Ei-iE

Education International
Education International

Who says school isn’t creative? Mauritian students embrace learning through the arts

published 4 July 2014 updated 7 July 2014

Educators on the Indian Ocean island nation are turning to creativity and the arts as a way to better engage and provide greater opportunities for students with learning difficulties.

Conventional learning is receiving a creative touch at the Richelieu Government Primary School on the west side of Mauritius where a cross-curriculum approach through the creative arts is helping students see things from different perspective.

By utilising creativity, the school hopes to help slower learning students grasp concepts like math, science, and language through exercises, including play, to increase their scholarly potential and their self-esteem along the way. Some art projects are helping the children understand the concept of angles, in some cases related to different parts of the island’s dormant Trou aux Cerfs volcano.

The school is also finding that some traditional creative teaching methods never go out of style. Old fashioned storytelling is helping to create a reading culture among the children, as well as familiarising them with languages.

One activity even has the children getting their hands dirty – all in the name of learning, of course.

Teachers are taking students into the garden, where a hands-on approach is making it easier for many of them to comprehend science, such as plant growth. The children become novice field researchers by using skills like observation, recording and analysis to discover how life evolves in the garden, including plant growth and germination.

The school’s approach is proof that making learning a little less conventional can help provide many students with the quality education they never thought was possible.