Embedding values in the curriculum through a

transformation of teaching methodology

Eliza Hilton - Flow India

www.flowIndia.com

Flow India

London 2006 / New Delhi 2010

Connecting the rich material culture of India with the school curriculum.

Engaged cultural learning develops (good/ constructive) values in children.

Values – what is right and what is wrong

Also - what is destructive and constructive in humanity throughout time

Love

Cooperation

Survival

Competition

1. Defined by our culture and society. We discover our values as

we discover difference.

The Coliseum Rome 1st Century AD

People and animals fighting to the death.

We think this is wrong!

The Romans didn’t!

It’s easy to judge. It’s easy to be simplistic.

2. The next generation! Throughout time - concern about

what values are imparted by educators

Trial and Death of Socrates5th Century BC Athens

Socratic method

Philos + Sophos = philosophy

Charged with disrespecting the gods and corrupting the young.

3. Unique challenge of defining and transmitting values in the

‘information age’

Unique challenges today

Negative

Negative View

• Corruption in our society

• Lack of parental authority

• Individualistic consumer-driven society

PositivePositive View

A chance to enable young people to tackle global problems in new ways

A chance to enable young people to think around a moral problems

A chance for values to be democratized but not necessarily individualistic

21st Century Learning

Engaged Cultural Learning 1.

Culture

• Practices & beliefs in a place and time

• Stories, buildings, films, art, writing, plays, media, oratory, songs, statues, paintings, religious objects, tombs etc.

Cultural Learning

• Understanding the ‘how’ and the ‘why’ of our practices and beliefs

• Understanding the links between our cultural production and our practices and beliefs

• Social, historical, economic structures that shape us

• Influences, reasons, how things change.

Engaged Cultural Learning 2.

Engaged learning

• Self-discovery

• Creative

• Critical-thinking tasks

• Collaborative tasks

• Learner centered

• Relevant

Development of values

• Questioning

• Open-minded but critical

• Self-reflective

• Empathetic

• Collaborative

• Deeper understanding of difference

• Positive self image

• Curious

• Creative, innovating

A visit to the Gandhi Museum

‘Traffic light your belongings’

A visit to Humayun’s Tomb

‘What do you think paradise would be like?’

A visit to the HauzKhas

‘What is the responsibility of a ruler or any person towards the environment?’

A visit to the National Museum

‘How do statues tell us stories?’

A visit to the Red Fort and SwatantrataSangrahalayaMuseum

‘Is it always right to obey the law?’

Juxtapositions across our city

Classroom

lessons

Real life

experiences

Home

environment

Science,

environmental

science

Social

science:

history and

geography

Arts:

music, art,

dance,

sport

Maths

and literacy

Critical

thinking

CommunicationCreativity

Cultural

awareness

Enquiry

Engaged cultural learning develops (good/ constructive) values in children.

How is this new?

Transmission Model

• Moral Education– Do’s & don’ts

– Rights and wrongs

– Stories and examples to highlight the point

– Governed by popular view of the society

• Engaged Cultural Learning– Awareness of societal and

economic imperatives of a particular time & place

– Cause & effect

– Dynamic view of values

– Ability to assimilate diversity in value system

Experiential Model

Our Values

QuestioningOpen-minded but critical

Self-reflective Empathetic

CollaborativeDeeper understanding of difference

Positive self imageCurious

Creative, innovating

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