Providing Opportunities for Students to Think Critically, Ask Probing Questions, And Serve as Change Agents for Social Justice.

 

Providing Opportunities for Students to Think Critically, Ask Probing Questions, And Serve as Change Agents for Social Justice.

Author: Santosh Kumar Biswa, Sr. Teacher, Damphu CS, Tsirang, Bhutan

 

I concur that the best stimulus for learning that is interesting, pertinent, difficult, and significant comes from students' curiosity. I realized that curiosity drives motivation and primes the brain for learning. Students who are curious not only advance their cognitive and social development but also improve their ability to control their positive emotions (Hartini et al., 2020). Thus, to achieve educational goals, students' curiosity is essential because it motivates them to study problems and acquire the knowledge necessary to find solutions that will improve their quality of life. This portfolio will highlight how, as a teacher, I can provide opportunities for students to think critically, ask probing questions, and serve as change agents for social justice.

I should first empower my pupils to be self-leaders through constructive discourse and nurture to successfully facilitate opportunities for them to develop consideration for social issues. This creates a free-flowing conversation and question period in the classroom which later on they can positively instill in people they meet the values, attitudes, and behaviors that support them in developing skills for critical thinking and analysis so they can become responsible change agents through creativity, innovation, and commitment. This is done by using their knowledge and understanding of local, national, and global issues as well as the interconnectedness and interdependency of different countries and populations. I now recognize how crucial it is to give our students disciplinary and transdisciplinary education so that they have a thorough understanding of the world. For them to comprehend these viewpoints and develop into globally competent individuals who can effectively communicate their opinions and take action, they should be driven to conduct research on and study global concerns (Mansilla & Jackson, 2011). For instance, I use various activities in my classroom, such as brainstorming, panel discussions, gallery walks, group discussions, peer discussions, presentations, reflective sharing, and interpreting video clips, to discuss some of the practical ideas involved in appropriate, effective, and creative teaching in the real society, community, country, and world. This gives them firsthand experience in comprehending the fundamental ideas of global issues and issues of concern. To promote successful learning and awareness of global challenges in a deeper sense, focus should be given to activities like inquiry learning, project-based learning, and research-based learning in the classroom.

On the other hand, I also model curiosity by making them think aloud, whereby I make my students watch movies, decipher posters or photos, or engage in one-on-one conversations. I make sure that students are conscious of their thoughts—how, what, and why they are thinking; the questions they have; the subjects that pique their curiosity; and most importantly—the confidence to follow that curiosity wherever it may lead them. This way, they can be able to come up with some critical questions that will be shared in the class for solutions to the issues presented, so that at the end, we design the final way forward at the class level, which later creates awareness in the school with the display of prepared charts for other students to read and understand the concepts.

I constantly make my students watch UNESCO-produced documentaries and then discuss what they learned to comprehend them better. Through the promotion of conflict transformation, transformative learning, critical pedagogy, and teaching for a holistic culture of peace, I help them recognize a few issues and identify approaches to solve them at their level to integrate them into their daily lives and bring about wholesome development in the people they encounter. These values and responsibilities are based on human rights. I help my students develop a desire for social change in their minds by providing them with the assistance they need to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to be change agents. I have a lot of resources to assist students in language arts because I teach literature. Through the literature lesson, which helps students express and apply the knowledge learned in their time, I usually require them to assess some of the historical attempts made toward societal change. By using historical examples, I change the classroom culture such that students are empowered to change their ideas and act as change agents.

Lastly, I train both teachers and roughly 70 students each year in my school as the coordinator of Education for International Understanding (EUI) and Global Citizenship Education (GCED) at my location for UNESCO, APCEIU. Teachers and students are urged to regularly represent GCED in their communities. The integration of GCED into the curriculum is supported by teachers. I'm pleased to see that most students are currently advocating for global citizenship education in their unique ways across the country, assuming full responsibility for meeting others, presenting it to them on their terms, and gaining their support.

 

References

Boix Mansilla, V. & Jackson, A. (2011). Educating for global competence: Preparing our youth to engage the world. New York: Asia Society. Retrieved from https://asiasociety.org/files/book-globalcompetence.pdf

Hartini et al. (2020). Expressing the level of curiosity of students studying in college. Journal Konseling dan Pendidikan. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/347956178_Expressing_the_level_of_curiosity_of_students_studying_in_college