Contextual Learning at CIS- Autumn Newsletter

7/27/2019 Contextual Learning at CIS- Autumn Newsletter

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CONTEXTUALLEARNING AT

October / November

Choose which CL Program Suits You:

On-Site or On-Campus

Urban Planning and Development

Creative Expression

January / February

History and Culture of India

Indian Science and Engineering

March / April

Prepare Research ProjectsTeam Building

May / June

On-Site or On-Campus

Reflection Week

June 13: Come to CIS and see

what the students have produced!

Themes for the Year

CL adds a multidisciplinary element to MS studies. All 6th, 7th and 8th graders will have a time-period eachcycle that is dedicated to CL. MS teachers also have a timescheduled to meet and discuss CL activities.

Two CL themes will be highlighted every twomonths. Some themes, such as Social Responsibility, willcontinue throughout the academic year.

The themes either prepare the students for theExperiential Portion of the trip or they relate directly to theoverall objectives of CL: Self-Awareness, Understanding and Compassion.

The monthly themes contain study material, hands-on learning and discussion. Guest speakers and field-trips have been included where a specific expertise willenhance the students understanding.

The involvement of the MS teachers to incorporate the

themes within their curriculum is essential and theirenergy remarkable. Even when the connections are obvious,it requires additional effort and planning to execute. One

example is the 8th Grade plant biology and reproductionrequirement. The vegetable garden will provide an amazing on-site lab with Annadana expertise available forconsultation. A University level experience in MS!

Role of Themes within CLThemes permit cross-disciplinary study whilemaintaining curricular objectives

August / September

What is Contextual Learning?

Social Responsibility: 40K

Nature and the Environment

December

Fundraiser for 40K

Vegetable Garden Study

U pcoming A ct iv it ies f or St udent sSe pt ember 17 t h: 6t h G r ade field st udy at A nnadanaSe pt ember 18t h: 7 t h G r ade field st udy at A nnadanaSe pt ember 19t h: 8t h G r ade field st udy at A nnadanaSe pt ember 30 t h: 4 0 K, I nt r

o t o V illag e L if eOct ober 18t h: 4 0 K, Br ainst or m f or Business I deas

Oct ober 25: G r een Conf er ence and Cr eat iv e W r it ing W or k sho pOct ober 28t h: Cr eat iv e W r it ing W or k sho p

B i m o n t h l y N

e w s l e t t e r o f C o n t e x t u a l L e a

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Set up a vegetablegrowing patch at CISusing pure seeds and

true organictechniques

Annadana is a not-for-profit

Organ iza t ion , ba s ed ou t o f

Bangalore, that believes in everyone’s

right to chemical free food.

Muc h of t he var ie ty of

vegetables and fruits has disappeared

from our platter, so it is time to take

charge and revive indigenous

varieties that once flourished here inIndia.

Students will visit Annadana by

grade between the 17 - 19

September: There they will follow a

workshop that includes the Farm

Trail.

Two ground staff of CIS have

been trained by Annadana and will

help set-up and maintain the CIS

vegetable garden.

Each class will have a budget to

select the seeds they wish to study

and a row in which to plant them.

Only organic pest controls,

growth mediums and compost will be

used, unless the class decides

otherwise.

Maintaining the vegetables will

be done on a regular basis, with the

trained ground staff as back-up

during weekends and holidays.

Statistical Analysis, from abunch of Vegetables?

The vegetable garden presents anopportunity for the students to work withthe soil and participate in the growing of food.

It also becomes a testing site wherestudents can define and run experimentsand record results. Each class will selecttheir own project, discussing parametersand constraints.

Possible Studies:

• Calculate the germination rate,fruit production rate and seedgeneration of various species.

• Some rows can be run without theuse of compost and pesticides.Calculate the new rate of f ruitproduced and the ‘cost per fruit’ taking into account costs not incurred inadditives and time.

• An older group may create acomparative study using organic vshybrid seeds. The regermination rateswould be fascinating to compare. AndGM seeds? Where do they fit in?

Growing Organic Vegetables at CISwith the help of Annadana

A trip to Annadana is scheduled for all MS students the 17th, 18th or 19th September

Annadana is a decade old, not-for-profit

Organization, based in Bangalore

Seed Savers

Annadana is engaged with a mission to revive the dying art of seedsaying by means of time tested research and organic integratedpractices

from soil -

t o seed -

to pl ate...

Learn the P rocess!

Soil Health and Food Production

CL Themes for August and September, 2013

B i m o n t h l y N


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Contextual Learning Journals:

Vocabulary To Be Explored:

Nature and Conservation

Seed Bank Parent SeedsSoil HealthVariety vs SpeciesHybrid SeedGenetically Modified SeedEco-ScienceWater Harvesting Bengal Famine, and importation of hybrid seeds into IndiaPesticides: Endosulphin / DDT

Kokopelli in FranceDominique GuilletDefine OrganicBio-DigesterFlow-Form, dynamizing H2O

Roopa P. Doraswamy’s Srirangam Farm

Using Annadana as a consultant, Roopa is converting a 3/4 acres plot

into a farm using organic processes. Due to the contaminants already in

the soil, it may be a few years before the produce is truly Organic, but shesupports chemical and pesticide free farming using indigenous seeds and

techniques.

A variety of vegetables, such as carrots, tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce and

okra are being grown.

A C I S P a re n

t !


Located in Panahalli, a village just 5 minutes from CIS

W ay s P ar ent s can g et

I nv olv ed!

Food and Nutrition:After the visit to Annadana the children will have been introduced to the concepts of organic food, andthe cycle of soil, to seed, to plate. You can take your child to the grocery store or marketplace and discussthe various foods available, their costs, and your budget. You can discuss the choices you make and why.

Jamie Oliver: Food RevolutionTED talk about poor nutrition and its links to ill health

Food Inc.Film about large scale food production in the USA. Alarmist.

Forks over KnivesFilm about the health risks of large dairy and animal productconsumption

No Eat Not Food, by Rick SangerMoonbeam Children’s Award winning book for ages 8-12about food and its origins, starring an alien...

Annadana: a family visit can be organized independently,contact [email protected] or the web site

Encourage your child to try local vegetables, fruits and dishes

Each student has been given aContextual Learning Journal. They will use these books for all work related to CLthroughout the year. For this month, they have been keptat school as the children begin to use them.

The journals will be divided into sections, not by subject,but by concept: Who am I? This includes a study of the student’s background, theirlikes / dislikes and who and what they wish to become.Their personal thoughts and beliefs are placed in here.

How do I relate to the World? This section includes any work related to man’sinteraction with our planet. Annadana work will beplaced in here, along with the vegetable garden studies.Animal, plant and environmental studies belong here.

How do I relate to other People? This is a chance to study our involvement with peoplefrom other generations, cultures, and socio-economicgroups. Should we be involved? Why?

India: Our host culture Here we place history, culture, arts, and discoveries aboutIndia, with a focus on Southern India.

Skill Building:This section will include special skills that the childrenlearn during the Contextual Learning module, such asFirst Response / First Aid and Techniques of StoryTelling. These skills are taught in order to enhance the

confidence of the child through increased knowledge.

The journals become a souvenir that the students keep.They will contain a snapshot of who the students are andhow their ideas develop.

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mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]



40K has ten dynamic after school programs established for local villagechildren of primary school age in and around Bangalore

The centers run after school for two hours each school day teaching literacy and numeracy (40K calls them Plus Pods).Local ladies are hired from the village to teach the program. The curriculum that is taught uses android-based tablets to

encourage mastery and self-paced learning. 40K has built 118 educational modules (covering Math, spoken and written

English) that have been turned into videos and installed on 7-inch tablets.

40K is aligning itself with 21st century technologies and building off the proven success of education pioneers such as

Salman Khan (Khan Academy) but bringing it offline and into villages.

The videos allow the children to work at their own pace. They can watch the video as many times as they like, and they can

pause and rewind it when they don’t understand a concept. It might take one child one day to understand how to count to

twenty, and another child three weeks. What matters is that the child masters the concept.

CL will work with 40K to Build a Meaningful Project40K and Contextual Learning have developed a specific program for the CIS MS students

Social Involvement

When both groups learn, they are both empowered. When they both acquire useful life

skills, a sustainable exchange follows that builds on mutual growth.


How will 40K work with the CL students?

Both CL and 40K believe in Sustainable Social Involvement.

Plus Pods work to develop social businesses that generate enough income to cover their own running costs. The

CIS MS students will help with this process. They will learn valuable skills while building a community asset.

40K has come to CIS to explain the purpose of Plus Pods and to begin a program of teaching Sustainable Social

Involvement. This program will continue during the entire school year, and, we hope, involve the entire CIS

community.

B i m o n t h l y N


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Social Responsibility

Community involvement is a great way to learn more about your connections with other people and

different groups. It is a way to expand your knowledge of the links that make up society and the ways they are

related. IB recognizes the importance of social responsibility with the required CAS hours, and Universities in

America and elsewhere in the world stress its relevance in their admittance process.

Many of us at CIS have only recently moved to Bangalore and the complexities of assimilating can make

the additional hurdles of selecting a worthwhile project for family involvement insurmountable.

Contextual Learning provides a chance to include community involvement from 6th Grade. The students

will follow a project during their three years of middle-school; providing the time necessary for them to derive

personal meaning from the experience.


S us t a i na b l e S o c i a l I nv o l v e me nt w i l l

t e a c h C I S C L s t ud e nt s : B us i ne s s M o d e l i ng , E nt r e p r e ne ur s hi p ,

F und r a i s i ng , P r o b l e m S o l v i ng , C o s t i ng

a nd B ud g e t i ng , I d e nt i f y i ng K e y F a c t o r s

a nd V i l l a g e P o l i t i c s

B i m o n t h l y N e w s l e t t e r o f C o n t e x t u a l L e a r

n i n g a t C I S

A u t u m n

2 0 1 3

E d u c a t i o n

a l S y s t e m s :

S a l m a n K h a n ( K h a n A c a d e m y )

T E D t a l k a b o u t

e d u c a t i o n a l

m o d u l e s o n

- l i n e f o r i n d

e p e n d e n t

p a c i n g o f s t u d

e n t s w i t h i n o

r o u t s i d e

t h e s c h o o l s y s t e m

B a r e f o o t C o l l e g e

T E D t a l k b y B u n

k e r R o y r e g

a r d i n g

t e a c h i n g a n

d v a l u i n g l o

c a l e x p e r t i s

e

W a i t i n g f o r S u p e r m a n

a fi l m a b o u

t t h e e d u c a t

i o n a l l o t t e r

y

b u i l t i n t o t h

e U S p u b l i c

s y s t e m

S u g a t a M i t r a : S c h o o l i n t h e

C l o u d s,

p r o p o s a l

f o r s e l f - i n i t

i a t e d

i n t e l l e c t u a l l e a r n i n g

4 0 K b u i l d s a f t e r

- s c h o o l p r o g

r a m s f o r v i l

l a g e c h i l d r e

n u s i n g t a b l e t s. T h i s

i s o n e a p p r

o a c h t o a d d

r e s s i n g e d u

c a t i o n a l d e fi

c i e n c i e s. D u

r i n g c l a s s, t

h e

c h i l d r e n w i

l l d i s c u s s v a

r i o u s o t h e r

m e t h o d s o f

e d u c a t i o n. B

e l o w a r e s o m

e

e d u c a t i o n a l

i s s u e s o r m

o d e l s y o u m

a y w i s h t o

e x p l o r e w i t

h y o u r c h i l d

r e n :

M or e W ay s P ar ent s can g et

I nv olv ed!



Questions Answered

B i m o n t h l y N e w s l e t t e r o f C o n t e x t u a l L e a r

n i n g a t C I S

A u t u m n

2 0 1 3

H o w c a n a s tu d e n t

b e t au g h t t o

a c c e p t c h a n g e?

B y allo wing the children to face

change in small s teps and

‘succeed’.

CL has designed a program tha t brings the ch

ildren in to di f feren t en vironmen ts

and guides them through di f feren t me thods o f li ving an

d s tud ying. Change is no t

some thing tha t is taugh t for i tsel f. Chang

e for the sake o f change is poin tless

,

bu t change for the sake o f a higher g

oal such as Sel f- A wareness,

Unders tanding, or Compassion makes sense. Chan

ge should be a tool, no t a

goal. I t is the di f ferences and oppor t

uni ties tha t arise from change tha t are o

f

in teres t. I t is ho w we re vie w the pas t in ligh t o f n

e w perspec ti ve tha t is re vealing.

CL has no religious or educa tional d

oc trine. I t is here tha t the paren ts an

d famil y

ha ve a role to pla y. Larger topics suc

h as social inequali t y, or man’s role on ear th

ma y come to the dinner table. We hope tha t this is

seen as an oppor tuni t y to

consider, discuss, and in ves tiga te th

ese topics as a famil y.

Why should CIS include self-development as part of the curriculum?

Isn’t this the parent’s domain?

If education is only about imparting academic knowledge to students, then

Contextual Learning has no place in school.

But we have chosen CIS for our children where the mission statement ‘aspires to

empower students with skills and knowledge enabling them to become independent

and self-sufficient adults who will contribute responsibly in a global community.’

This goal reaches towards student’s roles as adults, and preparing them for it. And if

education is about a preparation for the future, then Contextual Learning cancontribute.

“Contextual Learning is about making connections between what they, as students,

are learning and how that knowledge will be used, and recognizing that learning is a

complex, multifaceted process that goes far beyond drill-oriented, stimulus-and-

response methodologies.” (Mr. Kells)

P r e p a r i n g s t u d e n t s f o r t h e f u t u r e i m p l i e s k n o w i n g w h a t f u t u r e

a w a i t s t h e s e M i d d l e S c h o o l c h i l d r e n . W h a t w i l l t h e i r f u t u r e b e ?

P r e d i c t i ng t he f u t u r e w i t h p r e c i s i o n i s f o l l y . B u t e x t r ap o l at i ng f r o m t o d ay ’ s

p ac e o f c hang e t hat t he f u t u r e w i l l b e d i f f e r e nt s e e ms hi g hl y p r o b ab l e .

T e c hno l o g y w i l l mo s t l i k e l y c o nt i nu e t o ad v anc e , and t he w ay w e v i e w

and i nt e r ac t w i t h t he w o r l d w i l l ad ap t . C o mp u t e r s w i l l c o nt i nu e t o r e p l ac e

p e o p l e i n r o u t i ne j o b s and i n o ne -z e r o s i t u at i o ns . T he p ac e o f c hang e

may e v e n ac c e l e r at e . I n t hi s e r a o f i nf o r mat i o n t e c hno l o g y a hand he l d

d e v i c e A L R E A D Y has ac c e s s t o mo r e d at a t han o u r c hi l d r e n c an ho p e t o

o b t ai n b e f o r e g r ad u at i o n. I mag i ne ho w f as t and ho w p o w e r f u l t he s e

d i g i t al d e v i c e s w i l l b e c o me i n 10 y e ar s w he n o u r c hi l d r e n ar e l o o k i ng f o r

w o r k . W hat w e c an b e c e r t ai n o f i s a f u t u r e t hat i s d i f f e r e nt . S o p r e p ar i ng

a s t u d e nt f o r t he f u t u r e me ans r ai s i ng ad u l t s t hat ar e fl e x i b l e , ad ap t ab l e ,

and p r e p ar e d t o v i e w c hang e as a p o t e nt i al p o s i t i v e .

Documents

Contextual Learning at CIS- Autumn Newsletter