Cognitive Well-being: The Bedrock of Every Classroom

At The Millennium School (TMS) we are cognizant of the cognitive dimension of well-being and strategically plan and design experiences for our students to address this aspect. The school’s strategies are rooted in the understanding that if at least 80% of instructional time is associated with academic subjects, then it is important for educators to ensure that students are cognitively well. The article elucidates a few of the strategies that are practiced by the school’s educators to build, enhance, and foster cognitive well-being.

Enriched curriculum: While the school follows the Indian curriculum, a conscious effort is made by every department to enrich its curriculum to meet the growing demands of the 21st century. For example, the school has invested in adaptive reading and mathematics educational applications that allow students to strengthen their concepts and skills in a fun and exciting way. The element of gaming brings in healthy competition to complete assigned tasks and strive towards accuracy, making students more active learners in the learning process. The curriculum has also been enriched to include bespoke programmes on well-being, critical thinking, sustainability, financial literacy, media literacy, to name a few. As students engage with these programmes they feel empowered towards becoming positive changemakers and problem-solvers.

Flipped learning: Curriculum implementation is largely done through the flipped learning model that encourages students to take up independent and passive learning aspects of a classroom at home. Through the timely provision of carefully curated pre-read resources such as videos and reading material, faculty provides opportunities to students to engage with content at their own pace and take steps towards understanding concepts at the lower end of Bloom’s taxonomy. This unrushed engagement helps students to identify areas that they are strong at and those that they are yet to comprehend. As students enter a lesson, a teacher, through thoughtfully crafted tasks, consolidates learning or determines areas where students may need support, intervention, and explanation. These tasks are pitched at the higher levels of Bloom’s taxonomy.

Very often, teachers start lessons at the lowest level of Bloom’s and then move upwards. What if we were to turn it around and start the lesson at the very highest level and then lower the level only if students require it? In this way, students engage with the level of challenge that is best suited to them during lessons, and they do not need to be cognitively disengaged if lessons start at the very lowest level. Thus, for cognitive well-being to be preserved in lessons, teachers need to ensure that every student encounters productive struggle but feels adequately supported and challenged.

At TMS, lessons have become vibrant spaces of learning where students are active learners instead of traditional lessons where they are passive learners, often found daydreaming and doodling. Through the tasks, teachers not only deepen learning but also build 21st-century skills, making students future-ready. The teachers have shifted their role from being the'sage of the stage’ to a ‘guide on the side’. Most (85%) students have given very positive feedback on flipped learning and how it keeps their minds alert at school.

Support and challenge: A teacher’s role is not restricted to assigning tasks to students in a lesson but to meeting the needs of all students. Almost all educators have heterogenous abilities in their classrooms. Thus, ‘one size fits all’ does not allow the outliers to feel included in the process of learning. At TMS, we strive towards personalizing tasks that are data-driven. Using several data sets, teachers curate tasks that meet the needs of students. The difference is based on the extent of support and challenge that is provided to learners. Typically, supporting and scaffolding learning is undertaken for students with special needs and low achievers and extending and challenging the higher-ability or gifted and talented students of the class. However, at TMS, educators believe that it is possible that even the special needs and low achievers need challenges to improve their outcomes. Similarly, it is very likely that the high achievers and gifted and talented need support to address their tasks. Hence, it is important to think of the support and challenge that is required for every student when designing learning experiences. As mentioned under flipped learning, support and challenge are critical ingredients to make learning enriching, engaging, and meaningful.

Student agency: If we believe that the role of a school is to promote learning, then students should have the agency to make their learning visible through a medium of their choice. At TMS, it was our students who questioned why teachers needed to be prescriptive in the way they would like to see learning, especially in notebooks. Students raised questions around why all notebooks of a class needed to look the same. They suggested personalization not only in lessons but also in notebook learning. For example, instead of teachers asking all students to draw mind maps, write running notes and summarize the key points for a unit of study, students suggested that they be permitted to choose any one method to express their learning. This would reduce the repetition in summarizing learning, giving them more time to deepen their learning or pursue other interests. Students’ suggestions have been implemented at school, resulting in visible diffrentiation in notebooks. Students have also reported enhanced engagement in demonstrating their learning in notebooks, rather than it being a chore to complete.

Student agency comes in varied forms. An initiative that is sought after at school is the Mentoring Programme. Here, senior students adopt juniors who may have academic concerns and mentor them through their summer vacations, free lessons, and even lunch breaks. Younger students feel safe to ask the older ones their doubts, strengthening their academic concepts, resulting in improved sense of belonging. Furthermore, peer and self-assessment of learning through exemplars shared by faculty members allows students to not only analyze errors but also feel confident and take responsibility of their own learning.

Project-based learning: Research has demonstrated several advantages when students engage with projects, leading to deepened learning, authentic experiences, and enhanced understanding of the curriculum. As students select projects of their choice, they apply their knowledge to real-world issues. Through inquiry, reflection, and feedback, students hone their curiosity, build 21st-century skills, and seek solutions. Furthermore, collaborative projects add a dimension of social interaction. Like at most schools, at TMS too, most grades undertake group projects. The addition is that our kindergarteners and their parents participate in a 6-month, theme-based, collaborative project that brings families together.

Holding environment: Underlying the pedagogical practices is the requirement of a nurturing holding environment. The holding environment refers to an optimum environment in which students can learn effectively. This requires teachers to create a culture of trust and care that allows students to engage in exploration without fear of judgement. Within this supportive environment, students embrace failures as opportunities for growth, actively seek and incorporate developmental feedback, and adopt a resilient mindset. An important aspect is developing students’ executive functioning skills that help them to set goals, make plans and manage emotions. In other words, students feel safe and secure to experiment, raise questions, challenge, share concerns, and provide respectful feedback. Furthermore, teachers must help students believe in themselves. The relationship that students share with their teachers and the underlying culture of the school buttress students’ cognitive well-being. The measures, programmes and initiatives placed to foster social-emotional, spiritual, and physical well-being provide the necessary foundation for cognitive well-being.

To conclude, the journey of embedding cognitive well-being in lessons began several years ago at
The Millennium School, when educators began making microshifts in their pedagogical practice.
Whilst the shifts in practice were initially aimed at improving student learning and outcomes, we
soon realized the strength of the spillover benefits of increased student engagement in lessons and
enhanced cognitive well-being. Over time, educators have continued to hone their practice to
meet the needs of students and foster a culture of cognitive flourishing. To sustain this culture,
Regular reflection and feedback among educators is prioritized. By sharing experiences and
strategies, teachers enhance their practice collectively, reinforcing the foundational principles of
trust and support that underpin our educational philosophy.

Written by Dr Ambika Gulati, Prinicpal at the Millenium School