syllabus hadn’t changed or for cutting to create collages etc.

The filled pages of notebooks were separated from unfilled ones for papier mache and book binding exercises respectively.

REFLECTION: Involvement of children is important in such tasks so that they get a sense of ownership in the space. Initially I was more involved than the children in maintaining the space and a lot of time and energy used to go into it as mainatining waste can be a messy business. This space was used for many other activities as well and needed to be kept open beyond class hours which made it more difficult to maintain and customize. After various efforts, what worked well was the activity of making leadership boards while also giving space to children to personalize their work environment.

1. Softboards: To be used by children to pin up their research work or to give presentations.

We made two types of softboards. One was made using corrugated cardboard boxes as base and covered with muslin. The other was made using thermocol from packaging waste. Uneven bits of thermocol were removed using either blade or sandpaper, as suitable. Boards of the same thickness were then secured together using alpins and fevicol.

Additional support was given using cellotape where needed. Both, the cardboard and the thermocol bases were covered with muslin cloth for a finishing touch.

2. Shelves: To create a space for children for storing their projects and files.

The available cupboard for storage needed to be demarcated for better organization. This was done using non-corrugated cardboard boxes which are stiffer and can better hold weight. Once the shelves were made, one shelf was given to each child to be labeled and used for the term.

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Fig 103: Lungta and Tsering demonstrating the invisible ink experiment

Fig 105: The children trying out the density experiment 80

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Fig 104: A student writing a message with lemon juice

Fig 106:Tsangpa with the burnt paper with secret message revealed

ASSIGNMENT 25: Hands-On Science OBJECTIVE: • To encourage scientific aptitude in children through an activity-based learning method • To introduce the process of oxidation and concept of air pressure through hands-on experiments • To build leadership qualities in older children by encouraging them to take class for the younger ones TARGETTED SKILL: Curiosity, Science RESOURCES: Glass jars in pairs of two with same diameter of opening, candle, matchbox, lemon juice in a small container PROCESS: Shalom Sir suggested to let his Grade 11 children Lungta and Tsering take one of the Science Lakpar sessions. [118] The preparations for this session therefore began a week before the class. Lungta and Tsering were really nervous about planning the session initially. They went through a few science experiments books available in the library and picked two interesting experiments of their choice, namely ‘invisible ink’ [116] and ‘cloud in a jar’. [117] They were then guided by us on the points to remember when preparing a Lesson Plan. The duo decided to break the topic down into (a) Demonstration (b) Questioning session (c) Introducing the Concept (d) Try it yourself. The teachers let these two girls (student-teachers) lead the class while they took a backseat, intervening only if needed.

the phenomena of oxidation.

4. The class now proceeded to try these experiments themselves. Pieces of paper were circulated for the children to write secret messages to a stranger.

These messages were dropped in a box, shuffled and then arbitrarily distributed in the class. When heated against a candle, children could read the message received. While this distribution and collection was happening, glass jars were circulated across the class for the children to try out the cloud experiment as well.

REFLECTION: Teaching the concepts helped the children to gain more clarity over it themselves. Also, older children could understands the doubts of children better and address questions for younger ones in their native language. In terms of assignment design, although showing the concept visually helps better communicate the theoretical aspect, for better child engagement while trying it, some amount of gamification is needed, which the invisible ink experiment was able to offer but cloud in the jar experiment could not.

References: [116] https://www.thoughtco.com/make-your-own-invisible-ink-605973 [117] https://www.giftofcuriosity.com/weather-science-how-to-make-a-cloud-in-a-jar/ [118] https://soundout.org/children-as-teachers/

1. Tsering and Lungta made everyone assemble around the table and started with heating one of the glass jars with a small amount of water using the candle. Once boiling, a match was lit and dropped inside this jar. Following this, the hot jar was quickly covered with a cold jar. One could see clouds forming inside the jar within moments.

2. The student-teachers first asked the audience if they could tell why this was happening and then explained the phenomena in detail with the help of charts which they had prepared.

3. The next experiment’s demonstration and concept clarification was done in a similar manner. In this experiment an invisible message was written using lemon juice. The message revealed itself when heated using a candle due to Graduation Project by Ananya Agrawal|

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Fig 107: A model on life of a star from Ishika’s class presentations

Fig 108: Children figuring out the Centre of Gravity of nails

Fig 109: Visiting Teacher, Apoorva taking a session on Centre of Gravity

Fig 110: Nails perfectly balanced on the balancing point

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A similar session, which uses activity-based learning methodology was taken by the visiting teacher Apoorva. The scientific concept introduced by her was “Centre of Gravity”. This was done using 11 long nails with big, round heads.

[119] One nail was hammered into a box shaped wood piece and the other 10 needed to be balanced on top of it. At first, the kids’ efforts to make this happen showed little success. Then, Apoorva guided them to find the centre of gravity (CoG) of one piece of nail. Each time a new nail was placed, it needed to be placed against the centre of gravity of the previous structure. Following this principle, when the second nail was placed at 90 degree on the hammered nail against its CoG, it got perfectly balanced. The next 9 nails were balanced on top of this T shaped structure in a hut like contraption to achieve the desired outcome.

Ishika, Ophelia, Uday, Humaira and many other science and social studies teachers were seen to be familiar with a few Activity Based Learning (ABL) methods for STEM education. Activity Based Learning is closely linked to Lave and Wenger’s Situated Learning theory which provides insight to how the physical environment can be well thought of to allow for optimal learning experiences by focusing on aspects of relatability and trying to construct upon the child’s previous knowledge.

Apart from the already described ways of conducting such classes, teachers also engaged children in model making and role playing for demonstrating the children’ understanding of the theoretical concepts in practice. Some part of this familiarity can be attributed to CBSE’s adoption of the same in their textbooks. However, when I visited government schools to see if they shared the same familiarity with these methods, I found very few to be using them in classes. According to teachers this was due to unavailability or lack of relatability or unaffordability of the mentioned resources in textbooks. The assignments needed to contextualize the theory into resources available in different areas for which the government school teachers needed external support and training.

Organizations like Aavishkaar [121], Pratham [122] and Eklavya [123] work actively in the field of developing and compiling learning materials for activity-based learning in low resource areas and training teachers and can be contacted for learning the same.

CBSE’s current ABL resources are based) puts “Evaluation” at the highest level of the pyramid; the Bloom’s Taxonomy’s 1990-year version and Webb’s DOK’s 2002 versions put “Creating”, “Skills and Concepts”, “Strategic Thinking”and “Extended thinking” above evaluation. [120] The traditional approaches to ABL are not able to cater to these newer capabilities needed for developing 21st century skills in children unless the assignments are designed such that there is more freedom for child directed learning. One simple way to enable the this is to let the children discover the same concept using a range of materials. For example, when exploring why some objects float on water children should have access to objects which are light, heavy, sharp, with a large surface area, with an absorption capacity etc. Now the children can explore the concepts using different materials of their choice. Different groups can exchange the learnings from their explorations and discuss it further to understand the essence and the limits of the concept. This kind of an exploration can help the child establish stronger links between previously studied concepts and the new concept being taught while also catering to higher order thinking needs.

References: [119] https://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/balancing-nail-puzzle/ [120] https://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/Topics/Teaching/EducatorEvaluation-System/How-to-Design-and-Select-Quality-Assessments/DOKCompared-to-Blooms-Taxonomy.pdf.aspx [121] http://aavishkaar-palampur.org/media [122] https://www.pratham.org/ [123] http://www.eklavya.org/index.html [124] https://placescreatedforlearning.com/what-is-activity-based-learning/ [125] https://www.teachthought.com/learning/what-is-blooms-taxonomy-a-definitionfor-teachers/

The traditional approaches to implementing ABL happen in a very structured sequence of steps using predefined list of resources, giving little room for child directed learning. While Bloom’s Taxonomy’s 1956-year version (on which Graduation Project by Ananya Agrawal|

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Fig 111: Stretching hands trying to feel the tip of the fingers

Fig 113: Sticking paper together equal to child height 84

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Fig 112: Tracing each other’s outline on the paper

Fig 114: Cutting the body outline created

ASSIGNMENT 26: Body Maps OBJECTIVE: • To encourage self-awareness and body positivity through a body maps activity [126] TARGETTED SKILL: Self-Awareness, Collaboration, Science, Art RESOURCES: Waste paper, marker/sketch pen, glue, paints PROCESS: Kim Andresen, an artist from Ontario was at the community for a short while and this session was conducted in collaboration with her for children of Grades 2 to 5.

1. Kim started with assembling the children in a circle and asking them about the five senses, particularly focusing on the sense of touch. This sense of touch was mostly experienced when our body is in contact with objects or other external entities.

2. She then asked if the children could still feel their body parts when not in contact with other objects. The children were confused. Kim now made them close their eyes and stretch their hands, asking if they could feel the tip of their fingers. They did. Next, she asked them to still keep their hands stretched but focus on their stomach, thinking about how long it had been since they ate that morning. They could now feel the rumbling of their stomachs more than the finger tips just by a mere thought. Kim told the children how they could feel a particular body part more than others just by focusing on it. She told them to pay attention and take care of each and every part of their body, for their body to love them back.

3. We now moved to the activity. The first task was to glue waste papers together to make a long sheet of paper, big enough such that one could lie down on it.

4. Next, the children had to lie down quietly on this paper and take help of a friend to trace their body outline. As the friend moved the marker close to their bodies, their focus automatically shifted to the marker movement and thereby the tracing of their body outline.

5. This outline created was called the body map which one need to cut to shape, separating it from the rectangular sheet it was a part of. The

children could now personalise this map by painting on it, writing positive things about themselves, sticking leaves/flowers or any other material to bring their maps to life.

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT TIPS: Let the children who do not get along well to pair up for the tracing to encourage mutual trust through the activity.

REFLECTION: The scale of the activity also excited the children as much as the activity itself- from figuring out how much paper they needed to trace themselves because they were taller/ shorter/ fatter/ skinnier, to the joy they felt once the tracing was done and they could see a two dimensional version of themselves.

POSSIBLE VARIATIONS: The cutouts can be pasted in the classroom and parts of it can be changed and altered everyday according to how the children feel on the inside, thus making this body map a medium of self expression.

References: [126] https://www.thechaosandtheclutter.com/archives/body-tracing-affirmationexercise [127] https://artfulparent.com/body-tracing-activity-for-kids/

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Fig 115: Mask Dance during Torgya festival

Fig 117: Minoti Maam helping Phuntsok prepare for the exhibit 86

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Fig 116: Children tearing waste paper into pieces to make pulp

Fig 118: Closer view of the paper mache face forms created

ASSIGNMENT 27: Paper Sculptures OBJECTIVE: • To be aware of and respect differences in people through paper mache face forms • To introduce the basics of sculpting during the process TARGETTED SKILL: Creativity, Social and Cultural Awareness RESOURCES: waste paper, fevicol/ local glue, waste wood piece PROCESS: 1. We started with introducing Grades 2 to 5 to the process of making paper pulp. Paper was torn into small bits and put into water to be soaked. After a few days of soaking and beating this soaked paper using wooden sticks for a finer pulp, the pulp was separated from excess water.

2. The required amount of pulp was then mixed with glue for stickiness.

3. They were taught basics of the sculpting process which is additive in nature when working with clay/ paper mache. This means that for getting the form right when using paper mache, one needs to add more material to the form as and where required. [128] 4. After learning the process of sculpting, the children were asked to look in the mirror and observe their face. “What kind of a shape does your face have? Is it oval/ diamond or heart-shaped? What makes this shape so? Is it a longer chin/ a broader forehead or just chubby cheeks?”

5. They then came back to form a circle and look at each other. “What was about a face that made each person so unique?” After a brief discussion on the same, the children moved to making their face forms.

6. They were shown how they could easily lift up the cheeks and nose or give a depression under the eyes to give the face forms the personalisation they wanted. Wood piece was used as a base to create this face sculpture. If someone finishes early, they were free to experiment with papier mache material to create a different sculpture as well.

7. These paper sculptures were kept for drying which took several days due to the cold weather.

8. Once dried, they were painted with acrylic paint for the final details.

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT TIPS: Children always like playing with water and can get really messy and also catch cold if not supervised well. Try to firmly set rules prior to the activity itself, which they need to adhere to for being a part of the activity. Also, be sure there is a spot available for drying such that the sculpture is protected from curious onlookers and does not get tampered while the paper is still wet. Once dried, papier mache is rock solid to be able to handle any kind of impact.

REFLECTION: The process of tearing bits of paper for making pulp might be a boring activity for adults but was converted into a game by the little ones which was interesting to watch. The children were familiar to the subtractive method of making face masks by carving wood, which is a popular craft in this region (both used in performances and hung on walls), and were interested to learn the additive method of creating it. For the exhibit, they gave each sculpture a character and wove a story around it under the guidance of Gombu Ma’am.

References: [128] http://www.abrahamlincolnartgallery.com/essaytypesofsculpture.htm

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Fig 119: Winning group of the strength of paper assignment

Fig 121: Discussing shapes and their structural strengths after the assignment 88

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Fig 120: Balancing glass bottle on paper rolled up to give curvature

Fig 122: Children working on the assignment

ASSIGNMENT 28: Material Challenge: Paper OBJECTIVE: • To learn about the strength of paper by exploring this property through a hands-on assignment TARGETTED SKILL: Curiosity, Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Science RESOURCES: Old papers, cellotape, scissor, some heavy objects to balance PROCESS: Since paper falls in the soft material category, it was interesting to explore the “Strength of Paper” as the focus property.

1. The class was divided into 4 groups, each group given one object which they had to balance on a structure made of paper at a certain height from the ground. [130] 2. We then discussed the concept of shapes and patterns in structures. [129] [133] This discussion had following parts to it: (a) shape of individual elements in the structure (most commonly used shape of individual elements was cylindrical in this case with varying diameters). (b) shape of the entire structure (why equilateral triangle shape was more stable as compared to other triangles, square and circle (c) the thickness of the paper (it was interesting to note how certain groups had folded and/or rolled the paper to increase the thickness.

The group working on balancing the glass bottle with a curved surface had folded paper in a concentric manner to give it a certain amount of depth, which was also interesting).

3. This was followed by a discussion on the applications of these concepts especially in architecture and furniture building. The children were given a homework assignment of creating sketches of paper chairs.

REFLECTION: The assignment is an example of how to execute Discovery Based Learning in classrooms. An exciting thing that happened during this class was that one of the groups was able to balance themselves on the structure that they had made and not just the object. In the chair sketches, a Grade 7 child, Yangchen proposed a spiral chair “on which people could sit facing each other if they wanted to have tea or with back against each other if they wished to read or do something by themselves”. We did not immediately take to the making of chairs but we did explore making chairs at a later stage the outcome of which showed good strength and durability.

POSSIBLE VARIATIONS: Structural properties or strength of paper can also be explored by introducing the Paper bridge [131] or origami structures [132] assignments. The concept of origami structures can also be used to explore the elasticity of paper or movement using paper as a material.

References: [129]https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/phy03.sci.phys.mfw.lp_shapes/ shapes-that-make-structures-strong/#.XhXQYUczbIU [130]https://www.discovere.org/sites/default/files/Strong%20Paper%20 Structure%20activity.pdf [131] https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/arct14.sci.bbpap/paper-bridgeactivity/ [132] https://www.advancedsciencenews.com/origami-based-cellular-structuresunfolding-paper-based-prototypes/ [133] https://www.steps.ie/StepsToEngineering/media/StepsToEngineeringmedialibrary/Volunteers/Activities/Everyday-structures-and-systems.pdf

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Fig 123: Working Dustbin with spring mechanism

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Fig 124: Coiling the metal wire using thin rod

ASSIGNMENT 29: Material Challenge: Metal OBJECTIVE: • To learn about the elasticity of metal by exploring this property through a hands-on assignment.

TARGETTED SKILL: Curiosity, Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Science RESOURCES:Cardboard, aluminium wire, copper wire, 2 iron wires of varying thickness, cylindrical rods of varying thickness for turning, scissor, cellotape PROCESS: Looking at the success of the previous assignment, a similar discovery-based learning method was continued. The next material chosen for exploration was metal.

1. The children were divided into 4 groups and given metal wires- either of a different metal or of different thickness. They were asked to try and make springs out of these by turning them on cylindrical rods of varying thickness.

2. This spring was then to be used to make a bin with an opening-closing lid to check how well it was working.

3. Following this, everybody assembled to discuss how elasticity changes with metal properties and thickness of wire.

become passive. Also, it was evident that this kind of a methodology does not work with all student audience. If you could repeadly spot certain engaged faces, same was true for the faces taking a backseat when following such a method.

It was important for me as a teacher to find the motivational triggers for the audience taking a back seat as well while I continued with my classes.

POSSIBLE VARIATIONS: The main thought process in putting these assignments together was to experiment with that property of the material which you don’t often directly associate it with- for example, the malleability of plastic or conductivity of cloth. A range of assignments can be formulated around this thought process.

References: [134] What did you ask at school today?, Kamala V Mukunda, 2009 [135] https://sites.google.com/a/baliis.net/approaches-to-learning/home/ collaboration/group-work-skills [136] https://www.teach-nology.com/currenttrends/constructivism/piaget/

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT TIPS: If you let the children create groups, they would either fight or choose to stick around with their comfort zone or friend circle. Instead you can make them stand in a circle and count numbers from 1 to 4 (for four groups) then shuffle the children equally based on this numbering. Once you get to know the children better, you can also shuffle group members such that every group has a balance of skill sets. [135] REFLECTION: Discovery-based learning works well with children as they have a tendency to organize information into meaningful schemas based on prior experiences. This is popular as Jean Piaget’s constructivist theory.

[136] Children need three types of classroom environments- Competitive, Cooperative and Individualistic [134] which are also well catered by such a setup. However, as a teacher you also need to experiment with different ways to provide such environments. If you continue with a set practice continuously for very long, what is now working for them as active learning construction will Graduation Project by Ananya Agrawal|

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Fig 125: Children working on connecting bottles of different sizes together

Fig 127: Different merged form surfaces created by children, kept for drying

Fig 126: Student working on the look and feel of new form created 92

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ASSIGNMENT 30: Trans-Form OBJECTIVE: • To introduce the idea that newness can be introduced by re-imagining the old, using existing 3D plastic bottle forms.

TARGETTED SKILL:Creativity RESOURCES: waste plastic bottles, m-seal, putty, sandpaper PROCESS: The idea emerged as a continuation to the object creation exercise but with waste materials like plastic bottles. It was also inspired by the form studies module [1] in Lifestyle and Accessories department, National Institute of Design.

1. The children went around hunting for at least two waste plastic bottles each, each bottle having different a form from the other. The bottles were thoroughly cleaned and dried for usage. The ones with huge dimension mismatch were rejected as they would be difficult to merge.

2. The two bottles chosen by each child were cut up from the middle.

3. One part of this cut portion was taken from each bottle and put against the other at a suitable angle and secured neatly with the help of m-seal.

4. Once the m-seal had dried, it was smoothed with the help of sandpaper if needed. Putty was applied on this new surface to help define the flow of edges and create a new singular form.

5. Once the putty had dried, this new form surface was sanded to capture the details better.

REFLECTION: The outcome of this module’s objective was not seen to be as effective as the efforts that went into its execution. One of the primary reasons for this dissatisfaction was because the children were too young and underexposed to comprehend such abstract concepts well. If they could not see a direct utility of the final object created they felt dejected. This linkage could not be established with the procedure adopted here. However, some of the children were seen to enjoy the process of it as it involved playing with materials. For example, Tsering Gombu, a Grade 9 child mearged 3 pieces together to create a very seamless new surface which I used as a flower pot in her room for a long time. Children also picked up how to use m-seal and putty in this process which they later used when working on their design projects.

References: [137] https://www.behance.net/gallery/63126981/FORM-STUDIES

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT TIPS: Since the activity involves messy work, especially when dealing with putty, have plastic sheets and old cans handy.

Also, one needs to be sure of a safe drying place where the artefacts cannot be tampered with, when drying.

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ASSIGNMENT 31: Meditative Art

ASSIGNMENT 32: Mosaic Art

OBJECTIVE:

OBJECTIVE:

• To work on attention span of children by introducing repition through movement, using the medium of sand art

• To learn how waste can be given aesthetic value for use in decoration and interior design.

TARGETTED SKILL: Persistance, Cultural Awareness

TARGETTED SKILL: Creativity

RESOURCES: Saw dust (available alternative for sand), fevicol, paper, pencil

PROCESS: A project had come from the office for decorating a cemented waste bin which was being installed on a site outside the community. When I was discussing the same with Susan, (an artist based out of Washington who was visiting the community on a voluntary basis) she was excited and suggested mosaic [139] as the artform to execute this project and took a class with Grades 6 and 7 explaining the intricacies. By the end we could not manage to get internal approvals to try making the suggested artworks on scale, but it was a learning experience nevertheless.

PROCESS: Saw dust and fevicol were used to create a painting of Gautam Buddha by the children of Grades 2 to 5.

1. We started with trying to replicate a simple image [138] of Buddha’s face with pencil and paper, studying aspects of face construction in the process.

2. The children had to then spread the glue and create shapes on paper (the glue bottle used had a nozzle to enable creation of fine lines).

3. The children sprinkled some saw dust on paper gently shifting the hand from side to side to allow the saw dust to cover all the glued areas.

REFLECTION: Repetition through movement using the medium of art is a popular Buddhist meditative practice, be it their sand mandala or the thangka art form. Certain aspects of formal education can only be retained through repetition and art can come handy for increased engagement into such processes.

References: [138] https://in.pinterest.com/pin/559853797431057667/

Fig 128: Susan explaining how to use a reference sketch to create your own mosaic

References: [139] https://study.com/acadeher/lesson/what-is-mosaic-art-history-design.html

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ASSIGNMENT 33: Shape Patterns OBJECTIVE: • To make children aware of shapes around them, while also introducing them to camera handling and basic photography.

TARGETTED SKILL: Creativity, Critical Thinking, Social Awareness RESOURCES: Camera, Paper and pencil, shape blocks PROCESS:

Fig 129: Finding shapes around the community

1. Grades 2 to 5 assembled near the whiteboard and while I wrote the name of shapes, any child had to volunteer to draw it out for all of us.

2. Next, we went around the campus looking for basic shapes and clicking them. Once each child had identified at least 4 basic shapes in their surroundings, the photographs were transferred to a computer and shapes were highlighted using paint software to reinforce the learning.

3. In the next session, the children were given a sheet of paper and made to draw a shape in at least 4 different ways, as found in nature.

4. Lastly, they played with shape blocks and put them together, first to recreate given shadow shapes and later on were given the freedom to create their own patterns.

REFLECTION: The children were quick to identify even lesser known shapes having studied the same in their classes, but it took them some time to locate these shapes in nature and draw them. Children were also seen to have difficulty in deconstructing a given shape shadow into basic shapes indicating that their abstract thinking level was low, as is for ages 10 and below. [140] This meant that classes for this age group needed to be largely teacher directed while also giving some space for decision making. For doing this I needed to get to know the children and their learning styles better which I tried to decipher by exposing them to a range of materials. Also, there was a huge difference between the knowledge levels of the children in this particular group which was something that needed to be balanced out by the assignment design.

References: [140] https://www.learningrx.com/4-cognitive-stages-for-child-development/

Fig 130: Connecting shapes to recreate a given pattern Graduation Project by Ananya Agrawal|

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Fig 131: Child putting his toothpick structure together

Fig 132: Tent made by teachers for new puppies 96

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Fig 133: Structures created by children in class

ASSIGNMENT 34: Toothpick Structures OBJECTIVE: • To introduce design thinking to kids using readily available materials as building blocks TARGETTED SKILL: Critical Thinking, Curiosity, Science RESOURCES: toothpicks (or any same size small sticks), clay (or local grain dough) PROCESS: During the conceptulization of this assignment I was trying to ideate something which could have enough variations to provide the required amount of challenge to children of Grades 2 to 5 where kids were at very different stages of growth.

I was also simultaneously trying to figure out how to create a tent for puppies in the corridor as winters were approaching and they needed a place to snuggle. It was midway through this brainstorming that the activity of toothpick structures struck me which was conducted in the following manner:

REFLECTION: Legos and Pixel art (discussed in detail later) have proven themselves as effective tools to introduce design thinking to kids. One of the many things that work well for these tools is the simplicity of the individual element or the building block which can be put together in n number of ways to introduce age appropriate complexity in the final design. This was the fundamental principle kept in mind when designing this particular activity.

This exercise not only pushed the children to use their minds but also showed them the importance of low-cost prototyping for delivering quality output. The simplicity which this age group demands in any assignment planned for them is a challenge in itself for any teacher. The class went smoothly with the children still focused on their structures even after the bell, reflecting the success of the assignment. The tent created by children had to be thrown away because a diseased dog housed it for the night before we could decide on where to place it.

However, the activity inspired the teachers to build a tent of our own to house the corridor puppies. This kind of an activity can also be used to physically construct new knowledge on top of previous knowledge by kids to create their learning pyramids.

1. The children were introduced to how complicated structures can planned by using toothpicks and clay. For example, a toothpick could not stand straight on its own, however, if supported by other toothpicks, and with a little joinery support using clay, it could be used to create huge towers. After this introduction the children were distributed the raw materials and asked to explore and come up with different 3D structures of their choice.

2. After the first round of explorations, I proceeded to give a brief idea to the children about how this planning of structures was useful. This kind of a pre-structural plan could help make robust structures while saving time and energy. The younger ones were then given the task of planning tents for the puppies while the older ones took a shot at creating the tallest tower using toothpicks. Children were made to notice why certain structures were more stable than the others during this process.

3. Once the initial plans were ready, we chose one simple structure and tried to recreate it on full scale using sticks collected from the jungle and a jute rope.

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Fig 134: Exploring patterns with beads

Fig 136: Dr Jess talking to children about patterns and jewellery making 98

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Fig 135: Worksheet on pixel art for younger children

Fig 137: Child explaining what she has understood about patterns

ASSIGNMENT 35: Pixel Art OBJECTIVE: •

To introduce the youngest group of children to design thinking with the help of pixel art

TARGETTED SKILL: Critical Thinking, Mathematics and Logic, Art RESOURCES: Gridbooks, Sketch pens, beads, thread PROCESS: 1. To introduce pixel art, I created a worksheet, one of the first tasks in it being to colour the grids to replicate the drawing above. For this the children numbered the grids along the x and y axes and tried to count and fill the grids. As the pages progressed, the grids got smaller and hence the drawings became more detailed.

2. The next task was to divide any drawing of your choice into grids and then replicate. We used ‘bindis’ to make simple drawings into pixel art.

3. After this we tried to understand patterns as a repetition of a sequence colours of the same shape or a repetition of the same shape but in varying size or the repetition of a sequence of shapes and a combination of these. The children were told to create their own patterns using basic shapes. We also looked at objects around us and identified patterns like stripes, spots, concentric, branching, fanning etc.

4. The last session was about exploring patterns through material for which beading and jewellery was chosen as a medium. This session was conducted in collaboration with Dr Jess who was a veterinarian by profesion but also fond of making jewellery as a hobby, who was here for a visit during that time.

5. The children started with exploring the simple patterns by using beads.

They were introduced to using small wire bending tools and attaching hooks and other add-ons to the jewellery sequence if needed. This session was attended by the older grades as well.

6. The children were next introduced to how patterns can be manipulated to direct the gaze of the observer. For instance, you can use a contrasting colour at the centre of the necklace to shift the attention there or you can use smaller beads in the centre and bigger ones on the side to shift the gaze to the ends.

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT TIPS: A level-based approach was used to differentiate the assignments when working in a multi-age classroom Only when you finish the tasks with a lower grade of complexity were you allowed to progress to the next task. If someone was having difficulty with a particular task, additional exercises were given for their practice to help them with it. This way the children could progress from one assignment to next at their own pace.

REFLECTION: This was undoubtedly one of the most successful assignments to the extent that following this if you asked her second graders what design is and the instant response you will get is “Patterns”. No, I did not teach them that correlation. But by now I had consciously and unconsciously used the concept of patterns quite repeatedly to introduce them to a range of thingsfrom the simplest concepts of math and art to the more complex concepts of play and brainstorming. It was fascinating how a simple word like that was able to touch point on abstract concepts of observation, listening, questioning, analytics, reasoning and much more. Moreover, it was completely material independent- use it with paper structures, leaves and plants, plastic weaving, pixel art, written word, circuits, cross stitch, music or your all time favorite legoscompletely your pick! It took me time to get to this simplification of things but it is interesting how this was so very fundamental to their understanding.

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Fig 138: Response from worksheet illustrating different types of clothing

Fig 140: Response from worksheet on how size of element can shift the attention

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Fig 139: Child display during exhibition on patterns

Fig 141: Photograph sent by Maths Teacher Humaira on Mandala class

ASSIGNMENT 36: Pattern Study OBJECTIVE: •

Introducing the concept of patterns to older age group in correlation with traditional knowledge and lifestyle products

TARGETTED SKILL: Social and Cultural Awareness, Maths, Social Studies RESOURCES: Paper, Pencil, Coloured chalk PROCESS:

an article about art based mathematical meditation by making mandalas which I later showed to the High School Mathematics teacher, Humaira, who was excited to try it in her class. [141] POSSIBLE VARIATIONS: In her book Slow Stitch [142] , Claire introduces the meditative, rhythmic practices of stitching with hand which not only use hand stitch as a way of emotional expression but creates patterns which are very beautiful to look at. The children could have also been introduced to Gestalt Laws and sent around the place to identify common occurances of the same in nature.

1. For the older children we started with the simple uderstanding of patterns as a repetition of change: in shape, size and colour, orientation or space. Patterns could now also be created by rotating the same shape or element, mirroring it or just changing the distance between two adjacent elements.

2. Next exercise was again about shifting the attention of the viewer by a change in patterns.

3. After this, the children were asked to draw commonly seen dresses in different cultures and compare and contrast it with Monpa traditional clothing based on geographical conditions of where it was worn or aspects like terrain, culture, raw material availability, fabric used, prints .

4. In the next session we worked on identifying a simple motif from the traditional bags/ dress/ shoes. This motif now had to be repeated such that it formed a new pattern.

Fig 143: Understanding how we perceive visual elements better, Source: verywellmind.com

Fig 142: A simple pattern identified from traditional bags

REFLECTION: The children often measured the space between two elements when making patterns to maintain a visual consistency. This made me connect the task to Geometric Progression formulas in mathematics. While the evenly spaced patterns are good for introducing simple geometry and measurement, if the pattern is varied such that they follow a geometric progression formula, the output is similar to optical art. It is at about the same time that I discovered

References: [141] https://www.weareteachers.com/making-mandalas-the-ultimate-art-mathmeditation-combo/ [142] Slow Stitch: Mindful and Contemplative Textile Art, Claire Wellesley-Smith, 2015

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Fig 144: Making a paste of the flower petals

Fig 146: Mixing chemical dye powder in boiling water 102

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Fig 145: Comparing Natural and Chemical dyes

Fig 147: Remnants of marigold flower

Fig 148: Cloth dipped in natural dye

ASSIGNMENT 37: Natural Dyes OBJECTIVE: • •

To introduce how to create and use your own colours using both natural and artificial sources To introduce both artistic and scientific aspects of this process

TARGETTED SKILL: Cultural Awareness, Curiosity, Chemistry, Social Studies RESOURCES: Flowers/ Vegetables for colouring, vinegar, chemical dye packet, iron files, alum as basic mordant, pH strips, muslin cloth, utensils and equipments for crushing and heating PROCESS: Followed by the session on colour theory, we thought of making natural colours and one of the ways to do this was making dyes. Dyes are commonly used in the region for making prayer flags as well as garments of monks. The word ‘dye’ shares its roots in an old english word deag which means to ‘reform’, in this case to change the color of something. Dyes can be made by specialized plant or animal species, by-products eg. lac or gum or manufacturing residue, chemical synthesis, tissue culturing and biotechnology. For this particular session we used marigold flowers vs turmeric, rose flowers, beetroot for making plant based dyes apart from a purple chemical dye. While the colourants give the colour to the fabric, the mordants help to bind the colour to the fabric. Pre-mordanting wool and silk with alum can prevent wear and tear of fabric. Sometimes pH modifiers are used during the dying process to give the required environment needed for dyeing, for example using vinegar for weak acidic environment.

1. After a quick review of the colour theory session, the children were introduced to terminologies of dyeing as described above.

2. We then spoke about the process of plant based dyeing which is as below: (a) Crush flowers/leaves/fruit/ stem to make a paste (b) Boil this paste in water for atleast 1 hr. Add pH modifier, if required, to prepare the dyeing bath (c) Soak fabric in mordant for 15min before transferring it to the dye bath. The longer the fabric is kept in bath, the deeper is the colour (d) Rinse the fabric using pH neutral soap to extract the extra dye

3. Children were divided into groups of four to prepare their dyes. While the younger ones prepared the paste, the older ones were called for a discussion on the chemical properties of dyes. There are majorly three types of dyes- (i) Substantive dye: These do not need a mordant to colour the fibre eg. turmeric, walnut leaves, (ii) Adjective dye: These give a relatively permanent colour only if the fibres are mordanted eg. marigold flowers, rose petals etc, (iii) Mineral dye: Prepared by Metallic ions in mordant salts As for the chemical structure, dyes are organic compounds that contain double bonds where electrons can be delocalized eg. benzene ring or nitro group. The mordant used therefore contains one monovalant and one trivalent cation which sits neatly in between these localized electrons to create a strong Hydrogen bond. These kind of organic compounds are also called chromophores due to the perception of colour given by them on interaction with light. We also saw a video to visually see the science behind the process of dyeing before resuming to the making of dyes. [143][144] REFLECTION: As an assignment children were told to try onion peels as a colourant, vary the mordant used and record the effects. They were also told to go around the local community and collect information on other locally used colourants for dyeing. The children were interested in watching how dyes affect one’s health and also the environment and why natural dyed fabrics should be preffered. Soon the flowers from gardens started to go missing for experimentation and the children were forbidden from plucking, restricted to using only vegetable peels like onions and fallen leaves.

References: [143] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gwk1B66dvAM [144] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILoZophnHfs [145] Natural Dyes: Sources, Chemistry, Application and Sustainability Issues, Sujata Saxena and A. S. M. Raja, Roadmap to Sustainable Textiles and Clothing, 2014 [146] https://fashion-history.lovetoknow.com/fashion-clothing-industry/chemicalsynthetic-dyes [147] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227314623_Chemistry_of_natural_ dyes [148] Wild Color, Revised and Updated Edition: The Complete Guide to Making and Using Natural Dyes, Jenny Dean and Karen Diadick Casselman, 2010 [149] http://www.wildcolours.co.uk/html/logwood_dyeing.html?redirect=false

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Fig 149: Cloth pattern created with chemical dye to be used as book cover

Fig 151: Recycled paper and Organically dyed cloth after drying 104

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Fig 150: Handmade recycled paper kept for drying

Fig 152: Handbound book

Fig 153: Paper mache table stand

ASSIGNMENT 38: Handmade Paper OBJECTIVE: • •

To use the dye pigment for making patterns from tie and dye techniques [150] To introduce the process of handmade paper making to reuse waste paper

TARGETTED SKILL:Social and Cultural Awareness, Material Literacy RESOURCES: muslin cloth, thread, waste paper, 1mm wire mesh, wood, nails, saw, fevicol, containers PROCESS: 1. Till now the children had been dyeing the complete fabric and obtaining plain patches. We started the session with learning about tie and dye techniques which are used to create patterns on fabric by varying the exposure of the fabric to the dye. For creating a dyed fabric using more than one colour dip only a part of the fabric in the dye, dipping the other part(s) only after this part dries. The following folds were explored during this time: (i) Strips Pattern: One of the simplest folds in which the fabric is folded in a zig zag manner and secured tightly with threads wherever you want the strips. The area covered with the thread remains white while the rest of it is dyed. (ii) Sunburst Pattern: To create sunburst type circular patches, pinch the fabric where you want to create the sunburst and pull upwards depending on the diameter of the sunburst you want. Secure this tightly with a thread. To create multiple sunbursts at a time, fold the fabric as required and pinch all the layers together.

2. After this we moved to learning how to make recycled paper from waste paper. [151] Before the class we had already teared waste paper into bits and made paper pulp. Parallely we had also prepared a rectangular wire mesh secured by a wooden frame. The children poured the paper pulp on the wire mesh to evenly spread the pulp. In later iterations we tried putting dye colours and flower petals to give a different look and feel to the paper. During the process of setting, the mould had to be shook from side to side, keeping it in the liquid to level out the paper

pulp mixture. Once it had set as desired, we took it out from the liquid and flattened it, squeezing out excess water by keeping an old cloth on top and pressing using a sponge. This flattened paper spread was then turned over on an old cloth and kept in the sun for drying. This process is similar to the process of making Monpa paper in the villages where a local plant fibre is used instead of waste paper for making the pulp.

3. In the next session while the younger ones continued to make paper, the older ones explored book binding techniques, mainly kettle stitch binding, [152] using empty pages in discarded notebooks. Some of these notebooks were covered with the dyed cloth for making a complete product.

REFLECTION: The children specially enjoyed playing with paper pulp and while they were trying to make handmade paper, two children at a time, the remaining children started taking the pulp and directly pressing it against the cloth surface to make paper. Though these papers were thicker, they had a nice texture to them. The children said it was like making ‘papad’ from flour. Some children also started making other artefacts from it like containers and table stands. The base of the table stand was made using old ink cartridges tightly tied together, the gaps and surface filled with paper pulp. The assignment could have been planned better, over a larger duration, giving space and time for creating more explorations and variations with materials.

References: [150] http://www.bystephanielynn.com/2015/06/tie-dye-folding-techniques-16vibrant-tie-dye-patterns-tiedyeyoursummer.html [151] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR_218EtLJU [152] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O4kFTOEh6k

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Fig 154: Explaining how to create your own motifs for block printing 106

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Fig 155: Modified pattern giving it a different colour palette as derived from image

ASSIGNMENT 39: Colour Palette OBJECTIVE: • •

To introduce colour palettes as a method of new pattern creation To introduce the skill of block printing [153] to try making patterns using soft materials

TARGETTED SKILL: Creativity, Social and Cultural Awareness, Social Studies, Art RESOURCES: Old thermacol pieces or potatos, paper cuter or knife, sand paper, colour dyes created by naturalists in their previous session, muslin cloth PROCESS: 1. We started the class with discussing about how we can draw pattern inspirations from nature, especially in terms of colour. We started exploring this aspect by learning about colour palettes. [154] For this assignment the children had to choose an image of their choice and identify 4-5 colours from it, followed by using these colours in a predefined pattern.

2. Children were introduced to four main types of colour palettes, namely, monochrome (using variations of the same colour), analogous (using one main colour and its adjacent colours on the colour wheel), complementary (using opposite colours on the colour wheel), triadic (using colours on equidistant points on the colour wheel). This was followed by looking at how nature inherently follows these schemes giving an aesthetic variance to our environment.

3. By now most of the class had already practiced pattern creation on paper. One of the simple and beautiful ways to use these patterns on everyday object designs was block printing. Dyes made by the Naturalist group were kept, waiting to be dipped.

4. The children were first introduced to the concept of block printing by showing them a video on how it was done in craft clusters at a large scale for producing handmade products for the market. For such work, blocks were generally created by the process of subtractive sculpting or carving on wood. I then showed them how block printing can be done on a range of products, showing them a block printed bag I had as an example. For more detailed printing work and larger size prints, screen printing is a preferred technique.

5. Following this introduction I showed them how easy it was to create a block using everyday materials like potatoes and waste materials like thermacol. The only important thing to remember was to identify the basic shape(s) which is(are) repeating in the pattern created to reduce the number of blocks needed to be created and make the process of printing more effective.

6. The children were asked to decide a simple pattern which they wanted to replicate on cloth using block printing. In this chosen pattern they had to identify the repeating element(s) which they needed to create a block of.

7. The blocks once created had to be dipped in the colour and pressed upon the fabric for printing. To make a multi-coloured or layered design, one can first print with one colour followed by printing with the second, once the previous colour has dried.

REFLECTION: Children were seen using each other’s motifs to create newer patterns which was interesting. What did not work was that the naturally created dye colours left a very light impression on the cloth even after having dipped the fabric in the mordant prior to block printing. On further reading I discovered the process [156] of making natural paints was a little different from making dyes and also how paints were generally more viscous than dyes. Preferred materials for making paints inclued tea leaves, berries, beetroot etc. [155]

References: [153] http://eacharya.inflibnet.ac.in/data-server/eacharya-documents/53e0c6cbe41301 6f234436ed_INFIEP_8/110/ET/unit-2%20Lesson%205.pdf [154] https://www.invisionapp.com/inside-design/quick-guide-color-palette/ [155] https://artful-kids.com/2010/09/08/experimenting-with-natural-paints/ [156] https://www.diynatural.com/homemade-paint-for-kids/

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Fig 156: Child weaving plastic on tin can

Fig 157: Child with a small cardboard box loom trying to weave plastic using it 108

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Fig 158: Types of weaves for metal (above) and fibre (below) [158][159][160]

ASSIGNMENT 40: Weaving OBJECTIVE: •

To introduce interlacing of materials or weaving as a skill

TARGETTED SKILL: Social and Cultural Awareness, Creativity, Curiosity, Math, Science

REFLECTION: The children actively used plastic as a material for weaving apart from wire, tin, paper and wool. Most children were already familiar with simple weaving of threads and often made beautiful bracelets for gifting. What fascinated them was how many different materials could be woven in a similar manner.

RESOURCES: waste materials like wire, thread, cloth, tin, plastic, paper, cardboard, scissors, blade, beads, nails, wood PROCESS: 1. We started the class with discussing what is meant by the term ‘weave’ and what can be woven. Originally the term evolved from the act of wool weaving or the old age methods of creating fabric from fibre.

However, looking at the process of weaving closely, it can be seen as interlacing of materials and with time a range of materials have penetrated the boundaries of what can be woven, ranging from any kind of fibre to hair to waste plastic to leaves, cane and bamboo to metal to even clay and glass. The children were shown a series of photographs of these materials in their woven form.

2. Any weave had two main components- warp (lengthwise or longitudinal) and weft (transverse or inserted over and under the warp) 3. Next, we discussed the types of weaving. This is defined by the raw material used and the texture of end product required as seen in Fig 155. Most materials could be woven using fibre weaving techniques like twill, basket and satin, as they have similar material properties.

However, metals are stiffer than fibres and need a separate set of techniques for weaving such as soumak so that the weft and warp are taut. [161] Clay and glass are generally woven by fusing of layers under heat. [162] We also discussed the Japanese art of paper weaving where they roll the paper dipped in water to create thread like structured which can then be woven like fibres.

4. Once thorough with the weaving types, children needed to create simple looms to start weaving, namely, cardboard box loom, pin loom using nails, pocket loom [157] This required them to have a sound knowledge of measurement to create equidistant warp threads.

5. For practice, children had to try weaving a combination of waste materials available in class

Fig 159: Child trying to old weave metal wire References: [157] Inventive Weaving on a Little Loom: Discover the Full Potential of the RigidHeddle Loom, for Beginners and Beyond, Syne Mitchell, 2015 [158] https://chestofbooks.com/crafts/art/Discarded-Materials/Chapter-XVI-TinCans.html [159] https://www.slideshare.net/adeebaafreen/textiles-106535016 [160] https://www.ganoksin.com/article/introduction-weaving-metal/ [161] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0e2PGZdsmQ [162] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b6PFe1Di9I [163] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRV3v9eAWqs

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Fig 160: Internal Jewellery exhibition put up by children

Fig 162: Some of the pieces of jewellery made by children 110

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Fig 161: Display put up along with pricing and offers as part of service design

Fig 163: Jewellery popularly worn by Monpa women

ASSIGNMENT 41: Accessory Design OBJECTIVE: •

To practice new pattern creation with materials taking accessories as an artefact

TARGETTED SKILL: Creativity, Adaptibility, Critical Thinking RESOURCES: Coloured paper, feathers, hooks, wires, discarded bangles, glue, readymade beads, stones, threads PROCESS: 1. The children were already familiar with quilling as a method to make paper beads. They had to now use their knowledge of patterns and colour palettes to put together these beads to make jewellery pieces.

2. While they were at it, we also discussed how more intricate pieces of jewellery could be created using weaving methods- for example, a plain weaving of beaded thread could create beautiful beaded loom bracelets while soumak weaving of wires or tin can strips can create stunning brooches and neckpieces. We also saw how cold drink and can bottle tops could be put together to make beautiful jewellery pieces.

3. Next, we looked at knotting [165] as a technique and how it was different from weaving. Weaving needed warp threads in tension while weft threads could be interlaced. Knotting, however, had no such concept of interlacing and was mostly done by hand, creating different knots using loose ends. Macrame [164] was one such knotting style.

Another popular knotting style introduced were the celtic knots [166] Knotting was used popularly to make a range of lifestyle accessories like bags, wall hangings, scarves etc.

4. Lastly, we spoke about the stone jewellery worn by Monpas. Most of these stones were manufactured and polished before using them as jewellery pieces. One of the children asked about how to use a stone as a part of the accessory without drilling it. This made us look into stone wrapping [167] as a technique through which one can wrap a thread around stones without drilling them.

Fig 164: Child making a bag by knotting wool

REFLECTION: A lot of material was disappearing from the stock without any visible result of work to me at this point which is why I held an internal exhibition for the children to show what they had been working on so far. Tenzin Drolma C from Grade 5, Yangchen Lhamu from Grade 7 and Pema Drolma from Grade 8 decided to work on jewellery making further during the service design assignment and put up a stall for selling jewellery for the end of the year exhibit which was appreciated by community members. For this stall they worked on the pricing of the jewellery pieces and also gave special offers like giving a pendent free with a minimum purchase.

References: [164] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6fnsaIQEH4 [165] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OORWQQf8-dU [166] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj7aPTn55QY [167] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reiSgMN5Hxw&t=397s

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Fig 165: Child ideas on how the garment being created can look like

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ASSIGNMENT 42: Garment Collage OBJECTIVE: • To introduce basics of apparel design TARGETTED SKILL: Creativity, Social Studies RESOURCES: old magazines, waste clothes, thread, needle, scissor, stitching machine, pencil and paper PROCESS: 1. This class was conducted after Assignment 68 where we had had a decision to design a protective, wearable garment for females. The first session for the fashion design group was about trying to understand the prospective customer persona for whom the product was being designed. Though it was a mutual consensus that anyone can be a victim of physical abuse, to conduct a design exercise on the theme it was important to dwell more on the aspect. The children decided to work on girls in early 20s. They went on to conduct a study on lifestyle, physical characteristics and other details of this possible customer.

2. In the next class the children were given some old magazines and blank sheets to work on garment designs. The children worked on brainstorming and translating some design ideas they had into a visualform by the means of collage.

3. Next, I requested Savitri didi who was a working staff at the community, to take some sessions on stitching for the children- both hand-stitching and machine stitching.

4. The children went waste cloth hunting in the community store room and tried to upcycle it [168] to resemble some of the designs that they had created on paper.

REFLECTION: The children were seen to be really inspired by Korean fashion trends. We had Humaira Ma’am try out one of their upcycled clothing which was fun. Initially Sapna Didi was reluctant in letting children use the stitching machine. She told me how children used to always loose her needles and had not taken these classes seriously when the community had tried to introduce them to stitching as a part of experiential learning on an earlier occasion. She also spoke about her interest in knitting and tailoring and how she had tried to do a course on the same earlier but had to leave it mid way for some reasons. Though I had assured her of any replacement of raw materials I wasn’t very confident of how children would take this introduction. It is here I realised that that these children had not shown interest earlier because these things were already done at their home, unlike urban kids. Till any kind of value addition was not brought into this process, they would not take interest in it. It is here that design methods came handy. This was also a new kind of design exploration for me and the insights gained during this time helped me create the Lifestyle module later.

Fig 166: An image of Sapna Didi from the archieves References: [168] https://fashionista.com/2019/01/upcycled-clothing-sustainable-fashion-trend

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ASSIGNMENT 43 OBJECTIVE: •

To introduce design methods for upcycling clothing and fabric waste

TARGETTED SKILL:Creativity, Critical Thinking RESOURCES: doll, waste cloth, pins, thread, needle, scissors, newspapers PROCESS: 1. We started with discussing about “upcycling” as way of repurposing discarded materials. The children were familiar with the term and the need for upcycling, having worked on multiple assignments using discarded materials by now. It is therefore that we kept this discussion short and directed it towards discarded fabric and how it can be used.

2. One of the foremost things that we tend to ignore are fabric scraps.

We started putting these together trying to understand patchwork and applique [177] work in the process. Patchwork or piecework is the process of sewing small pieces of fabric together to make a large piece, while appliqué is the process of sewing smaller pieces of fabric onto a larger background fabric. There has been a new trend of reverse applique recently where they stitch the negative image of a motif on top of a background fabric. Largely, they are all techniques of forming a single pattern with different pieces of cloth. We tried two approaches to make these- first, where the fabric scraps were laid out and positioned before stitching and the other where the fabric scrap determined the final output, one scrap at a time. The garments created for this exercise were small and suited for the doll mannequin.

3. After getting the basic idea of how garments can be stitched, we learnt how to measure the full-scale bodice or the body pattern for making garments.[174][175][176]For this, we used newspapers or old sheets of paper. The children were supposed to work in pairs of two and dress their partner using these newspapers. They had to number these pieces before taking them off and using them as measurements for cutting the fabric.

4. Last, we looked at how one of the reasons for discarding garments was simply that they did not align to the current trend. This made us look into restyling methods like dying, bleaching, or altering/re-stitching.

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Fig 167: Doll mannequin for experimenting

Fig 168: Anuj Sharma’s first experiment for Button Masala [172]

REFLECTION: The children were most interested in seeing Anuj Sharma’s work in Button Masala where buttons are used to flexibly alter the dress, and wanted to try out the same. We did not have enough time to experiment a lot with this technique but as a practice exercise for the evening I gave them an old kurta and a few al pins to try and give it a different look without cutting or stitching.

References: [172] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5k0qr8UWkA [173] http://www.vervemagazine.in/fashion-and-beauty/6-off-beat-indian-brandscommited-to-the-art-of-upcycling [174] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgh7EHTnQPk&t=138s [175] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WVOhnq1cro&t=27s [176] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmLThmehn7M [177] http://www.craftmark.org/sites/default/files/P006%20Applique.pdf

Learning from the Community: Local Crafts OBJECTIVE: • •

To establish a connect with the local community and their ways of living To see how formal education can add value in the lifestyle of locals

TARGETTED SKILL: Social and Cultural Awareness

REFLECTION: As a classroom experiment, I tried to find a local craftsperson who would like to work as a trainer with the children and the teachers. The plan was to work on a curriculum designed around local crafts practices while also bringing in a value addition to these practices by design. I found a lady called Jaherang who was interested in experimenting and also sourced threads from village for the session but couldn’t formally conduct a class due to internal complications in the NGO at that time.

PROCESS: To make the children familiar with the traditional processes of engaging with materials, we went to the villages to study their ways of working. The craftspeople in the villages mostly worked on making local textiles during offseason, i.e. when farming was not happening. The popular artefacts made by them were their traditional seven layered woven clothing for females and a two piece clothing for males, gaale or a woven wraparound skirt worn by females, knitted swetters, socks and scarfs, felted headgear. [171] Very young children in villages were familiar with plain weaving with looms as they had grown up seeing it. It is thus that these traditional crafts and their processes were almost innate to the children and easy to relate to when connected with formal studies. By a formal study of these processes, the children can learn to value these processes more and become more concious of them, pushing their boundaries by mixing materials and methods.

As we went around the village clusters, we tried to identify different looms and the weaving styles the villagers were familiar with. We saw that the village artisians generally chose to create rectangualar swatches of fabric using a consistant color pallette and very rarely tried to experiment with different forms and features. One of the reasons for the same was that the audience for these craftspeople was small and limited to local communities who used the fabric or bags created out of them for regular wear. The craftspeople had little exposure to global trends and how to orient the crafts to meet these demands to thereby expand their market. The understanding of money and pricing was also very limited as the older generations still preferred barter system of trade.

Fig 169: Shafali with an artisan in the village who weaves bags and gaale

References: [169] Loose Parts 3: Inspiring Culturally Sustainable Environments, Miriam Beloglovsky, 2018 [170] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4-LCu0yonU [171] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUZnUxcd0Bo

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Fig 170: Children interviewing a disabled person

Fig 171: Child group on village visit to understand health from a cultural perspective

Fig 172: Children interviewing a villager about personal hygiene

Fig 173: Old woman telling how she uses a plant’s roots to relieve her knee pain

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Learning from the Community: Health and Hygiene OBJECTIVE: • •

To establish a connect with the local community and their ways of living To learn about the local village health and hygiene perception

TARGETTED SKILL: Social and Cultural Awareness, Communication PROCESS: 1. Since this was a focused research, the children worked on questions or enquires that they wanted to address prior to the field visit. This enabled them to ask questions more confidently when on field, apart from drawing more informed insights.

2. On the day of the field visit the group woke up early, at around 6:30 in the morning and travelled to the villages of Baggar, Kharting and Phomang to conduct the study. We had our meals with the villagers and returned back to the community late in the evening. The children took turns in talking to the villagers, writing notes and photographing things.

3. The older people were more conversant about things than younger age groups. We were told by the old women in the villages that earlier they used soap leaves and nuts for washing and bathing but now they used packaged soap from the market. They were also not familiar to the concept of brushing when growing up and it was introduced to them by their grandchildren. There were toilets in almost every village house due to recent interventions under Swatchh Bharat Abhiyaan. However, proper waste disposal fascilities were still missing. A lot of plastic and tin packaging waste could be seen openly dumped in particular.

4. We also asked them about the commonly found illnesses in the area and how the treatments to their ailments happen, considering that there were no hospitals nearby. The common illnesses found in the area were cold, headache, stomach ache, dysentery, scabies, TB, jaundice, gastritis etc. There were a lot of local, plant based medicines [1] which the people used as a home remedy to cure these diseases, some of them are listed below: (a) Phamereblang: The plant roots are to be crushed and boiled with water. This concoction on drinking cures pain. (b) Sheymen: This plant is to be crushed and applied on scabies

(c) (d) (e) (f)

affected area Gee: These leaves are also crushed and boiled until cooked.

This can be applied to cure ringworm.

Choulang: It is boiled and had as soup to stop dysentery Phalampho: Its root is applied on face to cure pimples Barwa: It is used to cure TB

REFLECTION: Before going for the visit the children were insistantly saying that they know what the people in the villages have to say and that they need not go all the way there to see things. However, on coming back there was a change in opinion and they were astonished at how much they did not know.

This was one welcome change. We also saw the Gompa,or the Buddhist religious place which was also used to assemble the villagers for panchayats or any other announcements. We spoke about conducting participative research with the village audience in the Gompa and also testing the products made during classes with them. Another proposition was to conduct a session with the younger generation, headed by the older generation on their knowledge of medicinal plants.

References: [178] First report on Ethnopharmacological Uses of Medicinal Plants by Monpa Tribe from the Zemithang Region of Arunachal Pradesh, Eastern Himalayas, India, Tamalika Chakraborty, Somidh Saha and Narendra S. Bisht, 2017

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Fig 175: The curtains opening for a new story

Fig 174: Children prepaing characters for their puppet show 118

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Fig 176: Children narrating a story using characters and background

ASSIGNMENT 44: Puppet Theatre OBJECTIVE: • To make stories come to life using puppetry as a medium TARGETTED SKILL: Social and Cultural Awareness, Creativity, Communication, Collaboration, Literature, Language RESOURCES: Old cardboard box, paper cutter, scissors, white sheets, fevicol, black chart paper, muslin cloth, string, pencil, crayons PROCESS: 1. The first task was making the puppet theatre. We brought a cardboard box and cut it into the required size, keeping the front part open and gluing a black chart paper sheet for neatness. Three slits were made on either side for the entry and exit of characters. The back part could be lifted up and down for changing the background scene and keeping props on the stage during the show. Curtains made of two muslin cloth pieces were attached in front with the help of a string. These curtains could be opened and closed at the start and end of each show to complete the theatre look.

2. While the theatre was being made, the children of Grades 2 to 5 were given a task to talk to the older community members and find and jot down traditional folktales in their notebooks or come up with their own stories.

3. Next, the children learnt how to break a story down into background, characters, scenes and props. Lhaden narrated us the story ‘Lion and the Mouse’ and we deconstructed it into these four elements as she spoke. The characters were created by drawing on paper and placing a stick behind them to hold while the background and props were given a stand like structure to stay put on its own.

4. The children were now ready to stage their own stories and worked on one story each, deconstructing the story elements, creating them using paper and cardboard, taking help if needed.

5. For their presentations, we called the nearby community members as audience and played music in the background to go with the setting. Children could help each other if more than one character was involved in the scene.

REFLECTION: Stick puppets were chosen to keep the process of making puppets simple, and also give more room for customization while keeping the focus of the assignment on story telling. The children were surprisingly not familiar with the Monpa folktales and asked their Ama las to narrate it to them which worked as a good bonding exercise between them as well. Two children decided to write stories on their own. One of them, Maling Tashi, forgot his plot while narrating and created a new plot on spot which did not work out very well but was a good attempt nevertheless. The theatre setup was later taken by the children to their subject classroom to play with during their free time.

POSSIBLE VARIATIONS: Hand puppets can be created by sticking character faces on top of brown paper bags to avoid the hassle of making a puppet theatre.

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Fig 178: Pages from submission on Nature Observation

Fig 177: Pages from submission on Nature Observation 120

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Fig 179: Deriving properties from object of interest

ASSIGNMENT 45: Inspired by Nature OBJECTIVE: • To introduce nature study as a sensory exercise [179] [180] • To show how aspects can be drawn from these observations as design inspirations.

TARGETTED SKILL: Observation, Creativity, Social Studies, Mathematics RESOURCES: Pencil, paper, sticky notes, sketch pens, needle, thread, waste cloth, scale PROCESS: 1. The children were told to spread across the campus, choose a natural object and then write about it how it looked, sounded, smelled, tasted and felt. Next to this writeup they had to draw the object in detail.

2. They had to then choose one or more of these sensory properties that they had identified and brainstorm around it keeping in mind the same object group. For example, one could look at the color, texture, shape and form of cement blocks as a group for cement tile as object.

3. Next, they had to sketch bag designs inspired by these properties- eg. a bag inspired by cement tiles was visually geometric while a bag inspired by thornbush might have extentions sticking out from it or might attach itself to the wearer’s dress like velcro fabric does.

4. To learn how bags are stitched, the children brought to class a simple pouch of their choice. The had to then identify the number and measurement of cloth swatches needed (straps/pockets) as well as any additional materials needed like cardboard, foam, elastic, velcro, buttons etc to make the bag.

5. After they had successfully replicated the bag brought by them, they could proceed to stitching the bags that they had sketched.

dren to address questions and concerns. Each child needed to master a concept before moving on to the next. Also, special projects could be created here for children like Sanjay who were struggling and needed more personalized assignments, while jumping people like Mani who quickly mastered a concept, to the next.

REFLECTION: Many renowned educationists like Jinan KB[179] and Joseph Cornell[180] have worked tirelessly to create assignments that establish a relationship between nature and what is to be taught which can be referred to for implementing such strategies in class. Many children were seen to have trouble in measuring bigger sized cloth bags brought by them for replication.

This needed some additional work on her front to teach them how to use the scale and then add similar sized shapes which had been folded and stitched together to make the bag. As with the sketching assignmnet, here too, some new children were seen to take deep interest while certain others were seen to get restless and demand more building exercises.

References: [179] https://www.jinankb.in/ [180] Sharing nature with children, Joseph Bharat Cornell, 2009

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT TIPS: Children rotated through a variety of “stations,” like garden, sitting space, fabric corner depending on which stage of the assignment they were in. This way children could work independently without worrying about how they are performing in comparison to their peers.

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Fig 180: Plotting smell on map

Fig 181: Creating colour coded scale for touch 122

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ASSIGNMENT 46: Sensory Maps OBJECTIVE: • To introduce sensory integration in classrooms [181] through the medium of sensory maps TARGETTED SKILL: Spatial Awareness, Curiosity, Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Geography, Social Studies RESOURCES: Paper, color pencils, sticky notes, sketchpens

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT TIPS: Conducting a few nature walks with the children where the teacher demonstrates how small sensory experiences construct the overall experience of space prior to such an assignment can help to broaden children’ understanding of the concept.

REFLECTION: Sensory integration in classrooms is important for building strong listening, observation and communication skills by heightened awareness of surroundings. According to the children this assignment not only helped them in building such an awareness but also to get a better understanding of how they could create their own personalised maps.

PROCESS: 1. A discussion was held on the five senses after which the children were divided into 5 groups. Each group had to create a sensory scale for their reference from 1 to 10- e.g. for smell you could list 1 as the foulest odour and 10 could be the most fragrant odour. One colour had to be assigned to each number on scale.

2. Keeping this scale in mind the children had to walk from one end of the community to another, draw the community map as they perceive it and plot different sensory experiences on this map. For example, for smell, if you found dog poo on the road you could make a small brown circle there indicating scale of 1 while near flower pots you can make a purple circle indicating scale 9. The circle could be made bigger or smaller depending on how strong or weak the experience was.

3. The above had to be repeated for all the five senses, looking at the space through that sense. Once done, children had to report back to the class and discuss their observations, sharing their group’s learnings with other groups.

4. They had to then pick any one location on the map and analyse its overall sensory experience drawing from the insights collected from all the five groups.

References: [181]https://knilt.arcc.albany.edu/The_Importance_of_Sensory_Integration_in_the_ Classroom

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Fig 182: Children working to create the edible map

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Fig 183: Top view of the edible map created

ASSIGNMENT 46.1: Food Maps OBJECTIVE: • To be able to translate children’ experiences of space into sensory artefacts.

RESOURCES: A range of food items of different colours, textures, smells and taste PROCESS: 1. The children had to now start working on representing their sensory maps using different mediums. The groups working on smell and taste were combined to ideate together and who suggested to work on edible maps as their artefact.

2. These children were thus given an array of food items which they could use to create a food/ edible map of Jhamtse which reflected their observations.

REFLECTION: Howard Gardner’s [184] theory of Multiple Intelligences MI which shares a strong correlation to sensory experiences, identifies nine different types of intelligence: linguistic (word smart), logical (number/reasoning smart), spatial (picture smart), musical (sound smart), bodily/ kinaesthetic (body smart), naturalist (nature smart), interpersonal (people smart) and intrapersonal (self-smart), existential (life smart). Children are inclined to give meaning to what they experience using one or more of these intelligences. In time, a teacher can observe a child’s strong inclination towards specific intelligence or a pattern through which a particular child learns better which is referred to as the “learning style” of the child.

POSSIBLE VARIATIONS: Ophelia, the junior school English teacher, introduced me to Proprioceptive and Vestibular systems, something she was studying to encourage positive behaviors in her classes. [185] [186] Together these two systems help lay the foundation for body awareness, position in space, and motor skills and contribute to an overall sense of organization and well-being in the world. Vestibular activities are an interesting way of stimulating such sensory experiences which can be easily integrated in traditional classrooms. [187] References: [182]Five Minds for the Future, Howard Gardner, 2005 [183] Celebrating Every Learner: Activities and Strategies for Creating Multiple Intelligences Classroom, Thomas R Hoerr, 2010 [184] In Their Own Way: Discovering and Encouraging Your Child’s Multiple Intelligences, Thomas Armstrong, 2000 [185] https://theinspiredtreehouse.com/sensory-issues-teens-movement/ [186] https://www.growinghandsonkids.com/vestibular-system-affects-childrenbehavior.html [187] http://www.brainrules.net/about-brain-rules [188] Curriculum and Project Planner Revised: For Integrating Multiple Intelligences, Thinking Skills (Featuring Blooms and Williams Taxonomies) and Authentic Instruction (TTIP) 3rd edition, Sandra Schurr and Charlotte Bosarge

This theory was kept in mind when designing these series of assignments. These assignments also aimed to see that if sense was kept in the forefront of the assignment instead of the theory needed to be taught by formal learning [2] then what are the insights that can be drawn. The first observation was that though a sensory experience is in focus, the outcome or the final artefact created as a representation cannot be independent of other senses. The second observation was that children associated certain set of materials to a particular sensory language. The latter made me think about the theory of multiple intelligences in a new light, wondering if children’s material preferences also shared a correlation with these learning styles.

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Fig 185: Base of the Tangible map, made using paper mache

Fig 184: Children creating small building models of Jhamtse to place on map

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ASSIGNMENT 46.2: Tangible Maps OBJECTIVE: • To be able to translate children’ experiences of space into sensory artefacts.

RELATED SUBJECT: Geography, Social Studies RESOURCES: Paper, cardboard, fevicol, cellotape, scissor, smartphone PROCESS: 1. The children working on sight and touch decided to work on the architectural model of Jhamtse while the ones working on sound went around the campus to record sounds to play in the background of this tangible map.

2. The people recording sounds made a compilation of different sounds around the campus at multiple locations. Each identified location was also visited at morning, afternoon, evening and night to see how the same space sounded different at different time slots.

3. The one’s working on the architectural model first determined the scale of the model they needed and joined a huge piece of cardboard accordingly. They sketched out a brief layout plan on top of this.

4. Next, they worked on the elevation of the land. Since the community was located in a hilly region this elevation was uneven and not geometric. It is therefore that paper mache was used as a medium to create the elevation 5. While two people were working on the paper mache base, the other members in the team worked on small houses and buildings to place on top of this. These buildings were made of old cardboard packaging of toothpaste tubes, soaps, oil etc as it had the appropriate stiffness to create these building models.

6. Trees, plants and other flora and fauna was created using toothpicks, old cloth, sticks collected from outside and from paper mache itself.

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT TIPS: Children were given the freedom to lead these groups and make their own decisions about the models. This was useful to conduct parallel projects smoothly without any disturbances.

REFLECTION: These series of assignments were in the category of the few such assignments designed completely by herself for this age group and it was heartening to see a positive feedback. The children working on tangible maps initially found it difficult to imagine “something so huge at such a small scale” but later caught up to it. Lham Tashi mentioned this assignment in his annual feedback identifying it as both “the most challenging” and “the most exciting” activity requesting to be taught to make “more small houses”.

The model had to be discontinued midway due to winter vacations, after which I started with her second pilot and we did not get the time to finish it as imagined.

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Fig 186: Teams geared up for the race

Fig 187: The winning car with 2 balloons and a foam base

Fig 188: Child group making the balloon car

Fig 189: Science teacher, Shalom making his own car

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4.7 mechanics: ASSIGNMENT 47: Balloon Car OBJECTIVE: • To encourage scientific aptitude in children through an activity-based learning method [190] • To introduce Newton’s third law of motion TARGETTED SKILL: Curiosity, Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Science RESOURCES: Balloons, straws, cellotape, scissors, blades, bottle caps, plastic bottles, old pens, waste foam,, cardboard, tetrapacks PROCESS: This assignment was the first in the series of Science Lakpar activities for Grades 6 to 8, led by Sunil and assisted by me. Grade 12 children and their Chemistry and Biology teacher, Shalom, also joined us for this assignment. This particular assignment was to introduce the scientific concept “Every action has an equal and opposite reaction”, by conducting a balloon car race. [189]

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT TIPS: Having only the group leader come and pick materials needed from the range of resources made available gave autonoher over building the car and also avoided a possible commosion if all children were to come together to pick materials up. The presence of older grade children was also of help as the younger ones connect with the older kids better as compared to teachers.

REFLECTION: All groups used a different combination of materials for making their cars which also introduced them to how material properties (weight, form etc.) affects the reaction force. Shalom Sir decided to join the excitement instead of being just an observer and make his own car. The children very easily managed to beat his tetrapack car which had wheels made of an old pen. The winning car was made of foam, the team choosing to use two balloons instead of one.

References: [189] https://www.sciencebuddies.org/teacher-resources/lesson-plans/balloon-car [190] Activity Based Teaching Learning: An Experience, Ujwala Patil, Journal of Engineering Education Transformations, 2016

1. Children were divided into four groups, each group with at least one Grade 12 child 2. Sunil introduced the ‘Action force’ and the ‘Reaction force’ with the help of a video showing a rocket lifting up.

3. The groups were then given a brief to use the action force of air escaping a balloon to achieve the reaction force of a toy car moving forward. This prototype had to be created using the materials spread out before hand in the corner of the classroom.

4. Each group had to prepare a list of the materials needed by them from the available resources. Once done, the group leader had to come to pick the needed materials.

5. The groups started experimenting with their cars in the given time frame 6. As soon as the time was up, two people per team came to the race track.

7. After the winners of the race were declared, a discussion was held about different materials and structures used for making the car and why some cars fared better than the others.

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Fig 190: Simple Mechanisms introduced to the children

Fig 192: Few of the many models on display 130

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Fig 191: Children exhibiting their mechanical toys

Fig 193: Child demonstrating her mechanical sprinkler toy

ASSIGNMENT 48: Mechanical Toys OBJECTIVE: • To introduce simple mechanisms using replication and play TARGETTED SKILL: Curiosity, Adaptability, Persistance, Science

learn to make things they can use like bags. Tharpa from Grade 7 recalled how he used to make toys from waste with his uncle in his village during this time. A mini exhibition was of these toys was held as part of another event within the community. Deriving from these learnings, children made their own toys during the Lakpar Examination.

PROCESS: 1. We started by exploring the lever mechanism. [192] The children had to compare the effort required in lifting a brick using only a stick and stone is used as a fulcrum to lift a brick.

2. We then saw a few images of simple leavers and discussed about the other everyday objects which use lever as a mechanism. Someone suggested a scissor. To recreate a scissor type mechanism, we took two pieces of cardboard and joined them in the centre using a metal clip (created using waste pieces of metal cans cut such that the pin was flat in the centre and sharp on the two ends) 3. Next, we discussed degrees of freedom in levers and how the placement of fulcrum can affect the direction of movement.

4. We moved on to discussing other mechanisms that the children were familiar with like pulleys and balancing scales, re-creating these in class using waste.

5. As a project, children were told to look at toys made from trash and try to learn from replication by re-creating a toy assigned. [191] Toys they had to make were pre-determined because if the children had to choose on their own at this stage, firstly they would fight and secondly, they wouldn’t push themselves beyond what they were capable of. Also, since they did not have internet access, I had to download some resources and give it to them on old laptops and her laptop for study.

Fig 194: A child presenting the work done so far during internal Jury References: [191] http://www.arvindguptatoys.com/toys.html [192] http://www.mstworkbooks.co.za/technology/gr7/gr7-technology-04.html [193] Examining Multiple Intelligences and Digital Technologies for Enhanced Learning Opportunities (Advances in Educational Technologies and Digital Design), 1st Edition, Robert Z Zheng, 2019

REFLECTION: Even though the process was available, the children had to understand the process well and sometimes also think of alternative materials to use if the material mentioned was not available. Children were seen to spend extra hours after classes to work on these toys. This was followed by an internal jury where the children spoke about all the assignments conducted so far, their learnings and a feedback on improvements needed for future classes.

Overall, the children were seen to have broader ideas of how to use materials as compared to the time of induction into the program. In the feedbacks, some children requested to learn computers like older kids while others wanted to Graduation Project by Ananya Agrawal|

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Fig 195: Prototyping a simple automaton using waste cardboard

Fig 196: Simple slider crank automata sketch, Source: instructables.com

Fig 197: Automata animal reference, Source: twinkl.com

Fig 198: Different shapes of cam and how they affect crank and slider mechanism, Source: Explain that stuff

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ASSIGNMENT 49: Cranks and Cams OBJECTIVE: •

To experiment with the Cranks and Cams by making simple automata

TARGETTED SKILL: Curiosity, Critical Thinking, Science RESOURCES: Paper, cardboard, toothpick, glue, scissor, paper blade PROCESS: Since the kids were already familiar with simple mechanisms by now, I decided to work on compound mechanisms like cranks and cams for the first session with Builders group. Frank James from Washigton who is from an engineering background was at the community during this time and he was invited for this session as well.

wanted to give movement to. They could use more than one cams in a mechanism and were also shown some examples of the same.

REFLECTION: The Mech Walker patterns were tricky to put together and took a longer time than I thought they would. A simpler automata pattern might have worked better. Since the children now had a dedicated time to do the assignments and needed to wrap it up before the next session to be allowed in class, they took practice more seriously than the previous pilot.

References: [194] https://www.explainthatstuff.com/cranks-and-cams.html [195] instructables.com/id/Walking-Papercraft-Mech-Warrior/ [196] www.explorator ium.edu/PIE

1. The children were given pattern images of the Mech Walker [195] mechanism which they needed to cut out and assemble as a worksheet prior to their first class.

2. When we assembled together for the session, we started with revising the concept of degrees of freedom that we had studied in the mechanical toys class. The class noticed how this automata had only one degree of freedom.

3. Next, we moved to the mechanism and its terminologies. The given automata moved using crank mechanism which is in simple words, an off centre arm attached to a rotating shaft. [194] In this case the slider crank had been used to move the Mech Walker’s feet front and back.

An example of this mechanism familiar to children was the pedals in a bicycle.

4. We then discussed the cam follower which converts rotational motion to reciprocating motion by pushing the follower which sits on top through an asymmetrical wheel or cam. While the shape of the cam controls the path that the follower traces, both its size and shape control the timing of its motion. [194] Depending on how the cams are positioned with respect to the follower we can achieve Up and Down motion, Back and Forth motion and Round and Round motion or a mix of these. [196] 5. Children had to then decide upon a character to create an automata of their choice with a special focus on which part of the character they Graduation Project by Ananya Agrawal|

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Fig 199: Types of Gears, Source: www.basic-engineering.com

Fig 200: Mechanism popularly used in the area for preventing tangling of yarn

Fig 201: A Kinetic Sculpture called Zybach created using Gear Mechanism, Source: http://www.derekhugger.com/zybach.html

Fig 202: Another Kinetic Sculpture Reference as seen at BMW museum

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ASSIGNMENT 50: Gears OBJECTIVE: •

To introduce types of gears and their applications

TARGETTED SKILL: Curiosity, Critical Thinking, Science, Arts RESOURCES: 3D printed gears and their corrosponding metal shafts (generally 6mm diameter iron rod) PROCESS: Lungta Nima and Rinchen Nyima had already figured out how spur gears work on their own during their design projects (details given later). I therefore thought it would be interesting to dwell upon this topic further by introducing the kids to its technicalities and also other types of gears. I had a set of 3D printed bevel gears, worm gears and rack and pinion gears with me which I was carrying to the community, while the others were introduced through videos and images.

1. We started with Spur Gears itself and discussed more about the number and shape of teeth and how it affects the overall gear performance. We also spoke about the driver gear- the one connected to the motor or hand cranked; and the driven gear- the one being rotated due to the torque by the driver gear. The children were asked if they had seen such a gear mechanism around them to which they gave the example of a clock. This type of gears were most popularly used due to their simplicity which made them easy to manufacture, keeping the output high quality, yet low cost.

2. Then we saw a video of a helical gear and how due to its shape, it made the movement smoother and also less noisy, reducing wear and tear.

These gears were definitely much more costlier than traditionally used spur gears and were used in industrial setups with machine intensive work, not being commonly found around.

3. Rack and Pinion type gears could convert rotatory motion to linear motion and visa versa. We discussed how this movement was different from cam followers and where could each of these be used. We then saw a video of how rack and pinion mechanism is used in car steerings.

4. Bevel gears were interesting for children as they could flip the entire axes of rotation. We discussed how this could be used to make a hand cranked mixer.

5. Last, we looked at worm gears and saw a video of screw jacks to understand how these were used.

6. We also looked at some kinetic sculpture videos and how these mechanisms were used in the artistic world.

7. The class was then divided into three groups to create quick fixtures of the three types of gears (bevel, worm, rackand pinion) to see them in action. Based on discussions, the class could use gears to try and influence the rotation speed of the motor, move a fixture on a different plane or in a different direction, rotate more than one nodes using a single external force, or convert rotational motion to translational motion.

Scince we had covered most mechanisms till now, I decided to move beyond experiments and challenge the children to create something which they could use. One idea that emerged from this brainstorming was to create a yarn winding mechanism as at that point in time we had purchased yarns for the “Lifestyle” group children which they had to roll up into balls before it could be used. This was a very tiring task and could be simplified with the help of machines.

REFLECTION: It was good to see children applying their learnings to make tasks around them easier. Children were also really intrigued by Kinetic Sculptures and we could have conducted a hands-on project for the same if we were not short on time. One of the children, Pema Drolma from Grade 8, even mentioned in her feedback form that she would like to experiment with Kinetic Sculptures if Lakpar is held in the coming year.

References: [197] http://www.allonrobots.com/karakuri-ningyo.html

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Fig 204: Fans and their relationship to flight, especially when making drones

Fig 203: A diagram showing how the fan shape affects the air pressure

Fig 205: Common Types of Fans and difference based on purpose [198] 136

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Fig 206: Simple balloon helicopter, Source: internet

ASSIGNMENT 51: Fans

is the distance of fan coverage or the velocity.

OBJECTIVE:

Number of Blades: The number of blades being used in a fan design effect the flux of air and the fan efficiency. Generally, the more the number of blades used, the more is the power required to move the fan. Often three blades are considered optimum for propeller fans.

•

To introduce common types of fans and their corresponding applications

TARGETTED SKILL: Curiosity, Critical Thinking, Science RESOURCES: Cardboard, Sticks, Straw, Balloon PROCESS: Grade 9 children, especially Sonam Gyatso, Tsering Gombu and Rinchen Nima had experimented with fans during their design projects and personal projects. While Sonam Gyatso was trying to create a wind mill prototype and Rinchen Nima was trying to make a miniature drone model and Tsering Gombu had been trying to make a vacuum cleaner. Though their experiments were interesting, they were finding it difficult to figure out how to make the fans work for the needed purpose.

1. Their experiments were what led to the design of this assignment in which we deconstructed the fan properties into following parameters: Type of Fan(s): A propeller (axial fan) produces a cooling effect by moving large amount of air using a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral similar to what an Archimedes screw does on rotation. Vaneaxial fans are axial flow fans with a higher-pressure capability due to the presence of static vanes. In contrast to this, centrifugal fans are able to suck heavy amounts of air without clogging and are generally used in exhausts or vacuum cleaning devices.

Shape, Size and Orientation of Blade: Centrifugal fans have forward or backward inclined or straight radial blades. The shape of fan is such as to produce lower noise or vibration during rotation. For propeller fans, fan blades are generally twisted such that the tip moves faster than the hub.

The taper along the edges accompanied by a winglet allows for lesser air to escape and provides better cooling. The shape and orientation of fan thus helps determine the air pressure and the direction of air flow. As for size, the smaller the diameter of the fan, the more its velocity using the same motor. The size of fan is crucial to determine depending on if the priority

Material of fan/ hardware used: If the material used is too heavy, the blade pitch (or the angle at which the blades are set relative to parallel to the ground) will get affected as the ends will start becoming droopy and not function properly. The material needs to be appropriate to handle the air velocity or the amount of air the fan would be displacing and also result in minimum wear and tear. Weight of motor or any other electronic hardware attached can also have an effect on the overall functioning of the fan.

Number of Fans/ Position of Fan(s): More than one fans can sometimes be needed for the required application, for example, in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). In this case, fans have to be positioned such that they produce the required thrust to move the device upwards.

1. We took the example of a UAV to discuss these parameters. The propeller is essentially the heart of a UAV, giving the machine its ability to fly. The design angle allows a rotating propeller to push air downward while the resistance offered by the air pushes the propeller, and the attached drone, upward. The rotating propeller causes the air above it to have a higher speed. By Bernoulli’s principle, this velocity is accompanied by a pressure drop, which conserves energy, and the low pressure lifts up the drone. [199] 2. After this we proceeded to work on a simple balloon-copter design based on the principles learnt.

REFLECTION: This was the last class of the session for the Builders group.

Overall, I felt that this group got a lot more exposure than other groups, my background in engineering having some role to play in it. The assignments for this group were also more responsive to the children’ skilling needs.

References: [198] https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/prevention/ventilation/fans.html [199] https://www.pelonistechnologies.com/blog/proper-cooling-drone-performance Graduation Project by Ananya Agrawal|

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Fig 207: Initial ideation on how to create a Hydraulic bridge

Fig 209: Prototyping the bridge using waste cardboard 138

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Fig 208: Attaching syringes to the Hydraulic Jack prototype

Fig 210: Hydraulic JCB with colour coded syringes for demonstration

ASSIGNMENT 52: Hydraulics OBJECTIVE: • To introduce how hydraulic systems work through activity based learning TARGETTED SKILL: Curiosity, Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Science RESOURCES: Old syringes without the needle, connecting pipe, plastic snap locks, non-corrugarted cardboard, waste iron strips or old metal cans, waste foam, metal cutting scissor, wooden chopsticks, paper scissors, blade, drilling machine, wood pieces, pencil and paper, gluegun and gluesticks PROCESS: 1. This class was also shared by Sunil. Pascal’s principle states that the pressure applied to a static fluid is transmitted uniformly to every point of the fluid. This principle was first demonstrated by Sunil using two types of circuits- one with a 20 ml syringe connected to another 20 ml syringe using a single pipe, another with a 20ml syringe connected to two 10ml syringes using two pipes connected by a t-pipe fitting.

2. The class then looked at videos of various application of this principle in fluid dynamics 3. Sunil showed a demonstration of how this kind of a hydraulic force can be used in combination with simple mechanisms like levers.

4. Children were then divided into four groups, two groups working on the brief of creating a hydraulic jack model and the other two working on hydraulic bridge.

5. Children were first told to sketch the mechanism using paper and pencil. Once approved, they could move to the table to create the cardboard structure.

6. As soon as a basic structure was ready, they could collect syringes, pipes and snap locks to complete their working models.

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT TIPS: Rotational method of moving physically from one activity to another in a time bound manner was used to manage the classroom space. This helped to break down the assignment into stages and also helped in maintaining the space, with a particular activity happening in its designated corner.

REFLECTION: Children were seen to pay a lot of attention to detail when creating the prototypes, from painting the bridge to cutting out a metal can and using well sanded wooden blocks to make JCB. The same assignment was conducted with grade 9-10 without any variations needed in the execution while adding a few theoretical details when explaining, to link it to their subjects. Tsering Gombu from grade 9 was seen to take a lot of interest in these assignments, staying back in the classroom late in the evening to try making other models like hydraulic lift, gun, JCB and robotic arm [200] saving instructions for the same offline, on her phone for reference. After a time he was so adept at this that he led the team into engineering the exoskeleton mechanism for the district evel science exhibition, as shared earlier.

References: [200] https://www.instructables.com/id/CARDBOARD-Robotic-Hydraulic-Arm/

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Fig 211: Trying to make a simple car using LEGOs

Fig 212: Using LEGOs to prototype simple mechanisms, Source: education.lego.com

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Fig 213: Proudly showing a complex robot mechanism after figuring out the details

ASSIGNMENT 53: LEGO Education OBJECTIVE: • To understand the working of simple and compound machines using LEGOs TARGETTED SKILL: Curiosity, Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Curiosity, Science, Social Studies RESOURCES: LEGO kit PROCESS: For the youngest bunch of Builders LEGO was identified as the most appropriate tool for teaching-learning. LEGOs have been designed in a way such that they provide endless opportunities to make sense of things and explore new ideas.

LEGOs try to deliver a learning experience using the 4Cs framework described below which was used over this period for introducing new ideas: [201][202]

was a strict no and they had to justify why the block was important to them till one of them agreed. Overall, LEGOs are not very pocket friendly or accessible to remote places, however, can prove to be a good one time investment, if the budget permits.

POSSIBLE VARIATIONS: LEGOs can also be connected to simple electronics if the learning outcome demands so. Apart from mechanics, LEGOs are actively used by designers for space planning, rapid prototyping and even empathy building through roleplay. Different kits have been created by LEGO Education depending on age groups and curriculum needs and various lesson plans already exist online which can be directly modified by teachers according to their classroom requirements.

References: [201] https://education.lego.com/en-us/training/machines-mechanisms [202] The LEGO Technic Idea Book: Simple Machines, Yoshihito Isogawa, 2010

1. Connect: Motivating children to learn by connecting what is to be taught to something they already know or are interested in knowing about. In this case since the focus was on machines and mechanics, the concepts were introduced to the children by letting them come up with robot designs based on the mechanism being introduced.

2. Construct: Building with hands and constructing upon previous learning through exploration, supported by Guided Play. Here, every assignment was designed such that the mechanism being taught had to be kept in the forefront when creating the robot. Children had to think about how the mechanism could be used to make a robot machine which in turn makes work easier.

3. Contemplate: Gather data or reflect on what has been created, to dervive learnings or new knowledge from it.

4. Continue: To use the new knowledge to create future prototypes.

REFLECTION: There was a time when children were so stuck on a mechanism that they spent days figuring out how to make it work. After it was made, we kept the model intact for sometime as the children did not have the heart to dismantle it, but it had to be eventually dismantled to create newer things. A frequent conflict which used to emerge during classes was that more than one child wanted to work with a particular block, in which case fighting Graduation Project by Ananya Agrawal|

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Fig 215: A simple Rube’s Goldberg Mechanism as classroom demonstration

Fig 214: Putting the dominos together 142

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Fig 216: An elaborate Rube’s Goldberg Mechanism created for exhibition day

ASSIGNMENT 54: Rube’s Goldberg OBJECTIVE: • To encourage critical thinking by achieving a simple task in complicated way as inspired by Rube’s Goldberg [203] TARGETTED SKILL: Curiosity, Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Science, Art PROCESS: This session was headed by the science teacher Sunil, and assisted by me.

POSSIBLE VARIATIONS: The kinetic sculpture module [204] familiar to New Media Design children, National Institute of Design is a much suited variation to this activity if introducing it to an older age group. The interesting variation in this module to how this assignment was conducted is first, the constraint of making the contrapion only using paper and second, to situate the task in a concept or story.

References: [203] https://www.rubegoldberg.com/ [204] https://www.tejusnagdev.com/rubegoldbergsmachine

1. The children were shown videos of a few Rube’s Goldberg contraptions to give them an idea of how simple tasks can be slowed down and achieved in a step by step manner.

2. Their first task was to make a series of dominos fall in atleast three stages. Children were already familiar with inclined planes, pulleys and other simple mechanisms due to the mechanism module held earlier. They quickly used this previous knowledge and got down to breaking the given task in a complex sequence of steps. The children were free to use any material available in the waste seggregation bins in the classroom to achieve this task.

3. In the next session, the children were given a brief to turn a fan on in atleast five stages.

REFLECTION: Children were seen to challenge themselves by arranging dominos in various shapes and angles for the first task. Their reflexivity of the previous tasks and successful usage of this prior knowledge in the task at hand was a feedback in itself. One of the kids, Tenzin Tashi from Grade 8, chose to do a demonstration of Rube’s Goldberg contraptions for the end of the year exhibit. On being asked why he enjoyed doing this particular project he replied that he found it interesting as it pushes him to think which he enjoys.

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Fig 217: Visual notes of electronic components and their names 144

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Fig 218: Exploring how motors work through Artbots

4.8 electronics: ASSIGNMENT 55: Electro-Play OBJECTIVE: • To introduce basics of electronics through art and play

REFLECTION: The children tried vvariations in artwork using Art-Bot by varying the distance of the sketch pen from the centre and also attaching multiple sketch pens to one bot which was interesting.

POSSIBLE VARIATIONS: Once we had started collecting waste, children were often seen tinkering with e-waste, where the standard “tod-phod-jod” activity [208] could integrate well.

TARGETTED SKILL: Curiosity, Science, Art, Mathematics RESOURCES: Old paper cups (or any circular can), white A2 size blank sheets, sketch pens, Arduino Boards, simple electronics like LEDs, jumper wires, bread board, motors, buzzer, capacitors and resistors, 555 Timer IC, push buttons, touch sensor, masking tape, mechanics kit [206] for modelling and assembling a car (or cardboard and circular tape rings to create car from waste) PROCESS: 1. In the first session the electronics group was given a quick run through of different components like LEDs, LCDs, buzzers, resisters, diodes etc. and what they are used for. The children chose to draw these out to remember the form and name better.

2. The children were already familiar with LCD, LED and buzzers through the Qu-Bot. To introduce them to motors I used the Art Bot activity. [205] A motor moves in circular motion and can thereby be used to move any attached object in circular motion. This is the basic principle of an Art Bot, which creates works of art using a sketch pen, DC motor and battery.

3. A DC motor has a positive and a negative connection point and can run in clockwise or anticlockwise direction by inverting the polarity of the voltage.

The voltage magnitude can control motor speed. These two principles were tried out by attaching two motors to an assembled car created using the mechanics kit.

4. Next, we learnt about how to use resistors and capacitors with the help of a home-made musical instrument [207] 5. After this we moved to the Arduino Board and created a small touch sensor program.

Fig 219: Children assembling the Robot Car with motors

References: [205] https://www.makerspaces.com/how-to-make-an-art-bot/ [206] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aG5H6X_fRoQ [207] https://ohmify.com/9circuits/musical-instrument/ [208] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APHLvNlNXvA [209] https://www.hackster.io/news/build-your-own-magnetic-circuit-blocksc8b4ac4747d8

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT TIPS: The Math and Science teacher Humaira who also came from Engineering background volunteered to supervise once I had given tasks for practice which helped me to conduct parallel skilling sessions with different groups.

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Fig 221: Child group trying to code

Fig 220: Science Teacher, Sunil introducing robot concepts to children 146

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Fig 222: Child group tinkering with the code and the car

ASSIGNMENT 56: Robots and Q-Basic OBJECTIVE: • To introduce the baiscs of robotics TARGETTED SKILL: ICT Literacy, Physics, Curiosity, Critical Thinking PROCESS: Robokits India had donated two Beginner Programmable Robot Kits called QuBot [210] to the community which were kept with the Math and Science teacher, Sunil. This session was held by him and assisted by me as a part of Science Lakpar for grades 9 and 10.

1. The class was asked to list down their five senses and how these enable them to make sense of their surroundings.

2. A comparison was then drawn between these human senses and their artificial counterparts. This was followed by a comparitive analysis of human vs artificial senses, highlighting what makes “artificial” so. The children were also introduced to few magazines which highlight where is technology headed globally and the influence of technology on humans.

3. The children were then shown kits and divided into two groups to work on its assembly.

4. The next few sessions were about using the Qu-Basic platform to introduce visual programming. Small tasks were given to them to practically understand how codes work, like blinking LEDs, displaying certain patterns on LCD screen, making the buzzer beep when an obstacle is detected etc.

REFLECTION: Visual programming and immediate feedback via movement in the connected hardware worked well to expose children to how technology can be created and the various operations it can perform in a simplified manner. This was able to instantly capture the interest of the children and also helped them figure out if they were more interested in going deeper into learning the hardware or the software aspects of technology, if at all. The comparison of human with artificial senses was also helpful for the children to interpret technology as an extension of man and not as a substitute for one’s actions. However, when analysing the assignment in terms of affordability in rural areas, it is restricted to accessibility of the kit and the quantity of kits accessible. During their design projects, the children were seen to be equally comfortable with working with motors, batteries, LEDs and other such components which are more readily available in the market which can be directly introduced and connected to open source Arduino platform [212] for the programming aspect. A visual programming practice prior to this is definitely helpful on the software front, for which online games like Blockly [213], Lobe [215] and offline platforms like Scratch [214] can be used.

Children of grades 4 and up with no prior exposure to laptops were also seen to comfortably adapt to such visual coding platforms. (discussed in more detail later) References: [210] https://robokits.co.in/robots/programmable-robot-kit/qu-bot-absolutebeginners-programmable-robot-kit [211] https://www.capgemini.com/2017/05/the-five-senses-of-artificial-intelligence/ [212] https://www.arduino.cc/ [213] https://blockly.games/ [214] https://scratch.mit.edu/ [215] https://lobe.ai/

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4.9 digital tech: ASSIGNMENT 57: Wase Management OBJECTIVE: • To introduce to the 3Rs of waste management PROCESS: The community was starting to become more mindful about waste management due to the child captain Lobsang’s recent initiative. Grades 2 to 5 were shown a cartoon episode of ‘Shaboom’ to introduce them to the Jewish idea of “Bal tashchit” which means to not be wasteful and take care of the Earth. This was followed by teaching them a song about the 3Rs of waste management- reduce, reuse and recycle and why they were important in that order.

ASSIGNMENT 58: Like the Movies Say: Life Skills OBJECTIVE: • To teach the value of teamwork and sharing through a movie TARGETTED SKILL: Social and Cultural Awareness RESOURCES: Laptops PROCESS: The children of Grades 2 to 5 watched the movie “Boss Baby” [217], followed by sharing what they learnt either through drawing. The drawings were then converted into simple optical illusions by drawing a contrasting element on the opposite side and attaching a stick to enable rotation [219], showing a merged image due to persistence of vision.

Fig 224: Little ones quietly watching the movie Boss Baby

Fig 223: Clip from Bal Tashchit’s episode of Waste Not [216]

REFLECTION: Generally once waste is out of sight, its quickly out of mind as well. What we do not realise is that this is all just a loop unless we address our consumption needs. The episode from Bal Tashchit put forward this issue very simply for the children to understand, in a visual language they enjoy watching, which is why the session worked well.

References: [216] https://www.bimbam.com/episode/not-wasting/

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REFLECTION: It was observed that the children were finding it hard to share things with each other during classes, hence Boss Baby was chosen as the movie for this exercise. I later read about how School Cinema [218] and other such organizations were actively using the medium of films to teach life skills to children.

References: [217] https://www.dreamworks.com/movies/the-boss-baby [218] https://hundred.org/en/innovations/school-cinema [219] https://www.exploratorium.edu/snacks/bird-in-cage

ASSIGNMENT 59: Digital Art OBJECTIVE: • To introduce digital media software like Adobe Photoshop [220] TARGETTED SKILL: ICT Literacy, Curiosity, Communication RESOURCES: Laptops with pre-installed software

highlighted certain areas of the cheek, while making the other bits black, thereby controlling light falling on the face. After this we saw some videos of projection mapping technique used on buildings, performances and other places.

4. To practice the pen tool the children were first given an image of a mug kept on a table. Those who finished tracing this successfully were asked to trace their selfies which were taken the other day using the tool.

REFLECTION: Due to unavailability of laptops as well as the sitting space not being sufficient for 25 people in the laptop area, there was difficulty in classroom management resulting in a lot of chaos because of which laptop classes were discontinued for this group. However, the few children like Sangey Yudron and Yangchen who were really intrigued by this software sometimes came over to practice it after class. Sangey Yudron was seen to be quick to learn other digital media software like Premier Pro as well even with no prior knowledge or access to laptops.

Fig 225: Body Projection mapping reference, Source: wildbytes.cc

References: [220] https://www.adobe.com/in/products/photoshop.html

PROCESS: The children of Grades 6 to 8 had expressed their desire to learn computers in the feedback. Since we had fewer laptops as compared to the number of children, to teach programming, I thought of introducing basics of Adobe Photoshop software instead and its interesting applications.

1. We started with understanding the concept of layers. This was done using paper cut outs of a scenery and 2 characters. Children were shown why working in layers was important so that these three elements could be treated individually.

2. They were then introduced to basic operations like opening a file, adding new layers, using brush, eraser, magic wand tool, transform tool. As a practice assignment, the children were asked to take a selfie and then place this image on top of the scenery of a place they wanted to visit as saved from internet.

3. Next, we moved to trying the pen tool. To show its one of its applications, a child was asked to volunteer and sit in front of the projector with closed eyes. The class watched as I traced the lips and Graduation Project by Ananya Agrawal|

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Fig 226: Michael demonstrating how to hold a handy-cam

Fig 227: Child shooting using the new tools introduced

Fig 228: Children trying to set up a tripod

Fig 229: An example of Progressive Visual Rhythm as clicked by children

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ASSIGNMENT 60: Photographs and Visual Rhythms OBJECTIVE: • •

To introduce children to basic equipment and methods around photography and videography To introduce visual rhythms by the medium of photography

TARGETTED SKILL: ICT Literacy, Curiosity, Social Awareness RESOURCES: Camcorder, Tripod, Monopod, Laptop PROCESS:

5. As practice, Michael requested Uday to sit in the centre and play the handdrum while the children recorded him playing, two at a time, for 20s each.

6. In the next session, the children were introduced to basic visual rhythms, namely, (i) Regular (ii) Alternative (iii) Progressive (iv) Random with the help of images.[223] The difference between pattern and rhythm is that in a rhythm, the intervals between the repeated element give a sense of movement. [224] [225] 7. The children went outside in groups with the theme they had intended to shoot in mind, to capture image/videos.

Michael Gonzalez who works at the Walt Disney Company was at the community for some volunteer work and had also brought with him some photography and videography equipment which he wished to donate to the children at the community. Therefore, I requested him for a special session on handling and working with these new set of tools to which he readily agreed. This session was attended by the Math and Science teacher Uday.

1. Michael started the session with showing a video he had compiled for an event using borrowed images, stressing on how why what you wanted to show was more important that the quality of images or videos taken.

2. He asked the children what inspired them enough to photograph or what was it that they wanted to show people around them through their images. One child replied friendship, another said nature and the flight of birds while a third said the crops in their organic garden.

3. With what they wanted to show decided, Michael introduced the children to the Camcorder and the ways of holding and operating it.

The children were introduced to the exposure, aperture and shutter speed triangle [221] knowing which helps control the amount of light entering the camera lens.

4. After this, he introduced the children to the monopod and the tripod. He split them into two groups to try and set them up while also explaining when to use what. While a tripod is a camera support with three legs, a monopod has only one leg. Monopods are generally beneficial to use when on rough terrains or when your target is fast moving. Tripods on the other hand are preferred for landscape photography or avoiding camera shakes during long exposure shots. [222]

Fig 230: A child’s notes on types of visual rhythms

REFLECTION: The session was able to make the children comfortable with handling equipments and understanding visual rhythms, but the exposureaperture-shutter speed triangle needed more explaining. A good way to do this could be a pin hole camera, making and operating which could give children more clarity on the terms.

References: [221] https://www.photoblog.com/learn/exposure-triangle-guide/ [222] https://www.better-digital-photo-tips.com/monopod-vs-tripod.html [223] https://www.clickinmoms.com/blog/creativity-exercise-visual-rhythmphotography-tutorial/ [224] https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/repetition-pattern-andrhythm [225] https://www.sophia.org/tutorials/design-in-art-repetition-pattern-and-rhythm

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ASSIGNMENT 61: Visual Programming OBJECTIVE: • To make the children of Grades 2 to 5 comfortable with using new age technologies TARGETTED SKILL:ICT Literacy, Critical Thinking, Curiosity RESOURCES: Laptops with pre-installed software and internet PROCESS: 1. We started with an introduction to Microsoft Paint. On the first day the children were free to explore tools and draw whatever they wanted while in the next class they were given specific objects to draw like car and house.

2. We moved on to learning how to use MS Word. The activity was simple where they children had to bring their favourite book from the library and type down a passage. This was clearly not engaging enough for the children who quickly tried to move to playing games on the laptop when I was not watching. (I wonder how this generation is such a natural at digital gaming!) The children wanted to play and I wanted to teach them typing. As a middle ground the TuxType [226] software came as a saviour.

3. I asked the children if they would like to make their own games as well to which they readily agreed. This is how we moved to visual programming. We started with an online game called Blockly [227] While the grade 2 and three kids remained tied up with the puzzle (game 1), grades 4 and 5 were able to quickly move through the maze (game 2) levels. This told me that they were ready to move to programming on Scratch [228] a visual programming platform for kids created by MIT Media Labs.

REFLECTION: Not all children were able to grasp the concepts of visual coding at the same pace, considering some needed a lot more practice of just using the visual tools and dragging and dropping. This is also a social play stage where children observe their peers a lot more and look for cooperative play [229] which meant them not being okay with doing different things at the same time. This is why we discontinued Scratch for the time being, coming back to it only later, during individual projects. Coding is also a brilliant tool to introduce critical thinking to young children apart from being a necessary 21st century skill.

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Fig 231: Visual coding using Scratch

POSSIBLE VARIATIONS: Board games like ‘Which Way’ [230] and ‘Robot Turtles’ [231] have recently become popular in market which introduce coding to young children without the use of screens and through cooperative play. The games can either be bought or variations of it can be designed by teachers for creating suitable learning environments for children.

References: [226] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tux_Typing [227] https://blockly.games/ [228] https://www.media.mit.edu/groups/lifelong-kindergarten/projects/ [229] https://pathways.org/kids-learn-play-6-stages-play-development/ [230] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QylLoy_w9_g [231] https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/39095/no-tech-board-games-that-teachcoding-skills-to-young-children

ASSIGNMENT 62: Programming using Processing IDE OBJECTIVE: • To introduce programming concepts using computer-mind analogies [233] TARGETTED SKILL: ICT Literacy, Critical Thinking, Mathematics RESOURCES: Laptops with pre-installed Processing IDE [232] PROCESS:

smallest and the largest size of the window possible here.

4. We moved to the text and drawing functions. The children were familiar with graph plotting in Math and they were shown how computer screens are like a graph sheet made of pixels. They also tried to explore every new function introduced in relationship with older functions, which was interesting.

5. Using human computer comparative analogies, we carried forward to understanding conditions and loops. Once the children were familiar with importing libraries to connect Processing to Arduino, we paused for the projects, giving a softcopy of Processing handbook for their reference.

With the new Dell laptops available to the children for use, they were keen on learning how to use them. Therefore, in the teachers meeting we decided to introduce computer classes for classes 9 to 12 during independent time which was to involve teaching them typing and other inbuilt software. By now I had already given an introduction to programming to classes 9 and 10 and the interested children had opted to learn more during the Science Lakpar sessions every Wednesday. The children of 11-12 had also shown interest in learning programming for which the Thu and Fri computer classes during independent time had also been handed over to me. Processing IDE which uses Java Programming Language was chosen for this purpose as it has been especially built for experimentation by artists and designers to make programming much more simpler and fun for beginners. The sessions proceeded in the following manner: 1. In the first session the children were given an exercise where they had to make a robot to fill a bottle, by breaking the task down into a sequence of steps. The smaller and well thought the steps, the better the robot’s ability to perform the task. E.g. if the robot is not told to close the tap once the bottle has 500ml of water in it, the water will overflow and waste. The children were thus introduced to algorithms as the most important aspect of programming.

2. Next, we discussed the meaning of “syntax” and why it is important to know it well to talk to the machine. They were also given a cursory knowledge of how in the backend this high-level language called “Java” (in which the syntax was being written) was converted to machine language of 0s and 1s which was what the computer hardware understood.

3. The concept of functions was compared to the everyday activities which humans perform. To perform an activity, we need a set of resources, in a similar way the computer takes input parameters to perform an activity. Processing IDE has certain predefined functions which were explored, starting from window “size (w, h)”. The children experimented with the

Fig 232: Updated schedule to include Computer and Communication classes

References: [232] https://processing.org/download/ [233] https://www.simplypsychology.org/information-processing.html

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Fig 233: Hologram pyramid projector template [235]

Fig 234: Children working on their pyramid hologram projectors 154

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Fig 235: A child proudly showing the holographic projection

4.10 fusion tech ASSIGNMENT 63: Mobile Holograms OBJECTIVE: • To introduce to new age technology like holograms TARGETTED SKILL: ICT Literacy, Curiosity, Science, Technology, Mathematics RESOURCES: OHP sheets, temporary marker, scale, protractor, scissors, cellotape PROCESS: 1. We started with looking at the already made holographic pyramid for smartphone screens and then trying to understand the phenomena of refraction of light demonstrated here by looking at videos and images of “Pepper Ghost Effect” [234] 2. Next, we moved to creating our own holographic images on photoshop software. For this the children were a png file of a fish. They created a new, square shape page and make an ‘X’ such that the page is divided into four equal triangular sections.

3. They then transformed the png file and placed it in these four different sections such that every transformed image was at 90 degrees to its adjacent image. The output was transferred to a smartphone and tested.

4. After this we made the pyramid using OHP sheets. The pyramid dimensions needed to be such that its surface is at a 45-degree angle from the smartphone screen.

5. Children were given a template as reference to create the pyramid. They could modify these dimensions using ratio and proportion if desired.

6. The children tested their holograms using the images created by them and also images and videos sourced from the internet.

Fig 236: Transformed holographic image [235]

REFLECTION: Any new medium or technology almost always intrigues children as it piques their curiosity. The challenge is to identify the material or skill that piques a particular child’s interest once it becomes mundane or repetitive during practice.

References: [234] https://www.comsol.com/blogs/explaining-the-peppers-ghost-illusion-with-rayoptics/ [235] https://hauntedhologramheads.wordpress.com/making/

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Fig 237: Love

Fig 238: Fear

Fig 239: Bravery

Fig 240: Sadness

ASSIGNMENT 64: Body and Emotions OBJECTIVE: • To use one’s body as a medium for social emotional expression • To build upon observation and listening skills in this process TARGETTED SKILL: ICT Literacy, Self Awareness, Literature, Social Studies [236] RESOURCES: Camera(s), An emotive text to read PROCESS: This assignments was conducted with Grades 6 to 8 which had children belonging to the sensitive age group or early teens where a lot of emotional changes are triggered by physical changes that the children are experiencing, or what Rudolf Steiner terms as “a gentle sprinkling of pain that never goes away”. [237] [238] It is hence that body was chosen as a medium of outlet and performance arts as a methodology to release the emotions.

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT TIPS: Standing in a circle keeps every person in every other person’s vision, ensuring no one gets left out. When working on such exercises, as a teacher one needs to be highly animated to keep the overall energy of the class high and the sleepiest of the kids attentive.

REFLECTION: The childern thoroughly enjoyed the exercises and the success of these sessions led to the movie making assignment.

References: [236] https://www.artsedsearch.org/study/drama-and-authentic-assessment-in-a-social-studies-classroom/ [237] Rudolf Steiner’s Observations on Adolescence: The Third Phase of Human Development, Rudolf Steiner, 2004 [238] https://www.waldorf-resources.org/articles/display/archive/2019/02/14/ article/the-significance-of-puberty-for-the-process-of-individuation/e141101eae8bbaaae2176b42f69bbd1a/ [239] https://www.craftsvilla.com/blog/navrasa-the-journey-of-9-emotions/

1. The journey of nine emotions or “Navrasa” [239] was discussed with the children using “Natyashastra”.

2. After this they were split into 9 groups. Each group was supposed to pick a different emotion and photograph it using a body part/ the whole body or a group posture. Children were told to pay special attention to changes in their face and body e.g. the tightening and loosening of muscles, when depicting a particular emotion.

3. In the next session I conducted a few theatrical exercises to understand changes in voice in relationship with emotions. We started out with reading aloud Roald Dahl’s poetry and one Hindi play to understand how voice modulates according to the emotion reflected in the statement.

4. Next, we deconstructed this modulation as tone and loudness to explore how a variation in one or both of these communicated different emotions. For this, the children were first made stand in a circle and shout out a word in varying degree of loudness keeping one emotion in mind. After the end of each circle, we moved to the next emotion.

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ASSIGNMENT 65: Cinematography OBJECTIVE: • To introduce the art of storytelling through drama [240] TARGETTED SKILL: ICT Literacy, Collaboration, Literature, Social Studies RESOURCES: Camera, Paper, Pencil, Clipboard, Monopod/ Tripod PROCESS: 1. Grades 6 to 8 gathered in a circle to share funny incidents from their life.

2. They then individually worked on storyboarding this in the form of a comic strip. We picked bits and pieces from 2-3 storyboards to create the final script for the movie.

3. Next, we watched a couple of videos and discussed different types of camera shots used in films and their purpose in relationship to the character, environment and the narrative: [241] (a) Close Up: Fills the screen with part of the subject, such as a person’s head/face. Framed this tightly, the emotions and reaction of a character dominate the scene. (b) Medium Shot: Shows part of the subject in more detail. For a person, a medium shot typically frames them from about waist up. (c) Full Shot: The emphasis tends to be more on action and movement rather than a character’s emotional state. (d) Long Shot: The character becomes more of a focus, but the shot tends to still be dominated by the environment. This shot often sets the scene and our character’s place in it. (e) Extreme Long Shot: This type of shot is particularly useful for establishing a scene in terms of time and place, as well as a character’s physical or emotional relationship to the environment and elements within it.

4. We then discussed camera angles and how they can affect the viewer’s attention. Following this, some children volunteered to act while the others were divided in groups of five- Cameraperson, Costumes, Production, Sound and Direction, such that everyone gets a chance to experience the filming process. After every scene, the next group had to take over.

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Fig 241: The scene which brought shooting to standstill

REFLECTION: The overall flow was going well initially and we had also procured props and permissions where necessary. However, the shoot got disrupted midway as one of the actors literally pulled the other actor’s ears instead of acting. What I had forgotten to take care of was to ensure that the young actors get along well with each other when shooting, considering teenagers are quick to go on a fit if otherwise. The rest of the class requested to restart the shoot with a different set of actors. However, I insisted that these two make peace with each other and called off the shoot.

References: [240] Divasvapna, Gijubhai Badheka, 1990 [241] https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/video/tips-and-solutions/filmmaking101-camera-shot-types

ASSIGNMENT 66: Natural Beats OBJECTIVE: • • •

To introduce capturing and mixing of sounds found in nature To introduce digital software for working with audio and video in the process To introduce polyrhythm patterns for making one’s own digital music

TARGETTED SKILL: ICT Literacy, Curiosity, Creativity, Social Awareness, Science, Social Studies RESOURCES: Laptops with Adobe Premiere Pro software installed, Phones with sound recorder PROCESS: For arranging adequate amount of logistics for this assignment, I borrowed phones from other teachers in the community and installed Adobe Premiere Pro software on laptops, which was chosen as it could be used for both audio and visual editing.

1. We started the class with a nature walk where we walked silently around the campus just listening to sounds around us.

2. Once back in class, I asked them to describe the sounds they had heard and if they knew the source of the sounds.

3. We then watched a video called Burt’s Bees [242] made by a sound technician Diego Stocco using only sounds recorded from nature.

4. The class was divided into two groups- One group went to capture natural sounds while the other stayed back to learn the software.

5. Once they were familiar with the basic parameters of sound like wavelength and frequency by visually viewing different sounds in the sequence settings of the software, we moved to learning about creating digital music by learning about “polyrhythms”.

6. A polyrhythm is simply two more independent rhythms playing at the same time. An example for the same would be, “Three evenly- spaced notes against two, with the 3-beat pattern being faster than the 2-beat pattern, so that they both take the same amount of time.” [243] We tried to practice this concept by repeating the collected sounds to create a simple polyrhythm.

7. We ended with a few artists who create music from trash. [244] [245]

Fig 242: Child working on Adobe Premier Pro software

REFLECTION: The children collected a range of sounds from water to crying of a baby to falling of utensils and rustling of leaves. While some sounds were simply recorded, other sounds were created by them, giving quite a variation.

Some children did not take the task seriously and were creating more noise than music and had to be scolded. However, there were others who spent hours trying different combinations on the software and even took it as their end of the year project. While the movies got made, the music had to be dropped as it was not complete for exhibiting. Lungta Nima, a Grade 9 child was one such children working on creating music who expressed his disappointment of not being able to finish the task in his feedback.

POSSIBLE VARIATIONS: Another interesting exploration with sound could have been working on a community based radio hub as a bigger project. [246] References: [242] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yEimDuL2t8 [243] https://music.tutsplus.com/articles/introduction-to-polyrhythms--audio-2573 [244] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7U7k88U5fjw [245] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPz4nG_2bKY [246] https://gramvaani.org/

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Fig 243: Children trying their hand at stop motion animation

Fig 245: Thread + Animation References [250] 160

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Fig 244: A small animated sequence made in the worksheet

Fig 246: Stop motion animation using Monpa clothing

ASSIGNMENT 67: Stop Motion Animation OBJECTIVE: • •

To introduce persistence of vision as a scientific concept behind moving images To introduce stop motion animation as a technique

TARGETTED SKILL: Social and Cultural Awareness, Curiosity, Creativity, Science, Language RESOURCES: Multicolored shape cubes from kindergarden, color paper, thread, needle, cloth, paper, pencil, camera, tripod, whiteboard marker, old CD, chopstick, cellotape, cardboard PROCESS: I had made a simple zoetrope setup for the children prior to the class using an old CD, chopstrick and cardboard.

kindergarden, colored paper to thread on cloth.As a final deliverable, the group learning animation created a stop motion animation to show how the clothing in the Mon region had changed over time. It was interesting to see the sensitivity put into developing this animation. The group had started the project by working on a story around the autobiography of a shingka or local dress worn by women.

According to them when they were writing this piece, they observed how shingka was disappearing as a preferred clothing style (as the younger generation preferred western clothing over the same) and this motivated them to work on this animated piece.

References: [247] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZCfVz6K8Cc [248] https://www.nyfa.edu/child-resources/stop-motion-animation/ [249] https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/explore-animation/0/steps/12222 [250] https://vimeo.com/58849374

1. For introducing the concept I made a stick figure in the jumping motion, dividing it into 12 frames. This action strip was then placed on the zoetrope[247] setup. The children had to spin this setup while focusing on any one point to see the action in motion.

2. Followed by this they were introduced to the concept of persistance of vision. Persistence of vision works because the human eye and brain can only process 10 to 12 separate images per second, retaining an image for up to a fifteenth of a second. If a subsequent image replaces it in this period of time it will create the illusion of continuity. [249] 3. The children were a worksheet with equal sized frames drawn on it to experiment with visual movement on their own. Once done, they could cut it out and either test it in the form of a flipbook or spin it in the zoetrope.

4. In the next session we tried stop motion animation [248] to bring static objects to life. For this, we had to first set up the camera and mark the visible area in the frame using a whiteboard marker.

5. Following this one could start animating by moving the object(s) in the frame by a small amount in every image.

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On Game Based Learning, Guided Play and Designing games for and with children

out the behaviours to be rewarded and the questions to be challenged along with the context setting for the game.

More often than not teachers complain of children with low motivation to study, describing them as someone who “likes to play all day”. What if the very games they play become a medium for their learning?

Games are just a small segment of the broad spectrum of play. How guided play is different from open play is that the game environment is well thought of, prepared either by or in supervision of the adult. Crucially, the adults in guided play must follow the children’s lead so that children genuinely have the autonoher to explore as they like. The adults’ roles are in support of children’s choices, gently shaping children’s behaviour without taking over.

Fig 247: Tashi Drolma playing with bow and arrow, Source: Mike Tauber’s instagram handle

While some teachers do see games as a medium for team building and other life skills or even informal learning through open play, very few actually try implementing game design essentials for formal learning which is in dire need of gamification. [251] What fits the scenario better is when this learning can be integrated into the local games children are familiar to and enjoy playing.

This definitely sounds good in theory but how should a teacher attempt at integrating this in class? Gamification (applying elements of game playing to other activities) in the form of leaderboards, roleplay, level ups, giving challenges are somethings teachers are already familiar with but just not looking at from the lens of game mechanics.

With the rise in the ed-tech industry video game based curriculums[252] and assessment methods [253][258] have become popular along with pre-existing and new educational board games which can be directly accessed by teachers.

However, they give little flexibility for customization and increase the screen time which might not always be desirable. Physical games like four squares and skipping stones are popularly modified by teachers to orient curriculum needs to game-based learning. [256] For designing their own games, teachers can start with identifying learning outcomes for the subject/topic (more on this later). Next, the teachers need to determine the game environment [255] [254] which is best done in collaboration with the children. These will help teachers figure 162

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References: [251] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOssYTimQwM [252] https://www.classcraft.com/lp/gamify-01/ [253] https://asystems.as/gamification-gamified-assessment-and-game-basedassessment-the-difference/ [254] Norman, K. L. (2011). Assessing the Components of Skill Necessary for Playing Video Games. Human-Computer Interaction Technical Report 11-11-11. University of Maryland [255] https://new.hindawi.com/journals/ahci/2008/284056/ [256] https://www.edutopia.org/blog/guide-to-game-based-learning-vicki-davis [257] https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/may2017/case-brain-scienceguided-play [258] https://www.classroominc.org/case_study/game-based-learning-formativeassessmenta-perfect-pair/

ASSIGNMENT 68: Collaborative Design OBJECTIVE: • To collectively explore connections between hardware technology, programming and fashion design.

TARGETTED SKILL: Collaboration, Adaptability, Curiosity, Science, Art RESOURCES: Laptops with internet connection, paper and pencil PROCESS: Shortly after the introduction to robotics assignments to Grades 9 and 10, the class got divided into three groups- children who wished to explore programming more, children who wished to explore hardware more and children who were completely against the idea of technology and did not want it to be a part of Lakpar classes. When I spoke to the Managing Director, Vasudha about this she suggested that I have a special session with the children themselves to resolve this conflict.

1. In the first session the children were given a form where they had to give their opinion on pros of technology, cons of technology and if they would like technology classes to be a part of Lakpar (if yes then how would they like to use technology in Lakpar).

2. The answers helped to clearly differentiate children into the three groups and also helped each child to see the other side of the debate.

3. A lot of children who did not wish technology to be a part of Lakpar had expressed their desire to learn fashion design which translated into the third anchor. Following this a brainstorming exercise was held on how technology can act as an extention of fashion design, if at all.

The children shared laptops connected to internet for conducting their study on technology and coming up with idea drawings.

4. As a conclusion the class decided to work on making a dress for protecting women from physical abuse by detecting when an intruder is too close in her personal space and sending out warning signals (as suggested by Pratima, Maling and Sonam Lhamu’s team). The idea later evolved to the use of touch sensors for input detection, instead of a small camera. This was to be a combined class project with the three groups working in parallel on domains of their choice, to build this idea together.

Fig 248: The child group ideation we decided to move forward with

REFLECTION: Children of 16+ age group are seen to appreciate when they are made a part of decision making and are also more conscious decision makers if they are guided well to deal with conflict. Such small exercises involving children’s participation in decision making at a classroom level can help them grow into inclusive adults who respect other people’s opinions when they grow older. [259]

References: [259] childcomm.tas.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Guide-to-makingdecisions-booklet.pdf

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Fig 249: Group Brainstorming session with Grade 12

Fig 250: The Design Circle [264] 164

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Fig 251: An ideation by a child on sustainable living solutions

ASSIGNMENT 69: Design as Problem Solving OBJECTIVE: •

To become more sensitive towards the needs of the community

•

To become familiar with problem solving through design

technology could directly start tinkering with it and experiment/ conduct field interviews in the process of making. Eg. homemade toothpaste, solar car etc.

TARGETTED SKILL: Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Sensitivity PROCESS: One of the most popular of ways of approching the design intent is looking at design through the lens of problem solving. In this method the designer generally starts with looking at his/her surroundings to understand the needs, wants and desires of people, thereby, identifying a valid problem statement around it. For the assignment’s purpose the children had to demonstrate their design solutions in the form of an artefact at the end of the pre-defined timeline of the assignment, the process for introducing which was as below: 1. The children were given a constraint to find an area of interest within the community premises. They had to conduct their study in groups of 4-5 people. The four themes identified were- Construction, Farming, Waste, Monpa Culture.

2. Following this we together conducted an initial brainstorming exercise to outline their current understanding of these themes.

3. The children then headed out to different directions for on-field observations to gather insights pertaining to these themes.

4. Different anchor points were identified in the first set of observations: a) Activity: Children who had given a lot of focus to a particular activity like the process of lifting during construction or watering plants, were told to document the process in greater detail either visually or in writing. This could be done by breaking the task into small steps, body postures of people, details of space in which they were working, resources required etc. b) Conversation: Children who found a particular conversation interesting were asked to talk to other people to learn more from their views eg. how often people shop/ why Monpa folktales were not documented well. They could also read more about the topic in books/ online eg. drinking water issue in mountain regions. c) Material: Children who were fascinated by a particular material or

Fig 252: An ideation by a child on detecting mental health issues

5. The observations were represented in the form of charts to give more clarity to thoughts. These observations were pinned up on softboards so that all teams can view them and share their learnings. The chilren were also introduced to the empathy map exercise [263] in which they had to identify a user persona from their observations and re-evalute their findings in terms of expectations and reality of what that user was Hearing, Seeing, Thinking, Feeling, Doing and Saying.

6. The children were introduced to how they can question their observations, move towards finding answers to these questions, and identify their direction of work. E.g. “Animals can hear frequencies higher than humans. Can this knowledge be used to protect humans from being attacked? Does a technology like this already exist?”

7. With this understanding, the children had to now work on individual idea sketches, finalize one idea and start prototyping.

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT TIPS: Although the children had been instructed to use waste materials as much as possible, a lot of running around had to be done to bring additional resources. Some of this expenditure was capital expenditure or one time expenditure while others were operational or recurring expenditures. This is a pain one will have to deal with when starting out. As this becomes a practice over the years, teachers will be able to see patterns in commonly ordered resources and can pre-order them. Older children, or Graduation Project by Ananya Agrawal|

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children who live at home can be given the responsibility of bringing their own raw materials. Another alternative to handling this issue is to give the children some minimal amount of money before starting out and ask them to maintain a expenditure log, giving more money only on need basis. The affordability of the design can be a parameter for evaluation such that children are more conscious of this aspect while also not limited by it.

Another issue which teachers face is how to manage parallel ideations within the same class (in this case, 19 such parallel projects were happening). I handled this using the letter-box method as inspired by her guide. In this, we tried to wrap up most of the updates or issues by the medium of letters which I exchanged with the children on atleast a bi-weekly basis. If the children wanted to communicate something in-between, they could just drop a letter to me in the box kept in the corner of the classroom and I would attend to it as soon as I was able to find time. Apart from this, children presented their progress to me in person, once a week, during their scheduled slot. Peer learning is also an essential part of such project based learning and the children were encouraged and directed to actively seek help of their peers and also the other skilled staff in the community like Sapna didi, Pradeep dada, Passang Mama, Gen Lham Dorjee, Gen Ngawang, Tselha Ma’am, Minoti Ma’am. This helps to create an environment of community learning while also looking at a teacher’s role as more of a facilitator and a guide, seeking skilled professionals for domain expertise.

The third issue which often occurs is during the ideation phase when either the children expect the teacher to spoon feed decisions or the teacher starts forcefitting his/her ideas into a child’s project instead of letting them take their own decisions. I had learnt from her guide to be conscious of this during the process of execution of the assignment and in spite of many of them repeatedly asking me to “assign” a project idea, I had to let them go through their struggle to empower them to have complete ownership over the project.

REFLECTION: Since the children were still a part of the mainstream curriculum and these were just their additional engagements, they would be often tied up with homework etc. and had very little time to work on projects.

The expectations of project outcomes were kept minimal keeping this in mind while constantly encouraging the children to push themselves beyond these expectations. To fascilitate this ideology, I let the classroom be an open space where the children could come and work at odd hours or even in-between classes. I was also available at all times in this space or even outside this space, her topmost priority during that time being to address their queries. Although 166

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I belonged to a design college and was familiar with the process of project based learning, getting to live the mentorship side of it was a whole different experience altogether. Projects created over this period have been briefly shared in the pages 192-207.

POSSIBLE VARIATIONS: When substituting Grade 12 English classes for Meena, I took a 3-day workshop to introduce them to Design Thinking. For this workshop the children were given predefined themes like Health, Travel, Environment etc. The session started with a brainstorming exercise in a time bound manner. This task comprised of listing all words related to the topic, identifying relationships between these words, grouping them based on these relationships to identify domains. They then had to identify a problem in the identified domain which they wanted to solve. The children had a lot of fun coming up with wacky ideas and sketches around the open-ended topics given to them. With Grades 6 to 8 the Design for Change methodologies [266] were found to be more relevant. Instead of an open ended theme, this group was given a focus situation/ challenge: “To create an animal which could survive the present day extreme environmental conditions due to global warming.” The concepts related to science of evolution and various design terminologies were introduced in the process of tackling this challenge.The former is also called “Problem Based Learning”[267], while the latter is referred to as the “Challenge Based Learning” [269] which are two of the many popular approaches of executing Project Based Learning. [265] References: [260] https://www.designkit.org/ [261] 101 Design Methods: A Structured Approach for Driving Innovation in Your Organization, Vijay Kumar, 2012 [262] Young Investigators: The Project Approach in the Early Years, Judy Harris Helm, Lilian G Katz, 2001 [263] https://hope4hurtingkids.com/emotions/overcoming-emotions/the-empathymap/ [264] https://slideplayer.com/slide/8907880/ [265] https://tophat.com/blog/blended-learning/ [266] https://icanlessonplans.dfcworld.com/ [267] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGoJIQYGpYk [268]https://images.apple.com/education/docs/CBL_Classroom_Guide_Jan_2011. pdf [269] https://www.challengebasedlearning.org/ [270]https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320443042_Challenge_Based_ Learning_VS_Problem_Based_Learning

4.11 designing for learning Like all human centered design, assignment design for learning starts with the learner’s needs and the assignment objectives which that the learning instruction is trying to satisfy. However, that is just the starting point for the design and implementation process which has a lot more layers to it. Jerome Bruner, in his book ‘Toward a Theory of Instruction’ (1966) states that a theory of instruction should address four major aspects: (a) predisposition towards learning, (b) the ways in which a body of knowledge can be structured so that it can be most readily grasped by the learner, (c) the most effective sequences in which to present material, and (d) the nature and pacing of rewards and punishments.

Good methods for structuring knowledge should result in simplifying, generating new propositions, and increasing the manipulation of information, through active engagement.

The image on the right shows the 3Ls that go into any design for learning- the Learner’s identified and unidentified needs and learning styles, the Learning or the subject matter which is to be communicated and understood and the Logistics which are needed for the assignment implementation, ranging from raw materials, time, manpower, space etc. These three parameters go through the four step process of (i) Preparation or introducing the learner to the task (ii)Input or any bridging needed by children before translating the new information into knowledge (iii) Application of this acquired knowledge into a given task to see how well it has been understood (iv) Follow Up or regular practice coupled with periodic feedback and assessment to change acquired knowledge into an intrinsic one. This four step process is guided by the social context in which the learning environment is set, the stragegy for introducing the learning to the learner, the medium or channel of instruction delivery and the mode of communication (one on one or addressing all learners together).

While understanding how this learning is being designed we often tend to forget the person facilitating this system of learning which in the case of school education setup is the teacher. All technological advancements fail to supplement the role of the teacher for one primary reason- a teacher is the person who is able to make sense of this complex design for learning while also bringing in his/her own flavor to this, drawing from his/her experiences. If one fails to do so, any system will again turn into a monotonus, structured mess just like its counterparts.

Fig 253: Designing for Learning, Source: The more than Blended Learning company, 2015 Graduation Project by Ananya Agrawal|

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05 EVALUATION STRUCTURES

Fig 254: Made by Sonam Gyatso

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Fig 255: Infographic explaining Learning Outcomes [271]

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5.1 on learning outcomes and periodic evaluations “Assessment must be a conversation, a narrative that enhances children’ understanding of what they know, what they can do, and what needs further work“- Starr Sackstein, (Hacking Assessments: 10 Ways to go Gradeless in a Traditional Grades School) There is no doubt that periodic evaluations are important in a formal learning environment to set short term goals for learning. What is to be questioned is what do these evaluation structures look like? How can an evaluation structure be created which maintains a balance between subjectivity and objectivity? And how can such a communication channel be established which can keep all the involved stakeholders on the same page?

The simplest way to know what is to be tested is to understand the objective of the learning being imparted and the expected knowledge to be held by the learners by the end of the learning period. William Spady, (1994) , an educational fellow who spearheaded the development of outcomes based education, suggested that the ability demonstrate learning is the key point of any evaluation. Spady, also addressed the context or performance setting in which the performance demonstration occurs. He suggested a range of performance contexts from that of demonstrations of classroom learning to those which involve living successfully in the larger society. Thus, his highest level outcomes refer to generic skills such as the preparation of learners to be problem solvers, planners, creators, learners and thinkers, communicators etc., regardless of subject areas studied. Learning outcomes thus refer to observable and measurable knowledge, skills and attitudes of the learners. Outcomes-based education is thought to provide greater: • Consistency - This can help create semi- structured education systems with localised curriculum content, with standardised curriculum outcomes • Accountability - Expectations for learning are clearly stated, and frequent assessment processes help both teacher and child identify progress toward meeting the outcomes • Accessibility - Due to a clear understanding of outcomes, each can now be working on different outcomes within the same unit at a time, letting the child move at his/her pace with the help of differentiated assignments

An outcome based approach to learning also introduces healthy competition amongst peers and a point of dialogue between the teacher and the child through a better representation of what learning looks like. Once the learning outcome is well understood, is also important that multiple, two-way evaluation structures are put into place such that both the teacher and the child is aware of how to make improvements and when legitimate growth has occured.

For the Lakpar classes, the following tools and methods were used to determine what was working with this intervention and what needed work (Each of these headings have been discussed in detail as we move ahead in the chapter): • Child Feedbacks: To get the child perspective of how the class is progressing and understand child needs better to types of feedbacks were collected- one which was generic and collected after every new assignment and the second which had more specific questions, which was collected at the end of the year • Lakpar Examination: To assess how the children demonstrated their learnings if the learning outcomes were tested independently, outside the classroom setting • Internal Reviews and Juries: To gauge how a child puts together his/her learning when working towards building a focused project in a closed setup • End of the Year Exhibition: To observe how well a child is able to communicate his/her learnings to an external audience in an open setup Based on insights from the above, the end of the year Lakpar Report Cards were created, which were focused on 21st century skills as the primary learning outcome of the Lakpar classes.

Apart from this, to evaluate the intervention itself in a broader perspective and its sustainability, the following aspects were looked at: • Pedagogy Testing with Government Schools: To see the reactions to the proposed method with a different audience in a similar setting • Co-Creation with the Community: To work and learn with the community members in a participative manner for mutual efforts towards sustainability • Soap Incubation: To support the idea of a children’s incubation space which emerged from the classroom interventions, from a distance

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Fig 256: 16 skills for the 21st century , Source: http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEFUSA_NewVisionforEducation_Report2015.pdf

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5.2 lakpar report cards Creating standard procedures like report cards for the assessment of learning, giving feedbacks to children and communicate details of child performance to the supervisors; was undoubtedly the most difficult part of this fellowship. Her main focus for the duration of the fellowship was to work on the 21st century skills which ned as the “broad set of knowledge, skills, work habits, and character traits that are believed to be critically important to success in today’s world, particularly in collegiate programs and contemporary careers and workplaces” according to the glossary of education reform. Different people have classified these skills in different ways from which I chose the categorization given by World Economic Forum in 2015 in a meeting to address the skills gap, as her reference. Here, the sixteen 21st century skills identified have been divided into three categories of Foundational Skills, Competencies and Character Qualities as shown in the image on the left.

Since Lakpar classes for the session 2018-2019 were conducted alongside the traditional schooling where Foundational Skills were already being introduced, and tested, these were taken only as a base to define the subject matter while I tested how the Competencies and Character Qualities can be integrated into and add value to the existing methods in which Foundational Skills are taught.

Also, close correlations were seen between how these skills were defined and UNESCO’s four pillars of learning, namely, Learning to think, Learning to do, Learning to be and Living Together which resulted in a regrouping of skills to align to the higher goals of education. The four skills which were identitfied to be core to nurturing these were as below: • Encouraging Listening as can be introduced through meditation, interviews, debates and conversations, nature walks etc.

• Encouraging Observation through building an understanding of body language, journaling, pattern study etc.

• Encouraging Questioning through analysis of pre-written texts, popular opinions, re-looking tasks we are habituated to do, conducting surveys etc.

• Connection Building by creating newer patterns, doing targetted design projects, hackathons, tinkering with a range of materials and resources etc.

Once what was to be assessed was well understood, its representation in the form that it could be standardized for communication had to be decided.

Since these were such intangible skills with no proper benchmark defining the highest order, a numeric grading of the same was definitely not an appropriate representation for it.

It is while studying alternative assessment strategies that I came across the term ‘rubrics’. A rubric is a coherent set of criteria for children’ work that includes descriptions of levels of performance quality on the criteria. [272] Although a rubric brings in a respectable amount of subjectivity to the representation of evaluations, just like any standardized evaluation its pre-defined ‘subjective’ categories still reflect the opinions and limited perceptions of those individuals applying it. Thus, no rubric fully evades the problems it set out to solve, with the expectations for behaviors still codified by the cells of the rubric or what Maslow (1948) refers to it as a “drawer full of folders”. [273] Personally, I felt rubrics to be an interesting tool to break down any assessment of learning into a conversational tone while also bringing different stakeholders to the same page as was intended from this task. The scale for each criteria for evaluation in the Lakpar Report Card rubrics created was based on the capabilities and improvements shown by the child in each criteria in the duration of the fellowship. This scale was further color coded to show: 1. Strengths (using green colour): Effortless demonstration or high improvement level in the criteria 2. Can be Improved Upon (using yellow colour): Improvement shown in the criteria with a constant push 3. Needs Deliberate Effort and Attention (using orange colour): Very little improvement shown in the criteria inspite of the push meaning that special strategies will need to be deviced drawing from the child’s behaviors and needs to improve the performance.

How a child performed on each scale was determined by both the child’s self reflection and her observations about the child, as recorded in her journals. The report card was made in a time bound manner and a lot of improvements can be done in its present look and feel. For example, the language of the evaluation criteria currently used in the report card can be simplified and maybe even made visual, to better communicate what the criteria means to the child. Sample pages of how the report cards looked like have been attached for reference.

References: [271] https://www.queensu.ca/ctl/teaching-support/course-and-program-design [272] How to Create and Use Rubrics, Susan M Brookhart, 2013 [273] Rubric Nation: Critical Inquiries on the impact of Rubrics in Education, Michelle Tenam-Zemach, Joseph E. Flynn, Jr., 2015

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Fig 257: Screenshots of one of the many Lakpar Report Cards created:

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5.3 lakpar program feedbacks During my time at the community there was a method introduced for feedback collection from the children with a focus on the performance of the teacher which was more suited for administrative purposes. Another process was introduced for peer learning amongst teachers by creating schedules for each other’s class observations to share their ways of working. Apart from these existing procedures, for the classes I introduced a system of regular feedbacks so as to support more child directed learning. For this, at the end of each assignment or a set of related assignments, I circulated a sheet with the headings“I Like”, “I Don’t Like”, I Wish” where the children had to write what they had liked doing so far, what they did not like to do and what they wished to learn in the coming classes. Initially, as a response, I mostly used to get one liners as shown in the sheet below:

Fig 258: I like, I don’t like, I wish feedback sheets

Though these were handy in determining the material affinity of the child, they were limited in their scope when trying to understand how and how much the child was registering the knowledge. I gradually discovered a way of collecting more informed feedbacks by making the children write about what they already knew about a topic before introducing it and want new information they learnt 176

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and the questions they had about the topic, after introducing it. This kind of regular feedbacks helped better understand what the child was questioning, whether or not he/she was attentive and what the child was struggling with.

These feedbacks revealed the following information about what had worked so far at the end of the first pilot: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Encouraging an attitude of trying new things Encouraging critical and reflective thinking attitude Encouraging observation-based learning Opening up to one’s emotional needs Relooking at waste as a resource

What needed to be worked on in the second pilot was listed down as below: 1. What the children want to do in class varied greatly with child’s interest area and learning curve. If an activity didn’t appeal to all the kids in the same way or some children pick up more quickly than others, handling them was difficult, unless forceful. There had to be a better way of catering to their personalized needs which I had to figure out for the next pilot.

2. Building an environment of peer learning and sharing of ideas 3. Making practicing what is taught in class compulsory through homework assignments and follow ups which was a difficult bet considering the tight schedules of the children 4. Balancing between 21st century skills and hands on skills. The latter needed to be given equal importance for quality output 5. Responsibility of stationary/ belongings/ project work was not taken properly by children. The classroom being an open space where a lot of other activities happened and which lacked a display space also contributed to this issue but wasn’t the centre of it. Classroom rules needed to be created with the children which they abide by and leadership boards were needed to track and award their improvement in this aspect.

6. Waste handling during segregation was still and issue and waste reduction had not yet become a part of the lifestyle.

7. Special needs children were taught in the same classroom setting which made it difficult to cater to their learning requirements.

The above insights were kept in mind when designing the second pilot where the children were divided into groups based on their interest areas.

Summary of the end of the year feedbacks from children The end of the year feedbacks collected from the children were more specific and focused on deriving each child’s experience of Lakpar class at the end of 2018-2019. The form created for the same had a set of 15 questions to get the response of children about the following: Activities of interest: The range of interest areas shared by children were- Learn about dogs, making small houses, architecture, sculptures, making mechanisms e.g. bicycle, car, electronics and coding, photography and videography, music editing, drawing and painting, making lifestyle products like bags, jewellery, clothes and creating things out of waste paper and cloth like notebooks, furniture, making soap, organic products, medicine, plants, marketing and management and social work. It was interesting to note that for some children the assignment that they found to be the most challenging was also the most interesting one while for some others the assignment that they found as most challenging was the most boring one for them. With these details noted down, I tried to see which teachers had interest and expertise in these fields and if practicing these skills could be merged with subject classes. There were quite a few connections like Gen Tenzin’s interest in making models of spaces, Minoti Ma’am’s interest in lifestyle products, Gen Ngawang’s knowledge about medicinal plants and organic products, etc. This resulted in the idea around how Lakpar Classes can work by a collective involvement of the community.

What they struggle with: Most children identified themselves to be struggling with public speaking and continuing with an activity if they were struggling with it, especially ideating on projects. Apart from this children also identified their struggle with group work and dealing with people who were mean to them.

Some children also wrote about how they found it difficult to concentrate for more than a few minutes, learn a new languag and to remember to keep things in place or return things on time.

Improvements needed in Lakpar class: Most children mentioned the need for a system to keep the classroom space cleaner. The children also felt that they moved very quickly from one project to another, not getting enough time to work on a particular project. Some had to rework on the projects a lot because of the classroom space being open with no space to store projects and anybody could come and tamper with their projects. Some wrote about the need for classroom rules to dismiss too much talking, better communication methods to discuss projects with the teacher and more readily available resources for use.

What they did not enjoy about Lakpar class: A popular response for this question was that they had to think a lot and it was difficult to come up with ideas apart from which they wrote about not being interested in something but having to do it.

If they found Lakpar to be useful or not and why: Almost all children found Lakpar classes to be useful, the reasons for which were given as- It helped them discover their talent, they learnt to make many new things with hand, they learnt how to use waste to make useful things and also how to manage their waste better, the class helped them identify needs of the community and work for it. While some children highlighted that they enjoyed seeing everyone work together, others wrote about liking to learnt to work individually and independently.

After the collection of feedbacks from the children I had a closed discussion with Genla, Vasudha and Sunil about how the year phased out for me. We had a good discussion about how Lakpar can pan out in the years to follow. Genla spoke about how Lakpar space can be divided into two levels- A tinkering space which is open for all classes and age groups and an incubation space which is for full time Lakpar children who either want to study in an NIOS model or wish to take a path towards entrepreneurship. One of the issues with taking children into full time Lakpar entrepreneurship or alternative learning programs was the lack of morale, most children joining this having not been able to cope with the traditional learning courses. We spoke about how we can make Lakpar space to be aspirational such that saying “Aapko Lakpar mei jaana chahiye” comes across as a statement of encouragement. As for the classes to be involved in the tinkering setup, I suggested them to be preferebly 6 and up as they were more capable of abstract thinking, while the younger classes could do smaller projects in class itself. We also spoke about closer involvement of inhouse skilled craftspeople like Gen Ngawang, Pradeep Dada, Pasang Mama, Gen Lham Dorjee, and craftspeople from villages in these classes which had differences in opinion as it was felt that having a skill for something vs teaching it were two separate things. Since it could not be commented upon without testing such a setup, we ended the discussion over there and moved forward.

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Fig 259: Few of the many feedback sheets from the children attached for reference:

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Fig 260: Grades 5 to 8 during Lakpar Exam Hands-on activity

Fig 261: Grade 9 child Sonam Gyatso making a bike using materials given 180

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Fig 262: Grade 5 child Lobsang making musical intrument using rice filled in cups

5.4 LAKPAR EXAMINATION With the mid term exams approaching, even I decided to conduct a formal evalution to understand how much the children were actually being able to comprehend during class. This exam was conducted similar to the pattern of design entrance examinations which is held in two parts- the first part is on paper while the second is a hands-on exercise.

Each question was weighed on the parameters of- Creative Aptitude, Reflective Thinking and Communication. Different questions weighed differently on each of these parameters. The scores were not revealed to the children to avoid comparison but feedbacks were given on their strengths and what needed improvement. The performance in this paper along with the class performance together influenced where they stood on each of the rubric parameters in the end of the year reports. (discussed in detail later)

Sanjay: Sanjay was a special needs child which is why a different paper needed to be designed for him. The idea was to test the extent to which Sanjay could follow instructions while also giving certain questions to challenge himself. For example, simple mazes and puzzles were given as observation exercises, a mandala was given to explore his creativity through colours, an object association exercise was given to draw the given objects in the correct scale, in relationship to each other etc. For the hands-on activity an origami dog was given with instructions on how to make it. Sanjay was able to successfully follow the instructions to replicate this origami form but when asked to try attaching a tail to it which can be moved by hand (referring to a mechanism tried with him in class), he wasn’t able to do so.

According to children, this was the most difficult but also the most interesting paper they had ever written and it created a buzz even with the other teachers at the community.

No tests were condcted for grades 2, 3 and 4. Separate papers were made for Grade 5, Grade 6 to 8, Grade 9 and 10, Sanjay with the following details: Grade 5: The written paper needed to be very simple in language but still with enough room for creativity. Few of the questions were to visually show a character described in a poem, imagine the conversation in the given image etc.

For their hands on activity, the children had to create a music instrument using the given materials.

Grade 6 to 8: Deriving from assignments conducted in class, this group was given questions like situations for conflict resolution, a music piece which they had to convert into a story or visual, questions on pollution and waste management etc. For their hands on exercise the children had to create a toy using the given materials.

Grade 9 and 10: This group was given a more abstract reflection exercise, questions focused on problem solving, new object creation etc. For this group’s hands-on session they too had to create a playful toy but the materials given to them were much harder to put together.

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Fig 263: Some pages from the Lakpar Exam Question paper:

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Fig 264: Answer sheets to question summary: To create an tangible artefact from the materials provided and explain what has been made:

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Fig 265: Answer sheets to question summary: To design a vehicle as per details, which can be both used for storing books and sitting in it:

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Fig 266: Answer sheets to question summary: To design a device for Mr Chatterjee who is physically handicapped, to use milk packets:

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Fig 267: Answer sheets to question summary: To listen to the audio track played in class during the exam and interpret it in the form of words or visuals:

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Fig 268: Answer sheets to question summary: To interpret the words given in the question paper in the form of sounds and write/draw alternative ways in which you imagine the same sound:

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Fig 269: Answer sheets to question summary: To identify the causes of global warming and simple ways in which it can be countered:

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5.5 internal reviews and juries Initially, the children were scared of displaying their work in an open exhibit format which is why we stuck to closed jury sessions for periodic reviews and feedback. We called these as “demo days” where the children had to spread out the work done so far on a table to get inputs on the same. We had 4-5 such internal demos over the period of one year which tested the children on their ability to ‘create’ which is considered the highest order skill according to Bloom’s Taxonoher, a 3-dimensional model of which has been shared in the image on the right.

Fig 270: The Jury Panel looking at the prototype

In one such demo we had the privilege of hosting Carmen Witte who is an Acupuncturist in Washington and Susan who is an artist in Washington with a special interest in mosaic art, as external jury members. Gen la was also present for the this particular demo day but refused to be a part of the jury panel.

The children shared their design project experiences in the What? Why? How? format followed by the question and answer round by the jury panel. Grade 10 could not be a part of this exercise as they were tied up with preparing for their upcoming pre-boards. Grade 9 chose to present their work in a roll number order. It was a long stretch of presentations from 8 in the morning to 12 in the afternoon held in Gen la’s office so we had also requested the kitchen staff to arrange for light snacks and tea/juice for the jury members. Handmade score sheets for the jury contained four parameters for evaluation of 10 marks each: • Creativity: Originality and out of the box thinking reflected in the product idea • Reflexivity: How well a child had been able to identify and address the needs of the community and learnt from their mistakes, as reflected by their process • Communication: Presentation skills and details in work as seen in the output • General Attitude: Motivation of the children, initiative, visible in performance

Fig 271: Handmade grade sheets for Jury 190

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The difficulty in quantifying parameters which were so qualitative in nature made me research on assessment methods and come up with better evaluation approaches for the end of the year reviews, the details of which have been shared earlier. The next few pages describe some of the projects presented by children during this particular review session in detail.

Fig 272: Bloom’s Taxonoher infographic

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Child Name: Sonam Lhamu What? A dual-use cushion seating created from waste which can be used for relaxation (lying down) as well as sitting (reading) Why? Designed with teens in focus or people who are fidgety and hyperactive.

These user groups often preferred low level seating which they could actively experiment with and which also gave room for movement while working, unlike the traditional table and chair set up.

How? A focused study was conducted in the community library where the children were often found sitting on the floor and reading or taking cushions from the sofas. It was deduced that the seating to be designed should be soft enough for you to be comfortable when immersed in books, portable to take it close to your favourite book rack, modular such that you can both lie down and sit and hard enough to not let you sleep in the process. Old cement bags filled with husk were used for filling the cushion. Two cement bags had to be stitched together to achieve the desired length. The fabric was tufted with stitches or buttons sewn through the cushion to keep the stuffing inside from bunching or shifting. The main issue was to make this stitch tight such that it remains secured in the process of constant folding and unfolding. An old fabric with velvet cloth surface was used to cover the seating with ruffles on either ends to add to the look.

Fig 273: The dual-purpose cushion seating being tested

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Child Name: Shanti Tamang What? Modular furniture from waste cardboard Why? A lot of cardboard boxes used for packaging could not be re-used and were lying as waste. The objective was to create something useful by repurposing this waste material.

How? Shanti found furniture to be a product category which could use maximum amount of waste in minimum time. She surveyed teacher’s living spaces to understand the need better. According to her survey, teacher rooms were small in size to accommodate a comfortable sitting and sleeping space at the same time. She then worked on a few sketches around modular furniture such that modules made of simple shapes can be rearranged- to create a chair and table for sitting as well as a bed for sleeping. Out of the many geometric designs, she found triangular structures to be most suited.

After making a small prototype to demonstrate the idea, she went on to create the final life-size furniture. She took the approach of sticking one cardboard over another which although looked neat, was very time consuming for her to finish the design in time for presentation. It was suggested that she can try mixing waste materials like metal cans etc to give the height, while maintaining the shape required, to make the process more efficient while retaining the quality of results.

Fig 274: Prototyping for modular seating with waste

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Child Name: Pratima Sutradhaar What? A jacket for back support during long drives Why? On her recent trip to her hometown, Kolkata, Pratima’s mother had suffered from severe back pain due to continuous sitting. On interviewing several other people in the community, she found out that many more people faced similar issues when travelling for long distances.

How? The best possible solution according to her was breaking the journey into smaller bits and doing stretching exercises during breaks. However, a lot of times these breaks were not possible due to the dependency on fellow travellers or time constraints or especially if you were the person who was driving. She therefore came up with the idea of a jacket which could give additional support to the back. When conducting her study, she found out that the cervical or the topmost section and the Lumber or the bottommost section of the spine needed the maximum support. Any hard material could be used to maintain posture in these regions while the rest of the regions could be supported with soft foam. A belt was added to readjust the jacket according to body type.

Next, she worked on the looks of this jacket. Most posture correction jackets in the market were not really high-fashion, suited to millennial demands. The challenge was to achieve this look using upcycled clothing. Pratima chose an old sailor print skirt for the outside part and a contrasting yellow flag for inside.

She then created a simple cutting pattern, cut the fabric and sewed it together as required, taking help of Sapna didi.

Fig 275: Jacket for back support

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Child Name: Dargey Phuntsok What? Introduce mushroom cultivation in the community Why? On his trip to Indian Council for Agricultural Research, Guwahati, Dargey had been introduced to the process of mushroom cultivation. This had made him wonder if this process could be applied to the various mushroom species available in his village which were mostly picked from the wild to eat, but never formally cultivated.

How? The mushroom variety which he had available to experiment with was Paddy Straw Mushroom. This variety is to be grown in open, shady place, protected from direct sunlight or rain with the help of temporary sheds. Since Amalas weren’t very comfortable with mushrooms being grown inside Khim Sangs (which were shady as well as ventilated), we decided to start by creating a small, temporary structure for experimenting. A consistent temperature of around 24-25 °C and then 16-18 °C was another essential requirement for growing the mushroom. Any high-low fluctuations in temperature were supposed to be harmful for the spread of hercelium or growth of fruit bodies respectively.

While this structure was being built with the help of Gen Ngawang, Dargey went to the village to collect rice husk to use as “spawn” which had to be tied in bundles of about 8-10cm, chopped and inoculated with thread-like hercelium cells to grow mushrooms. By presentation time he had only been able to achieve this bit. He later went on to make a bed of soil and soaked straw, scatter small straw spawns and powdered rice on top of it, cover this bed with four layers of straw bundles wrapped up in plastic sheets with small holes for ventilation and spraying water. We did not get a good yield on this failed first attempt at cultivating mushrooms but it helped Dargey to become familiar with this process which he introduced to the community in the end of the year exhibition and also remained inspired to try it again if he gets the opportunity.

Fig 276: Dargey on his way back from village with rice husk for mushroom cultivation

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Child Name: Srijina Subba What? Recycling Plastic to make bricks Why? While it was easier to recycle other waste materials, Srijina observed that plastics, especially smaller pieces of plastic like wrappers etc. were really difficult to recycle.

Fig 277: Hard material created while prototyping

How? The initial idea was to create a plastic recycling unit which could compress small pieces of plastic into bricks which could be used as construction material.

The sketch also had a chimney like structure to trap poisonous gases released while melting plastics. When researching, Srijina found out that there were various grades of plastics which melted at different temperatures which would need to be segregated for such an experiment. She also found out that melting shredded plastic with 40% the amount of sand was able to bind these two materials together to create solid bricks. If the amount of sand was kept even lesser, these bricks created took the colour of the plastic. Her research soon took her to https://preciousplastic.com/ by Dave Hakkens who had already given open source machine models for such recycling which was till now only an idea for her.

Her science teacher, Humaira, introduced her to the concept of eco-bricks [274] which enabled you to re-purpose plastic wrappers at home, without the use of machinery. She also posed a very interesting question of how people were happy to visit beautiful mountain spots but not the garbage dumps in mountains which were growing as steadily as the tourist influx. From here emerged the idea of participative eco-building which took eco-bricks from tourists as fee.

References: [274] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQYsXxHKgMk

Fig 278: Plastic recycling machine prototype 196

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Fig 280: Final solar car as displayed in the Exhibit

Child Name: Lungta Nyima What? Solar powered car prototype Why? To use renewable energy like solar energy to drive cars instead of nonrenewable fuels.

Fig 279: Testing the initial mechanism with batteries

How? The first test was to synchronise the motor to be able to control and turn the wheels. This testing was done using batteries. Next, the solar panel was tested. For charging the 3W solar panel, it had to be placed at a 45-degree angle against the sun for at least 2 hours so that it has sufficient energy to run the car.

Next, Lungta worked on making the car model and neatly organizing the circuit to connect everything to a single switch. The car also had LEDs as backlights to give it a real look and feel.

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Fig 281: Initial sketch of the kiosk

Fig 283: The kiosk prototype as displayed in the exhibit

Child Name: Rinchen Nima What? A prototype of a kiosk to carry load Why? To make human effort of moving heavy load from one place to another easier.

How? Rinchen wanted to make the four wheels work with a single motor.

While Lungta found an old toy car that did this for him, Rinchen went around scouting for gears with same number of teeth. When he saw a similar structure in old printer ink, he removed it and re-purposed it for his model. We collected the black powdered soot which came from it in a bowl as it can be poisonous.

Gen Ngawang told us how this powder can be added to an alcohol and water solution to make dye.

Fig 282: Visually figuring out how to make the mechanism work 198

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Fig 284: Sonam and Lungta experimenting with motors during class

Fig 285: A self-driving, transforming book carrier robot

Child Name: Sonam Gyatso

Child Name: Rinchen Dorjee

What? Harnessing wind energy to generate electricity

Rinchen worked on a range of idea sketches, but wasn’t able to zero down on an idea and shortly after had to discontinue being in Grade 10. One such idea was the robot book rack which could transform itself to a walking book bot or become a self-driving car. We obviously had to strike this off due to feasibility issues, however interesting it might sound. Next, he came up with the idea of storing physical work done by human body to generate electricity. For this he made a sketch of a human pulling water from the well and how this action was turning the pulley at the top which can be connected to a generator to store energy. We spoke of how people used piezoelectric sensors were used by people to store energy when they are walking and cycling. The last idea was on selfhealing gum boots to prevent the wear and tear where we discussed a variety of fabrics.

Why? Certain areas in the community, like the ledge were windy and if wind energy plants could be set up there, the community can benefit by utilizing this wind energy as a resource.

How? Sonam was really fascinated to learn about renewable energy sources, ever since a team from Goal Zero had visited to install solar panels in the community. When reading more on the same, he learnt how wind energy can also be harnessed to generate electricity. Most of his explorations revolved around creating the perfect propellor which can run at a speed sufficient enough to light a bulb. His explorations were also an inspiration for the fan module introduced to Builders group.

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Child Name: Yeshi Lhamo What? Homemade organic toothpaste Why? Organic toothpastes do not contain dyes or artificial ingredients.

They have the ability to clean teeth gently and effectively while also fighting bacteria, using plant extracts, natural minerals and antiseptic essential oils. Such a toothpaste can be made very easily using ingredients available at home and is hence economically beneficial, packaging less, healthy alternative to market alternatives.

How? Yeshi experimented with various recipes, using different types of ingredients before she zeroed on the following: • Cinnamon: Helps fight tooth decay, gum disease and kills oral bacteria • Cloves: Strengthens immunity, fights sore gums and infections, good for toothache and mouth ulcers • Coconut Oil: Prevents deposition of plague and bleeding of gums, protects enamel and keeps cavities away • Sea Salt: Gentle abrasive to help remove stains, helps in curing swollen and inflamed gums • Egg Shells (Optional): Help re-mineralise enamel and make them stronger by enriching the Calcium content After the jury she continued the project and went for field visits to study the health and hygiene condition of the villagers prior to testing the product with them. We had plans of conducting workshops for villagers on using this homemade recipe for better oral hygiene but it could not materialise due to lack of time.

Fig 286: Advocating why one should prefer her organic toothpaste

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Child Name: Dawa Chodron What? Organic Soap Why? The popularly available bar soaps in the market contain chemicals which are neither good for the skin, nor the environment.

How? Named as “Dawa soaps” (Dawa means Moonlight in Monpa) with the tagline “Shine and Glow”, this was the prototype which went on to become the first product to be incubated in the second year of Lakpar Makerspace.

The image shown is one of the many iterations of organic bar soaps during prototyping created by Dawa for the Jury review. The learnings from this were taken forward by Mani and Sanjay to create the next two prototypes which the team presented during the exhibition. The ingredients for the same were as below: • Wood Ash: This greyish white alkaline material contains minerals like Potassium Carbonate and Potassium Hydroxide which react with water in an exothermic manner to release Hydroxide ions. Once the residue settles at the bottom, the alkali created can be used as a lye for making soaps.

• Coconut Oil: Used as a carrier oil to be mixed with lye for the saponification process. It is also a good cleanser, helps produce lather and battle aging skin by keeping it moisturized and hydrated.

• Ghee: It makes soaps creamier and helps cure extremely dry skin • Lemongrass: The leaves were crushed to make a paste then poured in hot coconut oil for 30 min. Once it cooled it was filtered out and the residue was removed. Lemongrass is anti-fungal and anti-bacterial in nature, good for pimple prone skin. Alternatively, Eucalyptus leaves/ turmeric was planned be used.

Fig 287: Organic soap and toothpaste as created for Jury Review

The process of making cold process soaps is much more complicated than this and could be experimented in depth in the following year under Sunil Sir’s guidance. Apart from this Dawa researched on locally available soap plants or saponins which need not be processed and can be home-grown as soaps. Soap nuts were one such popular saponin, used for laundry and were still grown near Anita Ma’am’s village. Soap plants like Monpa leaf which grew in the community itself had antimicrobial and antibacterial properties according to research papers and were used for washing hands in olden times, a practice which discontinued when chemical soaps came to market. Genla also told us how ash and mud was used in olden times to clean utensils.

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Child Name: Dorjee Yangki

Child Name: Gombu Tsering

What? A portable, low cost drinking water filter

What? An automatic sprinkler

Why? A growing scarcity of fresh drinking water was observed, especially in the mountain regions. The filtering devices available in the market are too costly for villagers to afford which raises the need of low-cost filters.

Why? Amalas used to water plants in really cold seasons and ended up getting wet which was not good for their health

How? Dorjee Yangki used a 2l Bisleri bottle lying in waste for prototyping and modified it as per the sketch created. This bottle had three levels of gravel of varying diameters, from less to more, in a depth of 4mm, 10mm and 20mm.

Below this layer was a grating or wire mesh. In this TEF section a piece of activated charcoal was sealed for purification purpose. After this three-step sedimentation, filtration and disinfection, the drinking water rose up the elbow to the roof and could be used for drinking. The main issue Dorjee faced was is sealing the joints using m seal to prevent any leakage. The idea was something she had studied in her science books and wanted to try out practically.

Fig 288: Initial sketch of the low-cost water filter prototype 202

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How? Gombu created the prototype of a rotating head type sprinkler using a 10l empty fevicol drum as the water tank. He connected this unit to smaller perforated water containers which had been mounted on top of motors for sprinkling water in all directions. One switch was used to pull water from the main tank and send it to the perforated sprinklers and other switch to control the motor of sprinkler. The speed of rotation of the motor and thereby the sprinkler, could be controlled using a potentiometer. The more the speed of rotation, the larger the radius the sprinkler was able to cover. He also worked on insulating the motor and the wires from direct contact with water and also painted the tank for pesentation. However, the most striking think about his presentation remained his speech. He was one of the few people who had approached me for discussing the speech prior to the jury and had practiced it all night before the jury day. Gombu was someone who was scared of addressing a crowd and the presentation going well gave him a lot of confidence to speak on similar occasions.

Fig 289:Gombu Tsering addressing the crowd during the exhibition

Child Name: Tsering Chodron What? To continue the oral tradition of narrating Monpa folktales by the medium of puppetry Why? The Monpa language as spoken by the people of Mon region was disappearing. One of the reasons for the same was that the language did not have a written script. Although some stories of the Mon region had been documented in Tibetan script, the essence of the language could be only preserved via narration.

How? Puppet theatre was chosen as the visual medium to add dimension while narrating the folktales in Monpa language. Tsering was intrigued by the idea of bioscopes as it made her feel like she was teleported to some other world.

She wanted to make these puppets mechanical such that they can be moved around the box with a simple pull-push or rotation. I introduced her to the simple crank and shaft mechanism used to make automata. Her explorations inspired the automata module for Builders group later. She wasn’t able to take part in Jury reviews as grade 10 children had to discontinue classes for Board preparations. However, we did make a small, digital bioscope for the exhibit, with photographs showing Lakpar session 2018-2019 at a glance.

Fig 290: Initial thoughts and prototyping of Bioscope

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Child Name: Lobsang Dadron What? Pen for the disabled Why? Disabled people, especially the physically handicapped have difficulty in performing activities like writing, painting and drawing. Although there are some non-tactile aids available there is a need for more tactile aids to enable these people to write, draw and explore.

How? Study was conducted keeping in mind the physically handicapped people who do not have upper limbs. The device created, used foot movements on a touch-based surface like phones to draw. The coordinates were detected and sent to the plotter pen via Bluetooth which were then on paper with a pen using an XY plotter pen mechanism. Since we did not have resources to create this in a traditional way, Lobsang tried mounting the pen on top of the servo motor using ice-cream sticks to give up and down movement while left-right-forwardcentre movements were controlled with the help of a motor driver mounted on top of an assembled car created using the mechanics kit. She also worked on improving the project with two Lumla children and displayed it in the District Science exhibition held at Tawang.

Fig 291: Prototype of electronic pen for disabled

Fig 292: XY Plotter Mechanism, Source: https://imgur.com/gallery/tsgVUAg 204

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Child Name: Tsering Gombu What? Hydraulic exoskeleton Why? To make lifting heavy load easier by creating a suit that can act as an extension to body How? After being introduced to the hydraulics mechanism, Tsering had been really fascinated with it and was often found tinkering with it making weight offloading hydraulic trucks, hydraulic guns for playing target shooting etc. The idea for the exoskeleton emerged when the Jhamtse Gatsal and the Lumla children’ team was brainstorming on improving the health of workers and the team unanimously agreed to work on the exoskeleton.

Fig 293: Dargay playing with a Hydraulic Truck Prototype by Tsering Gombu

Fig 295: Creating charts for the District Science Competition

The first exercise was to put tape on the spine and bend and lift- to identify pressure points during bending and lifting. Depending on this a suit structure was created to support the neck, shoulders, lower back and thighs. A mix of Hydraulics and Lever mechanism (since we could not create the ball and socket joint as planned earlier) was used to distribute the weight lifted between the body and the machine.

Fig 294: Talking about the Exoskeleton mechanism during competition Graduation Project by Ananya Agrawal|

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Child Name: Maling Yangchen What? Object organizer using waste Why? People often lose track of small objects like stationary, make-up, etc which can be tracked if organized well. The organizers available in the market are mostly made of plastic, very few sustainable alternatives existing for the same.

Fig 297: Initial prototype of container from waste paper

Fig 296: Discussing the insights from the waste management survey

How? Maling’s explorations started from the keyword waste. She conducted a survey within the community to understand what all people shop for, how often do they shop, their daily routine, their hobbies and their awareness about waste.

From this she estimated what kind of products people were consuming and the kind of waste being produced. From this survey another issue got highlighted about people losing small objects due to which they had to purchase new ones.

She started exploring sustainable organizers to address this issue.

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The initial prototypes were made by weaving paper which although had an interesting look and feel were not very accessible. She then looked at average object width and height and created the final prototype using milk tetrapacks and colored paper, arranging these tetrapacks in a concentric manner.

Child Name: Tashi Phuntsok

Child Name: Tsering Lhadron

What? An automatic weight lifter prototype

What? An obstacle detection stick for the blind

Why? During construction, the workers had to carry heavy load on their backs which was not good for their health

Why? Blind people were more prone to accidents because the sticks available for them as of now was only able to detect obstacles within a 0.5 m distance, in the forward direction.

How? Tashi used a motor to move the pulley mechanism to help lift weight.

He used the thread spindle which is used in sewing machines as the pulley and attached it to a container to put the load in. He was suggested the reduction gear mechanism to slow the speed of rotation to present the thread from entangling or the load from falling down, during upward movement when lifting. Tashi was someone who would rather make and show the prototype than spend time with sketching it first even though it took him a couple of iterations to reach the desired result in this way.

Fig 298: Automatic Weight Lifter Prototype

How? Tsering started with experimenting with long range IR sensors, connecting them to Arduino Boards for testing. She decided to work with one ultrasonic sensor on the top, facing forward, and one IR sensor few inches up from the bottom end, facing backward. This way she hoped to cover a range of obstacle from different directions. Once she had tested the sensors, she moved to creating the stick. According to her, the most difficult part about creating the stick was the handle because she had to experiment with different shapes before deciding upon one which gave the best grip to the old people. She was also attempting at hiding the Arduino Board in the handle so the design of the handle needed to accommodate that as well.

Fig 299: Demonstrating the obstruction detecting stick for blind prototype during jury Graduation Project by Ananya Agrawal|

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5.6 lakpar choikan: the end of the year exhibition As the fellowship period started approaching its end, I thought it would be good to put up an exhibition to display the learnings of children as a closure. One of the last classes taken prior to the exhibition was on Service Design. The session started with a discussion on what the word “service” meant. The children unanimously agreed on a service being “an act of gratitude or contribution to the society by doing something to meet the needs and requirements of people.” I extended their understanding by showing how while designing a service it was important to identify “Whose needs are being met” or the target user group such that one can start with identifying and meeting the needs of those set of people before broadening the user base of the service.

The next thing I highlighted the qualities which were important to build in oneself when designing a service, namely, (a) teamwork (b) efficiency and detail in work (c) operational management (d) financial management. The children were given some examples of the same before starting out to create their own services. The services were to be planned and tested in a pre-defined timeline followed by a final exhibition of all services together, the day planned to be a mini festival at the community with many stalls by children, music, games and food.We could not have the service design exhibition as planned due to some internal complications because of which the planning time for children was cut down by two weeks. However, some of the initial ideas the children were working on are worth a mention, listed below: •

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The Musicians: The group wanted to use music as a medium to bring people together. For this they wanted to create some participative experiences where people can play with objects/ software to create live music from nature/ waste. The service was to end with a live concert with a viewership fee.

Furniture from Waste: The children observed that a lot of furniture needed by the administration for classrooms could be made by either repairing old furniture or using waste cardboard and paper mâché as a raw material for the same. For this they started with interviewing teachers and admin to understand the (1) type of furniture needed (2) any additional specifications and (3) quantity. They decided to start with some samples based on this and they work on a bulk order basis.

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Fig 300: Children working on making paper chair using old notebooks

• Up-Style: Be Losar Ready: The children wanted to introduce multi-

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ple services within this, mainly targeted at the teenagers and youngsters at the community. Losar is a Buddhist festival which was just around the corner during this time which is why they named it so. The services they were working on were around (1) upcycling old or discarded clothes of the person who signs up for the service into something new by either re-stitching, dyeing or simply restyling (2) hair braiding as an activity (3) Losar special diaries made by recycled paper and cloth covers.

Jewellery Store: This group wanted to promote jewellery and baskets made from waste materials as a sustainable gifting practice during the festival. This was the only group which was able to finish things partly, to display on the exhibition day. The jewellery was put up as a stall as mentioned earlier, while the weaving methods were demonstrated.

Fig 301: The materials spread out for weaving demonstration

• Healthy Food Habits: This group was working on mapping the (1) nutrient intake from the kitchen food during the day, (2) the food preferences of the community members, (3) the available food resources around the place and (4) the activities the community members do throughout the day, to the corresponding food requirements. Based on these insights the children created a new menu for the kitchen for a better nutrition balance.

Fig 302: Brainstorming and survey on Food patterns

Though the exhibition could not be conducted as planned, it was suggested as a method to teach flow of money to the economics teacher Prerana who took it up as an assignment with her 11th graders in the following year’s academics.

Having to drop the original plan, we decided to display the projects done over the year instead. The main challenge here was that most projects had either been dismantled or were broken due to the lack of storage and display spaces for the completed projects. We had to make do with what was left and see how we could put those up in a way that it looked presentable. The four main patterns that had been identified in the projects were- Lifestylers, Builders, Naturalists and Rhythmists. Accordingly, four zones were created. The image details out the layout, plan and execution of the exhibit as it was, leading to a conclusion of the fellowship period 2018-2019.

Fig 303: Layout of exhibit

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Fig 304: Lobsang Tenzin with mentor Uday during first community meeting on waste

Fig 306: Zumba dance during first Community Lakpar 210

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Fig 305: Tsering Gombu face painting in a pop-up stall during Christmas

Fig 307: Community gathered to watch a performance during Durbar

5.7 something borrowed: cocreation with the community Fellowship projects are mostly time bound and their impact largely revolves around the person driving the project working in that time frame. Once that driver moves away from the setting, a large chunk of the work dies out. With this in mind it is important for any fellow to consciously make efforts to see how even a small part of their efforts can sustain. In this particular case the permanent stakeholders who had been and were to remain after I left the place were the teachers and it was important to actively work with them and learn from their methods while introducing them to her experiments. Such a dialogue could not be established with a lot of teachers due to limited efforts from her end. However, there was definitely a lot of learning when working with the people I did collaborate with, the shared lessons planned and conducted with them already detailed out in the assignments section. The teachers in Jhamtse Gatsal were a self-motivated, passionate lot, always trying out new ways of teaching and working with children, some of the teachers meetings spanning out to hours. For the year 2019-2020, the teachers decided on focusing on building Empathy, Critical Thinking and Responsibility as skills where I got to learn a lot from being a part of the discussions in the Critical Thinking team and also listening to the plan of actions of the other two teams. The teaching and working staff weren’t the only people who came in with a scope of collaboration. In fact, one of the most fun additional activity conducted was in collaboration with a child, Tsering Gombu who wanted to pursue a career as an artist and learn thangka painting which is a form of Buddhist art. Tsering and I put up an impromptu face painting pop up stall during Christmas, which was a huge hit especially amongst little ones.

Another collaboration was on Waste Management with the school captain Lobsang and the Mathematics and Science teacher Uday Nair. Shortly after the fellowship began, child elections were held and the new child captain, Lobsang, initiated a project called “Khoryuk Sungkyup” or Project Earth as a small step towards the environment. Mentored by Uday, Lobsang initiated a deep cleaning on every second Saturday, in which the entire community participated.The statistics generated from this activity raised awareness within the members of the community about the type of waste and quantity of waste generated.

For this cleaning activity, the entire community was divided into zones and in time it became a competition between the zones to generate lesser waste.

Cleanliness was one part of waste management while the other was introducing the community to the 4Rs of Waste Management, namely Refuse, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle; the latter being guided by me. The team started the task by the installation of waste seggregation bins. We used old wood to make the frame of these bins in which we made holes to insert wooden rods through which we hanged the cardboard box bins. These in-house bins made with the help of the community members during weekends had four waste seggregation categories and were installed in three different locations of the community. The removable rod type setup was made so that one could easily remove, attach and transport the cardboard boxes without having to move the entire setup. Following the making of the bins, an introductory session on waste segregation was taken for the community with a stress on washing and drying of waste before putting it as the waste put in the bins was meant to be recycled during the Lakpar classes.

What was once waste for the community now came handy as raw material for the classes without any added costs. However, it was undenaibly true that after a point, the rate at which the waste was created was much more than the rate at which the class was able to use it up, often giving an invitation to guests like rats and having to burn a part of the waste anyway. One unexpected of this exercise was that the community started visibly noticing the amount of waste which was being produced, with the children often discussing about it with me.

This initiated talks with the children on waste reduction with children working on awareness surveys on how much the community members were consuming and attempting to design more sustainable alternatives to the things used by the community members regularly, like hygiene products.

One of the lesser known deliverables of the fellowship as discussed in the beginning of the year meeting was to hold Community Lakpar sessions with the baseline objective of the community coming together to participate in something. My limited approach had been around planning community dance sessions or participative hands-on activities which did not work out well and the sessions were discontinued. Much later, Shalom and Ophelia introduced the concept of “Durbaar” on no dinner nights as a time for the community to come together and celebrate being oneself which was the instant hit. One reason for its success was its extremely, organic and people focused approach which excellently blended with the community, one of the many things I took back as a learning.

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Fig 308: Students from Lumla School learning to work with Arduino

Fig 310: With Sazo Govt. school students and teachers 212

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Fig 309: Exoskeleton model created for science competition

Fig 311: Sazo School teachers and students having a discussion after the assignment

5.8 pedagogy testing with government schools Pedagogy testing process was essential to the project to understand to what extent the intervention was specific to the community and if parts of it could be scaled up to a larger context. The children of Jhamtse Gatsal had the advantage of much more exposure as compared to other children in the district, both due to the diversity of visitors it attracted as well as the teachers being from diverse fields and backgrounds. The teacher to child ratio here was also very less and the teachers lived within the community, due to which each child got personalised attention which was again not true for the Government Schools of the region. The choice of schools and nature of experiments were limited to the geographical constraints, accessibility of resources and her familiarity with the region.

The first experiment was a little unplanned and happened as a result of a task assigned to me which was to guide two children from Lumla Government School and two children from Jhamtse Gatsal School for the upcoming District Science Competition. The children visited the school expecting to make a chart on one of the topics given in the exhibition details and left working on a working prototype of a hydraulic exoskeleton and a pen for handicaps for the District Science Exhibition, held a few months later. On their first visit the Lumla school children were a little confused but they quickly picked up pace during the brainstorming exercise and even used to visit early and leave late to finish the model even though they had exams approaching. On the day of the competition, the children were really nervous and confessed that this was the first time they had made something by hand but that they had fun making it and learning from each other in the process. We might not have won the competition but the exoskeleton was a huge hit amongst both children and teachers from other schools. A few of them were of the opinion that since I was from outside (not a resident of Tawang and hence expectedly more informed), I must have known how to make this project and instructed the kids to make it. Very few were ready to believe that the concept and prototyping was entirely the children’s doing with a limited guidance from me in the form of small inputs and the presentation speech preparation. Such deep mistrust in their own children’ capabilities made me further believe in the intangible concepts of learning methods and environments and the difference they could

bring in child performance. The experience with Lumla School children also brought out how it was important to work with teachers and children together to bring out how easily such methods could be implemented in their classrooms without needing someone from “outside” for them. I was still wondering how I should approach government schools when a few children and teachers from Sazo Government School happened to come to the community for an exposure visit. To make the most of their day, the children from both the schools were taught to make Zines which are small, customized magazines. We also discussed multiple ways of customization during this session. At the end of the workshop, the children from both schools exchanged their zines between each other, giving each other a personalized memory for remembrance. During this visit I approached one of the teachers and asked her if the school would be interested in having me over to which she readily agreed.

On my first visit I wasn’t really prepared for conducting a session but having already conducted multiple assignments at Jhamtse Gatsal by now, I had a fair idea of how to go about it when requested to take a class. I started preparations for the session with moving around the school for a basic observation of the place and the people followed by raw material hunting. The material availability in Sazo School was much more scarce that Jhamtse Gatsal. The storage space had a few waste papers and cardboards lying and the Principal happened to have one cellotape and one scissor which could shared by the class. Since Grade 8, the class which was given to me, had a chapter on Material Properties in their Science textbook, we took that up as the topic for exploration, the class conducted being similar to the ‘Material Challenge: Paper’ exercise in the assignments section.

With the Grade 6 kids I took a simple class on patterns and ended with that as the lunch bell went by. The next session was planned especially for the Sazo School children where we discussed the properties of plastic and compared and contrasted it with the properties of cloth followed by a hands-on session on plastic weaving. The teachers of Sazo School were involved fully in both the sessions and were buzzing with ideas about their future sessions which was a pleasing sight. Apart from Sazo, I visited Lumla Government School and Kharting Government School for observation purposes but did not get the time to conduct any classes there.

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Fig 313: Shanti pouring soap mixture created by cold process, into mold

Fig 312: Student proudly showing the first handmade soap made in class 214

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Fig 314: Tenzin making a new mould for soaps

5.9 new beginnings: soap incubatees By the end of the Fellowship period two projects which stood out as ready for incubation were the soaps by Dawa Chodron, Mani and Sanjay and the toothpaste by Yeshi Lhamo. However, staying put to my original stance, I still felt ownership to be the key to entrepreneurship and let the children decide the course of where they wished to take their projects. A few weeks after I had returned from the place, I was informed that two children- Shanti Tamang and Tenzin Norbu had decided to drop out of the formal learning setup and wanted to work on learning to make and sell handmade soaps. Shanti and Tenzin hence soon to be incubated and were to be guided by the Math and Science teacher Sunil, in this process who also happened to hold a Masters degree in Management apart from his interest in teaching. At this point I was just providing distant support and wasn’t really a part of the experience. However, doing classroom projects and taking a project to the market are two completely different experiences which came with a lot of learning which I would like to share here. Apart from me, Dr Charu and Prof Harsh from IIT Guwahati were also providing distance support to this initiative.

The first successful soap made by Dawa and team used lye from wood ash (KOH)apart from the other ingredients as described earlier. The soap made using this although served its purpose but was quite sliher in its look and feel and not professional enough for the market. Also, the team had been using hit and trial as a strategy for testing the ingredients and needed to be made better aware of the science behind soap making and the art of experimentation.

The other idea during classes was around growing and selling locally available soap plants or saponins directly instead of making soaps which was rejected on the pretext that the market was accustomed to perceiving soap as a product in a certain way. Introducing soap plants to the audience was going to be less an exercise in soap making and more in introducing a behavior change in the market around how they perceive and use soaps which will tie down to the market perception of hygiene in general. Also, selling a lifetime plant instead of a one time product would need to have a very different financial model as well, maybe inclining more towards a service based delivery. The team wasn’t sure they wanted to get into this level of complexity at the very beginning and decided to play it safe and work on cold process soaps which were popularly

used in the market. Sunil better introduced the children to how the process of saponification worked and how to use the lye calculator when working with popularly used oils in handmade soaps whose saponification values had been pre-determined and fed into these calculators. They used mineral lye (NaOH) along with a range of carrier oils and essential oils for their experiments, carefully documenting their recepies. They also tried bringing locally made oils from the villages but could not do much with it as they needed a titration setup to determine the saponification value of these oils. (The saponification number is the number of milligrams of alkali (lye) required to neutralize the fatty acids resulting from the complete hydrolysis of 1g of fat (oil)) In time, the children started experimenting with different types of molds both made by them and as available in market. They also tried experimenting with adding colours and fragrances as additional ingredients and create unique patterns using them. Sunil also ordered a slab of melt and pour soaps for the children for them to see the difference between melt and pour and cold process soap making techniques.

Fig 315: Few of the many soap patterns experimented with

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Once the children got a hang on the soap making techniques they moved on to working upon the Logo and the Packaging. Initially, a contest was launched in the community to collect ideas on the name and logo from the community members, promising a lifetime supply of soaps to the winners. However, the competition did not garner much interest from the community and the team sat down to brainstorm on the branding themselves. It was while brainstorming on the keywords like purity, earthiness and positivity that they felt could represent their soaps, that they came up with the name “Sattva�. The name also closely connected to the Bodhisattva philosophy which Buddhists believe in, which is why they chose the Bodhi Tree as their final logo. Paralelly, Sunil gave the children a task of coming up with five different types of packaging. At this point we also looked at the naked soaps concept by Lush which made us question the very need of packaging. It was seen that our soaps did get sticky when exposed to heat for a long duration, especially during travelling so it needed some minimal packaging. We looked at various concepts of felted soaps, soap casing using paper/fibre etc. before settling down on brown paper packaging with a personalised letter from kids/ quote by Gen la on the backside which could be treated as a packaging insert.

Fig 317: Final Logo for the handmade soaps

Fig 316: Branding and Packaging prototypes

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that classes come to the lab once a month on a rotational basis to make soaps, supervised by either the class teacher or the science teacher. This way young children can keep getting introduced to the technique while also producing enough soaps to continue its use inside the community. The loss of interest of the children in the endeavor was questioned by Sunil for quite some time before he could move on without disregarding the efforts put in by him as a mentor and acknowledging his self-growth in the process. For future, a lot more improvements could be introduced in the way the classes are conducted, like adding re-generative leadership and management focused classes apart from just having a product focused experimentation.

Fig 318: Children with their mentor during their exposure visit to Solan

Apart from the in-house trainings, children were also taken for an exposure visit to Solan, Himachal Pradesh to learn from ‘Earth Just’ organization’s experiments towards sustainability. Here the children learnt how to make soaps using soap nuts and bio-enzymes and also a lot other sustainable initiatives like growing mushrooms and making jams from fruits. The children were really excited after coming back and tried to implement their learnings once they came back to the community. Once back in the community, a visit by an organization called Annadana was arranged which introduced the children to organic farming and seed conservation practices. Meanwhile, the community had decided to stop buying soaps and use the ones made by the children which was a big feat for the initiative in itself. Sunil was also paralelly trying to help the children to create a local or an online channel for selling soaps. However, the community did not want to start selling soaps outside till they were able to go completetly organic (using locally grown ingredients). It was about this time that Shanti and Tenzin started developing newer interests and did not wish to continue with soap making. For sustaining the practice of making and using handmade soaps in the community, Sunil worked with teachers and children on a model such

Fig 319: Shanti, Sunil and Tenzin halting in Delhi before their trip to Solan

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06 INDEGINOUS CLASSROOMS OF THE FUTURE

Fig 320: Made by Dorgi Yanki

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Fig 321: Genla, in conversation with Guardians of the children at Jhamtse Gatsal

Fig 322: A woman weaving the traditional Monpa bag 220

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6.1 futuristic model 1 “The principle idea is to impart the whole education of the body, mind and soul through the handicraft that is taught to the children”- Mahatma Gandhi (in Nai Talim) [276] Nai Talim is a spiritual principle which states that knowledge and work are not separate. Mahatma Gandhi promoted an educational curriculum with the same name, based on its pedagogical principle. Even after 72 years of independence, Nai Talim and its proposed implementation strategy still is a part of the futuristic model, considering that it will take the mainstream system of schooling in India some time to move towards this transition.

This model essentially focuses on leveraging the power of local communities for introducing experiential learning in schools. The artisans might not be “trained educators” but in collaboration with the trained professionals like teachers, they can help develop localized curriculums that can teach a range of topics in a multidisciplinary manner. For instance, weaving as a tool can be used to visually and transactional-ly teach mathematics, can chemically engage (e.g. use of dyes) to teach chemistry, physics and biology can be taught ergonomically, while conducting a study on historical and cultural practices can introduce to social studies concepts and language via its documentation and presentation.

The proposed implementation strategy operates on three levels with mixed age groups.

Level 1: Comprehension Aimed at working upon the child’s ability to understand objects, people and spaces by building basic comprehension skills. Subjects offered at this level: • • • • •

Language and Communication Numeracy Skills Art and Logic Visual Programming Guided Play

Level 2: Exposure This level comprises of four compulsory and six optional* subjects which are offered in a rotational manner: • • • • • •

Entrepreneurial Management* Lifestyle* Rhythm* Building* Nature* Digital Technology*

Logical Reasoning and Mathematics Language and Communication Behavioural Science Design Research While the outcomes still remain standardized, the medium of instruction can change depending on choice, a rotation happening quarterly. The classes are centred around the medium of study instead of being subject centric, offering a multi-disciplinary approach to learning.

Level 3: Awakening Choices mature and slowly reveal the direction or domain of work and specialization a child wishes to pursue by this level. A range of disciplines should be left to emerge here depending on child’s choice, cultural context and availability of learning resources and expert staff, offered in a diploma manner.

The children should be encouraged to go for industrial visits and enrol in distance learning programmes once they reach this stage to reduce the dependency on inhouse teaching staff.

References: [275] https://www.gandhiashramsevagram.org/village-swaraj/nai-talim.php [276] https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/book-on-mahatmagandhis-nai-talim-launched/articleshow/65699374.cms [277] https://tribes.com/about/

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Fig 323: Brainstorming sheet prepared by children for a classroom project 222

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6.2 transitory model 2 The transition towards a multidisciplinary learning approach cannot be sudden and has to be gradually brought about. One can start with the introduction to project-based learning in schools and a rubrics-based credit system for transparency in its evaluation which can be directly used by higher education departments as a selection-criteria along with the written examinations. Projectbased learning is in its core, multidisciplinary, and its essence can be kept by there being just one project for all subjects instead of each subject having individual projects as per the current approach by most central and state boards.

This will also give a child more time to develop his/her work and bring an innovative approach and a cultural identity to it. If the schools want to give themes as triggers initially, they can start with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by UNDP, approaching them in a problem-solving manner.

Quoting Mr Anil Swarup, retired IAS officer and Former Secretary, School Education, Government of India, “For an idea to sustain over a period of time, it has to be politically acceptable, socially desirable, technologically feasible, financially viable, administratively doable and judicially tenable.� The transitory model suggested can be weighed on these parameters, highlighting what can emerge as a possible challenge when implementing this idea at scale.

Political Acceptability: SDGs are the main focus of any administration given which a community driven problem-solving approach to project-based learning can be a key driver. However, certain political undercurrents and their effects are unpredictable and can vary with time and place. These need to be thoroughly understood in relation to the idea before any implementation.

Social Desirability: With inadequate child-teacher ratio, lack of quality educators, mismatch in school curriculum and what university entrances demand and either low education or busy working schedules of parents, private tuition has slowly penetrated into lives and established itself as an important industry (the market estimated to be $16 billion in 2017). Outsourcing classroom projects is also a popular practice by children and is even supported by parents, with emerging hubs for the same. Tuition culture and related industries are majorly in urban spaces and have a considerable impact on econoher apart from widening the rural-urban gap. The proposed intervention will either lead to a redefinition of this industry or make it fizzle out. While free markets will map

their own route into it, the effect on employment would need to be addressed by the government. The main motivation for teachers choosing to conduct tuitions over classroom teaching is greater autonoher, larger impact, lesser administrative load and a better pay scale. Teacher incentives will need to be created keeping these factors in mind.

Technological Feasibility: Clearly defined, digitally mapped outcomes might although lower administrative load and ensure accessibility to the last mile, but can also impact the scope for qualitative feedback which needs to be kept in mind when designing such systems.

Financial Viability: Providing for the needed facilitating infrastructure mainly research materials and tinkering facilities is important to ensure equity. Supporting programs like Atal Tinkering Labs and encouraging funding in PPP mode can be explored to expedite this.

Administrative Practicability: Creating incentive schemas for stakeholders at each level of such a program implementation is important. A thorough follow up mechanism and third-party assessment systems need to be set in place. Any loopholes or slacking can be a major setback for such an implementation.

Judicial Tenability: IP protection laws for minors would need to be introduced along with strict regulations around mentor code of conduct under child rights and protection laws. Also, special focus on rural, government schools and economically backward classes such that inclusivity is maintained in process.

References: [278] https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals. html [279] https://www.gse.upenn.edu/academics/programs/project-based-learningcertificate [280] https://www.edutopia.org/blog/evaluating-pbl-michael-hernandez [281] https://realestate.siliconindia.com/viewpoint/cxoinsights/a-glance-into-theindian-home-tuition-market-in-numbers--nwid-10616.html

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6.3 a stapoo approach for arunachal schools Remember playing stapoo (hopscotch) as a kid? Targeting those chalk drawn boxes with a stone and then hopping on them, putting your balance, coordination and social skills to test as you move towards victory? Well, after a comprehensive study of the school education system, it was revealed that if the essesntials of the system were coalated and mapped, they could be arranged in the similar fashion and any school intervention can then be designed around it, keeping it as a base template.The overarching critical problems in the Indian education system mostly revolve around following the blanket approach to learning, difficulty in maintaining children to quality mentor ratio and concentration of quality education to very few areas or expensive institutions. Looking at Arunachal’s drastically low performance in the School Education Quality Index (SEQI) and the Annual Status of Education Report, a similar approach was taken to map needed interventions for achieving quality education outcomes in the Arunachal school education ecosystem which

Fig 324: Core processes in Education System and Key Stakeholders

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has been detailed out in this section, elaborated using the seven layers of the comprehensive Stapoo Approach: 1. Advanced Infrastructure: The sparse, scattered population of Arunachal has led to the adoption of the residential system by many schools while many other good schools witness hostels emerging in its vicinity. This means that a child is spending a lot more time in the school premises than the usual which makes the conscious transformation of these spaces into learning environments all the more important by introducing educational elements which can be built into these spaces. These can range from painting multiplication tables on stairs, mini-science playgrounds, reading rooms, creative corners and game zones which the children have an ownership and freedom to re-organize. One can not even imagine what children can achieve in unstructured setups. For example, I had the privilege of visiting the secret garden made on a terraced slope by Pema Drolma, a class 8 child at Jhamtse Gatsal. Using plastic bottles cut from the top and connected to each other with pipes she had created a rainwater harvesting system for watering her plants. To quote Ernest Dimnet, “Children have to be educated, but they have also to be left to educate themselves.”

A A residential setup can work well for older grades as long as there good living facilities. However, it is not good for the tiny tots to live away from home at such a young age, who are mostly enrolled at Anganwadis. Also, a lot of children are not able to receive equal exposure due to this distance from schools. The Lohit district in Arunachal Pradesh addressed this issue by bringing schools to children with their School on Bus approach which was well received by the locals and can be extended to other places. Apart from this providing learning on the go through mobile technology can be looked at as long as Sustainable Powerhouse Systems and Internet Services have made its way to the place, along with certain familiarity to smartphones which are still a rarity for the region. Preferred alternative could be replicating something like the technical infrastructure Global Himalayan Expedition is providing to schools in Ladakh using foldable solar panels and low cost, offline digital content using Raspberry Pi. Another issue with mountain areas is that the children have to trek to and from schools in low lights to address which IIT Guwahati came up with ‘jugnu bags’ recently which can be adopted. Arunachal is also very disaster prone and there is often news of a school wall collapsing or roof getting blown away. Traditional approaches

Fig 325: System Level Hierarchies in Indian School Education

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to creating disaster proof architecture can be adopted along with already popular mock safety drills to create safe environments for children to study in. Also, any new infrastructural facility introduced should be accompanied by relevant training, maintenance and feedback mechanism to get reports on its usage and ensure longevity.

2. Experiential Learning: Arunachal Pradesh is home to a diverse range of tribes and cultures. Deriving the methodology for contextualization of learning from the Transitory Model, a range of relatable, experiential content can be created. Operationally, what worked well for Jhamtse was a dedicated classroom for each subject containing games, hand-drawn charts, readings and other resources related to the subject to give a more immersive experience. Most people in the region follow Buddhism as a religion which apart from the popular 8-fold path meditation, has another beautiful practice by young monks in monastery education where they are made to actively question and debate on the religious texts as an act of spiritual enquiry (mentioned earlier in assignments section). Such collaborative hours promoting active enquiry into the subject of study and also one’s own actions can be made an important part of education in this region to encourage critical thinking. Village walks with a focused approach towards problem solving and project-based learning, child media bodies, inter-school exhibitions and more such platforms to display these projects created and other approaches mentioned in this document can be experimented with.

3. Proficient Communicators: The experiential learning jump is only complete if the key communicators of the same i.e. teachers are trained well.

Active training in assignment design guided by outcome-based learning, creating differentiated assignments with a level approach, classroom management and teaching methods for implementing experiential learning in schools needs to be undertaken. Here, technology can act as an extension to the teaching resources and exposure visits, helping connect teachers to ABRC and BRPs, DIET centres in the state for support on the most recent pedagogy and subject matter. A platform should be developed for taking teachers’ inputs on this and also recognizing the most innovative teaching methods. A separate teacher innovation platform can also help avoid teachers aligning their interests with child projects or measuring their adequacy only with a child’s performance. Bringing more teachers from outside to work with the local staff can give a culturally rich teaching cohort 226

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to the children. A modular curriculum development can also be explored with the aid of technology to develop contextualized, multidisciplinary content on standardized learning outcomes. Apart from training on subject matter, the teachers should also be trained to actively note the child’s physical, language, social-emotional and memory-based development skills and address difficulties in the child’s development through external tools or activities where needed. Innovation and Research Foundation’s Teachers Workshops for K-12, ‘Thinking Teacher’ organization of Teacher Development, can serve as few of the best-practices here.

4. Informed Guardians: Building trust of the parent community in any new methodology introduced is important and can be undertaken by keeping them in loop about the child’s progress and co-creating the child’s future with them. Most parents of this region have not been through formal education and their children are first generation learners. Many families are self-sufficient owning a small farm and house to sustain themselves. Some families have also been given recompensating money by higher authorities after the onset of natural disasters etc, and since they have enough money to sustain themselves, they don’t even see employment as important.

The people have very simple aspirations and state’s happiness index is overall high in spite of not having the “riches” which people from other cities associate with. Any attempt to introduce formal education should encourage happiness in simple living, establish a cultural connect along with giving global exposure and a vision of better living conditions and food security to families who can not afford it. Education for parents and focusing on their overall well-being can be an important step in this regard by introducing parent education circles. For example, when I introduced the children at Sazo to Plastic weaving, a child instantly remarked how she can teach her mother the same for weaving Monpa bags, as while the threads were costly, they had a lot of waste plastic thrown around their place which can be used by her. The teachers were also interested in learning such new methods as they felt that if their children were taught these along with the textbook knowledge, they can really introduce their parents to their learnings when they go home.

5. Periodic Assessments: Large chunks of data can be collected and processed with the help of process automation and learning management software. This helps to generate relevant insights through visual dashboards

approach to learning, difficulty in maintaining students to quality mentor ratio and concentration of quality education to very few areas or expensive institutions. which if collected and processed periodically, can help track progress better without increasing the administrative load of the teaching staff. This progress should be tracked for measuring the performance of children as well as teachers and other school managements stakeholders like Cluster Coordinators, DEOs and BEOs on pre-defined Key Result Areas (KRAs).

A pre-level assessment of the children and teachers of this region should be conducted based on which short-term outcomes and KRAs should be defined to give children and teachers small pat on the back as they approach the long road to quality education in a step by step manner. With this data, teaching and management staff can be subjected to annual performance appraisals after close evaluation. An already existing framework prepared

by NCERT called PINDICS exists to assess the performance and progress of teachers, which can be built upon.

6. Actionable Feedback: Just like the previously stated example of a projector with missing HDMI cable, there are many basic, fundamental requirements that one might miss on, when targeting the larger picture. Transparency in operation, quick grievance redressal, and a participative two-way approach is important so that visible feedbacks can be collected and translated into action. Such a robust mechanism needs not just top down assessments but also bottom up evaluations which establish an essential co-relation between both the steps. Developing performance rubrics, teachers’ panchayats etc. are some suggested solutions for making this jump. The concept of participatory budgeting and also Lakpar can be extended for achieving this in an organized fashion where the stakeholders come together to design their own learning spaces. This way an exchange of learning can also happen between the well performing KVs and Eklavya and the not so well performing Kharting Government School.

7 Periodic Assessment

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Perceptive catalysers

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Actionable Feedback

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Informed Guardians

Proficient Communicators Experiential Learning

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Advanced Infrastructure

Fig 326: Showing layersininthe theproposed proposedStapoo StapooApproach Approach Showing linkages linkages between between layers

A Stapoo approach to re-design the Indian school education ecosystem can enable quality schooling needed by the current generation of learners.

Conscious methods built around these steps can help establish significant contextual linkages with the cultural climate such that more indigenous, relatable pedagogies can be developed.

7. Perceptive Catalysers: Design and implementation of Public Information Systems and hardware technology is needed for creating relevant linkages in the education value chain. According to SEQI 2016-2017, for any funds to reach on-ground in Arunachal it takes about 60 days on an average from dissemination to receiving. Collection and dissemination of information, financial management, interagency coordination, systematic planning, scientific evaluation etc. can be effectively done by use of technology.

Private Partners like Corporates, Start-ups and NGOs and the like, need to join hands with the public agents to make these attempts a success.

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07 REFLECTIONS

Fig 327: Made by Tsering Gombu

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7.1 the mind-market debate There are two popular, connected, yet separate schools of thoughts which drive most education systems- education for self-transformation and education for employment.

The word ‘education’ has been derived from Latin words-’Educare’ meaning to rise or nurture. Formal, Non-Formal and Informal are the three types of education according to educationists. The philosophical arguments stress on the informal ways of learning where one learns from observation of the surroundings and their own experiences, a process of lifelong development of the mind and self-discovery or the “search of truth” as some like to say. On the other hand, formal and non-formal education focuses on providing external skills to cope up with the growing demands of progressive societies, especially to fill the skill-employability gap and prepare the young minds according to what the market demands.

While the core need for technical skills remains strong, with the emergence of “hybrid jobs” and a shift from STEM to STEAM to STREAM new job categories have emerged which combine technical expertise (in one or more domains) with expertise in design, project management, or client and customer interaction. These create a strong link between both schools of thought in education where your self-transformation directly influences your performance in your workplace. A growing emphasis towards self-employability and creating products and services for social benefits also helps the market become more connected to the real.

This been said, there is a considerable difference in how education systems would operate depending on which school of thought makes it to the foreground while the other remains in the background which Ursula K. Le Guin refers to as “moral struggle with competing forces of culture and commerce” in ‘Freedom and Creativity in a Market Society’. This difference can be made visible by simply looking at how the pilots for this project were structured, changing from one approach to the other over time. While the first pilot kept the self in the foreground with an approach of exposure and guided play, the second one brought skills to the forefront, focusing on structured choices and skills which can in the second tenure of the program help move towards an entrepreneurial 230

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mindset. Even the proposed model of schooling keeps employability first and lets self-growth happen in the process of it by building a habit of reflexivity when making choices in the real world. The reason behind this shift despite the arguments against it was the realisation that this choice of keeping one school of thought in the foreground over the other comes from a space of privilege.

27.36 cr. children between age 0-14 live in rural India according to “Children in India 2018” report by MSPI. In spite of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 7.72% of the total child population between 5 to 14 years is working. Even RTE making school education free and Mid-Day meal schemes have failed to improve the resolve to pursue formal schooling in both children and their parents. And why would they? Is there even a job surety at the end of this 10+ years of schooling? Also, a lot of girls and boys still only get a degree for better prospects of marriage! In this situation, where is the space for seeking truth? For that matter, even Buddha belonged to a royal family!

Among the Monpas imparting of formal modern education was almost absent till recent times although many parents did send their wards above 7 years to the monasteries and nunneries due to religious influence. Even after establishing schools, parents could not see the utility of educating their children as they ultimately had to work in the agricultural fields and do household chores.

Therefore, the Government of India, in consultation with tsorgens (village headmen), made it compulsory for every parent to send at least one child to school, failing which they were liable to pay fines. What if instead of these fines and other forms of allurement, the children and the parents were exposed to a vision of a better life by showing them the value addition education can do to their everyday lives? Speaking in management terms, only a return in investment from at least the 10 years of schooling can provide a real motivation for formal education. Better still is if certain forms of informal or ancestral cultural education can be legalized or linked with the formal setup. Beyond these formative years one can choose to continue learning in the formal space or build upon ‘what is’ in the worldly setup.

7.2 ethics for technology in education The children of Jhamtse Gatsal had been recently introduced to laptops and typing skills on the onset of the project which also came with a responsibility of how much technological exposure these children were given and how the understanding of technology was brought to them. Exposure to technical mediums was definitely felt to be important to help children stand at power with what the world had to offer. The space also called for a more humane approach to the design of technology for education, a challenge which needs to be addressed by the ed-tech space.

Today, organisations like Byju, Amrita’s A-View platform, Khan Acadeher and many other private entities and voluntary organizations are working towards designing systems and technologies suited to the needs of the Indian children.

Other relevant examples are the work by Barefoot College in Rajasthan, VolunTeaching Movement in Gujarat and the work by Samagra Governance in partnership with Gray Matters to provide an outcome-based learning approach and multiple solutions like a DigiLEP platform in Haryana and now the Teacher’s App in Himachal. Mobile holds the promise of use friendly, costeffective and always-on delivery of learning. Technology is surely changing the face of education, blended learning increasingly becoming a part of classrooms.

Yet, on analysing the user base of ed-tech companies, it is seen that many e-learning platforms struggle with low engagement and retention rates on their tech solutions. In addition, ed-tech sector is yet to see it scale at a rate which matches the real size of the problem, especially in the rural context.

Traditional viewpoint says that only the self-motivated learners can benefit from mobile self-learning. However, with an understanding of child behaviours and inclinations this motivation can be worked upon, giving need-based inputs.

Also, the apps and its supporting hardware needs to have a simple and sturdy architecture, learning from a child rather than expecting it to be the other way around. While vernacular voice and chat enabled apps, gamification, grouping by learning ability rather than grade etc. can improve personalisation, provision of offline content can help reduce the issue of network drops, thus increasing the accessibility. Progressive education schools and movements like Montessori, Acton, Sudbury, Waldorf Education essentially believe in learner-centric spaces,

learning by doing and a multidisciplinary exposure. Technology does come with an upper hand for such a personalisation if used effectively. The current explorations in ed-tech are however, limited to two-dimensional, subjectcentred multimedia content with very little explorations to provide end to end system automation to increase management efficiency or to include concepts like social-emotional learning, facilitating collaborative, peer learning (without advocating addiction to digital media) or helping build child’s developmental skills. This also calls for broadening the scope of digital and also assessing what the technology is being used for.

With our limited scope of attention, technology has been implicitly restricted to objects with pixels and a backlight. However, the word technology finds its origins in the Greek word ‘tekhno’ which meant skill, directly connecting to the word technique, inclusive of skills ranging from material handling to performance and soft skills like language and research. Most computers work with Graphic User Interface which restricts the participatory interactions of the users in the real world. These drawbacks of GUI are harmful to the physical and cognitive development of children, especially those with learning disabilities. Physical problems such as musculoskeletal problems and obesity are directly linked to the fact that a child user sits before the computer for long without any physical activity. A study of spatial and bodily restrictions the use of computer imposes upon the children is needed with a shift towards design of tangible media interfaces which can provide rich childhood experiences, healthy emotional relationships, physical contact with objects in the real world, and the active use of imagination in self-generated play. As creators one needs to not only adapt to these changing trends of technology but also find ways to incorporate other material mediums, especially keeping the aspects of affordability, relatability and environmental sustainability into the picture.

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7.3 indian policy experiments with education

quality education, the recent initiative called ‘Shagun’ by MHRD being one such example, however a better understanding of local contexts and a more systemic planning with layered penetration is needed to ensure progress.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expenditure on education for India was 2.7% for the financial year 2018 with reports stressing on a need for pushing it to at least 6% given the size of the country. Indian Policy space has been working on improving this number and is also encouraging Public Private partnerships in the space by amendments in CSR regulations, the outcomes of these efforts still very limited. One of the key reasons behind this limited progress is how the whole country, including the policy makers are looking at this problem of “quality” education, so “quantitatively”, money being an important quantitative parameter, with almost no conversation on resource optimization and process efficiency.

Even the New Education Policy which was scheduled to be launched in 2017 and got launched in 2019 fails to focus on the execution aspects of their visionary document. The newspapers were quick to bring up the well-known controversy on three language policy in NEP 2019, but there were very few spokespersons discussing how high school teachers should actually go about implementing differentiated assignments in the 2-level math concept introduced by CBSE. One might argue that the role of a policy maker stops at the document and the implementation is to be taken up by District Education Officers, Block Resource Centres, the School Management and other stakeholders in the execution hierarchy. However, if no such platforms are created by policy makers to enable a transition from vision to action or establish a feedback loop to revisit existing policies, ground level challenges are going to dampen even the greatest of visions, just like the on-ground execution was not able to do justice to the vision of National Curriculum Framework created in 2005.

These implementation methods also need to be derived from the local systems of work instead of the Indian tendency to look westwards. For example, when the Indian delegation led by IAS officer Anita Karwal, chairperson of the Central Board of Secondary Education returned from Finland, most people spoke of how that model could not be replicated for the Indian audience instead of looking at the system analytically as a precedence study, thereafter coming back to Indian audience, its everyday practices and child needs here.

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Fig 328: Overview of National Education Policy from 1968 to 2017 Source: https://www.slideshare.net/AsokanNDr/new-educationpolicy-2019

7.4 conflicts of a system designer “I have had lots of troubles in her life, most of which never happened.”-Mark Twain Atraversiamo is an Italian word with its root in “di traversare”, its meaning in English language translating to “go from one side to the other” or “to cross over”. I have a tendency to easily get wrapped up in a project and to find it awfully hard to step away from it (which I later heard can be generalized to a lot of new designers), even though design college increasingly stresses on detachment as an important skill to inculcate. Owing to this, even though quite a few months had passed since I came back from Arunachal, I was finding it extremely difficult to outline a truthful and just conclusion for the project undertaken there. On hindsight, there were a lot of factors contributing to what one might even word as a “project hangover”, one of which was it being a system design project which made it harder to define its boundaries. Wicked problems like quality education are as hard to address as important they are to solve due to their indeterminate scope and scale. As a designer setting the constraints for such projects can hence become extremely difficult with one often getting the feeling of being stuck up in the project or often questioning the meaning of or value in the project at several stages, because of not being able to see indicators of project completion as imagined.

• • • • •

place for the right amount of critique.

To accept that it is okay to fail. Some things were just not meant to work out. The world works on a much more complex set of principles and procedures of which you are just a granular part.

To acknowledge the parts that did work out but celebrate the parts that did not. To take all these moments lived as learnings and remember them in the projects that follow.

To be able move on. In her mentor Jignesh’s words, “this is a project, you are not”. To be able to end being trapped in a project hangover and start afresh with something new.

To be able to draw relevant connections in the synthesis To ‘be’ there completely and truthfully and if you have done that, to know that you have done your bit in that time and space. And most importantly to have fun while you are at it.

Ending this journey with a quote from the comics ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ by Bill Watterson, hoping that these reflections leave me better prepared to “crossover” in her future design explorations: “Explorers are we, intrepid and bold, out in the wild, amongst wonders untold, equipped with our wits, a map, and a snack, we’re searching for fun and we’re on the right track!”

The thinking (and a lot of overthinking) led me to come up with the following points on how to wrap this up or take forward as learnings for other design explorations in the systems domain: • • • • • •

To let the insights organically emerge from the actions on-field without trying to overly micro-manage things.

To be observant of these insights and flexible enough to incorporate them, coming up with more relevant, contextual designs.

To make goal setting for self an important aspect of defining constraints and boundaries in the design.

To define realistic and shorter objectives and goals.

To measure these objectives in the time frame of the project.

To guide this measurement only through the feedback mechanism(s) set in Graduation Project by Ananya Agrawal|

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