Rafsal Muhammed, Humanities teacher, explains why today’s students need more than just textbook learning to succeed. With the world changing quickly, they must build skills like problem-solving, creativity, and teamwork. Using interactive and real-world methods helps them learn in ways that suit their styles. This makes classrooms more engaging and prepares them for future challenges.

Beyond textbook engagement is essential for 21st-century learners, as they can learn more by using interactive methods. The 21st-century learners are entering a phase where not only education but every sector is developing or growing very fast. Be it economics, industries, technology, or media, everything is evolving rapidly. So, education is also not an exception, as it is rapidly changing and undergoing transformation. We as teachers have to remember that just focusing on traditional textbook-based learning alone is not enough or sufficient to engage the 21st-century learners. We have to bear in mind that the whole world is changing rapidly and is being driven by technology, creativity, and we need to remember that the students will be facing real-world problems, and it is essential that they know how to solve them. So, today’s learners should know a dynamic interactive method that caters to their diverse learning styles. We have to encourage their critical thinking and faster collaboration. These two are the main 21st-century skills that students are always expected to have. Many of the world’s famous companies or MNCs, like Google or Microsoft, do not focus on the university or school where the students have studied. But they want to know if the students are capable of solving an issue, a real-world problem, and the solution for it. Problems are found everywhere, and so companies and institutions always look for problem solvers. In this way, the 21st-century learners need a different treatment. We, teachers, should bear in mind that learners are everything, and they are the centre of all our actions. This is very important when it comes to teaching and learning.

Why should we move beyond the textbook? Textbook learning is something we have been following for centuries and decades. Our learning should move beyond the textbooks because learning styles are changing. Today’s students are different from the students of yesteryear. They are digital natives, collecting and processing information in different ways. They focus mainly on processing information, ideas, and concepts in visual methods or hands-on activities, or using technology-driven content. There will be conflicts, such as textbooks versus gadgets. Keeping in mind that learners are the centres of everything, we have to focus on their learning style, which is very important. We have to change our method of delivering content to the students, which will help change the learning style. That is why we have to move beyond the textbooks.

Secondly, real-world relevance makes the teachers question whether the textbooks traditionally followed are enough to solve today’s problems. Students are more connected with real-life experience. For example, when we teach poverty or population, or pollution, the students should be able to connect with real life by connecting with real-life experiences. For example, when we teach about pollution, we can take the example of Delhi pollution. If we are teaching about the impact of high population, we can take the cities as examples where the population is increasing every year, and the possible outcomes and issues that may arise because of this.

Thirdly, we have to work on encouraging higher-order thinking instead of memorization. Earlier, teachers were focusing on whether the students wrote exactly what was given in the textbook, but today, open textbook exams are very common, where the examiner is looking into the higher-order thinking of the students. Even if the students open the textbook, it is very difficult to answer the question because it requires higher-order thinking. To achieve higher-order thinking, students have to develop skills like creativity, analysis, and problem-solving. The 21st-century skills are completely different, and memorization is not needed anymore. The students need not memorise the facts as it is not needed for 21st-century learning. But the students have to develop problem-solving skills and creativity to succeed in their academics.

Connecting class to reality

The effective interactive learning strategies are the main solutions to solve the problems of the students. I have been following the strategies in my school with my students, and I have achieved great results. The students get a lot of encouragement, appreciation, and they are completely engaged in the work they do. For an interactive method of teaching, we can try project-based learning, or PBL. It is one of the most important methods compared to teaching from a textbook. For example, if we give a sustainability project to the students after teaching them what sustainability is, we need to help them connect with the school. They can compare how the society around them, the real-life situations around them, are connected to sustainability. In my school, we had a unit called sustainable energy sources. After discussing what it means, the importance, and the significance of sustainability, I gave them an activity. The students visited the main departments in the school, such as the transport department, and identified what are the sustainable practices they can implement in transportation, discussed with the authorities in the school, and they also suggested things that could be implemented in transportation. Similarly, they visited the school kitchen and suggested practices that could make the dining area more sustainable. They visited the school farm and worked on how they can make use of solar panels, etc. We can take them to places and explain how they can collect materials related to their topics. PBL encourages students to explore real-life problems. The students will get more insights.

Next comes gamification in education. We can use Kahoot, an educational app, to explain the concept or content. We can completely transform the summative or formative learning in gamification. The students will be engaged in learning more through this. Technology integration is another important aspect. Everything is connected to technology now. When we teach, for example, about the Indus Valley Civilisation, which is located in Pakistan, it is difficult for us to go there and see it. But we can have a virtual reality tour, which is available on the internet. We can integrate technology into education and thus use interactive methods in education.

Collaborative learning is equally important. We can conduct group discussions or peer teaching interactive debates to promote teamwork and communication skills. The students have to research a given topic, interact with each other, and we can include peer teaching by asking one of the students to take the role of a teacher for a day, which they will do happily. Experiential learning, which can be achieved by field visits, brings subjects to life. We took our students to Kutub Shahi in Hyderabad so that they could explore the details. It is not just visiting a park, but we can plan some short learning trips. We can ask students to represent different nations in the United Nations model, and they can present the problems faced by each country.

Empowering teaching with tech

There are a few challenges that teachers face. They have very limited resources. But they can make use of the resources available on the internet. They can use Google Classroom or ClassDojo. They can also use Canva, Padlet, Grammarly, and Google Scholar. We can use Cohort Google Forms, and these are the technologies available to us. We have to make use of them to the fullest potential. The learning needs of 21st-century students are totally different, and it is a challenge for teachers. They need professional development and training. They can plan the method of assessment, which is fun for the students, such as skits on a particular topic, and based on their performance, we can give scores. We are not eliminating the traditional way of teaching and learning, but we are working on making education more interactive and student-centred. There are lots of opportunities available to make use of. For this, the educators have to create more engaging, meaningful, and future-ready learning environments.

Creativity meets the classroom.

Now we are living in a technology-integrated society. People think that students misuse gadgets. The syllabus and the curricula we have been designing since the beginning are not giving enough space or scope for interactive learning. Teachers think certain things should be taught in a particular way. But they should understand that the main idea behind everything is learning. It can happen in any method, and we think focusing and learning should come in a particular way. We need to change this misconception. Differentiation should take place here. If a student is good at acting, we can use different assessment strategies. In IB, there is a lot of liberty for teachers. In a summative assessment, the students can submit their projects in different formats such as podcasts, posters, essays, etc. The main idea is for the teachers to be open-minded and understand that students have different learning abilities. The different types of students should be addressed differently. I have done many experiments in my classroom, and I keep looking for new methods of teaching. If a field trip is possible, I want to do it as the students are looking for a different learning environment. We have to connect it with any assessment. The parents may also feel they are learning a lot. The students will be focused and responsible about the purpose for which they are going on a field trip. In my classroom, I also use skits to showcase their talents. One of my students was good at writing skits, and I made her use her skill for a project related to feudalism. We can, in this way, discover the talents of the students. By following different teaching methods, we get creative, and students learn a lot, which is very important in education today. 

This is a summary of the talk given by the author on schoolreformer.com

Contact details

 Rafsal Muhammed

MYP Individuals and Societies and History Facilitator 

E:rafsalckd@gmail.com

M:919745499863