This year at FS there was a community service program, as part of their yearly scheduled, students from local government schools were invited to FS, on weekends to learn skills. The skillsets we as students were offering the the children were football, basketball, frisbee, arts and craft, ICT, Science project and dance. Based on my skillset and knowledge I choose to participate in helping students out with science projects. Instead of teaching student conventional science, which they are already going to be exposed as they progress, we wanted students to learn various application of a concept, and have a more practical approach to teaching and approaching a new concept. Students from 3-6th standard gathered up on 3 weekends, where we had the opportunity to teach them, and most importantly learn from them.

Learning outcomes:

LO 1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth:

Ever since I was a child, I had always been intrigued by “how and why things work”, so from a young age I had been an inquirer, to satisfy this thirst I used to read a lot and discuss the same with my father and teachers. So communication of what I know, was something that was strong for me. I can explain a concept, if I am clear with it myself in a much more simplified way than it is ideally explained. Hence working with younger children and sharing the knowledge I have gained to the world has always been a plus point for me which is why I choose to participate for this experience. However during the session I conducted, an issue was the language barrier, students coming in were accustomed to a pure form of the Gujrati language, despite being a native Gujrati speaker myself, I did struggle to deliver some part of the concept in pure Gujrati, due to my adaption of the language containing a lot of English words, However over time, the delivery did get a little better, but better preparation for the same could have lead to the delivery of the concept and idea to a much more greater dept which could have given more clarity and a greater sense of association to the real world for the students. We made them make small models of simple machines, explore density and thrust, make rockets and small cars based on the laws of motions.

LO 2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process

At time during the workshops, some students were not very intrigued by the experiments done, or the little part of theory being taught. This would often lead to mischief and misconduct. However stopping and scolding them like conventional teachers, I’d often try to be calm, and make the lesson more interesting so that everyone pays attention. One challenge was to ensure that the lesson was enjoyable as well as fruitful for the children, so that they can apply the concept taught to them in their future. To handle this issue, we all decided to include jokes and more hands-on activity for the children so that they are more into the workshop and they get a more practical ideal of what is going on. As a person, I developed a lot of patients during the process , as working with younger and elder children can sometimes be a hassle, along with that I also developed better communication skills as the sessions progressed, and understood how to put my point foreword in a way the children can comprehend. Overall the whole workshop me a better communicator, and also helped me explore the ideas and thoughts of children younger to me.

LO 4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

The whole workshop was a 6 day program, over the course of 3 weekends. It was difficult to be present during every weekend, and work with children, especially amid our weekend, during school submissions, co-curriculars and personal interests. However, with this workshop I came out as more organized, as this helped me plan and make use of my time more effectively. It was hard to remain consistent with the workshop and deliver the same quality of content to the children each and every time. What kept me going was the passion for science and the love for spreading knowledge.

LO 5: Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively

During the process of teaching, we all worked as a team of students, teachers, and support staff. Working as a teach makes things easier, as we could divide our task and combine our skills to make the best use of ours and more importantly the children’s time. Dividing tasks and helping different set of students really helped make it a good learning experience for the students. Working as small groups throughout the workshop also helped us interact with different set of students one by one, and make sure that the planned agenda is completed on time. Working with a team also means that, changes in the plan can be executed easily and all resources required can be gathered quickly. Working in a group means that more ideas are on the board, and there is always more room for creativity and initiative. Ideally I’m used to working in small teams, rather than big ones, however this time we had around 10-15 people volunteering for science, and working with teams was a good experience, and helped me improve my collaboration skills.

LO 6: Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance

Quality education is one of the biggest world issues as of now. In this era, education has become the key to success, as apart from just academic knowledge it helps an individual to develop necessary skills like communication, learning how to learn, research. As of now, from what I have observed, there is absence of a strong conceptual understanding between students, and students are only familiar with the concept, or they don’t understand the concept to its deeper essence. This may help them pass certain exams, or get admissions however, it won’t help them solve real world problems which require a good and actual understanding of the concept. To help out with this issue, I made sure not to teach the conventional way, rather take a very simple, sophisticated and interesting approach to teaching, that can help students understand the essence of the concept, and so that they can apply that understanding in their future. I may not be able to make a hudge contribution to problem, but small efforts like this overtime can help make an impact globally.

Overall learnt a lot from this overall experience, this helped me interact with a lot of students and also helped me develop a lot of skills as written above. If given a chance again, I would definitely volunteer for something like this again. Overall I leant the essence of the learner profile open-minded and balanced, through the course of this workshop.