Explain the advantages of a project based approach to attain the teaching objectives of Values and Citizenship Education at Primary

Level.

Learning takes place through the active behavior of the student, it is what he does that he learns, not what the teacher does Tyler (1949, p63). Indeed, Citizenship education can be best learnt by practice. We can teach our student about how to respect and help each other by our actions only. Project based approach gives the student opportunities to work in groups indifferent of colour, caste, and creed, social and family background in order to achieve a desired goal. As such, I do not believe that there is a better way to teach citizenship other than project based approach.

State some problems you may encounter in your attempt to implement a project in your school and suggest some solutions/ideas to overcome them.

Despite numerous benefits of Project Based Learning approach, it presents several challenges for the teachers; these include: teachers content knowledge, students lack of experience in Project Based Learning and their preferences for traditional-structured approach that emphasize passive learning, in addition the

organisation and administration of PBL can be very time-consuming (Frank, Lavy & Elata 2003; Helle, Tynjala & Olkinuora 2006). It is important that projects be designed to sustain student motivation, thus teachers must be supported by the management in creating this type of learning tasks (Blumenfeld et al. 1991). They propose a number of factors to be considered in project design to make sure the intended outcome are attainable. These include whether the students find t project to be interesting and worth doing; whether they have the competence to complete the project, and whether they focus on learning rather than on grades. Besides that, due to the constraint of time and resources, PBL project need to be feasible and manageable for both teachers and students (Blumenfeld et al. 1991). Also, students who are inexperienced in collaborative learning environment may find difficulties in working in groups (Johnson & Johnson 1989). In this regards, teacher should provide support for group work and conflict management to facilitate the process.

Choose any one topic presented in the Life Skills part 2- Citizenship Education component and devise a two term action plan for the effective implementation of a project based on the chosen topic

Topic Chosen: Intercultural Education

Mauritius is a multicultural country. There is no doubt about it. Each person or family has its own cultural and religious belief. In order to live in harmony we need to have tolerance and this tolerance must be achieved since our early days and there is no better place to learn about the difference between the different communities living in Mauritius than the school. Though we are accustomed to sharing cakes during the occasion of Holi, Divali, Chinese Spring Festival and Eid-Ul-Fitr, little do we know about the meanings of these festivals? We need to know, understand and respect each others culture as we come across people of different cultural backgrounds be it in our neighbourhood, school or workplace. At school level we can learn about it through several activities related to the different festivals of Mauritius. All the activities mentioned in the plan (Annex 1) are to be carried out with the close collaboration of pupils, teachers, school administration and parents. Besides these, there are also activities relating to Intercultural Education which can be done on daily basis.

Activities at class level

Students are asked to get as much information as they can get on the each festival celebrated during the first trimester for books, magazines, television or the internet. They are called upon to share amongst themselves the information they

receive. In addition to this, they are encouraged to get pictures or articles about the different festivals from newspapers or magazines; cut them and do collage with them. These can be fixed on the walls of the classroom and everyone can benefit from it by reading about the articles or looking at the pictures. Pupils can be encouraged in doing such activities with rewards. Children of different cultural backgrounds should be encouraged to bring cakes to share on festive occasions. This only strengthens their bonding in friendship.

Activities at school level

For events of National importance such as the Day of Abolition of slavery and the Celebration of the Independence and Republic day, pupils should be encouraged to gather information about the History of Mauritius. Boards should be placed around the school whereby displays made by the students themselves can be placed. Also, drama competition, quiz competition, elocutions, songs and poetry recitation should be encouraged. These should boast about our history, cultural or intercultural heritage. Rewards should be given to those making the best displays. Reward is a great means of motivation for children. Now that the enhancement programme has been started, pupils have more time to learn about music, drama, dance, poetry and painting. We should make the best of the additional time allocated to us to teach the students about our cultural heritage. Children can participate in different competition at school and inter-school level. Competition is a great impetus for children to excel in their activities. These completion should however be related to the different festivities or to matters of national or international importance. On the occasion of the music day, all the pupils should be encouraged to participate in the dance and musical activities. Pupils of different communities can present programs that display their culture.