Vincent Kundukulam
Although the pandemic is considered to be a disaster, it is becoming a blessing in many domains of life thanks to the creative efforts of scientists, thinkers and professionals. Education is one of such fields. So far, the physical space was considered to be the ideal for teaching. But the online education has prompted educationists to think of using other spaces in learning.
Henri Lefebvre in his book The Productions of Space (1974) has dealt with three types of space. They are perceived space, conceived space and lived space. The perceived space is that which is seen and physically real to us. The conceived space is the world of ideas, abstractions and concepts, which is familiar to us in the thinking process. The lived space is that which is experienced in social and religious realms, mainly through symbols. Until now, we have been largely depending up on the visible spaces like classrooms, libraries, playgrounds and halls for educational purposes. The positive factor is that they occupy all our senses and are concomitant with the present social and economic order. But they have their disadvantages too. The main drawback is that they elbow out students’ potential for conceptualisation and experience.
With the online education, the conceived and lived spaces have made their way into the learning process and we see certain positive features in it. As regards catechesis, online teaching gives a great opening to use lived space for the transmission of faith. We enter the lived space mainly through images and symbols related to the sacred order. The symbolic mediums may seem to be abstract but they can be served as fertile ground of experiencing faith if we use them diligently and creatively. For example, analyse the way teachers employs to take the lesson on Jesus the shepherded. Usually, they read and explain the lesson in the text book and if the teacher is smart s/he may use a few clips from the films on Jesus. Faith transmission will be highly effective if the use of lived space is consciously planned and pedagogically executed. Let us see closely how it can be effectively done.
At first, there must be a well-prepared documentary film on the life of a shepherd. As a second step, the teacher must ask the students to watch it online during the class. Thirdly a sharing session is to be conducted. Let the students share on who is a shepherd? how does he respond to the needs of the sheep? What are the challenges he faces? and so on. The fourth stage of the process is to show a few clips regarding Jesus the shepherd. Fifth phase is the second turn of sharing where the students shall be asked to compare and contrast the life and deeds of an ordinary shepherd with that of Jesus. Finally, teacher shall intervene by way of complementing and synthesizing Christian vision regarding of Jesus the shepherd. It is also an instance for the teacher to rectify the false notions in students about Jesus, if any.
Such an exercise, based on the conceived and lived spaces, accords great amount of freedom to the students to feel and think originally. Instead of conforming to teacher’s traditional ways, in this methodology students experience Jesus making use of their cognitive and affective potential. Here, transmission of faith is not prescriptive. There is no donor and receiver in this process. Understanding and making meanings are entirely products of students. They go through dense conceptual entities and get visceral experience of symbols. The advantage is that students’ mental capacities shall expand and they can mould new architectural structures regarding Jesus. Besides, it will create unseen relationships between knowledge, religion and culture in pupils and that shall enhance their identities as Christians.
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