Project-Based Learning (PBL): Learning in Action! 5 From Ideas to Solutions

 Project-Based Learning (PBL): Learning in Action! 5 

From Ideas to Solutions: Addressing Social Problems through Innovation

Last year I had an opportunity to travel to Ahmedabad to visit the 'National Innovation Foundation.' They had organized a competition for students called 'Ignite' in the name of former Indian president Dr A. P. J. Kalam. Students were asked to submit their ideas for this competition, and the students with novel ideas were awarded. Experts from the foundation then helped the students to build prototypes of these ideas.

This year, the competition was also full of interesting and novel ideas. For example, the taps on the water tanks in our school are at the same height. This causes tall students to bend down, while short students are unable to reach them. So, one student suggested that if the pipe carrying the water is fitted in a slanting manner instead of parallel to the ground, the lower taps will be at the level of shorter students, whereas the upper taps will be at the level of taller students, and no one will have to bend to drink water.

An emergency lamp that can be used when the lights go out, a lunchbox that reminds us to wash hands, a cooler that spreads cool air in all directions, a cycle that can climb stairs, and a mirror with adjustable height were some of the ideas that students had suggested. The foundation had chosen the most creative ideas to create models from.

We come across a large number of problems and issues around us all the time, and sometimes these problems bother us. Finding solutions to these problems without complaining is precisely what it means to creatively overcome the issues.

We can start working on such projects by listing the issues that are present in our house, school, community, and village.

For example, finding a way to store all the books and clothes in as little space as possible in the closet, making and arranging things that can help us get ready in as little time as possible, organizing containers to minimize a mother's efforts to use them, testing if the milkman adulterates the milk, identifying habits of the people that make the building complex dirty, understanding which newspapers classmates receive at home, what they read, where the children working in shops or at a construction site come from, why they need to work, and finding a way to prevent passengers from traveling without a ticket on the buses.

Once such a list is ready, find out which question appeals to you the most. Think about the people who can help you find information and then make a list of questions for interviewing those people. Create a questionnaire if possible.

Suppose you have decided to work on the bicycle parking problem in your school. For that, you will have to talk to the school supervisor, the principal, parents, students, and the security personnel in your school. Prepare a separate questionnaire for each one of them. Questions should focus on examining the attitudes of these people toward the problem, relevant numbers, and different alternatives to solve the problem. Decide the number of people who will be part of your survey. Compile the information after you receive the completed questionnaires back from the people, record the number of responses, and write the concluding results.

What kind of information can you get by making actual observations? Fix the times for taking observations to find out the time when the maximum number of students go in and out of the parking lot, the way students park their bicycles, and other similar information. Take these observations at different times on multiple days and then create a chart from them. Finalize 3-4 questions that you like the most. After that, make a list of 8-10 questions on each issue that will help you in understanding the scope of your problem, like:

·       What should be the best parking arrangement in the school?

·       How many students use bicycles?

·       The proportion of girls/boys and upper classes/lower classes students that use bicycles.

·       How many students bring bicycles daily?

·       What kind of damage happens to bicycles when they are parked in the parking lot?

·       Do bicycles often get stolen?

This will help you realize the scope of the problem. Now think about what you can do, what you would like to do, and which topic needs more attention. Find answers to these questions, and then decide on the final topic. Prioritize all the topics, and then make a final decision. At this stage, you will have to decide who should be interviewed and what observations you will have to take to identify the real issue.

After this, use the data obtained from the questionnaire to make informative charts and graphs. Draw inferences based on the various types of data that you have compiled. You will get a precise picture of the social issue through this exercise. The results obtained from this exercise will also help us later to find possible solutions to the problem, write an action plan, and experiment with it.

For this particular stage of problem rectification, you will have to learn a few statistical concepts such as calculating averages, making graphs, and so on. Once you comprehend the problem from all perspectives, you will be able to plan various experiments to find a solution to the problem or come up with an action plan and test its implementation. Experiments can be done for issues like milk adulteration, malnutrition, pollution, trash generation, and so on. Issues like traffic problems, parking problems, and unhygienic habits will need a plan of action that will have to be implemented and tested with a small test group. We can use the results obtained from these experiments to propose solutions to many social issues on a wider scale.

Ultimately, the research should lead to an answer that satisfies the needs of society. Even a minor problem in society can and should be resolved with appropriate solutions. Often, such issues do not have a straightforward answer and therefore need out-of-the-box thinking to find the answers.

While working on social science projects, we develop a deep understanding of society and its issues.

Demonetization happened in the country in November 2016. Some students from Bal Vikas Mandir, a school in Solapur, conducted interviews to learn what difficulties shopkeepers, the general public, shops, and banks had to face because of demonetization. Ordinary people like homemakers and college students were asked to fill out a questionnaire through which the students tried to assess their respondents' understanding of demonetization. Then the students came up with different ways to help the affected people, such as providing water to those standing in the queues outside banks, offering temporary shelter to them, assisting them in filling out their applications, and so on. After knowing what the students were offering to the community, officials from various banks requested the school for the groups of students supporting the public.

Another group of socially aware students studied the conditions and the needs of child laborers working at the railway station and traffic signals. After realizing the gravity of the problem of migration of the sugarcane laborers, Jnana Prabodhini started multiple sugar schools as a solution.

The lack of cleanliness and overall hygiene at public places, bus stops, and railway stations led to the idea of public toilets 'Sulabh International,' and now we have them all across the country.

A group of students from Thane saw and studied the water pollution caused by waste disposal during the Ganesh festival and suggested a few remedies like idol donation and worship residuals collection drives, which would otherwise land in water bodies, polluting them. These remedies are being implemented in many places today.

Numerous large-scale schemes and projects are currently addressing societal challenges, drawing inspiration from the research conducted by diverse groups of students. These challenges extend beyond individual families to encompass the broader scope of society, from local communities and suburbs to towns. Public facilities, which we frequently utilize, also face numerous issues. Rather than merely complaining about these problems, our approach should be proactive. We should engage in collaborative projects, striving to uncover appropriate information and devise innovative, practical solutions. This endeavor will undoubtedly enhance our understanding of the society we inhabit. It demonstrates the essence of discovering innovative solutions to social issues.

Prashant Divekar

Jnana Prabodhini, Pune

( This article is published in book titled 

: Learning to Explore: Project by Project) 

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