Teaching in an Integrated Manner

Prof. P.L.Dhar

President, Society for Holistic Education, Delhi

ABSTRACT

The compartmentalized approach to education-with specialized subjects like arithmetic,

physics, chemistry, biology, etc.- has its own advantages and limitations-the most crucial

being that the students are not able to relate this education with Life. An integrated

approach to education is presented in this paper which it is hoped would remove this

deficiency and make teaching-learning process a joy for the students and the teachers

alike and enable the students to see the relevance of their education to daily life..

INTRODUCTION

The need for making teaching-learning process a joy so that the students’ motivation to

learn is preserved, especially at the formative period in upper primary and secondary

stages, has been felt for long time. The large dropout rate in this stage of education is in

no small measure contributed by the fact the students and their parents are unable to see

the relevance of the education to their day to day life. Many novel experiments –free

progress education, learning by doing, self-learning etc-- have also been done to achieve

this. An integrated approach to education, that combines the good features of some of

these, is presented herein, in the hope that this would make the teaching-learning process

directly integrated with the daily life--a joy for both the students and teachers.

Rather than give a theoretical background and justification for its advantages, a typical

illustration of how this could be actually done is presented.

TOPIC OF MODULE : VISIT TO A MARKET

Level of Students: Class VI-VII

Activity : The students are taken to a wholesale market ( like Azadpur vegetable and

fruit market) . Here they see how vegetables/fruit are sold in bulk. They are asked to note

down the prices of a few items each and also see how the items are weighed. They also

talk to a few shopkeepers and ask them where do they get the vegetables/fruit from and at

what price.

If possible, the students could also be shown a cold store where vegetables and fruit are

stored for long duration.

The students are also advised to accompany their parents to a local vegetable shop in

their colony and find out the prices of the same items that they noted in the wholesale

market.

Discussions in the class : Based on these visits a number of topics, usually taught as

modules in different subjects, can be discussed with the students , for example:

Arithmetic (Profit and Loss) : Explain to the students the implications of difference

between the wholesale and retail prices, and how this leads to profit for the retailer,

explaining properly the concept of “profit”. Ask them about “other expenses” which the

retailer will have to bear, (for example the transportation cost, rent for the shop, salary for

the workers, spoilage etc.). They can then work out a more realistic estimate of the profits

considering each of these items separately as also collectively and appreciate their

relative contributions to the increase in retail price over the wholesale price.

Similar analysis could be done for the wholesale dealers. Bring out the relative difference

between the nature of “other expenses” for the wholesale and retailer.

Ask them to think whether a similar analysis could be done for the farmers producing

these items. The reply to this could be tied up with other lesson/visit on growing

vegetables.

Food and Healthcare : Ask the students which fruit/vegetable they like the most and

what they dislike. Based on this feedback very interesting discussions can be carried out.

The science teacher can help them understand the importance of a balanced nutritious

diet. Relate the useful properties of various fruit and vegetables to their colour and

sweetness/bitterness etc. and motivate the students not to just get carried away by taste

but also be mindful of their nutritional/medicinal value. The discussion could also be

taken in the direction of difference between “pleasant” and “good” which would be dwelt

at length in the ethics sub-module.

Mechanics : Ask the students to draw a diagram of the weighing scale they saw in the

wholesale market / retail market. In the retail market they might have seen a variety of

weighing devices ranging from conventional weighing balance to sophisticated electronic

balance, explain their difference and the fact that absolute measurement is only through a

conventional weighing scale.

Focus on the mechanics of weighing scale and introduce the lever principle and the

concept of international standard of weights.

Explain to them the effect of difference in the arms of the lever on the weighing process

and ask them to calculate it for a few examples. Ask them to reflect on what happens if

they buy things from a shopkeeper who has fiddled with the lever length and tell them

this will be discussed at length in the ethics sub-module.

Hygiene : Draw the attention of students towards the conditions they saw at the wholesale

market and in the retail shop from the point of view of cleanliness and hygiene, how this

could effect the health of the people working there as also the quality of vegetables/fruit

being sold.

Discuss with them various reasons for spoilage of food and the impact of temperature on

it. Explain how storage at low temperature is helpful (domestic refrigerator, commercial

cold stores).

Why do the retailers cover their vegetables with a wet gunny bag during hot weather in

summer?

Why do diseases of a particular kind manifest more in Monsoon season ?

Ethics and Values : The issue about distinction between “pleasant” and “good” which

emerged in the sub-module on food above, can form the basis of an exciting discussion

through other examples from daily life where children are prone to get carried away by

what is “pleasant” like ; playing, eating, watching TV etc. and avoid what is “unpleasant”

like inoculation, bitter medicines, bathing in cold weather, etc. The discussion can be

made even more meaningful by asking the students to reflect on a rather difficult question

“ Why do we get carried away by pleasant, even after knowing that it is not good; and

avoid what is unpleasant even though we know that it is good?” The teacher can then

guide the discussion to drive home the need for control over mind and thus motivate the

students towards meditation which can help in this.

The issue about fiddling with the weighing balance can be made the starting point of a

very interesting discussion on ethics and the importance of honesty. Ask the students how

would they feel if they paid for 2kg of fruit and the shopkeeper gave them only 1.8kg by

using a tampered weighing machine. Ask them to calculate the increase in the profit of

the shopkeeper by this strategy and inquire whether they approve of this method of

increasing profit. Use this as a starting point to discuss legitimate and illegitimate means

of earning more money, the need for following the maxim “Do unto others as you wish

others to do unto you”. Most ethical and moral principles can be explained as the

implications of this maxim.

Concluding Remarks

It should be evident from the above description that this integrated approach to teaching

is bound to be much more interesting for the students and they and their parents can “see”

its direct relevance to daily life. It is also truly holistic: in one module all the aspects of

holistic education, viz. physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual are incorporated

subtly. In terms of standard classifications we are teaching arithmetic, mechanics,

hygiene, food and healthcare, ethics and values through just one interaction, viz. visit to a

market.

It should be possible to develop similar modules of integrated learning based on

other common activities like a visit to a stadium to see a badminton match, visit to a river

bank, visit to a village farm, milk dairy, etc. and also on the basis of simple, but

interesting, experiments which can be done in the school itself: like studying the

movement of shadows of a vertical pole, testing the quality of water available in the

school, monitoring the fuel consumption in the school canteen, making soap in the

chemistry lab, monitoring the growth of some plants in the school etc. Of course

practical implementation of such an education demands lot more commitment from the

teachers, necessary infra structural and laboratory facilities, and small size of the class.

But the results are likely to be equally rewarding, both for the students and the teachers.