Props: The Perfect Tool to Interact with
Junior Students
Under the guidelines of
UNICEF, a program known as WASH (Water, Sanitation & Hygiene) in School
(WINS) has been initiated by Rotary Club of Chandigarh and further facilitated
by The Transformers Value Creators.
Through this program, the focus is to
emphasize the importance of clean, safe drinking water, sanitation and personal
hygiene amongst school students which would create an enabling environment securing
children’s dignity, safety and health. Further, this also enables maximum class
attendance and participation in schools rather than facing absenteeism and loss
of their curriculum.
Taking these crucial concepts
to the junior students while maintaining their interest is a major challenge
for which we adopted the method of prop teaching, something which is relevant
and inclusive of both the genders of the students.
Our props include dolls, pictorial
posters, creative attire, practical exercise of hand washing, stories such as
‘magic potion’ and ‘Typhoid Mary’ along with some fun group activities which
aid to achieve student attention constantly towards what is being taught as
play. The children are found to be very excited and engaged to learn
wholeheartedly.
With the help of interesting and artistic props as these, we have aimed
to educate the students:
· * A neat and clean beautiful doll is a representation of well
dressed and tidy student based on which we have been able to interact and
educate them efficiently.
· * An
enthusiastic involvement is observed from the students when given a chance to
demonstrate with doll on how to use the toilet facility with methods of usage
for boys and girls.
* Pictorial posters
solidify the concepts in form of pictures which can be retained in the young
minds for longer.
* Creative and
informative attire adds to the level of interest amongst the students.
* Practical
demonstrations help to conceptualize the theory of ‘Learning while doing’ where
it is not only education but also an edutainment.
* Stories escalate the
creative minds of learning and understanding to stay with the students
throughout.
* Question & answer
methodology is also involved for judging the level of involvement and
understanding of the students as direct feedback.
* Fun group activities,
games and races such as collecting, sorting the garbage, cleaning the school
premises helps students to involve and take responsibility to keep their
surroundings hygienic.
We observed the Benefits of prop learning as:
* They create
an environment that sparks the imagination while building skills & offer
opportunity for physical activity and invite interaction
by stimulating the senses.
* Prop serves as a dynamic key to
hands-on discovery learning for children and they love them because they are
learning in form of play.
* It is an excellent resource for
teachers looking for new ideas to add to the classroom.
* Prop enables children to act out
what they know, cement their concepts, practice skills in a meaningful context,
and learn with and from other children who also are engaged with the material.
The junior students thoroughly
enjoy and interact when they find beautiful dolls, animated pictures and a
pleasant smile on the face of their day’s facilitator.
