The School in the Forest
Today the Matilda Foundation will revisit “Baan Huay Paan Village” and its Learning Center in Nan Province, Thailand, to introduce you to the community’s unique curriculum and way of learning. We proudly present the teaching and learning methods adopted at the Learning Center, as well as other interesting activities that the students were engaged in this past semester.
Learning with the community’s traditional way of life
One of the important teaching and learning methods adopted by the Learning Center is the Project Based Learning (PBL), which is one of the methods popularly used in many alternative schools around the world. PBL is in line with the alternative schools’ student-centered philosophy because it promotes learning by doing, research and implementation, with the objective that students can connect and adapt knowledge in accordance with the different real-life contexts they may face. An example of PBL at the Learning Center this past semester is the “Rice Harvesting Project”
“Rice Harvesting Project”: Good questions lead to quality learning
The “Rice Harvesting Project” benefited from Baan Huay Paan’s traditional way of life surrounding the annual rice harvest, where villagers have the know-how ready to pass on to the community’s younger generations. The role of the Learning Center was to promote learning by adding ideas and scientific process to the project. Teachers here attach great importance to question and research. For example, with questions like “What are the things that make rice grow?”, “What kind of plant is rice?”, “What does the rice’s root system look like?”, teachers stimulate curiosity and the students’ desire to learn. It should also be added that this type of learning is also in line with the Office of the Basic Education Commission’s curriculum with which the Learning Center further adapted to cover other necessary foundational skills and knowledge such as mathematics and social studies.
We would like to highlight that at the core of the Rice Harvesting Project were the “Stimulating questions that promote learning”, where questions were designed to accommodate each student’s age and educational level. Younger students received questions that focused on visual observations, for instance, “Which one is rice, which one is grass?”, whereas older students got actively involved in the project by participating in the real rice harvesting process with the villagers.
Being mindful of self, being mindful of real social contexts
In addition to PBL, the Learning Center promotes self-awareness as well as the current social situations and dynamics through daily morning reflection sessions. Students are assigned, in turn, to follow the news and share it with colleagues every morning in order to reflect their own as well as each other’s opinions regarding the piece of news being shared. Again, the idea that “good questions lead to quality learning” also resonates in this activity via questions such as, “If you are the person in the news, what would be your opinion?” “How would you react?” or simply “Why?”. Teachers would further add useful information and skills essential in real-world contexts. For example, information about how to beware of dangerous situations, the cause and effect of each actions, how to improve their wellbeing, etc. This also includes teaching students to filter out fake news and scams, which has unquestionably become an important skill in this digital era.
Student-led collective rules
Another evidence to support the claim that the student-centered approach is at the core of the community’s education is the fact that students at the Learning Center brainstorm to together formulate rules they all agreed to abide by out of understanding and respect, rather than unconditionally follow rules that are forced upon them by adults.
The following are some examples of the students’ rules,
“Do not go home during school hours” – This is in order to create a sense of equality by preventing some students who can afford it to go buy snacks or play at home in the middle of the day while others cannot. This is also for the parents’ peace of mind as they can be assured that the kids will be safe and sound at the Learning Center during the day.
“Do not climb the windows” – Promoting respect for the Learning Center and its property by entering and exiting through the door appropriately.
“Do not take things that do not belong to you” – One of the common problems faced by students at the Learning Center is that their friends often take their shoes and leave them elsewhere or take them home.
“Wash the dishes after use” – Promoting responsibility of one’s own actions as well as of common goods shared among teachers and students.
As reflected in the nature of these rules, it is evident that they are results of the students’ collective attempt to overcome shared problems. Therefore, these rules and their formulation process promote essential social skills among the students, such as instilling empathy and respect, both mutual respect towards one another as well as respect for property and items shared within their social circle at the Learning Center.
Alternative School – An education we can design
Baan Huay Paan Learning Center believes in the student-centered approach, which is one of the alternative education’s key characteristics. Alternative Schools operate based on the philosophy that human diversity leads to diverse forms of teaching and learning, which are then adapted to cater specifically to learners and their respective environments.
As for Baan Huay Paan, the community’s Learning Center make use of the village’s environment and wisdom to accommodate the education of their children. Indeed, true understandings of their own character, identity, and resources at hand have resulted in the unique curriculum for the village’s younger generations. Matilda fully supports the Learning Center’s hard work and progress, and very much look forward to what the next semester has in store!
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