Understanding the traditional pedagogy in India: For many of us, our memories of school are of desks neatly arranged

in rows. The teachers were standing at the front of the room. They were lecturing, writing on the chalkboard, or assigning written work for us -- the students -- to complete. Students were passive learners, receptacles of the knowledge imparted to them by their teachers. This is the banking concept of education or instructivism, in which knowledge is a gift bestowed by those who consider themselves knowledgeable upon those whom they consider to know nothing. Education thus becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor. The teacher makes deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat. The more students work at storing the deposits entrusted to them, the less they develop the critical thinking skills. Attitudes and practices in the banking education concept: 1. The teacher teaches and the students are taught; 2. The teacher knows everything and the students know nothing; 3. The teacher thinks and the students are thought about; 4. The teacher talks and the students listenmeekly; 5. The teacher disciplines and the students are disciplined; 6. The teachers choose and enforce their choice, and the students comply; 7. The teacher acts and the students have the illusion of acting through the action of the teacher. 8. The teacher chooses the program content, and the students (who were not consulted) adapt to it; 9. The teacher confuses the authority of knowledge with her own professional authority which she sets in opposition to the freedom of the students; 10. The teacher is the Subject of the learning process, while the pupils are mere objects. Consequence of such pedagogy: The capability of banking education is to minimize or annul the students creative power and to stimulate their credulity serves the interest of the oppressors, who care neither to have the world revealed nor to see it transform. Sooner or later students may perceive the contradiction in which banking education seeks to maintain them, and then engaged themselves in the struggle for their liberation. Need for transformation: If we teach todays students as we taught yesterdays, we rob them of tomorrow- John Dewey (18591952). The world, that schools are being designed for, is changing and subsequently the pedagogy in schools should change. We are living in a new economy -- powered by technology, fueled by information, and driven by knowledge. Our challenge is to adjust our teaching and learning activities so that they will give our students a chance to be successful in this new world economy. The old-school model of passively learning facts and reciting them out of context is no longer sufficient to prepare students to survive in today's world. Solving highly complex problems requires that students have both fundamental skills (reading, writing, and math) and digital-age skills (teamwork, problem solving, research gathering, time management, information synthesizing, utilizing high tech tools). With this combination of skills, students become directors and managers of their learning process, guided and mentored by a skilled

teacher. By creating bridges between subjects, students view knowledge holistically, rather than looking at isolated facts- very much like we lived and worked in life. How to transform the existing pedagogy: What pedagogy can be and therefore ought to be? Four elements that we believe are essential to the successful transformation of school practice are Dream, Invest, Design and Share. 1. Dream The first element of transforming pedagogy is DREAM. This is about creating a shared vision for the future of your school. What do we want our school experience to be like? Imagine the possibilities! It is an uninhibited, positive view of what could be. 2. Invest It is what teachers think, what teachers do, and what teachers are, at the level of the classroom that ultimately shapes the kind of learning that young people get. The second element of transforming pedagogy (Invest) encourages schools to identify, explore, train with, trial and reflect upon leading pedagogical approaches, such as Collaborative Teaching and Learning; Guided Inquiry Learning. It involves action research, professional development and professional discussion. This element has a focus upon building teaching and leadership capacity to support transformed teaching and learning. 3. Design The third element, Design encourages schools to put in place the understandings developed throughout the Dream and Invest elements. Programs, methodologies, frameworks and structure begin to take shape. The manner in which facilities are used both pedagogically and through use of space are apparent. The initial planning takes shape and lives. The philosophies of the school are obvious for all to see throughout the workplace, and the aims and desires of the program move from words to action. 4. Share The fourth element of pedagogical transformation is Share. Sharing provides an opportunity for schools to celebrate the journey that they have undertaken and to share their experiences both within and outside of the local school community. Sharing promotes further growth and enables the system to move forward towards world leading practice. The need of the hour is to have a constructivist/critical pedagogy which should have the following features: 1) ConstructivismConstructivist learning is truly learning in action. It engages students so that they are no longer passive receptacles of information, but active pursuers of knowledge. With constructivist learning, students work individually and in groups for doing projects, solving problems or researching. They are constructors of knowledge. 2) Techno constructivismIt is an approach that maximizes the benefits of constructivist methodology while taking advantage of integration of appropriate educational technology. We need to develop adaptive expertise in order to meet the needs of the Millennium students and create a learning environment that is meaningful for the millennium student who are not only computer literate but are also technophiles. No longer do students simply explore encyclopedia, magazines, and books to collect information. They use web resources, electronic databases, and email. No longer are products restricted to term papers or posters, students can now create videos or be

published on the web. Although new challenges are identified with each new tool, the process of information inquiry remains the same. 3) Using the Inquiry ApproachStudents are encouraged to become independent workers, critical thinkers, and lifelong learners. In inquiry-based learning environments, students are engaged in activities that help them actively pose questions, investigate, solve problems, and draw conclusions about the world around them. As independent thinkers, children become researchers, writers, videographers, and activists rather than passive receivers of a textbook's content. If students learn to take responsibility for their own learning, they will form the basis for the way they will work with others in their adult lives. 4) Creating a culture of thinking We must foster questioning attitude, collaborative inquiry, interpersonal skills, intrapersonal skills, teach about thinking - how we learn, use thinking scaffolds such as visual tools. 5) Change in Relationship between Student and Teacher A deep respect should exist between teacher and student. We should think in terms of teacherstudent and student-teacher, that is, a teacher who learns and a learner who teaches. 6) Teachers as Researchers Part of the role of any educator involves becoming a scholar and a researcher. It is vital to know your students; i.e. their culture, knowledge base, language, etc. Teachers must become warrior intellectuals, people who know their students and their backgrounds and who are willing to fight for them. 7) Address the content standards As educators, we need to address the content standards that are required for our students. We must always keep in mind these standards when designing a lesson. We must ask ourselves what types of activities support the standards because the content standards provide the foundation of knowledge to build upon. 8) Uses Authentic Assessment It allows a child to demonstrate his or her capabilities while working independently as it includes performance based assessments. It shows the students ability to apply desired skills such as doing research; develops the students ability to work with his or her peers, building teamwork and group skills; provides the opportunity for reaching outside the classroom walls and develop personal learning networks around expertise. It allows teachers to have multiple assessment opportunities, to learn more about the child as a whole person and to systematically document a child's progress and development and we develop a relationship with a student where his strengths and weakness both shine on the content we are exploring. Conclusion We envision that pedagogy should allow learners to access peers, experts, and the wider community in ways that enable reflective, self-directed learning. The directive for the teacher is to be a "guide on the side" as opposed to a "sage on the stage" while continuing to recognize the role of the teacher as an expert. This signals a movement away from a teacher-centric pedagogy to one emphasizing learnerdirected activity and content creation. By capitalizing on personalization, participation, and content creation, existing and future Pedagogy practices can result in educational experiences that are productive, engaging, and community based and that extend the learning landscape far beyond the boundaries of classrooms and educational institutions. At SYNA International School, we have the transformed techno constructive pedagogy in practice as We need to be the change we wish to see in the world, said Mahatma Gandhi.