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Unit 10: National Curriculum Framework (2005)

discussions will allow young learners to be facilitated to construct the idea of a transport Notes
system. Initial construction (mental representation) may be based on the idea of the road
transport system, and a child from a remote rural setting may form the idea centred around the
bullock cart. Learners construct mental representations (images) of external reality (transport
system) through a given set of activities (experiences). The structuring and restructuring of
ideas are essential features as the learners progress in learning. For instance, the initial idea of
a transport system built around road transport will be reconstructed to accommodate other
types of transport systems—sea and air—using appropriate activities. The engagement of
learners, through relevant activities, can further facilitate in the construction of mental images
of the relationships (cause-effect) between a transport system and human life/economy.
However, there is a social aspect in the construction process in the sense that knowledge needed
for a complex task can reside in a group situation. In this context, collaborative learning provides
room for negotiation of meaning, sharing of multiple views and changing the internal
representation of the external reality. Construction indicates that each learner individually and
socially constructs meaning as he/she learns. Constructing meaning is learning. The constructivist
perspective provides strategies for promoting learning by all. The teacher’s own role in children’s
cognition could be enhanced if they assume a more active role in relation to the process of
knowledge construction in which children are engaged. A child constructs her/his knowledge
while engaged in the process of learning.
10.3.3 Critical Pedagogy
Teacher and student engagement is critical in the classroom because it has the power to define
whose knowledge will become a part of school-related knowledge and whose voices will shape
it. Students are not just young people for whom adults should devise solutions. They are critical
observers of their own conditions and needs, and should be participants in discussions and
problem solving related to their education and future opportunities. Hence children need to be
aware that their experiences and perceptions are important and should be encouraged to develop
the mental skills needed to think and reason independently and have the courage to dissent.
What children learn 23 out of school — their capacities, learning abilities, and knowledge base
— and bring to school is important to further enhance the learning process. This is all the more
critical for children from underprivileged backgrounds, especially girls, as the worlds they
inhabit and their realities are underrepresented in school knowledge.
Many of our schools now have large numbers of firstgeneration school goers. Pedagogy must
be reoriented when the child’s home provides any direct support to formal schooling. First-
generation school goers, for example, would be completely dependent on the school for
inculcating reading and writing skills and fostering a taste for reading, and for familiarising
them with the language and culture of the school, especially when the home language is different
from the language of school. Indeed they need all the assistance they can get. Many such
children are also vulnerable to conditions prevailing at home, which might make them prone
to lack of punctuality, irregularity and inattentiveness in the classroom. Mobilising inter sector
alsupport for freeing children from such constraints, and for designing a curriculum sensitive
to these circumstances, therefore is essential.
Self Assessment
2. State whether the following statements are 'True' of 'False' :
(i) In the constructivist perspective learning is a process of the construction of knowledge.
(ii) Teacher and student engagement is critical in the classroom because it has the power to
define where knowledge will become a part of school related knowledge and voices
will shape it.
(iii) Pedagogy must not be reoriented when the child's home provides any direct support to
formal schooling.
(iv) The structuring and restructuring of ideas are not essential features as the learner's
progress in learning.

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