Meena Raghunathan
Conventionally, we understand a teaching aid to be something that teachers need to prepare (or buy) specially in order to help them teach a concept more effectively.
But is this always necessary? I don’t think so! The world around us – both natural and manmade – is full of ‘teaching aids’! Why not use them? Why not learn from interacting with the things in the environment? Why not use everyday things around us as ‘teaching aids’?
Here are some examples. These are a pot pourri, and you will need to figure out which activity is suitable for the age group you work with. In each case, one part of the exercise would be to use the materials as TLM, but equally important, to get them curious about the material, to get them to start analyzing/synthesizing the information they have about these, and also thinking laterally or more deeply about them.
The author is Director-Community Services, GMR Varalakshmi Foundation, Hyderabad. She can be reached at Meena.Raghunathan@gmrgroup.in.