The Philosophy of Education is a reflection on the nature, aims and problems of education. It is a branch of applied philosophy that borrows from epistemology, metaphysics, language etc. It looks at both the theoretical and practical aspects of education from a philosophical angle. Now, because educational practice is so vast and varied around the world, there are, of course, variations in the philosophy of education as well.
In the last nine articles of this series, we’ve covered a handful of history’s most impactful educational philosophers, from Plato to Tagore. What did they have in common? And how do their thoughts on education coincide with the Agastya Way of Learning? This article rounds up the educational philosophy series by pondering upon these questions.
We covered Plato, Confucius, al-Kindi, Erasmus, Bacon, Descartes, Locke, Rousseau and Tagore in the previous articles. All these philosophers have something in common regarding their thoughts on education. They all believed education was the founding stone of life, and to achieve specific goals in society, children were to be educated a certain way.
The method manifested in different ways, stemming from the branch of philosophy they subscribed to or, in many cases, founded. But the purpose of education was the fundamental belief in the smooth functioning of societies through the personal development of its individuals.
Many believed in the child’s capacity to learn and grow, whether inherent or nurtured. Hence, more emphasis was placed on creating an environment to support child development and the teacher’s role in creating and upkeeping this environment.
Yet, these ideals are scarcely visible when one looks at the current education system. Instead of a space where children are encouraged to learn independently, there is a culture of spoonfeeding information and not emphasising developing the child’s ability to rationalise and reason.
This is where the Agastya Way of Learning comes into play. We believe in the philosophers’ ideas of creating a learning space where children don’t just learn by rote but by doing. They are the central player in their education.
The Agastya Way Of Learning
The process of “Aah! Aha! Ha-Ha!” is called the Agastya Way of Learning. What does this stand for? The Aah indicates the curiosity one has about phenomena around them. The Aha is for when one conducts experiments and arrives at an explanation for their curiosity. The Ha-Ha stands for the joy gained during this process of learning.
This is the tenet Agastya’s learning modules are based on. They are designed to aid the above process, ultimately resulting in the child getting invested in and taking responsibility for their own learning. It aims to spark curiosity, creativity and confidence in children.
How? We conduct and promote hands-on learning through activities that engage a child. A good example of this is our Creativity Campus in Kuppam, where there are multiple spaces in the seat of nature (a la Shantiniketan) designed to create a calm, curious learning environment. All labs at the campus are filled with demonstrative models and learning models that a child can interact with, trying to understand why they behave the way they do.
The principle of learning by doing is a must-follow at Agastya. Thus, lessons are conducted with an equal amount of reading and playing, incorporating a child’s sensory experiences and memories. This is followed in all learning centres of Agastya across the country.
Children are put at the centre of education, as advocated by Rousseau, Locke, Bacon, etc. Teachers are guided to become guides on the child’s learning journey. They are trained to ask leading questions, encourage debate and discussion and nurture a child’s logical and social skills while teaching the fundamentals of the given subject and concept.
Why Is Agastya’s Way Of Leaning Beneficial?
Multiple studies have shown that active, hands-on, inquiry-based learning is one of the best-employed learning methods. This is Agastya’s core philosophy. This type of learning engages a child’s mind and allows them to understand a topic rather than merely memorise it.
Hands-on learning has also been proven to improve test performance, class engagement, critical thinking and social skills in children. Thus, the Aah! Aha! Ha-Ha method is an innovative approach toward such learning, incorporating Indian and Western educational philosophies and providing the best of both worlds.
