Blazing radical trails in education

In Pangasinan, a private institution is fast transforming its students into active stewards of society with its unconventional learning innovations.

The Ednas School of San Carlos (ESSC) in Dagupan, San Carlos and Alaminos, adopted in 2006 three teaching techniques to further develop the skills and talents of its students as well as raise the level of standards of the institution. These three concepts are Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences (MI), Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats and Waldorf-Steiner’s Eurythmy.

Maria Edna Soledad Gonzales-Blancaflor, academic director and daughter of school founder Dr. Edna Torio Gonzales, thought that the best way to level up is to go radical!

“We envision to educate and to develop the holistic and comprehensive being of each child for him to be excellent in whatever endeavor he chooses, wherever and whenever. We envision products that would be able to use all their talents, intelligences, and abilities and apply them in the process of making positive change and difference in the world. These innovations, when integrated and implemented effectively in classroom lessons and school activities allow them to progress more steadily,” explains Blancaflor who took her master’s studies in curriculum supervision and educational administration in Duquesne University, Pennsylvania.


MI DAYS

ESSC thus started to apply radical approaches in teaching and learning.

First, the old way of measuring grades through oral and written tests was changed. Instead, assessment tests which qualitatively measure each intelligence were used to track the development of the students.

Students were grouped together according to their MI, which include from verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. Teachers, on the other hand, would use these measures to design lessons and activities that cater to their pupils’ different proficiencies. Such lessons are carried out once a week per class during the “MI Days.”

An activity in Geometry, for instance, would engage the students to create a trigonometric artwork or sing the SOHCAHTOA (sine-cosine-tangent) song. Classes during MI Days would also be bustling with a variety of activities that range from recitation or problem-solving exercises for verbal and math skills, to drawing and coloring, dancing competitions, choral singing or even playing a game of dice which highlights the principles of counting.

“All in all, the approach motivates students to be more engaged and interested in class. The program also forms in them a consciousness and a sense of confidence in the intelligences – especially their dominant ones – talents, and skills that they possess,” Blancaflor reveals.


TEACHING STUDENTS HOW TO THINK

Analyzing an issue for elementary and high school students at Ednas School has also become deeper and more incisive with the Six Thinking Hats method.

When discussing a topic or problem among themselves,the students wear colorful hats and look at an issue following the mode of thinking prescribed by the color of each hat. They are white for facts and information; yellow for strengths; black for weaknesses; green for creativity; red for instinctive emotions; and blue for the process of thinking.

A Grade 6 Science class, for example, has students talking about the impact of pollution on the environment from various sides. High school students, meanwhile, are asked to read a story about a young Filipina girl born and raised in the U.S. who is having a dilemma about where her real home is and whether she should go back to the Philippines. Putting on their hats, students consider factors such as family, friends, livelihood, nationalism, and cultural identity. They also create their own endings to the story.

“The Six Thinking Hats aim to encourage organized and orderly group discussions. Instead of everyone talking differently at the same time, the act of putting on and taking off hats allow students to metaphorically switch from one perspective to another. As such, groups are able to look at different aspects of a single issue together and undergo a critical yet open-minded decision making process, resulting in well thought-out conclusions,” explains Blancaflor.

Before all these are done, however, students are first primed up for the lesson through another teaching technique called the Eurythmy.

Blancaflor says students are made to do movement exercises at the beginning of each lesson. The exercise attunes the students to their own spiritual and physical development, making them receptive to any lesson. A lesson on “Flight’’ naturally has the students gliding around the classroom, pretending to fly. Apart from making boring lessons fun and exciting, Eurythmy also keeps students awake and focused on the lesson.


AWARD-WINNING

As a result, enrolment has not only increased on the school`s three campuses, but student performances are also very positive, with failures minimized in the pre-school and high school, she adds.

ESSC is also the first school in northern Luzon to integrate robotic engineering in its curriculum from Grades 3 to fourth year high school. Teachers in Math, Science and computer have been trained by experts from the Genetic Computer Institute in Singapore. Soon, the school will also offer financial literacy and entrepreneurship programs in Grade 3 to fourth year high school.

These pioneering initiatives have earned for ESSC various awards including the National Exemplary Award from the Center for Educational Measurement in English, Math and Science, and the Excellence in Educational Transformation Award (EETA) from ABS-CBN Bayan Academy, Knowledge Channel Foundation and Rex Book Store. Last April, the ESSC-Dagupan campus also bagged the championship in Radio Broadcasting and Desktop Publishing at the National Press Conference in Palawan. ESSC students are also consistent regional and national finalists in the Math Metrobank-DepEd Competition.

Blancaflor believes that for a school to be a leader and pioneer in education, it must be creative and think outside of the box.

“To achieve our goal to be a global school, we must be ahead of the trend. We must set the trail for others to learn from. All these are happening because all of us are working together as one big, collaborative family,” she ends.


Original source here