1. ELAT's Mission Statement:

Elevating Learning Above Teaching (ELAT) is an international, multidisciplinary project whose mission is to improve significantly both learning and teaching in under-resourced parts of the world. Its pedagogical philosophy rests on the idea that, rather than privileging the teaching of subject matter and coursing through curriculum, instruction should give primacy to student learning

ELAT’s professional development sessions work not only on teachers’ pedagogical knowledge and research-based understanding of how children learn but also on deepening and broadening their content knowledge.

Through its professional development sessions, a goal of ELAT is to identify teacher leaders and further develop their leadership in their content area to become trainers of teachers

2. Meaning of Education:

The knowledge and skills resulting from instructions and training in an institution of learning. The very aim of education has to be viewed differently.- it is no longer taken as concerned primarily with the imparting of the knowledge or the preparation of finished product, but with the awakening of curiosity, the development of proper interest, attitudes and values and the building up of such essential skills as independent study and the capacity to think and judge for oneself without which it is not possible to become a responsible member of a democratic society.

We are at a crucial stage in the process of development and transformation and in this context the role of science (using the word in the broad sense) is of the utmost importance. Science education must become an integral part of school education and ultimately some study of science should become a part of all courses in the humanities and social sciences at the university stage.

The quality of science teaching also has to be raised considerably so as to achieve its proper objective and purpose, namely to promote an ever – deepening understanding of basic principles to develop problem solving, analytical skills and the ability to apply them to the problems of material environment and social living and to promote the spirit of enquiry and experimentation.

3. Block Diagram of Education System

4. Creative Learning Environment:

Age of pupils

Primary – Age 6-10

The objectives of some of the learning materials of Creative learning environment are:

Challenge, self-reflexivity, critical thinking, process, exploration and an open-minded attitude:

· Use the Internet intelligently and effectively.

· Learn how to master a wide range of attitudes, insights and skills.

· Be aware of own learning style.

· Be able to reflect on own experiences and take different courses of action that are analogous of different situations.

· Demonstrate ability to effectively focus on a task at hand.

· Take initiative, organize, plan, display or execute a project alone or as a part of a group.

· Compare their own work method with that of others.

· Have a critical and confronting attitude as opposed to acting in a sarcastic and degrading way.

· Be able to challenge stereotypes and set new standards.2

5. Compulsory Summative Project:

Age of pupils

Secondary – 15 years old

This best practice provides a way of bridging gaps between current insistence on summative assessment and a lack of ways of incorporating creativity into this. It allows for teachers to assess both process and product and for students with non-traditional backgrounds to build on their strengths in collaborating with others to critically evaluate knowledge, create new ideas and solve problems rather than recall facts or produce individual responses.

The criteria applied are more innovative in the assessment than the usual ones. They take account of:

· The processes by which students gather data and information,

· How they evaluate and process sources,

· Information and outcomes,

· How they work together to solve problems and

· How their product matches the initial project question and how the process fitted together all aspects holistically.

6. Digital Storytelling: Historia Do Dia;

Age of pupils

Primary School – 7-10

Friendly, easy to navigate visual style of the site: clicking on a story leads directly into the story

In this example of a best practice from Portugal, a team of digital technicians and educators work with a renowned author, a graphic artist, translators and children to prepare and publish a new digitally broadcast story in Portuguese and in English every day.

These stories are used with pupils in schools across Portugal, particularly ones with strong links between ICT and literacy, to aid in children’s imaginative and creative development as well as their literacy skills and motivation in relation to reading and literature. The child-friendly format of the website and the stories makes it easy for teachers to motivate their classes to use this resource

7. Can We “See” the Sound?

Age of pupils

10-12

The software tools used, and one of the instruments hand-crafted (an oscillograph), by pupils to digitally manipulate and visualise the sounds

The Greek educational system puts a great emphasis on creativity, especially in the primary context. The development of Greek primary school students’ creative potential lies at the heart of the educational goals as reflected in legislative acts and National Curricula (see Kampylis et al. 2009). However recent research (Kampylis et al 2009) noted a high degree of vagueness in Greek teachers’ understandings of creativity, and a general lack of training to support creativity meaningfully through classroom practices.

However, there are some initiatives and programmes in the Greek educational system to foster creativity; for example, the curriculum allocates time for creative classroom projects like the one documented here.

Abstracts concepts such as periodicity, units, patterns, sound-waves, frequency and intensity were made more specific, as they were visualised through the construction of hand-made tools from trashy materials such oscillographs and kazoos. Pupils also use the school IT Labs to explore sound waves and general sound properties. More specifically, they used:

· Multimedia PCs with soundcards and speakers, networked and with an internet connection,

· Classroom-based PA system, 8 channel mixer and a unidirectional dynamic microphone,

· Music software (audio editing: cool edit 200, sequencing: Sonar 2, notation: Finale 2000),

· MIDI keyboard,

· Stereo tape recorder,

· CD and DVD players and writers,

· Digital projectors.

8. Project Maths:

Age of pupils

Secondary

Figure 10. Project Maths Homepage

Project maths was first established in 2008 to provide support to 24 schools involved in the development and piloting of the new Mathematics curriculum in Ireland. The project builds on national policies and initiatives meant to introduce innovations in teaching and learning in post-primary education. Secondary education in Ireland is based on a junior and a senior cycle, which are reflected in the Project Maths strands to develop a consistent approach. In the junior strands, a more investigative approach is used which extends the experience of mathematics in the primary school. In the senior strands, students’ experience of mathematics enables them to develop the knowledge and skills necessary for their future lives as well as for further study in areas that rely on mathematics

9. Dynamic methods of teaching:

In a modern society, knowledge inevitably ceases to be something to be received passively. It is something to be actively discovered. If this is rightly understood, it would involve a revolution in traditional education where ‘to know’ to come to mean ‘to know by heart’, where respect for all inherited knowledge is vigorously cultivated and where the assimilative faculties tend to be emphasized to the neglect of the critical and creative ones. In India, as in other countries where similar conditions prevail, this would require the introduction of dynamic methods of teaching and learning.

1. Computerized instruction,

2. Programmed learning,

3. Simulated teaching,

4. Micro-teaching and

5. Use of internet etc

10. Teacher the power Supply:

Conclusion:

We, the teachers, are the eternal sources of power in the system of education that builds the character of a citizen. Character of a citizen decides the fate of a nation, we, the teachers, are duty bound to shape up the fate of our motherland. Let us firmly resolve to make brighter.

Received on 16.04.2012 Accepted on 15.05.2012

Asian J. Management 3(2): April-June, 2012 page 114-116