dimarts, 30 d’octubre del 2018

Let's talk methodology

Rosa Sensat (1914), one my favourite Catalan educationalist from Escola Nova movement, says that in life knowing how to use knowledge in daily life is more important than the acquisition of knowledge.  Her methodology has an important role in our pedagogy. Lessons normally begin with a conversation following a specific order: first we use our senses, children touch and observe things; second we find out what previous knowledge they have through appropriate questioning; third, through indirect suggestions we discover together what should we know more about the topic. A lesson is often a project, in the class we design a plan, a syllabus to be executed in a short period of time. There is a question, there is dialogue and there is discussion about the selection of resources and different courses of action. The class can then take place beyond the school if necessary, in a museum, in the forest or under a tree thereby promoting context and meaning in the topic environment.  'The lessons that students learn in the playground are more useful than the lessons we teach them in the class,' (Rousseau, 1762).