The wonder of learning exhibition comes to india with a new concept in early childhood learning!

Is bookish knowledge everything? Well, a lot of us ask this question as we grow up and face life – up, close & personal. When responsibilities pile up, our duties expand and expectations bog us down, it becomes inevitable to ponder and make ourselves understand – were we taught the right way?

A lot of us might have grown up in an environment where teaching was more about the written word. However, the children today have a lot more in store when it comes to education.

Salwan Public School, one of the finest educational chains of schools in India is helping in bringing a new concept of early childhood learning to India. The school is bringing home a month-long travelling exhibition ‘The Wonder of Learning – the hundred languages of Children’ starting from November 23rd 2013 at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), to instigate a new beginning in preschool & primary education system, for the much-needed change, it requires.

The exhibition comprises a series of pictures and photographs that illustrate the Italian experience of a different educational concept that makes the early educational years of children more intriguing and explorative than that age-old book-driven knowledge providing system.

The exhibition derived from the Reggio Emillia approach of learning has already travelled many countries around the world and has made the difference amongst everyone who is involved in bringing up children from teachers, trainers to parents.

The Reggio Emillia approach of learning was born after World War II, introduced by Loris Malaguzzi in Italy. It has a strong history and an equally mammoth potential to transform the early educational years for children. Being a teacher himself, Malaguzzi led to the creation of the Reggio Emillia approach that breathes a teaching philosophy aimed to necessitate a new and quick way of making children learn from their own experiences and observations rather than forced and rigid techniques.

“Salwan Public School is a firm believer in educational innovation to facilitate all-round growth of the children with easy and effective learning. Since 2002, the school has established a strong collaboration with the Reggio Emilia Institute Italy, one of the world’s finest institutes on Early Childhood Education to learn what ‘Early Childhood Education is all about. Since then, we have organized a series of exhibitions and workshops in collaboration with the Italian institute in Delhi,” says Ms Kiran Mehta, Principal, Salwan Public School, Mayur Vihar, New Delhi.

“Our school is organizing the traveling exhibition ‘The Wonder of Learning’ from 23rd Nov to 21st Dec 2013 which recounts the experience from infant-toddler centres, preschools and primary schools in the city of Reggio Emilia. This exhibition is offered as a democratic piazza calling international attention to the importance of education and schools as places for discussion and mutual exchange. The aim is to reconfirm the values at the heart of the Reggio Emilia educational philosophy and to recount the changes, innovations, and developments that have taken place. The exhibition speaks to all those involved in schooling, and to all members of the general public who believe that safeguarding educational processes and their evolution is of fundamental importance for society,” she adds.

Loris Malaguzzi believed that creativity or rather the wonder of learning serves a strong point in our work and our children should be granted with space wherein they are allowed to be themselves, explore, see, feel and grasp on their own. It is crucial that ‘the within’ is awakened in every child because that is how one becomes different from the other and takes on life in his/her adolescence and later.

The exhibition is split into six different branches and each of these involves a great sense of newness in its approach. The impact of a space, sound or environmental artwork on learning, inspiring the child’s own creativity, the significance of alphabetical codes and cognitive skills, the role of light in forming perceptions at an early stage are some of the segments that are paid attention to.

The exhibition will see a closure with screenings of few exceptional audio-visual movies talking about the culture of childhood and the city of Reggio Emillia in Italy that has made The Wonder of Learning come to existence, followed by another fascinating session on the concept of how children communicate with nature for a life-long learning.

Remember, the focus is on free-will and not on what is spoon-fed. So, as the exhibition spreads its wings in India – time to improvise our ‘way of learning’ with the ‘wonder of learning’ for a bright tomorrow!