Reviving Curiosity among Kids

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”  -Albert Einstein

Driven with the understanding that the foremost quality we need to enhance our understanding of the world is curiosity, we at Sahaj Foundation conducted our very first Atmaranjan- An 8 days long Lifeskills Training Program this April, 2014 in Learnwell School of Bir region while keeping the idea of nurturing Curiosity at the center. 

Children possess an innate ability to ask questions, but how does our system respond to it? How do we as parents, friends, siblings or rather teachers respond to this quality? Do we try to nurture it by encouraging more questions or do we try to suppress it by discouraging the child? Or on broader level, do we design our systems that nurture curiosity? Not really, we all understand that.

The Atmaranjan Lifeskills training program followed project based approach to not only nurture curiosity but also apply the same to understand the worldly systems that surround us. A total of 19 kids participated in eight days long program wherein they divided themselves into four groups in order to select and complete their projects.

During the span of these 8 days, all decision making was passed on to the kids. They were free to form their own teams, choose their own team members, choose their own project, think about the questions on their own and plan the execution strategy as per their choice. Through the projects, teams were supposed to understand the working of at least one institution that they come across in their village. After brainstorming different ideas within the 4 groups that were formed with 5 members per group, they finally chose to do their project on Understanding the functioning of 1. A Village Panchayat 2. A Restaurant 3. A Farming activity 4. A Grocery shop.

During the sessions, we facilitated the entire process of team building and project selection. Once the choice was made, we encouraged and guided them to come up with relevant questions related to different segments such as Vision, Team, Operations, Finance etc. Each group thereafter framed their execution strategy as to how they will be approaching their targets, dividing their time and finally coming up with a presentation to showcase their work to the other groups. The kids also learnt nuances of communication skills, team work, time management and presentation skills through participating in different group activities and games before hitting the ground on Sunday to conduct field work and interact with their targeted people.

In the end, each team was given a chance to present their findings and learnings in front of the facilitators and other group members. They all loved it as they found the program quite refreshing with lots of ground work. We also used meditation and prayers to make kids internalize the learnings of each day.

The highlights of the whole program were to understand the importance of asking questions and working harmoniously in a team. In some of our participants words:

“I realized how important it is to ask questions and not take things as they are given.” – Muskaan, Class 7

“I loved going to Panchayat and meeting the Sarpanch to ask a lot of questions on the work they do.” – Rohit, Class 8

“I understood that until I ask questions I cannot understand anything completely, also supporting my team members made me happy.” – Neha, Class 9