Sandarbh - Issue 03 (January-February 1995)
- A Debate Leads To Conclusions by Rajendra Dubey [Hindi PDF, 330 kB]
Children know a lot of things about their surroundings and they keep bringing their experiences, questions and knowledge in their class as well. A teacher just needs to be little sensitive about it. Rajendra Dubey, a middle school science teacher, shares his experience of providing a democratic space in his classroom. How a debate on a very simple issue like food of animals becomes a matter of heated discussion and how emergent conflicts are resolved in collaborative learning space, is discussed in this article. - Straightforward Questions - Complicated Answers by Amitabha Mukherjee [Hindi PDF, 574 kB]
Children's questions do not see any boundary. Sometimes they may seem straightforward but answers to these questions are often quite intricate. Amitabha Mukherjee talks about his experience of addressing some such questions collected under Sawaliram scheme. As a group of subject experts at IIT Kanpur attempts to answer some children's questions, they realize how difficult is the whole exercise especially to explain it in a language which children of a certain age can understand. - Indicators Are All Around Us by Purushottam Khandekar [Hindi PDF, 162 kB]
One doesn't need to depend on sophisticated chemicals to do experiments in science. Purushottam Khandekar discusses how different flowers can be used as indicators to distinguish acids and bases. - An Ammonia Fountain by Prashant Sahu [Hindi PDF, 524 kB]
Ammonia gas can be identified from a distance because of its intense smell. The article describes a low-cost method to prepare ammonia. An interesting project of making a fountain using ammonia gas is also discussed. - All The Forces In Play.. by Anita Rampal [Hindi PDF, 909 kB]
Force is one of the difficult concepts in physics. Not only students but also their teachers keep getting confused about forces acting on a body and the relationship between force and motion. The article takes up some everyday situations to discuss 'hidden' forces like friction, gravity and normal reaction. The interesting part is the way these forces are introduced. Galileo's contribution in the development of our understanding of motion and force and thought experiment as a method of knowledge construction is also discussed in between. - It Was An Exam, Nevertheless... by The Social Science Program, Eklavya [Hindi PDF, 909 kB]
Open-book examination was a unique feature of Eklavya's Science or Social science programme. The article shares experiences of trying it out in the context of social science and the key challenges which were faced during this experiment. - Using Picture Cards To Teach Children Language by Ganga Gupta [Hindi PDF, 965 kB]
Ganga Gupta, a primary school teacher, shares her experience of teaching place value and writing single-syllable words using concrete objects and stories as a pedagogical tool. In her diary, she writes about all the difficulties she had to face in teaching various things, which pedagogy was more successful, which did not go that well and how these reflections help her to improvise her teaching. - Come, Let's Play School-School by Yateesh Kanungo [Hindi PDF, 506 kB]
The article is a satire on current education system. Various schemes are in operation to bring students to school, a lot of funds are flowing for that but there is no investment on school infrastructure. The teachers are at the bottom-most position of the system, they are assigned numerous non-academic tasks like counting animals in their village or distributing condoms and they do not get any perks. There is no encouragement for teaching. The system is just not concerned about students' learning. - A Map Of The World by Yemuna Sunny [Hindi PDF, 674 kB]
The article ventures into the problems of representing world map on a plain paper. It argues that when the world map is translated from globe to a plain paper, many characteristics of the map are lost. A plain paper map can not do justice to all the parameters of interest (e.g. shape and surface area of different continents, distance between two points on a globe, etc). The politics behind making distorted maps is also touched upon. - Ozone Is Produced From Oxygen Sawaliram [Hindi PDF, 499 kB]
Sawaliram answers children's questions related to formation of ozone, role of ultraviolet rays in that process and the harm these rays can cause to human beings. Why flat-foot people are not qualified for army and why arch shape of human feet is such a crucial parameter in fitness tests, is the other question that has been addressed in the article. - Zara Sir To Khujlaiye [Hindi PDF, 665 kB]
Three puzzles related to basics of motion and geometry were asked in Issue 2. They are answered here. Another puzzle is given which is related to one of the experiments Faraday had conducted in his lab. - Testing The Quality Of Water [Hindi PDF, 271 kB]
Based on An Experiment With Students and Teachers In Parasia Based on experiments done with Parasia students and teachers, the article describes a low-cost way to test water for its basicity. The article supplements the article 'Water-testing in school laboratories' that appeared in Issue 2 and which was about measuring acidity of water. - Ghanshyam Kee Nazar Se by Ghanshyam Tiwari [Hindi PDF, 210 kB]
A pictorial representation of various non-academic tasks, a government teacher does as part of his/her duty and the problems of multi-grade classrooms. - The Memory Of September The First by Ferentz Mora Translated by Bharat Bhushan
[Hindi PDF, 837 kB]
The story is a personal account of Ferentz Mora. Reflecting on his childhood experience, the author describes the way social class determines the kind of education one gets, how it restricts opportunities for poor and marginalized and how social inequality is perpetuated and reproduced through education. - The Spread Of Plastic by Subodh Javadekar Book review by K. R. Sharma [Hindi PDF, 662 kB]
The article is a review of the book called 'Plastic hi plastic' written by Subodh Javadekar and published by CSIR. Beginning with the historical account of plastic, the book explores the chemistry behind plastic, the range of plastic available in market today, consumption of plastic across globe, its impact on environment and several other related aspects. Towards the end of the article, the reviewer questions the model of development which the book seems to follow and propagate. - An Elephant Calf... by K. R. Sharma [Hindi PDF, 177 kB]
How does an elephant calf intake milk? Does she use her mouth or her trunk? The short article answers these queries of a child.