FUTURE-PROOFING THE NEXT GENERATION

Co-founder & CEO of education company Kalebr Americas, Aaditya Tangri is also the Founder of STEAMathalon, a programme tackling the “future of education” through mimicking future workplace settings and global challenges. Here, he explains why play-based learning is essential for a brighter future…

Education must now be guided by real-world interests, exploration, curiosity and experimentation. It should be a space where learners work together to answer questions that are relevant and fascinating to them and celebrate their discoveries. Learning for the future must be based on skills and values, far beyond the limitations of today’s testable knowledge, and evaluated by application rather than generic tests.

“Further, as the happiness of learners and their overall well-being is essential to nurture and grow human capital for sustainable growth, we must not only instill ideas such as a growth mindset, design thinking and positive education but actively engage learners throughout. Isn’t this, by definition, play?

“Educators must rethink traditional teaching methods and create intrinsically motivating, meaningful environments, which develop creative and resilient learners of the future who can be a part of diverse working spaces and take on challenges.

“Playful educational approaches encourage the development of learners and are key to creating spaces for positive exploration and, more importantly, the development of 21st-century skills. In his recent TED talk, ‘The Future of Learning’, education guru Sam Chaltain said that we have “to prepare our children for their future opposed to our past”. And that, clearly, is the challenge we must address.

“Most educators will agree that our childhood years set the stage for future success in the workplace. These formative years are essential for creating an environment where children learn the foundational skills necessary for growth and development. As educators, we must make a subtle shift to transformative, integrated learning systems. Artificial intelligence, algorithms, advances in genetic engineering, nanotechnology and biology are already shaping our world at a pace we can scarcely comprehend. Rather than adding another ‘subject’, we should be looking at the methods of educating the next generation with a focus on intrinsic learning.

“Involvement in play-based learning programmes such as STEAMathalon – a play-based competitive innovation league focusing on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math), with positive education, making, coding, UN Sustainable Development goals and citizenship within the core curriculum – stimulates a learner’s drive for exploration and discovery. It motivates the individual to gain mastery over their environment, while promoting focus and concentration. It also enables the learner to happily engage in the flexible and higher-level thinking processes deemed essential for the 21st-century learner, including inquiry processes of problem-solving, analysing, evaluating, applying knowledge and creativity.

“Play-based programmes support the wellbeing, happiness and development of socially competent learners, able to face challenges and create solutions. We must be effective leaders in necessitating the significant change required to transform pedagogy and to maximise the benefits offered by modern learning methods and digital technology.”