The Citizenship Curriculum
This innovation also has a Project Page where you can read more about its latest progress.
Go to Project: The Citizenship Curriculum.
Empathy is useful when followed by action. The Citizenship Curriculum provides a framework for children to feel empowered by 'Being the Change'.
About You
About You
First Name
Meghna
Last Name
Patel
Twitter URL
Facebook URL
About Your Organization
Organization Name
The Riverside School
Organization Website
Organization Country
India, GJ, Ahmedabad
Country where this project is creating social impact
India, GJ, India
Is your organization a
Non‐profit / NGO / Citizen sector organization
Your role in Education
Administrator.
The type of school(s) your solution is affiliated with
Other
How long has your organization been operating?
More than 5 years
The information you provide here will be used to fill in any parts of your profile that have been left blank, such as interests, organization information, and website. No contact information will be made public. Please uncheck here if you do not want this to happen..
Innovation
Select the stage that best applies to your solution
Scaling (the next step will be growing impact on a regional or even global scale)
How long has your solution been in operation?
Operating for more than 5 years
The Need: What problem are you trying to solve?
For nations to thrive, it needs citizens that are Active, Informed, and Responsible; citizens that are willing and able to take responsibility and contribute to social change. In most countries, 80% of the population is ‘just surviving’ – they don’t have the time to care. Add to this, 15 years of a child’s life is spent in school memorizing facts and figures. But, time is not spent on teaching them to care – about child abuse, inequality, gender bias. The Riverside School understands that the gravest impediment to change is the DON’T KNOW – DON’T CARE Syndrome. The Citizenship Curriculum aims to remedy that.
The Solution: What is your solution? Be specific!
The Citizenship Curriculum helps participants break the state of inaction caused by the DON’T KNOW – DON’T CARE syndrome – systematically, methodically - and provide opportunities to be an active citizen. The well-defined program serves to inculcate values and consciousness that helps shape the outlook and perspective of a participant permanently, shifting his attitude from ‘Can I?’ to ‘I Can!’.
Children over time understand that ‘Disparity is a Reality’ and that one needs to be the voice of those who don’t have one. The central idea is that one need not be rich, powerful or old to make a change. Through the four simple steps of Feel, Imagine, Do and Share, children engage with communities to design and implement effective solutions.
The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include your primary activities
Through the Feel, Imagine, Do, Share model, children are given opportunities to understand and observe problems in the community and the human patterns linked to the problem. The program provides tools for the students to design an effective solution to the real problem, thereby moving forward from just empathy to action.
The school incorporates this model into the Citizenship Curriculum. In the younger grades (PreK to Grade 2), awareness of the disparity is built through visits and think-throughs, followed by discussions.
In the middle grades (Grade 3 to Grade 7), students explore and chart out the reasons why disparity exists in the community and identify possible strategies that can be used to minimize and, if possible, to dispel it.
The seven years spent building awareness and developing strategies results in student-led initiatives in the higher grades (Grade 8 to Grade 12). They apply skills learnt and employ strategies discovered to sustain projects for 5 years. Students understand that it takes persistence and perseverance to make an impact. They commit hours before or after school and on weekends to work on projects that are of value to them – from bringing joy to children suffering from cancer to mentoring underprivileged children in an after-school program.
The Marketplace: Who are your peers and competitors? Identify others also working to address the needs you are and what differentiates you from them. What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?
Many schools devote certain hours of their weekly timetable to involve students in social activities without the students understanding the needs of the community and the impact of their work on the people they are working for.
A well-designed Citizenship program serves to include VALUES and consciousness that helps shape the outlook and perspective of participants permanently.
In addition, the program encompasses a wide range of elements of learning, including:
1. Knowledge and Understanding of topics (e.g., human rights, economy, sustainable development) and concepts (e.g., justice, equality, freedom)
2. Skills and Attitudes (e.g., critical thinking, analyzing information, empathy, respect)
3. Values and Dispositions (e.g., tolerance, willingness to listen, stand up for others)
Now that you have thought out your entry, help us pitch it.
Define your company, program, service, or product in 1-2 short sentences [136 characters]
When students understand that Disparity is a Reality, they practise citizenship by ‘Being the Change’.
Identify what is innovative about your solution in 1-2 short sentences [136 characters]
Children behave, think and learn, thus supporting lifelong personal and community development through an easy and replicable process.
Social Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
What has been the impact of your solution to date?
The impact has been significant not only in the community, but also individually. Through reflections and discussions, students reveal an awareness of issues that bother them, a heightened sensitivity to the people around them, and their responsibility as citizens of the world to help all.
The principles behind the Citizenship Curriculum (Feel, Imagine, Do, Share) were the basis to expand this circle of influence and move beyond the borders of the school. In an effort to take this idea to the city of Ahmedabad, The Riverside School started ‘aProCh (A Protagonist in every Child’). In the last 5 years, aProCh has been able to mobilise over 20 schools and 15 NGOs in 4 cities towards the idea of making these cities more child friendly.
‘Design For Change’ was created to put the design framework in formats that other schools and communities can access and replicate easily. Design For Change, in the last three years, has reached out to over 25 million children in over 40 countries.
What is your projected impact over the next 1-3 years?
Through the models of DFC and aProCh , we have seen the value of the Feel, Imagine, Do, Share framework in building empathy amongst school children in diverse socio-economic conditions, even if the implementation was short term.
To see this impact grow, in the next three years, we want to see the Citizenship Curriculum implemented in more schools around the state of Gujarat so that more children can develop empathy and design solutions as an ongoing learning process at schools.
Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and track growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact
To develop a Citizenship Curriculum document with interactive multimedia tools for teachers and students for easy application.
Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your six-month milestone
Task 1
Design a process ‘toolkit’ that includes both relevance of the program and how to implement with children of all ages.
Task 2
Video document examples of the Citizenship program in action at the Riverside school, from process to outcome.
Task 3
Prototype the documentation with partner schools and refine, if necessary.
Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone
Schools should be able to see the value in the Citizenship Curriculum and implement it with their students through the toolkits.
Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your 12-month milestone
Task 1
In nearby schools, students and teachers will present the curriculum to highlight the value and benefits of the program.
Task 2
Design a weblink as part of the Riverside School website to market the toolkit.
Task 3
Incorporate stories from other schools into the curriculum documentation and design.
Founding Story: We want to hear about your "Aha!" moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution's potential to change the world [125 words]
After the founder spoke at TEDIndia in November 2009, the idea of impacting education through children centric designs exploded globally. People not only appreciated these ideas but also adopted them in their own regions and communities revealing the ease with which these ideas could be replicated. It was then that we saw this idea as a revolutionary step forward towards modern education worldwide.
Sustainability
Tell us about your partnerships
The primary partners for the Citizenship program are NGOs, Civil Hospitals, schools for underprivileged children, and special needs schools. Students determine the need of the particular organization and work throughout the year to fulfill those needs. For example, students may teach skills, raise money for equipment, or host an event to enrich the lives of those children. In return, our students learn to respect, to care, to value each individual’s uniqueness and be responsible towards the community at large.
What type of team (staff, volunteers, etc.) will ensure that you achieve the growth milestones identified in the Social Impact section? [75 words]
A design team will be essential to the growth of the Citizenship curriculum. This includes a writer for documentation, a videographer / editor for video documentation, illustrators and designers to develop the toolkit, and a web designer for the weblink. In addition, a team of volunteers, including teachers and students, from the school are critical to market and spread the Citizenship idea.
Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren't specified within the list
Riverside has a well-defined citizenship curriculum. To be able to take this curriculum to other schools, we look forward to developing easy to use tools for teachers and students in different languages.
This requires monetary investments for both design and partnerships with schools to help them implement this curriculum effectively.
 | 59 weeks ago Anshul Aggarwal said: This is very inspiring!!! :) :) about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 63 weeks ago Meghna Patel updated this Competition Entry. |
| 63 weeks ago Meghna Patel updated this Competition Entry. |
| 64 weeks ago Meghna Patel updated this Competition Entry. |
| 64 weeks ago Meghna Patel updated this Competition Entry. |
| 65 weeks ago Meghna Patel updated this Competition Entry. |
| 65 weeks ago Meghna Patel submitted this idea. |
