Dear Parents

“Give the pupils something to do, not something to learn; and the doing is of such a nature as to demand thinking; learning naturally results “—– John Dewey

It was wonderful to see our students across grades involved in Experiential Learning which is the process of learning by doing. By engaging students in hands-on experiences and reflection, they are better able to connect theories and knowledge learned in the classroom to real-world situation. I wanted to let you know a little bit about what is happening inside our classrooms. You may also have wondered how you, as parents can be sure that your child is receiving the best possible education here at OISV. The answer is that myself and other senior leaders regularly drop into classrooms to check on the quality of teaching and learning in every class and our students and teachers never cease to amaze us.

In fact, experiential education can also lead to more powerful academic learning and help students achieve intellectual goals commonly associated with liberal education, including

• a deeper understanding of subject matter than is possible through classroom study alone;
• the capacity for critical thinking and application of knowledge in complex or ambiguous situations;
• the ability to engage in lifelong learning, including learning in the workplace.

Experiential education also identifies the practices necessary for achieving these outcomes. Particularly, the use of structured reflection to help students link their experience with theory and thereby, deepen their understanding and ability to use what they know.

Watch our students of Grade 5 explore nature and learn the concept of science in our beautiful “Science Park”.

Teaching Shapes to our Early Year students was fun filled. The students enjoyed this hands-on activity on 2D shapes and it helped them to learn how to build, sort, and manipulate shapes using different materials in many ways.

It was a pleasure to see a lot of excitement and pride amongst our Young learners while they were creating their own Food pyramid. This indeed helped our students to discuss and talk about the different kinds of food that go into making a balanced diet and the responsibility to make healthy choices on their own.

Our brains work by making connections. Events that have an emotional impact on ourselves are likely to be remembered more than the typical daily school routine. We learn useful information in ways that far too often do not relate to what we learn in other subjects.

“Learning is experiencing, everything else is information”. Last week I happened to see how our senior students were engaged in the Science Park. The science park at Oakridge International School provides students a unique opportunity to have a first-hand learning experience of the concepts of Science and Social Science. Students were understanding the principle involved in ‘Coriolis Effect’ and how it impacts the development of weather patterns, such as cyclones and trade winds. Students were demonstrating how to measure the amount of rain using a rain gauge, how the tilt of Earth’s Axis affects the seasons and climatic conditions of that particular region with the help of the Globe model. Children observed the direction and speed of the wind with the help of an Anemometer.

Nord Anglia Education’s collaboration with MIT is aimed to introduce our students to innovative ways of learning the STEAM subjects which encourages creativity, experimentation, and teaches them how to apply their skills to real-world situations. Succeeding in the 21st century means learning how to think, not what to think. Through hands-on, indisciplinary STEAM learning in collabration with MIT, we prepare our students to thrive in our rapidly evolving world.

The opportunities to dabble in the world of Robotics check out this post to see how Oakridge students evolve in the world of science with these STEAM activities.

I am convinced that our teachers are kindling the natural curiosity in our students and helping them develop Scientific knowledge and reasoning.

Best Regards,

Shaila Bhamidipati

Principal

Oakridge International School, Visakhapatnam