African Peace and Democratic Institute
Sustainable Peace for Sustainable Development in Africa
practical immersion learning programs
Tanyi,
Thinking quite a lot about your goals, I should mention to you that we have had great success in Australia by moving away from the formal Western (now K-12) curriculum toward cultural and appropriate other immersion programs.
What I mean is, we start off by determining what outcomes are to be achieved. Then we look at how they are to be delivered, and finally how they are to be assessed.
For a great many students, the quickest and most effective way to assist their learning is by hands-on experience. In some of the Aboriginal communities, for example, where students were failing basic numeracy sitting in the classroom we took them outside to help build a shed. Their task was to do all the measuring and calculations for the siting, layout and construction of the building, then carry out all the costing and sourcing of materials.
So when we are talking about culturally appropriate learning, the students are further involved in design as well. This works especially well in facing the students with the local situation, using local materials and design elements; your "local reality" if you like.
Once you get past that point they will naturally begin to develop their language and literacy skills as well, since each student is required to not only write down their calculations, but also their notes, which together are handed in for their assessment.
The final assessment is in oral and aural presentation, which means that they are not only required to explain their design but to give instructions to others, while at once being able to hear and understand the instructions of others.
These types of programs can be graded by level of difficulty, from children building models in the school workshop to young adults actually constructing school buildings, for example.
Is this the type of curriculum development you seek?
Gil
Thinking quite a lot about your goals, I should mention to you that we have had great success in Australia by moving away from the formal Western (now K-12) curriculum toward cultural and appropriate other immersion programs.
What I mean is, we start off by determining what outcomes are to be achieved. Then we look at how they are to be delivered, and finally how they are to be assessed.
For a great many students, the quickest and most effective way to assist their learning is by hands-on experience. In some of the Aboriginal communities, for example, where students were failing basic numeracy sitting in the classroom we took them outside to help build a shed. Their task was to do all the measuring and calculations for the siting, layout and construction of the building, then carry out all the costing and sourcing of materials.
So when we are talking about culturally appropriate learning, the students are further involved in design as well. This works especially well in facing the students with the local situation, using local materials and design elements; your "local reality" if you like.
Once you get past that point they will naturally begin to develop their language and literacy skills as well, since each student is required to not only write down their calculations, but also their notes, which together are handed in for their assessment.
The final assessment is in oral and aural presentation, which means that they are not only required to explain their design but to give instructions to others, while at once being able to hear and understand the instructions of others.
These types of programs can be graded by level of difficulty, from children building models in the school workshop to young adults actually constructing school buildings, for example.
Is this the type of curriculum development you seek?
Gil
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