Osaka International

Learning through Play

'Animals who need to learn more, play more. Those with fixed and inherited instincts play not at all.'

This famous quote is the base of our entire philosophy. We believe in the need for play. Children must play! Children do not have fixed instincts. In order to learn they need to play, and so the idea of naming the school Scottish Academy, came from the gardens of Acadamae where Plato, arguably the greatest philosopher of all, taught his students. Scottish Academy's education method is based on Froebel's philosophy. Frederic Froebel was a German educator who founded the world's first institution for very young children. He created the word "Kindergarten".

In Froebel's philosophy, a newborn child is like a ripe piece of fruit that has just fallen off from a tree and is full of self-growing ability. Every activity of young children shows their ability and development as human beings. Their activities are the process by which they develop themselves freely driven by their inner impulse.

Healthy children are active beings who always work on the outer world. They keep making efforts to understand what they have not yet acquired and what they have not yet recognized. They are trying to be creators of their own worlds.

Each generation has more to learn than the previous generation. Older generations are always shocked by the amount that the younger generations know. Nowadays even small children play with mobile telephones as well as multi-buttoned business type telephones.

At Scottish Academy we are prepared to provide opportunities to encourage knowledge. We have three computers and one toy computer. This toy computer was specially imported from Scotland to help the very young children master control of themselves viz-a-viz computer manners and mouse control. The two-year-olds use a Macintosh with appropriate software. Reader Rabbit is currently being used. The three-year-olds and above, not only use more sophisticated software such as "Become a World Explorer" and "I Can Be an Animal Doctor," but also have the chance to enter, retrieve and save programmes on a Windows computer. With this carefully prepared plan, teachers know that children are learning.. The children however think that they are playing. Play is not idle behaviour. Play is intellectual activity engineered to scientifically explore the world.

In Japan much mention is made of the Montessori method. This method is also based on idea that "Children are born with an ability to grow and develop themselves. Montessori uses hands on methods. At Scottish Academy the teachers automatically use the Montessori method but they also follow the Froebel method of devoting themselves to sensing the children's needs.

Maud Ramsay studied Montessori methods and then took her studies on to a higher realm whereby she not only studied the Froebel method but also gained a certificate from the National Froebel Foundation as indicated by the letters NFF after her name.