Creative Learning Technology

Dr. Md. Azhar HussainDepartment of Mathematics

Veer Kunwar Singh University, Ara, Bihar, Indiaemail: alazharhussain@yahoo.co.in

"I keep six honest serving men: they taught me all I knew: their names are WHAT and WHY and WHEN and HOW and WHERE and WHO."

-Rudyard Kipling

To facilitate creative learning process we need a new teaching and learning methodology. In order to see the basic ingredients of such Creative learning Methodology (CLM), let us try to understand some basic issues regarding learning to learn.

1. Learning to learn Learning to learn really needs to be understood in terms of the following questions:     Why learn?     Who may learn?     Where to learn?     When to learn?     What to learn?     How to learn? Let us take up these questions one by one. Why learn? With the growing complexities in the modern world the importance of learning is increasing day by day. The problems are so complex that they require specialised attention. So unless people are trained at high levels of competence, it is difficult to meet the requirement of the modern world. In the present context of globalisation and competition, we require high level of specialisation in all walks of life. Man is a learning animal. It has an inherent tendency to learn. But, learning in a planned manner is a necessity to meet the high level of expectations.

Globalisation has made it possible that needs of one part of the world could be met from any other part of the word. Thus productivity and efficiency of people and society in any part can make impact on a large scale across the globe. Learning can make a major difference in this context.

There is another reason for urgency. The number of people and animals on earth is gradually increasing and resources on our planet have remained limited. Expectations are rising high and resources are depleting. Situation is becoming so critical that if we do not rise to the occasion, our very existence itself is on peril. Thus, there is an immense need for the humankind to learn how to manage with limited resources. New skills are required to be developed to deal with emerging situations. This cannot be developed if people are allowed to develop only in natural ways. We have to make a planned effort to prepare people to meet the new requirements of the society. Thus learning, and that too on a very high scale, is essential for our survival. We have a hope because even though the resources are limited our creativity is unlimited.

Who may learn?

In the new socio economic situation learning can neither remain place specific, nor group-specific. Similarly, learning is neither time-specific, nor age-specific. People of all age and all walks of life can learn and go on learning continuously from the first till the last day of their lives. Even though it goes beyond the scope of our subject, it is relevant to mention that not only human beings but other living beings also possess the capacity of learning more and more. We see trained elephants, horses, peacocks, pigeons, parrots, bears, bullocks, buffaloes, monkeys, and snakes. Similarly, other animals and birds also have their own methods of learning to develop their skills. In an ideal learning society we must try to develop total learning potential of not only human beings but should include all animals also.

Where to learn?

In the new learning scenario we must be prepared to learn at all places in life. Whether we are moving in a car, walking on

road or waiting for the bus, each occasion is a learning occasion. The concept of school has to be enlarged to incorporate entire society to be the place of learning. The society should ensure that adequate provisions are made for all to learn at all places. This requires that all activities of life should be designed so as not only to ensure performance of certain task for which the activity is designed, but also to make all persons involved directly or indirectly to learn. On the other hand, each individual should be so groomed that s/he can get some learning inputs in all activities of life. There are several instances of people learning even at extremely difficult places like places of cremation or even at battleground.

When to learn?

Can there be a time for learning? As we have seen that the learning cannot be place-specific, so it cannot be time-specific either. All hours of day and night from birth to death are time for learning. Learner should be prepared to learn even during sleep or at bathing. The new CLM must aim at preparing lifelong learners. It must prepare her/him to learn at all hours of day-

while awake or even at sleep. If that is so, the learners would be able to use all opportunities available for learning. S/he would never get bored, even when her/his trains get delayed or s/he is hospitalised. For such a learner every moment would become a learning moment, every occasion a learning occasion. Thus we see that

Every occasion is a learning occasion.

Every person, animate and inanimate object in the world is a learning object, learning facilitator and learner.

CLM must spell out the methods of creating learning occasions for facilitating creative learning process.

What to learn?

The content of learning is another important factor for aquisition of knowledge. There is no end to the extent of aquiring knowledge. We have access to large information base these days due to the new information revolution. CLM must also address the question of picking up the right information from the plethora

of information. In the context of lifelong learning the relevance of information may keep on changing in different situations. Hence, the competence of procuring and handling information is going to play important role in the context of new methodology.

We shall see later that the relevance of learning system really leads to a concept of knowing about oneself, family and neighbourhood. This lays the foundation for learning from the known to the unknown. The fundamental principle of this learning is to begin from "Know thyself' or to "learn about yourself before you learn about others."

How to learn?

The learning practices need a fresh look. As we have seen earlier, the creation of joyful atmosphere helps in better learning performance. But the real question is how we should create a joyful atmosphere for learning. One of the standard techniques of creating joyful atmosphere for learning is to learn in the mode of games. Games provide not only joyful atmosphere, but they also create the right spirit for learning. We shall examine this aspect in greater detail to find the real nature of learner and teacher to create the situation of games.

It is pertinent to mention that the spectrum of learning is extremely wide. To examine the nature of learning process we would like to take an example of children and try to derive general conclusions which may be equally applicable to other periods of life.

2. Learning with joy

An atmosphere of happiness provides a motivating environment for creative learning. We have seen that experiments have shown that the development of brain in a child is 20 per cent to 30 per cent more, if s/he is brought up in an atmosphere of love and happiness, than when brought up in an atmosphere of stress and strain (Nash, 1997). Main concern in this regard is to develop a system where one can learn with joy. How can we create such a condition? One of the lessons we have learnt from our past experiences is to create learning occasions in the form of games. So, games may provide a clue to the actual nature of activities for CLM.

3. Developing creativity through games

Games basically provide a good opportunity to perform an activity in an atmosphere of joy. It is always played in a joyful atmosphere. Although seriousness is introduced by introducing competitive elements into games, joyfulness is never allowed to be lost. When children play games, they have to continuously face new situations. As such they also get an exposure of handling new situations. This way it facilitates development of creativity in children.

Games basically serve various purposes:

Learning to experiment, exploration and discoveries

Learning to play together and cooperate

Learning to use their own hands and other loco-motor system

Learning to use one's imagination and memory in a creative way

Learning to live with successes and failures in right spirit

Learning to be self-confident and self-reliant

Learning to handle emotions and relationship in a better way

Now, as children love playing games, it would be better to design activities in the form of games. In this connection, it would be important to note that children in different age groups like to play different types of games. Initially, children love any kind of kinesthetic activity. If a small child is asked to run and count the number of trees in a garden, s/he will perform the task with great happiness. S/he will consider it to be a fun. But, if grown older, s/he may not like such running around, but s/he may love games related to dodging of other children. S/he may love to solve mysteries. The nature of games may change, but still love for games is never dwindled. Children never get tired of games. So, to attain creative flow, activities in the form of games are the best for learning. All activities must be converted into this mode as far as possible. It may, at times, be argued that learning through games may be a time-consuming affair. So, if the mode of game is resorted to, one may not cover large ground. This is not true. Games provide a method through which learning can be totally internalised. Children can learn numbers through books. However, if it is taught through games involving physical activity, they start having a feel of numbers. This way they imbibe the concept of numbers in a better way. So, in the long run learning is faster.

Although the above analysis has been made keeping children in mind, the same is true for learners in other age-groups also. The nature of games changes with other types of learners. We have many innovative games to teach difficult concepts of psychology and management. Even in actual life situations we keep playing games.

Thus, we find that one of the essential conditions of Creative Learning Process is to create conditions of games. Once learners start playing with any idea or tool, we are bound to have new ideas, new processes or new products.

Before we see how this can be done, let's see the conditions on a football ground to understand such a process. In the game of football, we have a tool of game that is ball. There, we have a ground with a certain well-defined area and a goal post. We also have a certain set of rules. We must also have players, who can be grouped into teams. Thus, we see that to playa game we should have

Players Play area Playing instruments/materials Rule of the game with well-defined objectives Referee Now, let's see how a child can be taught the game of football. To learn football a child is not taught the rule of the game in the initial days. S/he should only be allowed to play with the ball, which is the playing instrument. Let her/him kick the ball freely at will. At that time, s/he should not be burdened about rules or techniques of kicking. S/ he should only be asked to kick the ball and enjoy. Once s/he starts enjoying kicking, gradually, s/he is asked to kick it correctly and other rules of the game are introduced. If we move to the creative learning process, we must Have Knowledge of the playing instruments, and playing materials Play with the instrument & enjoy the process Know the rule of the game Play the game with seriousness.

Hence, we may have certain distinct phases of learning through games.

•Awareness phase

•Enjoyment phase

•Guiding phase

•Seriousness phase

Awareness phase

Awareness phase involves knowing about the instrument of the play and place of games to just have fun from them. The child visually examines the ball. S/he then touches it; takes it in her/his palm with both palms cupped around it. S/he also tries to listen to the sound coming from inside. S/he also enjoys listening to the sound on dropping the ball on the ground. S/he involves all her/his senses to be aware about the instrument. When the child is young, s/he even tries to lick the ball. S/he tries to be aware of the ball. In this phase the child just explores the instruments and implements.

Enjoyment phase

Then comes the enjoyment phase. In this phase one should be allowed to play with the equipments without much riders. Let them play with the instruments and enjoy playing it. The child kicks the ball and is extremely happy to do so. So let her/him be given a ball and an opportunity of kicking it freely.

In the same way to teach them painting let them be given pencil and paper and do whatever they want to do-touch it, tear it, draw with pencil on paper. If they have to be taught music and there is a harmonium or flute, let children play with it.

Children have a natural tendency to play with voices. They also play with words. They try to develop new methods for production of new ideas and in the process create new symbols. When a child starts speaking, s/he has her/his own vocabulary saying "Mum" for water, "Pa" for papa, "M" for mummy and so on. This symbolisation is unique for each child. Children must be encouraged to perform similar activities more and more. They must be encouraged to mime, show faces, play with rhythm and rhymes.

Guidance phase

In this phase learner should gradual1y and cautiously be exposed to the formats of presentation of the activity. General1y, formats of presentation are also formats of reception, thus learner becomes familiar with the basic rules of the game. In the game of footbal1 in this phase learner is exposed to procedure of the team formations, rules regarding starting the game, rules regarding penalty kick, penalty corner, side throw, foul play, etc. S/he is also exposed to better way of kicking, basic concept regarding understanding the psychology of opponent team and building psychological pressure on them.

Similarly, in a classroom situation also the learner has to be made familiar with the rules of various activities and formats of their presentation. For example, the learner has to learn the art of writing. For this purpose, s/he should not be forced or coerced to write in a particular way. In the enjoyment phase, let her/him play with pencil and draw whatever s/he wants to draw. S/he may be al10wed to use it in any manner s/he wants. Even drawing lines on sand or floor should not be discouraged. S/he

would gradual1y develop a love for drawing with pencil. Then, in the guidance phase s/he should gradual1y be asked to write letters of alphabet, words, sentences and so on. When s/he develops some proficiency, then s/he should be exposed to other formats like poem-writing, story-writing, letter-writing, essay-writing, etc.

Now the question arises as to how and in which order the formats of presentation should be presented before the child. One of the guiding principles would be to link it with the ongoing thought process of the child. Since children have love for imagination, it wi11 be better, if they are exposed to matter concerning imagination first before giving exposure to other rigid formats. In this sense, it wil1 be better, if children are asked to write stories and poems before they are exposed to essay writing, diary writing, etc.

Seriousness phase

By this time, the learner becomes familiar with the rules of the game and then, he should be asked to perform serious activities. By then, s/he would start loving difficult activities also. In this phase, challenging activity should be put before the

learner in a phased manner, so that s/he is able to perform those tasks one by one easily. More and more problem-solving exercises should be put up before her/him and the child should start enjoying the problem-solving activity. In a football field, the learner may be asked to kick the ball from various angles into the goalpost. The angle of kicking may be made more and more acute. Similarly, one may put human or material hurdle to observe the control of flight of the ball in air. Participation in various matches and competitions provide a live situation for problem solving.

4. Let classrooms be a playground too

Classroom provides the best learning occasions because of its organised structure. So, they provide a forum for faster learning. The key question is how to make it conducive for creative development of children. In the light of the discussions in earlier chapters, even in classrooms we should have conditions which can facilitate playing conditions. We should also have games, which learners can play to achieve the competencies (CCLC) outlined earlier.

Let's try to compare the classroom situation with the situation on the playground and try to draw lessons for creation of a game-like situation. In classroom situations, we can find many playing instruments and playing materials.      Play materials Languages

• Words • Voices • Meaning      Mathematics Numbers • Lines & curves Algebraic symbols • Patterns Science Materials (Solid, liquid and gas) Chemicals, etc.      Paintings • Lines Colours  Base materials    Soil Water    Paper Tree, leaves

Play instruments Pen Pencil   Paper Geometrical Instruments

  Blackboard Floor    Playground Football    Chalk Colour box    Brush

Hence, to create an atmosphere conducive for promotion of creative learning, it would be desirable to take steps to non-formalise the classroom environment and allow children to learn just like a game. These days, teaching in classroom is based mainly on the lecture mode in which teachers speak and learners listen. In such a situation, teacher is supposed to convey information of the book to the learners and learners are at the receptive end. The whole approach considers the learner to be a passive recipient of information. One of the prime requirements of creative learning process is to make the learner a dynamic participant in the teaching-learning process. In games a learner becomes an active participant in the learning process. Thus, the learning becomes effective and durable.

5. Nature of classroom interactions

In classroom situation we have three kinds of interactions:

   Teacher-Learner interaction

   Learner-Material interaction

   Learner-Learner (Peer) interaction

Teacher

Learner

Learner

Materials

Fig. Classroom Interaction triangle

Teacher-learner interaction(T-L) Teacher-learner interaction basically involves interaction between teacher and learner. Contemporary education system is mainly dependent on this interaction only. Teacher teaches, and learner learns. Even if a learner has any problem, s/he is supposed to consult the teacher. These interactions may be one-to-one interaction between teacher and learner or it may be one-many (one teacher and many learners) interaction. Generally, teacher-learner interactions confine to classrooms only. This needs to be extended further to outside classroom interaction also. Researches have shown that many Nobel Laureates used to get special inputs from their teachers outside their classes (Csikszentmihalyi,1996). Creative Teacher Laszlo Ratz was the teacher of Mathematics at Luthereau high school in Budapest, where he is credited to have initiated passion for Physics and Mathematics in Eugene Wigner, John Von Newman, Leo Szilard and Edward Teller, all renowned physicists and mathematicians. Ratz used to loan his science book to interested students, gave them tutorials and special tests to challenge their superior abilities.

Rosalyn Yalow, a Nobel Prize winner in medicine, was by training a physicist. He got interested in mathematics and science by the active intervention of his teacher Mr. Lippy, who used to give him a lot of extra work in the form of mathematical puzzles and problems much beyond what was given in the class.

Linus Pauling, a great physicist and chemist, was initiated into this field by his chemistry teacher William V. Geene, who used to ask him to stay for an extra hour at the end of the class and help him operate the Bomb calorimeter.

Two things are common in all these teachers. They took special notice of the creative learner and believed in her/his abilities. Secondly, the teacher showed special care by giving the child extra work to do and greater challenges to perform than the rest of the class received.

If the teacher makes the task of learning excessively difficult, the student will feel too frustrated and anxious to really get into it and enjoy it for its own sake. If s/he makes it too easy, the child will get bored and lose interest. A creative teacher makes a right

balance between the challenges s/he gives and the skills possessed by the child. It is this approach which triggers off the creative flow, and once it is triggered off, there is no stoppage as the child starts to enjoy the pleasure of creation. The teacher should also show extra care for each individual child by giving different assignments-each according to her/his capacity and each according to her/his need.

In villages, we had a tradition of providing accommodation to teachers free of cost or at nominal cost. Even food was given free, so that children of the family could get more and more opportunity of interaction with the teacher outside school. In cities this may not be possible. However, we must find out other ways and means to increase interactions between teacher and learners.

The nature of relationship between teacher and learner has to change. Now, the traditional role of teacher as sole source of learning is fast changing with multiple channels of learning being made available to children. So, the formal authority of teacher in the class is also changing. The teacher will now have to be seen as a friend, facilitator, guide, helper, coordinator and leader. Since

games and activities have to dominate classes, the teacher would have to perform the job of initiating the game, guiding/co-ordinating the activity and working as a referee. Let teacher be like father There is also a necessity of changing the nature of T-L interactions. One of the biggest problems of our present nature of T-L interaction is that teacher considers her/himself to be a supplier of information or learning and learner to be its recipient. S/he also considers her/himself to be all knowledgeable and cannot conceive of learners to be more knowledgeable than her/him. If a child tells something, which the teacher does not know, s/he is immediately reprimanded. As a result, the child gradually takes the knowledge of teacher to be the ultimate limit. It imposes a big restriction on the mental freedom of the child. This is one of the major bottlenecks in the development of creative thinking. If we really want to make any dent in the teaching-learning situation, we must make the interaction between teacher and learner to be free from all barriers. Only this kind of informal relationship can provide proper environment for development of creativity. A teacher should be like a father who becomes happy, if his son outclasses him in all kinds of learning. He should be happier, if he does so right from an early age.

Similarly, salutation between the teacher and the taught should also be in a prevalent mode in the neighbourhood. We have different salutations for parents and teacher. This must change. If teachers and parents are to be treated alike, learner must also use similar salutation to show emotional proximity. In this context, if learners touch the feet of the parents and relatives to greet him, why shouldn't they touch the feet of the teacher, when they greet him? This kind of emotional bondage results in faster learning. One must remember that education is a social activity and emotional relationship plays an important role in this context.

To bring the teacher closer to the children, it would also be better that the teacher should visit the house of the child regularly. Parents may invite them to their house for dinner, where they may discuss the progress of the child. Knowing about the behaviour of the children helps in maintaining proper emotional relationship with them.

Increasing teacher-learner interaction Teachers should       visit the learner's houses regularly.       interact with exceptionally talented/special learners after the class and give them supplementary materials/problems.       encourage learners to meet the teacher for help in difficult problems.       behave with the learner in the same way as they would behave with their own children       go on picnic/visit to zoo along with learners       play games/ participate in class activities as learner. Learners should   address teachers by the locally prevalent salutation for uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters, etc.   use informal way of wishing the teacher as prevalent in the society   honour the teacher on the traditional festivals or on the occasion of Teachers' Day

New role of the teacher

The role of a teacher also requires to be examined again. The main role of a teacher will now become

To facilitate the learning process suitable to the learning style of the child.

To initiate the child into self-learning leading to life-long learning

To work as partners with parents in planning and implementation of learning process suitable for the learning style of the child

To learn the traditional learning style of the area to properly adapt them in the teaching process

To prepare the child for 24-hours learning

It is not necessary that the teacher should know all items her/himself what s/he expects her/his learners to know. What s/he should know is the process and the way through which her/his learner can pursue the path of learning. In this sense a teacher should be like a guidepost, who may not actually move himself but knows and shows the correct direction of movement to the learners.

There are many questions, which the teacher may not solve her/himself, but s/he should not be ashamed of making a sincere attempt of solving the problem. Even if s/he is not able to ultimately solve the problem, s/he would be definitely able to show the way of attempting the problem. This may show learners how to cope with the failures.

Where stick fails, tears work

Emotional bondage is more effective in maintaining discipline in the school as compared to the usual ways of giving punishment by using sticks. Once children were making noise in the class. The class teacher had warned them earlier also, but there was no improvement. The class teacher was so fed up that she stopped taking the class and asked the entire class to stand up outside the principal's chamber. Principal was on the round. When she came back she saw children outside her chamber. When she asked them why they were standing outside the class. She was told the entire story. While talking to them, she became emotional, saying that there must be something lacking in her and her behaviour that despite so much effort she is not able to bring discipline in the class. She became so emotional that she had tears in her eyes. She

couldn't continue talking and came back to her chamber. This had electrifying effect on the children. They felt guilty that it was because of them that the principal was so much aggrieved. Entire class started weeping. They all came to the principal's chamber saying that they would never do any mischief again. And they stuck to their words. There were no complaints on this score. The principal was Dr. Mridula Prakash, who was at DAV Public School at that time.

Tell the process, not the answer

Earlier when the learner used to come to teacher with queries, the latter used to tell the answer. If s/he did not know the answer, s/he could tell the learner to wait till s/he could find the answer to the problem. Then, s/he will her/himself find the answer to the problem from the books and tell the answer. In a creative learning situation teacher should not tell the answer. S/he should only take the learner to the books, journals or even computers and help her/him in searching the right answer. Basically, s/he should tell the method of searching the answers rather than telling the answer her/himself. Once the learner knows the method of searching the answer s/he would not come to her/his teacher, if s/he would come across any similar problem again.

Come on

When Sir Charles James Napier joined as Principal at Netarhat Residential School in 1954, he asked teachers to follow "Come on" method, rather than "Go on" method, In "Go on" method, teacher asks the children to "Go on" doing work, whereas creative learning requires children to follow the teacher, who leads them from the front saying "Come on, come on", In "Go on" methods the teacher remains a passive spectator and only guides the learners from a distance. In "Come on" method the teacher becomes an active participant in the whole process.

Learner-material interaction (L-M)

The second type of interaction is the interaction of the learner with the materials like books, computers, instruments, etc. Hence, one should try to make available as much learning materials as possible in the school. The materials and instruments will depend on the availability of resources and level of technology in the area. In an urban and metropolitan set-up we may have toys, computers and even internet. But in the rural set-up we may not even have electricity. So, all materials available in

the neighbourhood should be used for learning purposes. There is a need to make a survey of the learning instruments in the village. If there are a lot of farmers in a village, we can include the instruments of farming in our list. If there are a lot of carpenters in the area, we can even include tools of carpentry in our list.

This interaction has received attention of our schools and depending on the resources available enough materials are being made available. We have good libraries, play equipments, musical instruments, equipments related to art and painting, etc. However, we have to equip learners with competency to use those materials with efficiency. We should teach the learners the art of reading books. They should be made proficient in handling art and music equipment. They should be fully conversant with computers as it gives them access to a greater world of information. Further it also helps them in handling larger databases and effective presentations.

Learner-learner interaction (L-L) Learner- Learner interaction or peer group interaction is the interaction for learning among peers, including seniors and juniors. It includes casual chat during off time at the playground, in the classroom or during dining, group discussions inside and outside classroom, group games, interaction during outside visit, etc. One may easily find that such peer group interaction is often instrumental in promoting new frontiers of learning and reinforcement of matters learnt in the classroom. A good institution often takes care of involving learners in activities to promote such peer group interaction. That's why in the hostels of good schools we find a lot of activities providing opportunities for peer learning. One of the dimensions of peer learning is the aspect of cooperation vs. competition. Peer interaction can be used for developing cooperative skills, which is so important in the context of the complexities of modern world. Peer interaction can be easily used for generating competition among learners to motivate them for faster and dedicated learning. A proper and healthy competitive environment is required for promotion of excellence in society.

6. Developing curiosity Another relevant question is how to prepare a learner for the new CLM. As we have already seen, CLM heavily depends on the attitude and initiative of the learner. One of the crucial factors in this regard is to orient the child to develop and sustain curiosity. Curiosity is said to be the mother of all crusades for learning endeavours. Curiosity is the base of creative learning. It is allocation of attention to things for one's own sake. It is curiosity which propels a person to tryout new method, new solution, and new product. Curiosity comes naturally to a child. A child is attracted towards anything mysterious and worthy of attention. The object mayor may not be useful, attractive or precious; as long as it is wonderful, it captures child's attention. Gradually, with age children lose the sense of wonder, the feeling of awe in confronting majesty and variety of world. Creative individuals retain their childlike curiosity in their field of interest even when they grow up. They keep on taking interest in the strange and the unknown even at the age of ninety. As the unknown is limitless, there is no end to their curiosity. We have to prepare the learner for developing a curious mind for pursuing the relentless struggle for aquisition of knowledge.

Curiosity is basically a self-propelling lubricant, which keeps on inducing a person towards self-learning.

Preparing a plan to develop curiosity

Csikszentmihalyi (1996) has suggested the following plan for development of curiosity.

Try to be surprised by something every day: It could be anything that one sees, hears, or reads about. One should stop near market and try to see why a car is unusually parked in a particular way. One can even hear the sound in the neighbourhood closely and try to find a particularly amazing sound. One can even read a book or an article and get surprised at the descriptions of the events of the article or the book. One should try to experience a curious event every day, so that it becomes a habit.

Try to surprise at least one person every day: Generally, one follows a routine life. To cultivate curiosity, one should try to take a break from daily routine and try to do something, which surprises others. One should do at least one unexpected thing every day. One can ask a question, which one has never asked.

One can express an opinion, which one has never expressed. One can go to a place, which one has never visited. One can eat a food, which one never eats. One can experiment with the dress, hairstyle or even writing style. Although routine life saves energy, a ·creative person has to swim in this vast wonderland to explore the meaningful pearls. Write down each day what has surprised you and how you surprised others: Creative persons, generally, keep a diary of the interesting events of the day. This helps them in reflecting on them later, which becomes a great source of ideas for creation. If such a diary were maintained on regular basis, one would easily see a pattern coming out of it in a few weeks. When something strikes a spark of interest, follow it: When one sees an interesting object-a scene, an event, a flower, a good article-the impression is of very short duration. One always thinks why one should pursue these curious ideas. One may be too busy to pursue them. One may think that s/he is not a thinker, a scientist, or a writer to follow those ideas. It is this mental block, which hinders the growth of creativity. Entire world is our business and entire universe a working place. One has a right to pursue any idea of one's interest. If one follows the idea for sometime, one would be amazed to see the fruits of the result.

Surprise others

FollowInterests

Be surprised

Jot down striking events

Curious Darwin

Charles Darwin, the father of modern genetics, was extremely curious right from early chilhood. He used to collect beetles. One day as he was walking in the woods near his home he noticed a large beetle scurrying to hide under the bark of a tree. he didn't have this beetle in his collection. So, he decided to collect it. He ran to the tree, peeled off the bark, and grabbed insect. As he did so, he saw two other specimens hiding there. He wanted to collect them also. They were quite large. He could not hold more than one in each hand. So, he popped the third in his mouth and all the way home with the three beetles, one of which was trying to escape down his throat. (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996)

7. Four pillars of creative learning

In this context of CLM we should also analyse the four pillars oflearning expounded in Delors's Report (1996) in greater detail. The four pillars are:

•Learning to know

•Learning to do

•Learning to live together Learning to be

In the context of creative learning process, these four pillars would have different connotations.

7.1. Learning to know creatively

Learning to know, in fact, is learning to master the art of learning. This, in terms of systems model of learning, leads us to organise new learning occasions, which in turn stimulate learners to learn techniques of self-learning. Self-learning would empower a person to learn at all occasions and at all times.

7.2. Learning the art of self-learning

Self-learning is the base of creative learning. All efforts have to be made to make learners competent in the art of self-learning. Thus, one of the primary objectives of the creative learning process is to learn about the sources of learning and the method to use them creatively. Learning sources can be classified into two categories:

•Organised Learning Sources

•Unorganised Learning Sources

Organised learning sources are such sources that present learning materials in an organised way. For example, newspapers, magazines, books, T.V., radio, video, etc. are such organised sources. Although we frequently use them for learning, we are not concerned about the methods of using these organised learning sources in an efficient way. As a result, despite having access to such a large number of learning sources, we are not able to enhance our learning content or develop sufficient learning skills.

Unorganised learning sources are such sources that are casual in nature and are not organised. They include leaflets, posters, banners, wall writings, songs, plays, etc.

One of the major tasks of the creative learning system is to prepare children to make use of both organised and unorganised learning sources. This has to be done in a different way than actual teaching in the classes today. We have to train children to use these learning materials in such a way that they keep on learning, even when they are just using them in normal way. Let us illustrate it through certain activities.

TV Radio interaction

These days TV and radios are extremely popular. The entire family watch TV together. Many parents feel that TV watching is bad and ask children not to watch TV and pay attention to studies. But they don't succeed, because it is difficult to restrain children from watching TV. So, if they are going to watch TV, why not convert it into a big learning occasion? The biggest question is, how?

One of the important differences between entertainment and learning is that in the entertainment process one is a passive participant, whereas in learning process, one is involved in an active way. If we can ensure active involvement of children in watching TV, it is converted into a learning event. So activities should be designed to make children active while watching TV. This may be called "Interactive watching':

Some such activities are given below.

Learning through newspapers

We have newspapers in almost every house. But we seldom know how to make best use of a newspaper or magazine. A concerted effort has to be made to design games and activities which can empower children to become conversant in the art of reading newspaper and magazines. A few games designed at School of Creative Learning are given below:

Guessing game

A TV programme booklet or the newspaper cutting regarding TV programme should be taken. Now one learner should become a "robot" which can answer a question only in "Yes" or "No".

The learner posing as "robot" should keep a TV programme in mind. S/he then asks: "I watched a TV programme yesterday. Can you guess which programme I watched?"

Other learners should shoot "Yes/No" questions to him.

Q. Did you see a programme on Doordarshan? A. No.

Q. Was it on Pee Channels? A. Yes

Q. Was it Pee TV? A. Yes.

As soon as the learner guesses the right programme, the game is over. Then learners can start again by keeping other programmes in mind.

7.3. Learning to live together

One of the serious defects of the present education system is that it promotes individualism. Each learner is c0!1sidered a separate entity as if s/he has nothing in common with others. But in actual life situation, work is seldom done individually. With increasing sophistication in almost all walks of life, people have to face more and more complexities. Such complexities can be better handled by groups than by individuals. Now it has also been more or less established that group co-operative skills are different from individualistic skills and as such should be attended separately. The introduction of a sense of excessive competition leads to alienation, which, at times, proves to be a barrier in the development of group spirit. Hence, creative learning methodology requires development of skills pertaining to team formation, team spirit and teamwork.

Lessen competition, enhance co-operation

Another feature of the present education system is that each person is evaluated separately and given separate degree. There is also a concept of the hierarchy of degrees with PhD better than MA and MA better than BA. This is based on the premise that if people are developed individually, the entire society will be developed. This is based on the additive concept of development. But, in actual life situation, no work is done individually. We cannot conceive of any work that can be performed individually. Even highly individualistic work like thinking also gets prompt and support from others. Without such support even thinking cannot be sustained. All products, whether in the form of ideas and materials, are consequences of group work.

It is a common experience that if a group of four children are asked to work together on a paper, one child will take lead and others will simply sit idle and just endorse what has been written by one person. This is a typical product of individualised training.

7.4. Learning to be

We have seen that each child has a unique learning style and thus the learning strategy for each child has to be unique. One should not try to follow a rigid pattern for teaching all children, nor should one try to imitate others. Each child is unique both in terms of learning style as well as learning potential. Hence, there is need to design learning environment, learning activities, teaching-learning tools and aids to suit one's learning style and potential. Therefore the major emphasis of activities at schools should change from TEACHING to LEARNING. We should try and help a child realise its own inherent potential rather than imitate others. This also requires a major change in the mindset of parents who coerce the children to realise their (parents') own unfulfilled ambition.

Each child has a unique learning environment. As learning environment plays an important role in the learning process, learning activities should be totally child centred and contextual. Before going to school a child spends her/his early childhood entirely with parents and relatives at home and even after joining

school, the child has to spend a large span of time with parents at home. So, the school activities must take into account these familiarly social, economic and cultural factors while designing the teaching and learning activities. In fact, arrangement must be made to effectively involve parents, teachers, peers and materials in the learning process.

8. Use competency-based evaluation

Evaluation is basically an exercise to know the strengths and weaknesses in the learning of a child. In the context of creative learning methodology, evaluation has to be an assessment of various CCLC. If the learner has to follow the principle of "Learning to be", he has to learn his own weaknesses and strengths in terms of CCLC and make a plan of development. As it is important to know what a child knows, but it is more important to know what he/she does not know. The evaluation system should also indicate the weaknesses of the child in a more explicit manner. It is not only necessary to diagnose the weaknesses of the child, it is also important to apply appropriate remedial measures to improve the learning capability of the child. Creative learning methodology can be used to indicate appropriate remedial corrections.

9. Relevant content of learning

The question of relevance of learning has been an extremely contentious issue. There are people who argue that there should be uniform syllabus throughout the country. In their view the equality of syllabus would ensure equal opportunity of education to all. Is it really so? What does equal opportunity mean?

Equal opportunity to learning basically means equal opportunity to develop one's own mental, physical and spiritual potentiality. Different persons have different learning styles and different persons have different areas of application of information. How can the same mode of transaction and same set of information be relevant to all? Equal opportunity does not mean providing equal set of information, but equal access to information pertaining to one's own need. If a farmer needs information pertaining to farming, he must be made capable to have access to all kinds of information pertaining to farming and also the capacity to handle them with efficiency. The information about fishing may not be immediately relevant to him. By giving same information to all will only result in piling up of irrelevant information, which is of no use and which will only peter out in due course. Hence equal opportunity to learning basically implies

•Equal opportunity to develop mental faculty as per one's own learning style

•Equal access to information as per one's own need

This leads us to the question of making available need based information. People have advocated that children should be exposed to the worldview right from initial days, so that they do not become parochial in attitude. This view, however correct it may be, has a serious error in the context of creative learning process.

This situation is a big hurdle in the development of creativity.

Creativity demands prior knowledge of information and processes which one wants to change, because only then will one be able to design a symbol or a pattern which can find entry into the existing set of symbols or patterns.

How can s/he do it? A person has knowledge of only immediate environment with which s/he keeps on interacting on day-to-day basis, so s/he can easily tackle problems and conduct experiments with it. If s/he is interacting with different practices pertaining to

farming or fishing or has occasions to watch it on routine basis, s/he will have better chances of learning the art of observation and experimentation with information related to them, rather than any knowledge about wild life of Africa. On the other hand, s/he may have knowledge about the geography of America, but s/he can do nothing with that information. So, two kinds of information must be clearly distinguished.

•Active information base with which the child interacts on day to-day basis and is capable of making changes

•Passive information base with which one cannot play with. They just remain idle with the person. It mayor may not be of use to him/her even in the long run.

Creative learning demands that learning should begin with active information. Children can easily play with those information and try to tackle new problems. As children grow, their bases for active infomation should increase. Later, they may also be exposed to passive information, which will remain in their information bank and use it as and when necessary.

10. Start learning in family

Since in initial years a child has to spend maximum time with the family, information about family should form the base of all kinds of learning. We say family is the first school, but have we ever done anything to make it a first school? Family is not only the smallest functional sociological unit, it is also one of the most important sources of active information for learning.

For creative learning purposes, development of Receptive, Processive and Productive competencies require functioning with active information base. In the initial years of life, it is family, house, kitchen, garden, etc., which provide that active base. Thus, learning must start from this place only. It would, thus, be seen that in a family of musicians, children also start playing with rhythm and rhymes and this active interaction with them initiates in them creative learning process. Similarly, in the family having strong traditions of paintings, children learn the art of painting quite early in life.

There is a need for increasing base of active information and capacity to handle them right from early childhood. In initial period, active information must pertain to development of different sensory organs and their competencies. As child grows, s/he should be exposed to different instruments for acquiring and handling information. In fact, one of the major tasks should be to convert more and more passive information into active by increasing the capacity for collection, analysis and presentation of information. As this base increases, one is able to acquire more and more information all by oneself.

In the family situation, in this context, one should learn about the competencies related to language, mathematics, time sense, social behaviour, scientific and technological explorations, artistic and musical appreciation and managerial abilities. There is a need to design methods to promote such activities inside the family. In this sense, it is imperative to design schools which can not only cater to the needs of the children, but also make attempts at empowering their parents in this process of learning. There is also a need to design teaching-learning materials to be used by parents. There is an urgent need to launch awareness campaign for them in this regard.

If a child has to develop time sense, s/he can be asked to prepare the chronological history or make a genealogical table of this family with the help of his/her parents. If learning about Geography has to be initiated, it should start with making maps of his house and finding the names of the families on the boundary. In respect of vocabulary, one may start by knowing all the items related to self and family first before beginning to know others. Studies about materials and their properties as one does in science can also be initiated from the family level. Kitchen can be an excellent place to initiate such learning.

Knowing about family will not only increase the active information base of the child; it would also develop an emotional attachment with the family system. This is necessary in the context of growing frustration and breakage in family structure. Gaining mastery over active information bases would also lead to increase in self-confidence. Rote learning gradually alienates one from one's roots and surroundings, and thus leads to severe demoralisation.

Self-confidence can come only by knowing the art of handling one's active information bases in a skilful manner. If we want to develop self- confidence in our people, we must make them aware of their own family and culture. If a child from a labour class learns that the road on which they are walking has been built by their parents and has been irrigated with their sweat and blood, they will not only take pride in themselves, but will also get motivated to maintain it.

11. Learn about neighbourhood

After family comes neighbourhood. We must practise all our competencies in respect of contents of immediate neighbourhood, i.e. village or town. It would include all institutions, societies, mosques, temples, people, animals, plants, gardens, etc. of the neighbourhood. It should include farms, equipment, artisans, painters, craftsmen with which children are expected to interact on day-to-day basis. One would really be surprised, if one were to make a list of the equipments being used in the villages for observation and presentation of ideas.

A child should know about the history and culture of the village first before s/he starts learning about the history and culture of the region or the world. One should also know the sociological processes of the family and village before one is exposed to such issues related to outside world.

A child must know about all the plants available in the village or in the city. He/she must also know the different households of the villages/ town. He must learn about the farming practices, the process of irrigation and crops grown in the village. He should know about the process of harvesting. He should be made aware about the animal husbandry by learning about the animals in the area.

Primary learning must start with the immediate neighbourhood, because they will increase the child's active information base. However, it should also include items which the children are expected to come across in their casual interactions. For example, if they are to visit the neighbouring town, they should know about the traffic rules, general life in the town and similar things, which one is expected to encounter there.

Gradually, as the child grows, the area of neighbourhood should be changed and should be increased to include information about the state, country and later to the entire world as the capability of handling information goes on increasing. The key principle for the growth of contents of learning should be

Immediate Neighbourhood World

Neighbourhood contents really not only include the materials available in the neighbourhood; it should also include the equipments for observation and production. Every village/town has large number of equipment, which help us in assessment and measurement like scales, thermometer etc. There is a need to include them in the learning process.

In this sense the role of the school will change drastically. Earlier, parents were supposed to pass on the information related to family and village. School was supposed to deliver only information related to outside world. Now, this will change. Now, school should initiate the process of learning

about the family and village also. Parents would assist in seeking such information. This way, they will also actively participate in the transaction of the curriculum of the school.

There is, however, a word of caution. There are many superstitions and malpractices in the society. Since the value formation starts at a very young age, it would be desirable to cleverly weed out such issues and replace them with modern ideas. In this connection, there is need to study the folk games, folk tales, folk songs, folk plays, etc. and try to modernise their content and values. If children start having one child norm for their dolls, one child norm would be automatically introduced in the society. If they start sending their dolls to school in games, the problem of access and retention will be automatically over. Hence, there should be proper screening of the existing practices and modern practices should be gradually introduced into the learning system.

Thank You