LSRW; a half truth?

In a haste to deliver the good results and meet parents’ expectations; pre-schools today at large has become syllabus oriented and not development oriented. The emerging concepts of individual learning, experiential learning and life-long learner have made the situation more complex. In order to defeat the competitor, new age pre-schools are being built with shine (kids no more get their hands and clothes dirty in nursery schools) and smartness (plenty of manipulative mindlessly adopted) often overlooking the basics (science and sense of age-appropriate learning experience) for the young learners.

With this article, I have tried to suggest a solution to all of it without compromising the learning outcomes. It’s duly researched and purely scientific in nature. Thus the projected insights are a must-read for all nursery teachers and pre-school educators. To make it precise and piercing, I start with analysing the most accepted and used ECCE pedagogical practice LSRW and its implication on the selection of manipulative the child is given. So each penny spent is judiciously employed. I am not mentioning the work of late 19th century educators, psychologist, and child-right activists in detail whom I have named here and am inspired with. The images I have put here are the gist of a three hours workshop we conduct for pre-school educators and school management.

With National ECCE Policy 2013 and a functional counsel in place, I foresee pre-school education moving towards a more structured and accountable functioning with a focus on the quality of the outcome and rationale for choosing a particular methodology. Let’s geared up!

LS(I)RW; a missing link

While interacting with the nursery teachers and pre-school principles; I often realise that though the national curriculum (NCERT books) do emphasise the importance of visual/graphics/print/symbol identification and association. In practice, the (I) is missing while designing the didactic inputs and activities for young learners. Thus many educators only know the half truth. I put forth my point through this image; 

Have you been told the LSRW framework in this manner before?

The science of manipulative and teacher employment

The more diverse, engaging and experiential learning environment is provided to the child, the more development of varied new mental schemas take place in child’s mind. It helps the child to progress from ‘concrete to abstract’, ‘familiar to unfamiliar’ and ‘simple to complex’ level of learning. But is there any governing principle on how to select right manipulative through which an age-appropriate, individual-learning based environment is created and nursery teachers are rightly empowered to be used effectively. Consider this image, you may find the clue.

Answering the Question mark; Do it as ‘Maria’ said

In the words of ECCE legend Maria Montessori “The material should be preferably self-corrective from which the child could get immediate feedback on her/his performance and thus progress in her/his learning efforts”. Existing Montessori materials allow stimulation of five senses in combination and/or in isolation. Could we use the said Montessori principle for developing reading, writing and number-work readiness among young children?

Yes, Our solution

Through my team, we have developed few manipulative which serves as masterpieces for visual identification, self-learning of concepts, and provides corrective feedback and learning assessment. The best part is that through these manipulative, a vast part of ECCE could be made experiential and children experience an easy readiness for reading, writing and number-work.

To know more;

about our work, manipulative and/or conduct this workshop for nursery teachers and school management, you may write an email to [email protected]  You may also visit our websites www.3LConcept.in, www.youthandskills.com, www.nurturethemind.in

Knowledge is contagious

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