Kids experiencing "Experiential Learning" in Norway

On a recent trip to Bergen, Norway, we were strolling along the wharf, taking in the lovely sights that the city had to offer, when we spotted a bunch of very busy looking 5-6 year olds, fidgeting with some curious gadgets.

We decided to take a small detour and find out what this group of seemingly engrossed kids was up to on the frosty November morning. Luckily, we saw a couple of young teachers who were escorting the kids. We asked them about what sort of project the kids were doing.

We were told that in school, the kids had been taught about basic signaling, so they had all built their own devices over the last 2 weeks and now they were trying to send messages to each other from the device. The teachers were taking down their notes for each small group of students and evaluating them on the basis of accurateness of the signal received at the destination.

Kids experimenting with the signalling devices

We were amazed to see young kids being able to understand and apply the concepts they learnt at school. More so, that they were encouraged to independently carry out such projects and evaluated on how successful they were at implementation.

When we visited a museum of geology the next day, we passed a group of 10 year olds huddled under a dinosaur skeleton, listening intently (well, some were yawning away too) to a teacher explaining the Jurassic era in a child friendly manner. We stood and listened for a while, wishing if we too had such school outings and such experiences.

Dinosaur Museum

When in Oslo, we visited the local reptile zoo. This time we were not surprised to see children all over the place. These were 5 year olds, guided by their teachers and lovingly being shown the snakes and pigmy monkeys and spiders and what not. We too joined the group and took a few pictures of the kids and teachers, who loved posing.

Open Air Museum I

It appeared to me that the whole society was revolving around the young. The cities are dotted with open air museums and zoos. A culture of experiential learning prevails all over Scandinavia. Children are treasured. They are taught in a way which imbibes fun and discovery in learning, a feat which till recently I thought to be non existent in this world.

In the lawns of the open air museum

Research indicates that a culture of experiential learning at an early age drives a sense of confidence and resourcefulness in the child and builds a healthy curiosity of the world around them. By doing something on their own, children approach the problem from a more practical point of view and connect it to their already existing knowledge so that the newly obtained knowledge sticks.



It inspires me to build and drive initiatives for our young adults focussed on rediscovering the joy of learning!

 

Open Air Museum II