“Learning from Objects” in KalashaDur school. An educational method for primary school students.

 

As survivals from history, objects offer us an unrivalled way of touching past lives.

Objects as humble or old bottles can yield rich information and learning. They carry with them messages about the people who made, owned and used them, and about the places they came from and passed through.

Why should they?

• Applies key principals of ‘active learning’ or learning from doing

• Learning from objects engages all senses – sound, sight, touch, smell and taste.

• Students will absorb more information if they are able to use their senses to discover the information. They become actively involved in the learning process.

• Object based learning can connect students to the past through sociocultural concepts that they already understand.

What they can observe?

Ask questions about:

§ Physical Features

§ Construction

§ Function

§ Design

§ Value

§ How do we find out?

What they can do?

·       Wrap them up so the children have to try to guess what they are from the shape.

·       Children observe, describe and draw an object in detail.

·       Raise What, Where, How, When and Why questions about an object.

·       Word games: pass an object round; each child must say something about it, or think of an adjective to describe it.

·       Storytelling: incorporate an object into a story about the past. This will give the object special significance.

·       Ask the children to enact the object in use, or tell its story.