The human organism is a composite entity. It comprises physical, psychological and social aspects. Bone, muscles and nerves belong to the physical aspect. Intellect, emotions, attitudes, needs, desires, love hate etc. belong to the psychological and social aspects. In every one of these aspects, human organism is active as illustrated below.
It is a common knowledge that at all moments of conscious life the child is physically active. “The normal child is an active rather than an intellectual animal”. Meyer. The child moves, jumps, walks, observes, breaks, experiments and so on. Children are confident and explore fearlessly. They are unique and self-directed until we teach them that they should be taught. The true nature of a child is one of boundless energy and an insatiable desire to learn. They learn the language that the elders speak at home without being taught. Children are constant explorers of their world from the moment of birth. After five years, children are put in a manufactured environment called ‘school’ where they are taught to learn in the name of education. In the classroom and outside, the child displays his insatiable thirst for knowledge as evidenced in the innumerable questions that he asks to the elders. Parents and teachers are tired of their endless ‘why’ but for the children the question is important and it is a part of their quest for knowledge. Children thinks, imagines, appreciates etc. showing that they are intellectually active. Many a time children engage in daydreams, become aggressive at frustrating situations of the classroom and outside, and so forth. It is indicative of the emotional activity of the children. Children identify themselves with their peer group, and participate in activities showing that they are active in social aspect as well.
The human organism is perpetually under some tension; it may be a physical (or muscular) tension demanding relief through some physical action, or psychological demanding relief from frustrations of life. Tensions are relieved through some kind of self-expression; and self-expression leads to physical, mental, emotional and social development. Activities are the means for self-expression and form the basis for physical growth and for the development of all kinds. This has been clearly explained by John Dewey who writes, “The active side precedes the passive in the development of child nature, expression comes before conscious impression, the muscular development precedes the sensory, movements come before conscious sensation, consciousness is essentially motor or impulsive, conscious states tend to project themselves in action. Ideals, intellectual and rational processes result from action and devolve for the sake of the better control of action. What we term reason is primarily the law of order and effective action. To attempt to develop faculties of knowledge, reasoning power or powers of judgment, without reference to the selection and arrangement of means in action, is the fundamental fallacy in our present methods of dealing with education”.
Thus, children are active in nature and self-activity leads to self-development. However, there is also another factor in the development of individual. The children live in an environment which too is composite in nature, comprising physical, social and cultural aspects.
Importance of play –
“Play is the highest form of research”- Albert Einstein. Children explore and experiment until we teach them to do things in a particular way. Play is a means to early learning that develops the children’s natural curiosity and exuberance. Early childhood development sets the foundation for lifelong learning and behaviors. Thus, play is an important activity for children. It is a means of self-expression; and thus it contributes to self-development. “Play is joyful, spontaneous, creative activity in which child finds its fullest self-expression”- James S Ross. Play provides for the expression of the pent-up muscular energy, and thus contributes to physical growth and to the development of motor skills and manual dexterity. The child receives instruction for perfect performance in play, and also exercises its mental energy for ultimate success. These contribute to the development of mental powers. Play activities provide opportunities for the acquisition of appropriate emotional expression and control, and thus for the development of finer emotions like affection, love and sympathy, and also for the modification of socially unacceptable emotions such as aggression and hatred. Thus, play fosters emotional development. Play activities provide for social interaction and thus for the cultivation of effective and desirable social attitudes and values. It helps in the social development of the child. It helps to develop creative activity in children.
A historical perspective
History of education gives a long array of distinguished educators from Aristotle to Gandhiji who emphasized the value of activities and play in education. For instance, Aristotle held that ‘to develop the power of appreciation’ training must be given in the use of musical instruments. Comenius urged that ‘pupils must be continually occupied in doing something carrying, drawing, constructing and transporting’. Rousseau maintained that ‘lessons of young men should be in action rather than in words’. Pestalozzi said that “the child learns, – that is, develops mentally- through his own activities and only through impressions, expressions, and not through words”. According to Froebel, ‘constructive work should be the beginning and the end of education’.
Among the modern educators John Dewey maintained that curriculum should “furnish the child with a sufficiently large amount personal activities in occupations, expression, conversation, construction, and experimentation, so that this individuality, moral and intellectual, shall not be swamped by a disproportionate amount of the experience of others to which books introduce him”. Sir Percy Nunn regarded the school ‘as a place where the young are disciplined in certain forms of activity’ and not as ‘a place where certain knowledge is learnt’. Professor Kilpatrick advocated the principle of ‘learning by doing’; and Gandhiji prescribed craft as the core of education.
Several reports of commissions on education also emphasize the importance of activity. It is very important that the children should not be allowed to sit still for a long periods at a time. It is true that children require a little rest, but he must play, he must explore, and he must be physically active if he is to derive daily satisfaction out of his attention at school. In short, children need experience more than instruction. If the system of education continues to be or dominated by the old besetting evil of verbalism and the instruction still conforms to a mechanical routine, education will remain dull and uninspiring as before.
Froebel’s contribution
Among the modern educationists, special mention has to be made about Froebel because he is considered to be ‘the apostle of the use of self-activity and play’.
Froebel held that education should aim at the spontaneous development of the impulses and innate tendencies of the child. He believed that development of the individual is possible only through self-activity. Froebel’s central idea for stages of child education is expressed in the term Darstellung the nearest translation of which is “creative self-expression”. Froebel considered self-activity as an expression of innate tendencies. According to Froebel, play is a form of self-activity. Play contributes to the development of the individual. He wrote, “Play is the highest achievement of child development, of human development at this stage, since it is the spontaneous expression, according to the necessity of its own nature, of the child’s inner being”. Froebel warned that child’s activity would degenerate into aimless play without rational conscious guidance. He advocated ‘direct play’ through objects known as ‘gifts’ and activities called ‘occupation’. For grown up children Froebel prescribed work in the place of play for children. He wrote, “Play is the characteristic activity of childhood, work is that of boyhood”. As an educational principle, he advocated ‘learning by doing’. He held that learning should be incidental to activities like paper-cutting, mat making and clay modeling.
Educational implications of child nature
Education should pay heed to the importance of child nature in education. Curriculum should centre round child-activities. This may be done in two ways.
- The curriculum should include physical activities such as craft, workshop practices etc., and physical education such as drill and calisthenics as separate subjects.
- Physical activities should be taught incidentally while teaching other subjects. Lessons should provide for many activities in the classroom and outside comprising academic, social and cultural topics. Academic activities comprise laboratory and composition work, model making and picture framing, collection of herbarium and the like. Activities such as excursion, student self- government, gardening, regional study and social work constitute social activities. Cultural activities comprise dance, music, dramatics, painting etc.
- The teacher should re-establish the link between life and knowledge, and share the aim and the objectives of teaching with his pupils. This would help the teacher to plan the programme of work in such a way that pupils will have varied and ample opportunities for self-expression in speech, writing, collective reading, independent research, constructive and other projects that bring the hand and mind into fruitful co-operation. This implies that, in the teaching of every subject, opportunities should be provided for pupils to apply practically the knowledge that has been acquired by them.
Thus, the spirit of play should permeate every activity of the school. The schoolwork should be organized with this aim in view. Individual difference in pupils according to sex, age, ability, and aptitude should be taken care of in organizing play activities. Hence, variety rather than monotony should characterize school activities.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1.Kumaraswami.K, Foundations of Educational Psychology, Tiruvalla, The St. Joseph’s Printing House,1969.
2. Adolph E. Meyer, The Development of Education in the Twentieth Century, Tokyo, Prentice-Hall, 1949.
3. John Dewey, The School and Society, Chicago University Press, 1960.
4. Ministry of Education. Report of Education Commission, 1966.