A story from the classroom<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I joined Greenvalley International School, Trivandrum, Kerala as an educator in 2018 \u2014 long before the National Education Policy or modern pedagogies like Project-Based Learning (PBL) became part of mainstream discussions \u2014 I witnessed an exciting shift in how learning could happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A group of progressive educators were challenging the traditional educational landscape of Kerala by introducing experiential learning<\/em> and placing PBL<\/em> at the heart of everyday teaching. As the school\u2019s first Project Based Learning Coordinator, I was both curious and cautious. Over the years, what I discovered went beyond my expectations: PBL didn\u2019t just help students learn content \u2014 it transformed how they saw the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One incident, in particular, stays with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During a PBL cycle with middle school students, I posed a driving question: Hundreds of ideas were generated \u2014 but one stood apart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A 6th grader shared a simple observation: every time someone from the primary section or office needed to enter the pre-primary area, a school helper would stop whatever she was doing, rush to the door, and unlock it. The door could not be left open due to the safety of young children and nearby stairs. So this helper had to keep watching the door \u2014 frequently interrupting her work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While adults saw this daily, no one had questioned it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This student did. He didn\u2019t just notice the inconvenience \u2014 he empathized with the person experiencing it. He went on to design a sensor-operated door lock system<\/strong> that could be used safely by adults but would remain secure for pre-primary children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His solution was not only workable \u2014 it was born of deep observation, empathy, and creative problem-solving<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This moment reminded me why PBL matters. It is more than a pedagogical strategy \u2014 it is a way of nurturing mindful, compassionate learners who:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Project-Based Learning helped this student see what adults had overlooked<\/em>, and created space for him to make a difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a world where educators strive to build value systems that matter, enabling students to become community-centred problem solvers<\/strong> is one of the most impactful outcomes a school can achieve. When students are encouraged to look outward with awareness and empathy, education becomes less about rote learning and more about real life transformation<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I share this reflection with Teacher Tribe in the hope that it inspires more educators to ask meaningful questions, trust student voices and cultivate classrooms where learners are empowered to notice, think, and create change.Because when students become problem solvers with empathy \u2014 we are shaping not only thinkers, but better humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014 A story from the classroom When I joined Greenvalley International School, Trivandrum, Kerala as an educator in 2018 \u2014 long before the National Education Policy or modern pedagogies like Project-Based Learning (PBL) became part of mainstream discussions \u2014 I witnessed an exciting shift in how learning could happen. A group of progressive educators were challenging…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-voices_in_education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/schoolreformer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/schoolreformer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/schoolreformer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schoolreformer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schoolreformer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/schoolreformer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":408,"href":"https:\/\/schoolreformer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405\/revisions\/408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/schoolreformer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schoolreformer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schoolreformer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u201cIdentify one problem within our school community and design a meaningful solution.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Soorya Vijayan<\/strong>
Educator | Learning & Development Leader | PBL Advocate
E: vijayasoorya.a93@gmail.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"