Habitat and Learning

1.6 POSITION PAPER NATIONAL FOCUS GROUP ON HABITAT AND LEARNING ISBN 81-7450-494-X First Edition Mach 2006 Chaitra 1928 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or PD 5T BS transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. © National Council of Educational This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade, be lent, re- Research and Training, 2006 sold, hired out or otherwise disposed of without the publisher’s consent, in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published. The correct price of this publication is the price printed on this page, Any revised price indicated by a rubber stamp or by a sticker or by any other means is incorrect and should be unacceptable. OFFICES OF THE PUBLICATION DEPARTMENT, NCERT NCERT Campus Sri Aurobindo Marg New Delhi 110 016 108, 100 Feet Road Hosdakere Halli Extension Banashankari III Stage Bangalore 560 085 Navjivan Trust Building P.O.Navjivan Ahmedabad 380 014 CWC Campus Rs. 20.00 Opp. Dhankal Bus Stop Panihati Kolkata 700 114 CWC Complex Maligaon Guwahati 781 021 Publication Team Head, Publication : P. Rajakumar Department Chief Production : Shiv Kumar Officer Chief Editor : Shveta Uppal Chief Business : Gautam Ganguly Manager Printed on 80 GSM paper with NCERT watermark Editor : Bijnan Sutar Published at the Publication Department Production Assistant : Arun Chitkara by the Secretary, National Council of Educational Research and Training, Sri Cover and Layout Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi 110 016 and Shweta Rao printed at Bengal Offset Works, 335, Khajoor Road, Karol Bagh, New Delhi 110 005 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Taking good care of the human habitat, that is, of the environment that nurtures us, is emerging as one of the most significant concerns of the new millennium. As humanity endeavours to move onto a path of sustainable development, even as it enters the Information Age, it is evident that we need a new paradigm for education. Environmental education (EE) is ideally placed to serve as the lever for this paradigm shift that would focus, not on memorising what authoritative textbooks decree to be correct answers in order to reproduce them to get good grades, but instead on learning, on building capacity for critical thinking and problem solving. Since holistic thinking is at the heart of EE, the new paradigm would replace sectoral thinking by multidisciplinary thinking. The human habitat displays tremendous variability in space and time, and its understanding has to be locale specific, albeit in the context of a global vision. A great deal of the knowledge of the environment lies with India’s barefoot ecologists, the people at the grass roots, and the new paradigm will be participatory, engaging members of local communities and will be sensitive to issues of diversity, gender and equity. Given its intrinsic variability, each manifestation of the human habitat tends to be unique. Its understanding is, therefore, not amenable to the classical scientific approach of experimentation, usually based on replication. Instead, understanding of such complex systems requires extensive locality and time-specific observations, careful documentation, and an elucidation of the patterns and underlying processes based on comparisons of systems that differ from each other in some selected parameters. There is hardly any good quality documentation available today of the many facets of India’s environment, such as the depth of the underground water table, and it is feasible to create such documentation on the basis of student projects. It would be possible to upload the results of such projects on a publicly accessible website, thereby creating a transparent and comprehensive database on India’s environment. By inviting not only experts, but also all interested citizens to assess the quality of such projects and augment their results, a self-correcting system could be set up that would lead to an organic growth of our understanding of the Indian environmental scenario and concrete ways of undertaking positive action. Including such knowledge-generation activities as a part of the educational process would greatly enhance the quality of the educational experience as well. Of course, working towards such a paradigm shift is a major challenge and the Group recommends that we do so through efforts in six major areas: • Curricula revision; • Materials development: conventional media; iv • Taking advantage of Information and Communication Technology (ICT); • Teacher preparation; • Evaluation system; • The school habitat; The Group has also sketched a road map for organising this effort over a period of five years, beginning serious work from the first year onwards. The Group recognises that the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s judgment emphasising the necessity of teaching EE as a compulsory subject at all stages underscores the significance of the concerns addressed by our Group, and is an important impetus towards the required changes. It suggests a model of systematic infusion of EE into the curricula of all disciplines, with clearly earmarked time periods for undertaking the pertinent activities. The Group sincerely believes that if our recommendations are accepted, the resulting actions would follow the Supreme Court judgment in letter as well as in spirit. MEMBERS OF NATIONAL FOCUS GROUP ON HABITAT AND LEARNING Prof. Madhav Gadgil (Chairman) Prof. Jayshree Sharma Centre for Ecological Sciences Professor Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Department of Education in Science and Bangalore, Karnataka Mathematics (DESM) NCERT, New Delhi Shri Arvind Gupta Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Dr V.P. Srivastava Astrophysics Reader Pune, Maharashtra Department of Education in Science and Mathematics (DESM) Dr Shobhit Mahajan NCERT, New Delhi Director Delhi University Computer Centre Dr Tanu Malik Delhi Lecturer Department of Education in Social Sciences and Dr Kartikeya V. Sarabhai Humanities (DESSH) Director NCERT, New Delhi Centre for Environment Education Ahmedabad, Gujarat Prof. M. Chandra (Member-Secretary) Head Shri Anupam Mishra Department of Education in Science and Gandhi Peace Foundation Mathematics (DESM) New Delhi NCERT, New Delhi Invitees Prof. Shekhar Pathak Shri Rajendra Joshi Department of History Department of Education in Science and Kumaon University Mathematics (DESM) Nainital, Uttar Pradesh NCERT, New Delhi Dr K.C. Malhotra Dr. Kiran Walia 385, Sector 29 Department of Teacher Education and Extension Noida, Uttar Pradesh (DTE&E) NCERT, New Delhi CONTENTS Executive Summary ...iii Members of National Focus Group on Habitat and Learning ...v 1. INTRODUCTION ...1 1.1 Exploring the Human Habitat ...1 1.2 An Enormous Challenge ...1 1.3 A Continuing Effort ...1 2. STATUS OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION IN SCHOOL EDUCATION ...2 2.1 Background ...2 2.1.1 Initiatives at the State/UT levels ...3 2.1.2 Initiatives by other agencies ...3 2.2 Present Status ...3 2.2.1 Primary and upper primary stages ...4 2.2.2 Secondary stage ...4 2.2.3 Higher secondary stage ...4 2.3 Shortcomings ...4 3. NEED FOR A PARADIGM SHIFT ...4 3.1 Objectives of Environmental Education ...4 3.2 New Paradigm ...5 3.3 Method of Science ...5 3.4 Systems: Simple and Complex ...6 3.5 Value of Observations ...7 3.6 Comparative Method ...7 3.7 Recording new Facts ...7 3.8 Publicly Accessible Database ...8 3.9 Scientific Exercises ...9 3.10 Karnataka Experience ...9 3.11 Relational Database Management System ...9 3.12 A Worthy Challenge ...10 4. IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY ...10 4.1 A Step-by-Step Approach ...10 4.2 Components ...11 4.2.1 Curricula revision ...11 4.2.2 Development of material: conventional media ...11 4.2.3 Taking advantage of ICT ...11 4.2.4 Teacher preparation ...11 4.2.5 Evaluation system ...12 viii 4.2.6 The school habitat ...12 4.3 The Methodology for Developing these Components ...12 4.3.1 The curriculum framework ...12 4.3.2 Syllabi and instructional material ...13 4.3.3 Projects and activities ...13 4.3.4 Assessment and examinations ...14 4.3.5 Teacher Empowerment and orientation of other Functionaries ...14 4.4 Flow Chart for Implementation of EE at a Glance ...16 5. ROAD MAP FOR IMPLEMENTATION...18 5.1 Monitoring ...18 6. CONCLUSION ...21 7. APPENDICES ...22 7.1 Basket of Activities ...22 7.1.1 Physics ...22 7.1.2 Mathematics ...22 7.1.3 Computer science ...22 7.1.4 Chemistry ...23 7.1.5 Biology ...23 7.1.6 Geography ...23 7.1.7 History ...24 7.1.8 Political science ...24 7.1.9 Languages ...24 7.1.10 Music ...25 7.1.11 Art ...25 7.1.12 Craft ...25 7.1.13 Scheduled Castes/Tribes Issues ...26 7.1.14 Health ...26 7.1.15 Work Experience...26 7.1.16 Physical Education ...26 7.1.17 Gender ...26 7.2 The Supreme Court Order and Its Implications ...27 8. READING LIST ...29 8.1 Publishers of Material for Young Readers ...29 8.2 Useful Reference Books and Other Material for Young Readers ...29 8.3 Publishers of Teachers’ Material on the Environment ...34 8.4 Books and Other Material for Teachers ...35 8.5 Material for Undergraduates ...38 1 1. INTRODUCTION emphasise continual inquiry. An important challenge before us is to inject into the learning process a spirit 1.1 Exploring the Human Habitat of questioning, to rid it of rote learning and of ‘Habitat and Learning’ is the theme of a focus group unquestioning acceptance of authority. Rather, the set up as part of the National Curriculum Review process of EE must become a vehicle for engaging process. Habitat is where any specie finds conditions young minds in the excitement of first-hand that permit it to thrive.

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