Sandarbh - Issue 02 (November-December 1994)

  1. Deducing History From Clues Compiled by Rashmi Paliwal
    [Hindi PDF, 639 kB]
    A fundamental principle in historical investigations is to collect evidences from various sources, compare and contrast them with each other and try to draw some inferences. Rashmi Paliwal suggests that a history class should also give students a similar exposure. The point is illustrated by giving a concrete example of a dead body (Tollund man) found sometime in 1950 in Denmark. The available information is provided to the students and is open for analysis.

  2. Spring Comes From Darkness by Sushil Joshi[Hindi PDF, 584 kB]
    Continuing the discussion on how do plants know when to flower, Sushil Joshi discusses the effect of two more variables – length of day and night (to be precise, the time for which leaves remain in dark) and the temperature – on flowering. Supporting evidence is provided and the discussion moves on to Bamboo which is an exception and scientists have still not been able to explain it.

  3. Neither A Fungus Nor An Algae - Lichens Are Something New by Deepak Verma and Kishore Powar
    [Hindi PDF, 864 kB]
    What are Lichens – an algae, a fungi, or neither? Some say that it is a symbiosis of both. So if it is a symbiosis of both, can an algae or a fungi come together and make lichen? Once a lichen dries, does it mean it is dead? What all factors affect lichens' growth? The article explores these questions in detail.

  4. Anarko's First Day by Satyu [Hindi PDF, 559 kB]
    Anarko is a young girl. She questions everything around her and gets irritated if she does not get a convincing answer. She rebels against the imposed discipline by elders. She does not understand why everything is decided by her parents including what should she do in future and why she does not have autonomy on these issues. Sometimes she starts dreaming about her future. 'Anarko's eight days' is a beautiful fantasy which illustrates Anarko's eight dreams. The article describes her first dream.

  5. Where There Is A Doubt, A Question Will Surely Follow by Sunil Joshi [Hindi PDF, 295 kB]
    Given a chance, children bring in all sorts of questions from their experiences to their class. They also question things which have become norms in society and are generally not questioned by anyone. Many times, children don't get any encouragement for these questions – neither from their teachers nor from elders in family. Sunil Joshi raises his concern on this.

  6. Zara Sir To Khujlaiye [Hindi PDF, 227 kB]
    Three puzzles to test your understanding of basics of motion and geometry.

  7. Bright Lighting At A Low Cost by Pramod Upadhyaya [Hindi PDF, 908 kB]
    It can be safely assumed these days that everyone is familiar with tubelights. The article provides an explanation for how does a tubelight work, what is the role of its various components like starter or choke, and so on.

  8. Summers And Winters On Earth by Rashmi Paliwal and Yemuna Sunny [Hindi PDF, 720 kB]
    The article explores highschool children's conceptions of seasons. The authors share their experience of teaching this topic and point out how difficult it is to explain the phenomenon. On the other side, textbooks explain the concept in very concise manner. As the nature of the phenomenon is very abstract, suggestions are invited from readers to teach it better.

  9. Water-Testing In School Laboratories [Hindi PDF, 817 kB]
    Science and society influence each other in multiple ways. It has always been a matter of concern among science educators how can they motivate students to apply their learning in science to address some real-life problems. Water is one of the very important resource for every living being and water-testing for presence of various chemicals, acidity, hardness etc provides that opportunity. The article describes some low-cost methods to test water for its acidity. Initial investigations were conducted in the mining area of Piparia, M.P. by highschool students of nearby schools. The resource support was provided by Eklavya, Kishor Bharti and Envirotech Ltd., Delhi.

  10. Accumulation of DDT In Our Bodies [Hindi PDF, 172 kB]
    DDT was suggested as a scientific solution to deal with pests. In Indian fields, it was extensively used in 70s and 80s. Later studies showed that it had some long term effects on human and other animals' health. The article warns us of using DDT as it eventually reaches animals' bodies and keeps accumulating inside.

  11. If The Flower Grows Above The Ground, How Can The Fruit Grow Below The Ground?  Sawaliram answers prepared by Ramkripal Singh Chouhan [Hindi PDF, 718 kB]
    Sawaliram answers three questions received from various children: 1) How is it possible the peanuts (fruit) grow below the ground while the flowers grow above the ground, 2) What is Saabudaana, how is it made, 3) Weight of a body is different on different planets. How can we know the real weight of a body

  12. A Brief Look At What Primary School Students Know About Mathematics by Yateesh Kanungo
    [Hindi PDF, 602 kB]
    Preliminary survey and some base line tests reveal that primary children face lot of difficulty in arithmetics. But why do they face so much of difficulty? The author attempts to locate the roots of the problem in primary teachers' ill-preparation in subject matter. He asks a very pertinent question here i. e. how to break the vicious cycle – by reforming teacher trainings where the focus is mostly on teaching pedagogical skills and not the subject matter, or working directly at primary level, or do something else.

  13. Ghanshyam Kee Nazar Se by Ghanshyam Tiwari [Hindi PDF, 211 kB]
    Ghanshyam illustrates beautifully the scene of a primary school where children are having fun, domestic animals have occupied some space in the school premises and the teacher is reluctantly lying on a cot. Obviously no teaching is happening in the school.

  14. The Child's Language and The Teacher by Krishna Kumar [Hindi PDF, 733 kB]
    Student-student conversations are generally not encouraged in our schools. Krishna Kumar talks about various opportunities of learning in these conversations. He argues that students need to be motivated to talk about their personal experiences, their school lives, the pictures/illustrations appearing in newspapers, magazines, calenders, hoardings or elsewhere, discuss stories and enact plays. This together provides a very rich environment for learning and he urges that a teacher should just attempt to facilitate this process.

  15. Conversing With Children: An Experience by Venu Endle [Hindi PDF, 163 kB]
    Venu talks about one of her experiences of conversing with children. She was amused to see their imagination when they constructed a story about flying crows and associated whole range of emotions with them.

  16. Why Can't All Schools Be Like Tottochan's School? by Tetsuko KuroYangi Book review by Prakash Kaant Translated by Poorva Yaggik Kushwaha [Hindi PDF, 699 kB]
    Tottochan is a story of a seven year old girl and her school which runs in an old train compartment. The story takes us to the imaginative world of Tottochan, shows some possibility of change in education system and leaves a note of warning against wars, in general.

  17. Why I Like Maths - Reasons From A Bygone Era by Rohit Dhankar [Hindi PDF, 655 kB]
    It is slightly unusual that somebody, other than a hardcore mathematician, writes about why he/she likes mathematics and not about the fear of mathematics. Rohit Dhankar traces his interest in the subject to his childhood experiences where he used to get lot of encouragement for solving puzzles and had to assist elders in keeping accounts. Very soon he realized that there is a set of fundamental principles and the most of the body of knowledge in mathematics can be derived from those principles. This realization of the axiomatic structure of mathematics and the reductionist approach of analysis were two other factors which made his life easy in mathematics and in general.

  18. Cheetah [Hindi PDF, 170 kB]
    We often talk about Cheetahs but what we see in a zoo or wild life sanctuary in India, is not a Cheetah ! Cheetahs have disappeared and the last Cheetah in India was located in 1948.
चीता
कुछ बातें-बीते जमाने की
क्यों नहीं हो सकते सारे स्कूल तोत्तोचान के स्कूल जैसे?
बच्चों से बातचीत : एक अनुभव
बच्चों की भाषा और अध्यापक
घनश्याम की नज़र से . . .
आगे पाठ पीछे सपाट
फूल ज़मीन के ऊपर तो फल नीचे कैसे-सवालीराम
शरीर में जमा होता डी.डी.टी.
पानी को जांचें परखें

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