Saavi 1 - 26 Jan 2024

Saavi - Tamil word meaning “KEY”, that's the name of the workshop.

We started to work on this workshop from October 2023, it took us nearly 4 months to design a framework which can be taken to the children. Workshop is designed to explore learning with freedom, thinking as a process, expression of thoughts and to gain knowledge through sharing one's own work.

Learning with freedom

When we wanted to bring this workshop, we discussed a lot about topics. But we could not finalize one as we want children to learn with their whole heart. So, we decided to have a list of topics and let children chose what could be their topic for the day. The topic chosen by participants was "Water".

But that's not all, we made a map together on what they like to explore under the topic. As facilitators we were surprised to see the topics and questions they had in their minds. Some of them were "why we do we search for water in other planets, mysterious water in the world, water and mythology, theories on creation of water, gods of water"

Children explored the topics through available resources like books, articles and shared their previous knowledge as well.

We witnessed how much they learnt when they wanted to explore their own questions. The exploration went deeper and wide with each thought from a team member.

Thinking as a process

In this session we used Socratic seminar as a tool to read the book "ONE WELL".

One of the participants raised a question,

"Why do we call rainwater as pure water?"

This question led to many more possible questions rather answers. Another interesting question was -

"What happens to chemicals during evaporation of water from sea?"

One of them said the chemical would be left in sea, while the other thought chemical would be removed by sunlight. 

One page of reading brought many questions and insights from the author. It was wonderful to see how each participant dived into the authors perspective and carried back their own treasures.

Art as an expression

This session was led by Sadhana, a budding artist and Sivabalan, a young IAS aspirant and lawyer. 

Art as an Expression

 The session is designed to bring the idea of precise communication and how they can use art as a communication. Children enjoyed the process thoroughly and we were amazed at the bonding between the facilitators and the participants.

Finally, participants were asked to draw an object just by observation. Participants shared how observation helped them in the betterment of their drawing.

Knowledge sharing

"Gaining knowledge is first step to wisdom. Sharing it, is the first step to humanity. -unknown author"

In this last session, each team had an opportunity to share about their exploration on their questions they raised in the morning session. As a team they chose different ways to share it with their friends. This session brought out the different skills and creativity of the participants. Each team had a unique of presenting their knowledge.  

Now, comes the final question - what is it these elements do with the self-exploration?

"Human behavior flows from three main source- desire, emotions and knowledge." - Plato.

The sessions in the workshop brought to the participants - new ways of seeking knowledge, understanding a person's view without getting into emotions, exploring their own thoughts as a reflection through art and knowledge as a shared commodity.

As facilitators we could see how each Childs’ thinking process is unique. We also experienced how they were able to accept and appreciate each other's thoughts, perceptions, strengths, weakness without any judgements.

We strongly believe when children go through this process repeatedly, then there is a possibility to accept their own and others’ perceptions with love and respect.