Contextual Learning

We are a 'Blank Sheet'

You are having a white sheet..a full scape blank with which you can do many things. You may choose to draw an apple, an earthen pot or a classic scenery with mountains, a river and a house, which every kid learns to draw at school. But what if you are given a pre-existing figure or drawing on the sheet, and asked to improvise it. Or if you are given an idea of what is required and you are asked to draw accordingly? Then, in that case, your mind will work within those constraints. 

Life also unfolds similarly. As children, we have a white sheet in front of us, a full scape blank sheet. We are free and wild. We love to explore, by nature we are curious. A kid will run after the cockroach, the mother will shout and scream, that is when the kid will learn that behaviour too and react probably the same way the next time he sees a cockroach. As we grow up many such constraints are laid upon us by our family and society. Now that white sheet has been filled gradually. And as we move through life we will work according to those constraints which already exist on that sheet. The colour we the paint, the additional art we draw, the strokes we make will all be keeping in mind the already existing work on the canvas.

Splash of Colours - The Id Concept

Here I draw a parallel to the Freud’s concept of id, ego superego. It is Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis, which describes these 3 states of the mind. ‘Id’ is the instinctive behaviour of human personality. It requires instant gratification of needs and works on the pleasure principle. My wishes and desires should be fulfilled. As a child, the id is strong and leads us to most of the behaviours we do, even survival is related to it. The blank sheet is what it is. That age we are not conscious of what we must be drawn, what is right, how will it turn out. Even if we get a chance to splash colours and smudge them on the sheet, we will go for it. 

The ‘superego’ works on the ‘morality’ principle as it works on values and social norms. It is a rule conscious side of ourselves. The sheet with pre-existing drawing, rules of what to draw and whatnot, what is acceptable and what is not. Here our awareness of how others are watching us and judging us plays its role. It’s a learnt behaviour. 

Learning

The middle state is the ‘ego’ which is the conscious state of the mind, which works a way out between the two extremes. It explains us to figure out a way of gratification of our needs with a rule-bound approach. I do have instructions to follow on what I should ultimately have on my canvas, but I squeeze my own way out, as to how I want to do it. Because of this thinking, that ‘having the end result in mind, we can change the way we reach that result.’ This is the way many changes are coming to the learning scenario today. Newer methods of learning, change in mannerisms, learning situations, learning spaces, breaking of age barriers, cultural barriers, making learning contextual, and highly customised for the needs of the audience. These are the in-trends. 

Ultimately, we are filling up the blank page with different colours of emotions, moods, dreams, hopes, love and life, and experiences, but we are doing it OUR WAY.