revised_tpt_may_june_17 combine

Editorial 

May/Jun, 2017 Vol. 04 No. 02 

DELBIL/2014/55800 

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21 st Century Skills 

Greetings from The Progressive Teacher. 

21 st century skills are the skills today’s children 

need to thrive in school, in college and 

beyond. The 3 R’s - learning basic reading, 

writing and arithmetic is still a must. But it’s 

not enough. Our children need additional 

cognitive skills in order to thrive in today’s 

world. Modern children need to be able to 

synthesize information in context so that they 

can effectively communicate and collaborate 

with their fellow students and, eventually, 

their co-workers. We should help them learn to 

use technology as a tool to research, organize, 

collaborate, communicate and evaluate. 

According to Dr. Tony Wagner of Harvard 

University, ‘There are two major trends in the 

world that pose a fundamental challenge – and 

offer many opportunities - to our educational 

systems. One is the world is shifting from an 

industrial economy to a knowledge economy. 

The other is the rising generation - brought up 

on the Internet - is very differently motivated 

to learn.’ So we have to reconceptualize 

education and fill in the global achievement 

gap by imparting 21 st century skills to the new 

generation. 

The first tier of these skills are - Collaboration 

and teamwork; Creativity and imagination; 

Critical thinking; Problem solving. The second 

tier of important 21 st century skills are - 

Flexibility and adaptability; Global and cultural 

awareness; Information literacy; Leadership. 

The driving force for the 21 st century is the 

intellectual capital of citizens. Political, social 

and economic advances during this millennium 

will be possible only if the intellectual potential 

of the younger generation is developed now. 

We are warned by experts that our children 

need improved 21 st century skills. Without 

these skills, they will not be able to 

successfully participate in the global economy. 

They won’t be adequately prepared for college 

and work. 

We live in a global society which means 

that now, more than ever, awareness is the 

key. Students need to develop a broader 

understanding of the world. This means 

helping your students understand global 

issues, such as environmental awareness, 

economic, financial and business awareness. 

You can also help them 

grasp the importance 

of health and wellness 

awareness. Of course, 

content knowledge is imperative, but students 

also need to develop their personal skills, such 

as leadership, adaptability and self-direction. 

By working with your students, you can 

nurture the development of 21 st century skills 

that will help them succeed in school and in 

life. 

In this issue of The Progressive Teacher, 

you will come across diverse views of the 

practitioners on essential 21st Century Skills. P 

V Satya Ramesh shares with us an invaluable 

experience when he led a group of twenty-six 

boys to an adventure camp from the pages 

of a Teacher’s Diary; Ashok Singh Guleria 

through Visualizing 21 st Century Teaching 

exhorts school leaders, teachers and parents 

to introspect where we are heading in terms of 

education; Alka Mahajan redefines Classroom 

Boundaries to provide the right direction to 

our students by exploring new horizons; Yuvraj 

Krishan Sharma makes learning mathematics 

exciting by bringing it into the everyday lives 

of children; Mitashi Pawar shows The Power 

of Positive Self Talk; Steve Revington takes 

us on The Remarkable, Impactful Journey of 

Authentic Learning in the current scenario; 

Manmeet Kaur Reen tells the teachers How 

You Learn Best by understanding the various 

learning styles; Vini Sebastian emphasizes 

on Enrichment Orientation in Schools while 

Arti Prasad underlines the Importance of 

Environmental Education. Dr Shayama 

Chona, in her regular column on parenting, 

advises us how to Tackle Teen Tantrums with 

Understanding and Mona Shipley enlightens 

us on women empowerment through Sports 

and Gender. Plus there are many other articles 

catering to varied interests of the readers. 

I would like to invite you to share your 

experiences and views on New Trends in 

Education with the teaching fraternity at 

large, through the pages of the next issue of 

The Progressive Teacher. I look forward to your 

contribution to The Progressive Teacher. 

With best wishes 

Rita Wilson 

ritawilson@gmail.com 

Subscription / Missed copies helpline: 09350551466 

Rita Wilson has over 40 years of rich experience as educationist including over 30 years of experience in school 

leadership positions. She is the former Chief Executive and Secretary Council for the ICSE, New Delhi. 

She is a consultant to a number of corporate houses and educational institutions. She is serving as a Member of the 

Board of Governors/Managing Committees of some of the most prestigious schools and colleges of the country. 

She has vast exposure to the education systems of Japan, Germany, England, Thailand, Singapore, Sharjah, Dubai and 

Finland. She has initiated, conducted and organised workshops for school teachers and principals all over India 

With a B.A. (Hons) English Literature, M.A., M.Phil. (English Literature), B.Ed. to her credit, she has edited three 

series of English readers and work-books for school children. 

Mar/Apr 2017 

www.progressiveteacher.in 3

C O N T E N T 

10 

REDEFINING CLASSROOM 

BOUNDARIES 

In the last two decades, the world around us 

has changed drastically. With the penetration 

of technology and the internet, we are living in 

a fast-paced society. Workplaces have broken 

out of their cubicles and the knowledge we 

meticulously stored in our pages has crept into 

our pockets. It seems everything is expanding 

into a newer territory and aligning with the 

speed of change. 

–Alka Mahajan 

14 

Tackle Teen Tantrums 

with Understanding 

Reward and punishment can work to teach a child good social manners 

and acceptable behavior; but are not effective to produce good study 

habits, to be honest, to be kind, or to be a cooperative family member. 

Complex behavior patterns are really not taught, children learn them 

from their own experience in many situations, influenced by a variety of 

factors. 

–Dr Shayama Chona 

22 

IMPACT OF MEDITATION ON THE 

TEACHING – LEARNING PROCESS 

The soul loves to meditate, for in contact with the Spirit lies 

its greatest joy. The devotee who makes the supreme effort 

is the one who finds God, not the one who keeps seeking 

excuses saying, ‘Let me find a quiet place, then I’ll meditate’. 

Procrastinators will never reach God. But if you tell yourself, 

‘Right now, I will go deep in meditation’, you can be there in 

an instant. –Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda 

– Sreerekha CV 

43 

Environmental Education: 

Component Of Sustainable Development 

The ultimate aim and critical role of education is shaping human behaviour. It 

is our prime duty to take care of the well-being of the earth. The present day 

society needs to formulate an innovative Educational Policy aimed to evolve 

a ‘Complete Man’ with three major goals; Academic Excellence, Moral and 

Spiritual Values and Social Sensibilities. 

–Arti Prasad 

4 The Progressive Teacher 

May/Jun 2017

Editorial 03 


21 st Century Skills 06 

Visualising 21st century 

Teaching 


From a teacher's diary 


Redefining classroom 

boundaries 

21 st Century Skills Through 

Mathematics 12 

How children can learn 

Mathematics from daily lives 

Creativity 13 

Painting 

Parenting 14 

Tackle teen tantrums with 

understanding 

Learning Skills 16 

The power of positive self talk 

Learning 17 

The remarkable, impactful 

journey of Authentic Learning 

Learning Styles 19 

Understand how you learn best 

Learning 20 

Enrichment orientation 

in schools 

Holistic Approach 22 

Impact of meditation on the 

teaching – learning process 

May/Jun 2017 

Vol 04 I No 02 May/Jun 2017 

DELBIL/2014/55800 

62 

Principal Q&A 

Principal 

DR (MRS) VINEETA KAMRAN 

49 

IN THIS ISSUE 

Planner Pullout 23,42 

Classroom Display Pullout 24, 41 

Worksheet 

Class VII: Science 25 

Nutrition in plants 

Nutrition in animals 

Heat 

Acids, Bases and Salts 

Worksheet 29 

Class VIII: Mathematics 

Rational numbers 

Exponents and powers 

Algebraic expressions 

Factorisation 

Worksheet 33 

Class IX: Biology 

Diversity in living organisms 

Why do we fall ill? 

natural resources 

Improvement in food resources 

Worksheet 37 

Class X: Physics 

Light - Reflection and refraction 

The human eye and the 

colourful world 

Electricity 

Magnetic effects of 

electric current 

Environmental Education 43 

Environmental education: 

component of sustainable 

development 

ADOLESCENCE- not a drop in 

water but water in a drop 

Teens are becoming a widely discussed subject 

today as their changing lifestyles are bringing 

about a lot of change in the world. In the past, 

the lifestyle of teenagers was not the same as 

of now. In those days most of the teens were 

more interested in studies, sports, hobbies and 

day to day activities. But today it is different. 

Today, teenage life is all about movies, parties, 

mobile addiction, etc. 

–Surekha Nayani 

Lesson Planning 46 

Teaching for understanding 

and retention: investigative 

learning approach 

Character Building 49 

Adolescence – not a 

drop in water but water 

in a drop 

Project Work 51 

Project activity – the age 

of Elizabeth 

Sports 53 

Sports and gender 

(Women empowerment) 

Leadership 56 

Leadership 

Bookreviews 57 

Events 58 

Online registration portal 

launched for Cambridge 

English language 

assessment exams 

Australian prime minister 

and education minister 

meet with the winners 

of India schools video 

competition 

Fiction Reading for Students 60 

Principal Q&A 62 

Dr (Mrs) Vineeta Kamran 

The Asian Conference on Technology in the 

Classroom 2017 (ACTC2017) 

May 1-14, 2017 

Kobe, Japan 

http://iafor.org/conferences/actc2017/ 

RCH 25–27, 2017MARCH 25–27, 2017 

VI International Conference «Early Childhood 

Care and Education» ECCE 2017 


Moscow, , Russian Federation 

http://en.ecceconference.com 

International Conference on Law, 

Education, Humanities and Management 

(ICLEHM-17) 


Bangkok, Thailand 

http://iaohm.org/conference/104 

PATTAYA 3rd International Conference on 

Studies in Law, Education, Business and 

Corporate Social Responsibilities 

June 6-8, 2017 

6th to 8th June 2017 

Pattaya, Thailand 

http://flebp.org/conference/186 

EduTech International Congress & Expo 


Sydney 

http://www.edutech.net.au/contact.html 

6th International Conference on 

Multidisciplinary Research 


Taipei, Taiwan 

http://philair.ph/conference/index.php/ 

conference/6th/schedConf/overview 

K-12 Ed Leaders Congress 


Expo & Congresses International 

Convention Centre, Sydney 

http://www.edutech.net.au/k-12leaders.html 

The Future of Education, 7th edition 


Florence, Italy 

http://conference.pixel-online.net/ 

FOE/index.php 

ICELW 2017 - The 10th International 

Conference on E-Learning in the Workplace 


New York, United States 

http://www.icelw.org/ 

6th International Congress on Education 

and Learning 

June 14-16, 2016 

Milan, Italy 

http://oneducationandlearning.com/congress/ 

call-for-papers/ 

EdMedia 2017 - Educational Technology 

and Media World Conference 


Washington DC, DC, United States of America 

https://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia 

Global MindEd 


Denver, Colorado 

http://www.globalminded.org/index.html 

EDULEARN17 (9th annual International 

Conference on Education and New 

Learning Technologies) 

July 3-5, 2017 

Barcelona, Spain 

https://iated.org/edulearn/ 


21 st century skills 

Visualising 21 st century Teaching 

As we are moving briskly into the 21 century education system across our schools, it turns 

imperative to realize how important it is for leaders, teachers, school administrators and 

parents to realize and know where we are heading in terms of education, particularly, primary 

and secondary education. 

–Ashok Singh Guleria 

Since we are almost at the end of the 

first two decades of the century it 

becomes crucial to foresee the sociohistorical 

context and predict, anticipate and 

visualize the 21st century education scenario: 

teaching-learning processes, pedagogical 

methodologies and practices, the role of 

technology and media and the impact of 

globalization. 

Nowadays, at the beginning of the new 

school term, our school is holding teachers 

sessions on how to question the learners and 

enable them to get their answers. But besides 

asking and giving the learners a plethora 

of questions our educators, administrators, 

policy makers, teachers and stakeholders 

need to answer many questions themselves 

on the prospective relevance of teaching 

paradigm for the new century learners. I have 

some questions: 

• What do you need to teach your children 

to make them 21st century learners? 

• Why is it necessary to teach them the way 

they want to learn? 

• When and how will the learners be able to 

apply their learning experiences? 

• How will the learners fulfill their learning 

goals? 

• How do you plan to prepare the learners 

for life and living? 

• Are you preparing children for their age 

or yours? 

Teaching to Change 

and Changing to Teach: 

Almost all the working teachers in our 

schools having countable number of years 

of experience have degrees and diplomas to 

their credit enabling them to get into teaching 

profession. We come across many learners 

and see that we have new challenges and 

obligations towards our learners each year 

they spend with us. The degrees, diploma 

or experience we have may turn to be out 

dated until we update our professional 

competencies and skills to cater to the needs 

of 21 century learners. 

I was watching and observing our ever busy 

school gardener, Hari Ram rinsing and 

polishing the flower pots and filling them with 

new fertile soil for the new season’s saplings 

to grow. Similarly, the best way to shine up 

your profession is to remove the scratches of 

the obsolete past on it, to learn anew to shine 

your profession. One needs to learn first what, 

whom, why, where and how to teach in the 

changing scenario. Just act on the following 

inspiring words by author, speaker and Pastor 

John C Maxwell - ‘You will never change your 

life until you change something you do daily. 

The secret of your success is found in your 

daily routine’. 

Develop Passion for 

Teaching and Learning: 

I love opportunities to help, instill and 

encourage passion in teachers. There is 

nothing more exciting than watching a 

Ashok Singh Guleria teacher of 21 years standing is a postgraduate 

in English Literature. He writes on pedagogical 

issues and children’s behavioural concerns. He has worked 

as Head of Department of English, curriculum planner and 

Academic coordinator cum Teachers’ Trainer at the Akal 

Academy Group of Schools run by Kalghidhar Education 

Trust, Baru Sahib, at Kajri in Uttar Pradesh. Currently he 

works as Principal at Akal Academy, Gomti. 

The author strives to develop and facilitate the building 

of a robust and sustainable teaching-learning fraternity 

embodied with a strong sense of work culture through 

which initiative and change can emerge in an educational institution. He can be 

reached out at ashok.guleria70@gmail.com 

6 The Progressive Teacher May/Jun 2017

passionate teacher engaging students 

who are eager to learn as a result of that 

teacher’s enthusiasm. I am in my 19th year 

in education and my 10th year as a English 

Language teacher in this school, and I remain 

just as excited about what I do today as I 

was the first day I entered this school. 

Building relationships and working handin-hand 

with students and teachers has 

allowed me to continuously improve myself 

and influence a positive change in school 

culture that supports sustainability. Our 

change and school improvement efforts have 

been successful because we have created an 

attitude, climate, and culture where teachers 

believe in students and students believe in 

them. We provide students with high-quality, 

engaging instruction in a safe and supportive 

environment, and we learn together, grow 

together, and have fun together. Students and 

staff members alike, sixth grade or eighth 

grade, or anyone working in school, know 

that we are truly working together to achieve 

our mission of striving to reach and motivate 

students. 

Techno-Teaching: 

We live in a world where information and 

knowledge is now available to us at the speed 

of light. Digital revolution has tremendously 

encompassed our children who are technosmart 

and eager to embrace this wonder of 

science. Despite the best infrastructure and 

accessibility available around us, our teachers 

are still not in the Techno Savvy Mode. Since 

we have been lifelong learners, I get worried 

when I find some teachers not having an 

email id or have no firsthand experience of 

operating a computer. 

In our times the peak of technology was 

chalk and black board but today we have 

technology tools like interactive whiteboards, 

projectors, computer, video camera, etc. 

I would like the teachers to try this link 

provided by Edutopia and test their technoskills 

online to know where they stand in 

technology use in their classrooms. http:// 

www.edutopia.org/quiz-tech-savvy-teaching 

Focusing on Customized Teaching: 

The special effects of personalized teaching 

on students’ routine and performance have 

been well documented. What may be less 

understood and perhaps as important for 

the long-term feasibility of it, customized 

teaching is, in practical terms, focusing in a 

more structured way on each child’s learning 

in order to enhance progress, achievement 

and participation. All children and young 

people have the right to receive support 

and challenge, tailored to their needs, 

interests and abilities. This demands active 

commitment from pupils, responsiveness from 

teachers and engagement from parents. 

Teaching in the 21 century focuses on 

education services that are designed around 

the needs of each child, with the expectation 

that all learners achieve high standards. 

All children and young people leave school 

with functional skills in core subjects, 

understanding how to learn, think creatively, 

take risks and handle changes. Teachers use 

their skills and knowledge to engage children 

and young people as partners in learning, 

acting quickly to adjust their teaching in 

response to pupils’ learning. 


Paving the way 

for Authentic Teaching: 

Authentic teaching basically focuses on giving 

children real experiences, finding complex 

problems and their solutions; authentic 

learning encourages probe and participation. 

Students of today express their preference 

for doing rather than listening. What they 

know from their teachers the same they want 

to test and apply to prove its validity. A well 

articulated and planned teaching on giving 

children real learning experience brings about 

tremendous lifelong learning. In comparison 

to chalk and talk and plain teaching, it has 

far reaching positive effects as it enhances 

learning. 

• Cognitive capacity to think, solve 

problems, and generate 

• Affective capacity to value, appreciate, 

and care 

• Psychomotor capacity to move, perceive, 

and apply physical skills 

Teaching out 

of the Box: 

O 

ut of the Box Teaching uses a 

holistic approach tailored to meet 

the student’s individual learning needs 

and styles. Curriculum! Lesson plans! 

Teaching! Learning! Assignments! 

Revision! Class tests! Exams! Grades! 

Percentage! and result! Is this total 

teaching pattern of your profession? 

Just think more and exceptionally new 

and different? 

Remember, teaching strategies don’t 

always have to be straight from the 

text books. Yes, there are wonderful 

tools and ways to give and share 

information with illustrations, 

real objects; group activities need 

to be performed in your school 

lawn, playground or in the town, 

streets where the children learn by 

performing not by conforming to 

sit and listen to teacher’s lecture. 

Teaching out of the box encourages 

critical thinking skills, problem 

solving abilities, and engagement that 

is needed to ensure students retain 

information. Don’t be afraid to go 

outside the box and be a little silly in 

your teaching. You’ll be surprised how 

much a little bit of creativity helps 

your students learn more. 

• Combative capacity to act, decide, and 

commit. 

Teaching Life Skills: 

Outside the boundary walls of school, our 

children live in highly complex environments 

and therefore, face difficult times when they 

have to take crucial decisions with regard 

to their life and living. There are three basic 

drawbacks in our teaching which become 

manifest when our children step out of the 

school. The first problem they face is to 

decide what to do next, what they have in 

them to do and how to manage with their 

learning experiences. 

Most schools nowadays just compete with 

each other in terms of success in grades or 

percentage of marks. No doubt academic 

achievements help a child to establish but 

life skills make him the best human being. 

Teaching without personal, moral, social and 

emotional skill education, is one sided. 

Teaching to Develop a 

Progressive Future Vision: 

Around the world, teaching in schools is 

undergoing a dramatic shift. Government 

of India in a move to develop the dynamic 

vision of education has the New Education 

Policy focusing on the holistic learning needs 

of the 21 century generation. It will be the 

responsibility of educationists, educators 

and teachers to shape it to meet the new 

challenges of this century. 

Building of a progressive teaching vision 

seems to be a herculean task in the 

metaphorical sense of the phrase as it 

needs to amalgamate the present scenario 

with the future. By the year 2020 onwards, 

the median individual in India will be 29 

years. Besides there will be more diversity 

issues emerging demographically on gender, 

economic status, health, employment levels. 

Therefore, again education and teaching 

scenario will be a more challenging issue. 

New Education Policy will open before us 

myriad expectations. So we have to prepare 

ourselves to embrace these challenges. 

Before I wind up, there is a message 

I would like to share with all the 

teachers to remind them that children 

need their love, patience, compassion and 

care, to blossom and spread their supple 

branches in all directions. They need to 

rise up and fill your garden with beauty 

and fragrance. The ongoing month is 

full of summer season’s festivities and 

children are looking forward to plan 

summer holidays but for teachers, 

educators, administrators, it is the 

time to see wider and shape the nation 

through education. 

When I was taking a round of our school 

building in the evening as the children 

and teachers in their hostel rooms were 

about to get lost in their dream world, I 

stood near a board displaying the lines of 

Robert Frost - 

The Woods are lovely, dark and deep, 

But I have promises to keep, 

And miles to go before I sleep, 

And miles to go before I sleep. 


21 st century skills 

As an educator, I always believe that there are certain soft skills which are necessary for an 

individual at all times irrespective of the century in which one lives. In this context, I would 

like to share an invaluable experience which I had as a teacher who led a team of twenty six 

boys on a weeklong adventure camp to Pachmarhi in Madhya Pradesh. 

–P V Satya Ramesh 

I 

have realized that students 

acquire soft skills partially 

through learning which takes 

place in schools/colleges but 

mostly through life’s invaluable 

experiences. It was in the 

year 2013 that I went to the 

adventure camp at Pachmarhi, 

Madhya Pradesh with a team 

of twenty six boys. As would 

be the case with most of the 

adventure camps, even this was 

no exception and each one of 

us had to encounter challenges 

both physical and mental. A 

careful analysis of the entire 

event and the reflections 

which I got from each student 

helped me understand what the 

S.No Life Skill Remarks 

achievement was. It also made 

me realize the fact that no other 

experience within the four walls 

of the classroom can become a 

substitute to this. The following 

table gives a gist of what were 

the major learnings and how the 

entire event helped students gain 

mastery over their physical and 

mental self. 

1. Self Awareness Students got to know about their physical stamina and the enormous 

potential hidden deep within which made them accomplish challenging 

tasks put forth before them during the course of the event. 

2. Problem Solving Participation in Military Sports gave students an enormous scope to 

solve problems. 

3. Decision 

Making 

Students were able to assess their own capacities in terms of their 

physical strength required to reach the set destinations each day. 

Accordingly, they were able to take decisions whether or not to take 

part in the respective challenges set before them. 

4. Critical Thinking Students were critical in their thinking on how to make the best use 

of available resources. For example when students were given time 

to visit the market, they felt the need to purchase a nylon rope which 

could be tied from one tree to another so that towels could be hung for 

drying. 

5. Creative 

Thinking 

6. Interpersonal 

Relationships 

7. Effective 

Communication 

Students found creative ways to accommodate themselves (eight 

in one small tent) arranging their luggage systematically so that 

maximum space could be generated. Also they found innovative ways 

of placing a torch to ensure that the entire tent is lighted during the 

night. 

Students developed a good rapport with members from the same 

school as well as with those from the other schools who participated in 

the camp. 

Students could communicate effectively both in verbal and written 

form about their experience of the adventure camp. 

8. Empathy Students could empathize with the pain experienced by their friends 

during the course of the event. When students noticed that some are 

slow in reaching their destinations, they waited for them and extended 

moral support which made them complete their trek successfully. In 

the case of long treks, students did not even think of themselves and 

shared their water bottles with everyone who was thirsty. 

9. Managing Emotions Students learnt to manage their emotions at all times during the 

course of the event. For example even during times when there was a 

delay in providing the lunch or breakfast they did not throw tantrums 

which might be the case at their home. They learnt to stay away from 

parents without expressing any sign of being upset or low. 

10. Dealing with stress Facilities at the campsite were stressful for these students who are 

from well to do families. Still they learnt how to adapt themselves and 

deal effectively with the crisis. 

P V Satya 

Ramesh is 

working as a 

Post-Graduate 

Teacher in 

Psychology 

at the Shanti 

Asiatic School, 

Ahmedabad., 

where he teaches 

Mathematics up to Class 

X and Psychology to 

Classes XI and XII. He is 

M Sc in Psychology, M Phil 

in Counselling Psychology, 

B Ed, and a UGC NET 

qualified teacher. He has 

published value based 

articles oriented towards 

counseling all the stake 

holders in the arena of 

education in a number 

of educational journals. 

He has a strong belief 

in the ancient Indian 

Value System. He strives 

to inculcate courage in 

young minds and teaches 

them to always stand 

for what is right. He 

works in the direction of 

providing his students 

an environment which 

promotes critical thinking 

and ways to express their 

point of view without fear. 

On the whole, it was a great 

experience for each one of us 

who have been a part of this 

adventure camp conducted by 

the National Adventure Institute, 

Pachmarhi, Madhya Pradesh. 

I appeal to all the members 

of the teaching fraternity to 

initiate activities which help 

students develop a strong bond 

with nature. Only then we can be 

sure of nurturing a generation 

who will work in the direction 

of striking the right ecological 

balance. 


The camp has provided me 

enough scope to overcome 

many challenges. Few of them 

include: 

• How to adapt to new climatic 

conditions. 

• How to keep myself fit in 

order to accomplish all the 

tasks before me in the camp. 

• How to adjust with the food 

styles of a different state/ 

culture. 

• How to interact with 

participants from various 

parts of the country. 

• How to live amidst nature 

giving up the luxuries which I 

have at my home. 

I want to be a part of the 

Adventure Programme once 

again. 

Sarjeel S Radhanpuri 

Class:X 

The camp made me realise 

the importance of food and 

water in our daily life. Also, I 

learnt to wake up early in order 

to have bath first as the resources 

available were limited. I learnt how 

to remain patient when I had to 

wait for long in a queue to charge 

my mobile phone/camera as the 

plug points were limited in number. 

I learnt how to keep the tent 

clean, folding of bed sheets and 

washing my plate, spoon and glass 

after lunch/dinner. It was my best 

trekking experience till now. 

Manthan B Rathi 

Class:X 

learnt how to remain patient 

I at all times during the course 

of the event. This camp made 

me understand what adventure 

actually is. Till then, I was of 

the opinion that doing stunts 

with bicycles/bikes is adventure. 

Walking daily ten to twelve 

kilometres made me realise my 

potential. I realised the importance 

of living together when I had to 

stay with seven other friends of 

mine in the same tent. 

Utkarsh Srivastava 

Class: X 

The camp made me realise 

the importance of counting 

my blessings. I am happy that I 

was with nature for a few days. 

I enjoyed taking bath with cold 

water early in the morning which 

REFLECTIONS 

is not the case when I am at 

home. I learnt how to remain 

calm and patient. I was happy 

to sleep on the floor in the tent 

provided. 

Aryan Sharma 

Class: XI 

It was the most memorable 

trip in my life till now. The 

activities during the course of 

the programme made me become 

fit both physically and mentally. 

I realised that alarm is not 

necessary to get up early in the 

morning when we learn to live 

with nature. 

Vinit Sadhwani 

Class: X 

The camp has given me an 

opportunity to meet students 

from each and every state of 

India. Camp Fires were the most 

memorable times for me. 

Pratik Goyal 

Class: X 

The camp has given me a 

newer perspective of life 

through which I could realise the 

true meaning of happiness when 

I had to be with nature for seven 

days. I would love to be a part of 

the camp once again. 

Dhruv Garg 

Class: X 

It was a great learning 

experience which will be 

cherished forever. 

Dheer Dholakia 

Class: XI 

During the course of the event, 

I realised the meaning of the 

idiom ‘uphill task’. The net result of 

this camp is that I am now a more 

disciplined boy who is prepared to 

stay in adverse conditions. 

Archit Saran 

Class: XI 

It is only after coming back to 

Ahmedabad, I realised what I 

miss. It is the beauty of nature 

and I felt like going back to 

Pachmarhi. The camp has taught 

me the best lessons in my life. I 

am sure that this learning will 

help me face the challenges of 

life with confidence. 

Vansh Agrawal 

Class: XI 




REDEFINING CLASSROOM BOUNDARIES 

In the last two decades, the world around us has changed drastically. With the penetration of 

technology and the internet, we are living in a fast-paced society. Workplaces have broken out of 

their cubicles and the knowledge we meticulously stored in our pages has crept into our pockets. It 

seems everything is expanding into a newer territory and aligning with the speed of change. 

–Alka Mahajan 

But what about our 

education system? 

I recently met a young lady, 

in her 20s, who was working 

on breaking those boundaries. 

Not just the physical ones, but 

also the mental boundaries 

children trap themselves in. She 

realised that students spend the 

first eighteen years of their life 

within the four walls of the home, 

the school and their coaching 

institute. We as a society confuse 

teaching with learning, grade 

advancement with education, a 

diploma with competence, and 

fluency with the ability to say 

something new. 

It is no surprise then, that most 

children lack self-esteem and 

courage leading themselves into a 

broken belief system of ‘not being 

good enough’. As educators, 

we understand how deeply such 

fears and insecurities can impact 

a child’s happiness and have 

psychological repercussions. We 

have all imagined education as 

a tool to enlighten the mind and 

eliminate doubt, but somewhere 

we made education a validation 

and criteria of comparison. 

We can make education inspiring 

for it incomplete or rather 

incompetent in today’s scenario. 

Let us assume that two 

individuals are the same age. 

Even at 40 both will still be 

different, though both have read 

the same laws, theories and 

treatises. Then why do we have 

a different way of looking at the 

world? 

It’s not that hard to explain why 

we are all different, for it is not 

only about knowledge. Our brain 

perceives the world by connecting 

knowledge to our experiences. 

Since knowledge stays constant, 

experience defines a lot about 

how we look at the world and see 

ourselves in the world. 

The education system of today is 

missing an essential element i.e. 

experience. 

For change makers experiences 

are gained mostly by indulging 

in new activities and in learning 

new skills. This is where travel 

acts as a catalyst; an enabler to 

gain new experiences. We often 

think of travel as annual school 

trips, which are either a leisure 

activity or a break from the 

routine, something secondary in 

the act of learning. 

But travelling means much more 

than just sightseeing and adventure 

activities. It has to be interactive, 

immersive and introspective. 

So it helps in exploring all the 

possibilities that exist outside a 

child’s realm and puts wonder and 

creativity back in their lives. It has 

to educate them about the world, 

its people and problems. It makes 

them understand different cultures, 

values and traditions; teaches them 

respect and tolerance. 

The youth should be empowered 

by designing such journeys that 

take them outside and also enables 

them to enquire inside about their 

purpose and their passion. More 

I am M Sc, B Ed from Delhi University. 

I have a teaching experience of about 35 

years in Physics and have taught in top 

public schools of Delhi and Bangalore. 

Further, I have received a classroom 

star manager award by The Progressive 

Teacher magazine and was also a 

semifinalist at tGELF for my innovative 

teaching practices. 

During my tenure at Modern School (1998-2016), I have 

travelled globally for various exchange programmes 

including the Australian teacher exchange programme and 

Japan exchange programme. 

I retired in January 2016 from Modern School, Vasant Vihar 

in New Delhi where I taught for close to 18 years. Post 

retirement, Modern School continued to use my services as a 

mentor for newly appointed Physics teachers. 

I have edited Physics books for middle school of a leading 

publishing house. 

Travelling makes you introspect your actions and life OUTSIDE LIES A LAND OF 

OPPORTUNITIES 

Travelling teaches you about Risk taking PUSH YOUR BOUNDRIES 

Valuing and respecting nature and beings we share our planet with UNDERSTAND NATURE 

than independence, travelling 

enables a person to break his own 

boundaries. 

Creativity is not found in textbooks 

or in laboratories. It exists in the 

minds that are curious to see, learn 

and do. It is fueled by being outside 

and being present. It’s no wonder 

younger children learn faster 

compared to older ones who are 

confined to their classrooms and 

homework. 

Venturing out has another benefit 

that is often ignored. Travelling 

opens up opportunities and gives 

you new perspectives which 

are important for young people 

choosing a career path or a 

degree. According to a study by 

Mckinsey, 80% of engineers in 

our country are unemployable 

and it is not because they have 

lesser brain capacity. The reason 

behind this hard-hitting fact is 

that they were not exposed to any 

other professional choices. They 

chose thrir paths based on results, 

and realisation that they are not 

made for that profession, dawns 

later when they have made that 

decision. 

It is disheartening to see more 

and more young people, becoming 

directionless in this race to the 

top. The mental stress they go 

through, to perform is terrifying. 

Education today lacks adrenaline 

that travelling and exploring new 

horizons can provide. 


21 st Century Skills through Mathematics 

How Children Can Learn 

Mathematics From Daily Lives 

Mathematics has always been a difficult and scary subject for children. If we look back to our 

student days, we will recall that we found mathematics difficult to learn, boring and even of 

little use. Let’s see why! 

–Yuvraj Krishan Sharma 

Research has shown that most of the 

children have the ability to learn and be 

proficient in it. If approached correctly, 

mathematical concepts and ideas can be 

made graspable even before starting with any 

formal primary schooling. 

How can operating with numbers be a fun 

activity and an entertaining experience and 

can be learnt from daily lives? 

Professor Robert H. Lewis writes, 

‘Mathematics is not about answers, it’s 

about processes’. If we understand how 

Mathematics can be used in our day to day 

lives, we would be able to grasp it. We can 

apply mathematics to everyday applications 

for ease of understanding. Whether it is about 

organising competitions, number games or 

exciting puzzles, Mathematics is everywhere! 

Children as young as age one can enjoy 

learning numbers through fun educational 

games. Motivating, innovating and creating a 

fun and practical context for learning is one 

of the best ways to increase the interest of a 

student in a course. Applying these tactics to 

mathematics, which is considered by many 

as boring or difficult, allows the young ones 

to learn in a fun and dynamic manner, while 

developing skills and competencies that are a 

part of academic goals. 

There are many everyday situations that 

demand the knowledge of mathematics. 

Applying mathematics in the context of 

everyday activities helps students understand 

concepts that are otherwise difficult to 

assimilate and understand. Every day, 

students should be made to solve numerical 

problems, not necessarily academic in 

nature. The idea is to encourage the use of 

mathematical thinking without the students 

perceiving it as an academic activity. For 

example - 

• Buying daily items- Ask your child to 

look for a product with the lowest price 

to review the concepts of major and 

minor. You can even be specific here and 

tell them to purchase say two packets of 

biscuits for each member of the family. 

Here, the concept of multiplication can be 

made clear to him. 

• Money- Ask the children to read the 

amount on the bill, take out the total 

amount to be paid, calculate the change to 

be taken. 

• Kitchen- While preparing a recipe, 

children can help in the task of measuring 

or weighing ingredients. This can help 

them to review and understand fractions. 

A good idea is to allow children to cut 

slices of a pie, cake or pizza. This would 

help them comprehend things better 

without the fear of failure. 

• Playing- Children, though unconsciously, 


Yuvraj 

Krishan 

Sharma, is the 

co-founder of 

KOMPANIONS 

(a Gurugram 

based Ed- 

Tech-Sci 

start-up that 

works in the 

areas of AR, 

VR, MR and 

gamification in education) and is 

a spirited and creative person at 

heart. He has a flair for innovation 

and is always excited in the creation 

of ‘NEW’. Yuvraj is an education 

enthusiast and has spent a 

considerable amount of time inside 

classrooms with learners of varied 

intelligence. An accomplished 

facilitator and a persuasive speaker, 

Yuvraj has a way with children and 

young adults and keenly explores 

newer ways to develop future skills 

in the learners of today! 

creativity 

Painting 

There is evidence that the great Dutch painter Vermeer did 

not draw the outlines of his paintings at all, instead using 

an optical system to shine the image onto his canvas. Using 

some form of drawing aid is very common. 

already apply their number skills in 

many games. Understanding the concept 

of mathematics is possible if learning 

is integrated in a fun and motivating 

environment. In many games, without 

even realizing, children are already 

training their brains to deal with numbers. 

Monopoly, snakes and ladders and a lot 

of other games that require the use of a 

dice are a perfect opportunity to review 

the concepts of addition, subtraction 

along with mental calculations. Other 

games like sudoku, magic tricks, tambola 

also contribute to learning mathematics 

in a fun way. Moreover, some puzzles, 

coupled with different ways to construct 

geometric figures, help students understand 

the practical applications of geometric 

concepts. 

Today, the use of new technologies is 

emerging as one of the most effective ways 

to motivate maths learning. On the web, 

we can find many games for children of 

all ages to play and learn mathematics in 

a technological environment. Games with 

calculators, mathematical puzzles and 

challenges are some activities that can be 

easily found on the web. These games serve 

the purpose of learning and are engaging 

and interesting for children. 

Brain games are another way to raise the 

motivation level of children by making 

them independent and confident of finding 

solutions to problems. Such games help 

in developing the ability to concentrate 

and to think critically. For example, a 

number chain game can be very helpful in 

sharpening the memory of a child. Such 

games are a good exercise for enhancing the 

overall personality of a child. The more the 

application of the brain, the more the child 

becomes active and smart to face difficult 

and complicated challenges. And this is 

what is exactly required for Mathematics! 


–David Ainge 

Many students wish they could paint 

realistic pictures but have been 

put off because they can’t draw. I 

have created instructional materials which 

overcome the drawing problem. I provide an 

outline which is transferred to the painting 

paper, and detailed step-by-step instructions 

show exactly how to achieve a lifelike 

David Ainge 

DipTeach, 

DipSpEd, MEd, 

PhD 

After a period 

as a primary 

school teacher, 

deputy 

principal, 

and principal 

in England 

I moved to Australia where I 

continued to teach in primary 

school briefly. I then studied for a 

qualification in learning support 

and became a specialist teacher 

of students with reading difficulty, 

in both primary and high schools. 

Subsequently I became a high school 

teacher of science. After completing 

a Master of Education I became 

a university lecturer involved in 

training of teachers and school 

guidance officers. I completed 

my PhD and became associate 

dean of graduate studies, until my 

retirement. My area of research 

interest was the use of virtual reality 

in schools. 

painting. Teachers may download a free set of 

instructions for a beginner level painting, and 

make as many digital or print copies as they 

wish. In terms of reading requirements the 

materials are suitable for age 10 and up. 

This is real painting, not coloring in. It 

involves learning painting skills such as the 

very important skill of blending. Blending 

means making two colors next to each other 

merge gradually instead of having a sharp 

join. Blending is vital to realistic painting, 

and is widely used to give shape and depth 

to faces, body parts, flowers, jewelry, fruit, 

wineglasses, and many more. The approach 

is highly structured and gives very clear 

instructions, with photos, for every step of a 

painting. Students are shown precisely what 

to do. 

Some people worry that using an outline is 

cheating, and that any artist should do all 

the drawing. Many professional painters use 

drawing aids. For a small painting they might 

take a photo, and trace it so that they can 

transfer the tracing to the painting surface. 

For a large painting some artists use a 

projector to shine an image onto a canvas 

and draw around it. Using a grid of squares 

to get the proportions right has a long history 

and was a method employed by some of the 

great masters. There is evidence that the 

great Dutch painter Vermeer did not draw the 

outlines of his paintings at all, instead using 

an optical system to shine the image onto his 

canvas. Using some form of drawing aid is 

very common. 

The free download for painting a 

lifelike ladybird is available from www. 

ArtStepByStep.com The instructions are for 

painting the picture with acrylics or gouache, 

but students who have some experience with 

oils could use that medium instead. 


parenting 

Tackle Teen Tantrums 

with Understanding 

Reward and punishment can work to teach a child good 

social manners and acceptable behavior; but are not effective 

to produce good study habits, to be honest, to be kind, or to 

be a cooperative family member. Complex behavior patterns 

are really not taught, children learn them from their own 

experience in many situations, influenced by a variety of 

factors. 

Dr Shayama 

Chona, is 

the former 

Principal of 

Delhi Public 

School, R K 

Puram, New 

Delhi; Founder 

President 

of Tamana 

(NGO for 

physically & mentally handicapped 

children); Founder of Anubhav 

Shiksha Kendra (a school for the 

under-privileged); she has been 

a member of 96 Advisory Boards 

and Committees; she has been 

nominated to Managing Committees 

of 46 schools and other educational 

institutions; she has been named 

in the Limca Book of Records 2007. 

She has been awarded the State 

Award for Services in Education 

1993, National Award for Services as 

a Teacher of Outstanding Merit 1994, 

National Award for Outstanding 

Performance for Welfare of People 

with Disabilities 1997, Padma Shri 

1999, Padma Bhushan 2008, and 49 

other awards. She lives at C10/8, 

Vasant Vihar, New Delhi-110057. 

Email: shayamachona@gmail.com, 

tamanapresident@gmail.com 

–Dr Shayama Chona 

I 

am convinced that most theories about 

the stress and strain of adolescence 

have focused incorrectly on factors like 

adolescents’ physical changes, their social 

demands, their struggle between being 

a child and an adult. This is a 

difficult phase for all, mainly 

because adolescents become so 

independent that they are no 

longer easily controlled by rewards 

and punishments. Since most 

parents rely heavily on rewards 

and punishments, adolescents 

react with independent and 

rebellious behavior. 

Parents assume this rebellion 

is inevitable at this stage of 

development. I think this is 

not valid – it is more because 

adolescents become more able 

to resist and rebel. They are no 

longer controlled by their parents’ 

rewards because they don’t need 

them so much, and they are 

immune to threats of punishment 

because there is little parents can 

do to give them pain or discomfort. 

An adolescent therefore does 

not rebel against her parents. 

She rebels against their power. If 

parents would rely less on power 

and more on non-power methods 

of influence on their children from infancy 

onwards, there would be little for children to 

rebel against when they become adolescents. 

The use of power to change the behavior of 

children, has this severe limitation, parents 

inevitably run out of power sooner than they 

think. Reward and punishment can work 

to teach a child good social manners and 

acceptable behavior; but are not effective to 

produce good study habits, to be honest, to be 

kind, or to be a cooperative family member. 

Complex behavior patterns are really not 

taught, children learn them from their own 

experience in many situations, influenced by a 

variety of factors. 

Parents are surprisingly aware of the harmful 

effects of power. They remember how power 

felt to them as children but 

‘forgot’ when they used power 

with their own kids. Parents 

– do you know what could be 

the outcome of your misuse 

of parental power – defiance, 

rebellion, anger, hostility, 

aggression, lying, hiding feelings, 

blaming others, tattling, 

cheating, bossing, bullying, 

submission, silence, conformity, 

fear of trying something new, 

diffidence. 

Reactions to adult authority 

are universal. Children have 

been defying and rebelling 

against adult authority for 

generations. History suggests 

little difference between today’s 

youth and those at other times. 

Children, like adults, fight 

furiously when their freedom 

is threatened. And one way 

they cope with threats to their 

freedom and independence is 

to fight against authority, be it 

parents or teachers. 


learning skills 

The Power of Positive Self Talk 

‘Your mind believes every word you say.’ 

We all are in constant interaction with the 

people around us and with ourselves. The 

interesting fact is that both these interactions 

shape our lives in a way which we don’t tend 

to notice on a daily basis. 

–Mitashi Pawar 

Our social conversations are 

completely contrary to our 

personal conversations, but 

what makes them so different? 

When in a social setup, you tend 

to be more focussed on what you 

are saying, how you are behaving, 

what impression are you creating 

and most importantly how to 

come across as someone who 

is sorted in life and seems 

‘perfectly’ happy. 

It is surprising how one can 

fall into the trap of saying the 

right words in front of the ‘right’ 

people, but skip implementing 

it on ourselves. Often the role 

of personal conversations or 

self-talk is neglected. Just as one 

needs ‘Me time’, similarly, one 

needs a ‘me talking time’ as well. 

This is essential because your 

mind is listening to all that you 

speak to it, so you might as well 

keep it motivated throughout. 

Positive Self-talk is what one 

should practice more. It is 

very much like a self-fulfilling 

prophecy - something you think 

about so much that you can 

make it happen. Positive self-talk 

gives you the permission to go 

ahead and accomplish your goals, 

whereas, negative self-talk makes 

you give up easily and not even 

try to succeed. 

You can certainly lose your 

confidence depending on the way 

you speak to yourself. Confused? 

For instance, you are unable to 

do a task, which as per others is 

a cake walk. Now, this thought 

kills your motivation and you 

think you are ‘stupid’ enough 

for not getting it. Or, maybe you 

couldn’t crack an interview and 

consider yourself ‘not worthy’ 

of it. Most people do this selftalk 

without realizing how it is 

hampering their success. 

Your thoughts are directly 

linked to your behavior. If you 

think, ‘I know I can do it,’ you 

will be more willing to do it. 

But, if you manage to convince 

yourself of not being capable 

enough to do it, then you make it 

almost impossible for the mind 

to change your decision. Don’t 

believe it? Try it now!! Think of 

any act you have been wanting 

to do, but kept delaying it so far 

by presenting some excuse or the 

other. Say this- ‘I can’t do it.’-- 

--and now try telling yourself, ‘I 

don’t have to do it perfectly. I 

can at least try.’ 

HOW IT EFFECTS YOUR 

PHYSICAL AND MENTAL 

HEALTH 

Positive self-talk and negative 

self-talk enjoy the game - Tug of 

war. You must decide who do you 

wish to support. Negative selftalk 

will leave you with almost 

no hope of trying as compared 

to positive self-talk. It can 

encourage you to behave in a not 

so helpful manner and damage 

yourself more emotionally. For 

instance, when you say, ‘No one 

cares about the way I feel, maybe 

I am not worth it.’ This statement 

can be replaced by saying, ‘It’s 

okay if they are not able to 

understand my concern right 

now. Maybe I can try and explain 

it once again or think of some 

alternative.’ Positive self-talk will 

surely boost your confidence! 

THE WORDS USED 

BY YOU MAKE A BIG 

DIFFERENCE 

Positive affirmation has been 

practiced by the self-development 

industry for ages, as a way of 

the flow. You eventually start 

comparing yourself with this 

friend; you part ways and are not 

willing to change the way you 

perceive the situation. 

Now, seeing all this, you tell 

yourself, ‘I can’t do this. It’s just 

so difficult. I don’t even know 

the basics of it...!!’ However, why 

not talk to yourself in a different 

way? You could say, ‘Look at this 

SOME EXAMPLES OF NEGATIVE TO POSITIVE 

FORMS OF SELF-TALK: 

Mitashi Pawar, MA in Applied 

Psychology, PG Diploma in Counselling 

and Family Therapy is at present working 

as a School Counsellor with The Shri 

Ram School, Aravali. She has done her 

schooling from DPS Vasant Kunj. Her 

expertise lies in working with kids, 

parents and teachers. Over the years, 

she has worked for several schools such 

as DPS Ambala, DPS Panipat, Apeejay 

School Kolkata, Bal Bharti School to name a few. She is 

passionate about creating awareness about mental health 

and help people understand the benefits of counselling. Her 

interest also lies in doing workshops for students and adults. 

programming your mind to help 

you achieve things that you want. 

For example, you see how your 

friend is way ahead of you. You 

feel demotivated and plan to 

quit or probably to just go with 

challenge. This task, regardless 

of how difficult it is, gives me a 

chance to learn new skills.’ To 

be able to change the results, it 

is very important to change the 

strategy! 


learning 

The Remarkable, Impactful 

Journey of Authentic Learning 

My journey down the authentic learning path started in 1985, soon after introducing my grade 

eight students to an egg capsule design project. The mission was simple; to build a capsule 

to protect a raw egg when dropped from the roof of the school’s gym onto the hard pavement. 

–Steve Revington 

Upon completion of the activity on 

authentic learning, the reactions I 

witnessed by students and parents were 

inspiring. Little did I know that this activity 

would be the catalyst of my career’s work in 

pioneering, what I termed authentic learning. 

I could see the numerous possibilities of real 

life applications and the potent curriculum 

connections that could be bridged. Gravity, 

air friction, recoil, egg laying creatures, 

clinometers, eggs in mythology, parenting 

skills and simple structures were just a 

few studies that directly evolved from this 

experiment. With student input, consultation 

and research over the years, this modest 

beginning matured into a full fledged 

initiative that became known as The Egg 

Drop Project. From that time on I was 

committed to implementing the next applied 

learning event. 

As a child I was captivated by the pioneer 

and first nation villages that demonstrated 

how people lived and worked in early Canada. 

Inspired by these historical, living museums, 

I introduced my students to a similar concept 

by transforming our classrooms into ancient 

Roman, Medieval and Egyptian market 

places. Students performed as tradespeople, 

dressed in costume, presented and worked 

on authentic crafts in a market decor that 

reflected the sights and sounds of days long 

past. After six weeks of deeply focused, 

connected learning, performing to hundreds 

of visitors, the students were saddened to 


see the end of the unit. What used to be a 

hum drum exercise of regurgitating names, 

places and dates in history class, had become 

an exciting resurrection of living, breathing 

ancient pasts. 

I’ve witnessed many magical moments 

and marveled at my students passionately 

engrossed in their learning tasks. I’m not 

talking about the one-off lessons or activities 

that intermittently delight students but I’m 

referring to those profound moments when 

all of my students functioned optimally, 

while immersed in rich, prolonged learning. 

It wasn’t uncommon to see students so 

committed to their tasks that upon the 

ringing of the final bell, they’d sigh, ‘Ahh, 

can’t we stay longer - please?’. This became a 

hallmark of authentic learning experiences. 

It didn’t matter the theme or topic, the 

results were always the same. Attendance 

became more regular, student behaviours 

became more positive and the working 

atmosphere was enthusiastic, productive and 

confident. 

I was invited to speak about Authentic 

Learning at the local teacher’s college and I 

wanted the student teachers attending to 

experience a little of the magic I’d come to 

know so I planned to bring a couple of 

students. Two students volunteered to portray 

their Roman personas as they had done at 

our living museum three months prior. 

Steve Revington is an educational speaker, author and 

consultant from London, Ontario, Canada. Steve’s thirtytwo 

year teaching career has been devoted to pioneering 

authentic learning. He has designed, implemented and 

promoted a wide variety of authentic initiatives, most 

notably The Egg Drop Project. He’s written articles, 

produced video and hosts Google’s number one website 

on Authentic Learning. He received a TV Ontario Teacher’s 

Award for his innovative practices (1994), an Associate 

Teachers Award of Excellence from The University of 

Western Ontario (2013) and was selected as one of fifty 

finalists for the inaugural Global Teacher Prize (2014). Recently, Steve received 

Canada’s highest teaching honor receiving the Prime Minister’s Award of 

Teaching Excellence from PM Justin Trudeau (2016). www.authenticlearning. 

weebly.com @AuthenticEduc srevington@yahoo.ca 

Over the years I discovered there were twelve, integral elements that 

characterized a successful authentic learning experience. 

www.progressiveteacher.in 17

These students did not just adopt trades, 

costumes and create products, they became 

the personalities. One was a shrewd, 

analytical tax collector while the other was 

a stern, gritty blacksmith. A student teacher 

walked late into the presentation 

while they explained who they 

were and the kind of work they 

did. He was zealously questioned 

by the tax collector on why he 

was interrupting and remarked 

that he hoped he was far more 

responsible in paying his taxes. 

The surprised student teacher 

apologized and scurried to the 

back of the room while the 

others chuckled. The Pompeiian 

tax collector abruptly snapped, 

“If you think this is a laughing 

matter then perhaps your taxes 

require extra attention next year. 

A collective oooh went around the 

enthusiastic room. 

I encouraged the student teachers 

to ask deeper questions about 

our guest’s families, origins, the 

gods they believed in and even what they had 

for breakfast. They were astounded by their 

knowledge and their specific trade skill sets 

such as using an ancient abacus and smelting 

metal. After fifteen minutes of questioning the 

boys went to change into their regular attire. 

The ten year olds returned willing to share 

their experience from a student perspective. 

When asked, ‘How much time did you prepare 

for this presentation?’ They looked at each 

other and replied, ‘they hadn’t.’ They hadn’t 

even reviewed their notes since their living 

market three months prior. 

When students are immersed in rich, 

meaningful, emotionally charged, relevant 

settings, then real, deep learning occurs. What 

those student teachers saw that day was a 

glimpse of what I had experienced over years 

of implementing authentic learning. 

I’ve implemented themed dinner theaters, 

slope car challenges, claymation film 

festivals, robotic challenges and video 

productions, to name a few. What 

distinguishes an authentic learning initiative 

is that it’s designed to interact purposefully 

with a community. 

There must be a tangible product or a 

significant, quality outcome produced for a 

specific market beyond the classroom to meet 

authentic criteria. 

Once this happens, a whole new level of 

consultation, skill sets and networking needs 

to be pursued. It’s the difference between 

writing anti-pollution letters and producing 

an environmental podcasts. The difference 

between a skit and a theatre production. 

An authentic approach brings a whole new 

dimension of relevant, vibrant layers of skill 

sets, expert consultation and marketing to the 

forefront. 

I can’t say that implementing an authentic 

learning initiative is easy. In fact, it’s the 

most demanding, time consuming and 

challenging thing you’ll ever do as a teacher. 

On the other hand, it will be the most 

rewarding education experience you’ll ever 

encounter. It takes good planning, consulting, 

communicating, negotiating, flexibility, 

research and life skills but the benefits are 

significant. 

As you work alongside your students you are 

modeling professionalism while empowering 

your students. You are providing a 

working template on how to successfully 

prepare for long range goals and how 

to execute processes effectively. You are 

providing students with opportunities to 

pursue personal learning while being a 

critical part of something 

much bigger. You are introducing and 

refining relevant skills that promote 

enterprise and innovation. Aren’t these 

the skills that students require for 

meeting the challenges of the 21st 

century? 

The great thing about authentic 

learning is that it’s a fertile, setting for 

any learning pursuit. It can be anchored 

in any topic, subject or adopted to 

any medium. Whether its creating an 

App, a radio program, music video, 

business initiative, community service 

or robotics, authentic learning practices 

are genuinely accommodating. 

Start small, perhaps once in the school 

year introduce an interactive learning 

activity that has the potential of being 

shared with the community. Give it a go, 

reflect, refine and then redo. Be open to the 

input of others, network, embrace life long 

learning and let your authentic initiatives 

grow over time. With each implementation 

you’ll experience the wonder, the excitement 

and deep learning that authentic learning 

provides. 

As I recently retired from the classroom, 

I’ve come to realize that the authentic 

learning experiences I provided my students 

were the greatest learning gifts of all. I am 

grateful I travelled down this educational 

path and I invite you to do the same. 

When you do, you too will understand the 

remarkable, impactful journey that only an 

authentic learning experience can create. 


learning styles 

UNDERSTAND HOW YOU LEARN BEST 

Learning style is an individual’s natural pattern of acquiring and processing information in 

learning situations. For improving your learning efficiency is to recognize your learning habits 

and styles. 

–Manmeet Kaur Reen 

Students learn in many ways and 

research has shown that students can 

perform better on tests if they change 

study habits to fit their own personal learning 

styles. Some remember things they’ve seen, 

some what they’ve heard, while others 

remember things they’ve experienced. But for 

most students, one of these methods stands 

out. 

For example, visual – learning students will 

sometimes struggle during essay exams, 

because they can’t recall test material that 

was ‘heard’ in a lecture. However, if the visual 

learner uses a visual aid when studying, like 

colorful outline of test materials, he or she 

may retain more information. For this type 

of learner, visual tools improve the ability to 

recall information more completely. 

There are three main types of learning styles: 

auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. Most people 

learn best through a combination of the three 

types of learning styles, but everybody is 

different. 

Auditory learners: Hear 

Auditory learners are those who learn best 

through hearing things. 

Some important characteristics of 

an auditory learner: 

• Follows spoken directions well. 

• Is good at explaining. 

• Remembers names. 

• Likes to read self out loud. 

• Not afraid to speak in the class. 

• Notices sound effects in movies. 

• Enjoys music. 

• Can’t keep quiet for long periods. 

• Enjoys acting, being on stage. 

• Reads slowly. 

Activities for auditory learner: 

• Oral presentations 

• Tape recordings 

• Panel discussion 

• Verbal games 

• Debates 

Manmeet Kaur Reen holds a degree in Home Science, M.Sc 

in Child Development, Advanced Post Graduate Diploma in 

Child Guidance and Family Counseling, M.A in Psychology, 

B.Ed, and has also done a course in Learning Disability. 

She loves teaching, to inspire young minds to develop 

their unique personalities. She believes a good teacher 

is someone who enjoys what he/she does and has the 

ability to receive and give feedback to support learning 

among students to make studies joyful and enable students 

to grow. She likes to write articles for newspapers, magazines and journals 

concerning areas related to education, parents and adolescents. 

She is currently working as a PGT Home Science Teacher in Doon International 

School, Mohali. 


• Oral recitation 

• Demonstrations 

• Poems/songs 

Highlights for teachers: 

Learns best by verbal instructions. 

Easily distracted by noise. 

Visual learners: See 

Visual learners are those who learn best 

through what they read and write. They 

understand information best when they SEE IT. 


a visual learner: 

• Prefer to see the words written down. 

• Prefer a diagram to remember historical 

events. 

• Prefer written instructions rather than 

verbal instructions. 

• Observes all the physical elements in a 

classroom. 

• Prefers photographs and illustrations with 

printed content. 

• Remembers and understands through the 

use of diagrams, charts and maps. 

• Studies materials by reading notes and 

organizing it in outline form. 

• Enjoys visual art activities. 

Activities for visual learner: 

Illustrations, diagrams, photographs 

PowerPoint presentation 

Posters, collages 

Movies, games 

Flash cards 

Writing , reading 


Learns best by writing down things (taking 

notes). 

Most visual learners learn best alone. 

Use charts, maps, posters, power point 

presentations, videos, computer. 

Kinesthetic learners: Touch 

Kinesthetic learners remember what they 

DO, what they experience with their hands 

i.e. they learn best through things they 

experience. 


a kinesthetic learner: 

• Remember what they do. 

• Enjoys making and creating. 

• Enjoys using computers. 

• Has trouble staying still for a long time. 

• Enjoys hands-on activities. 

• Fiddle with small objects while listening 

or working. 

Activities for Kinesthetic learner: 

Role play /interviews 

Plays 

Projects 

Science labs 

Surveys 

Cut –and –paste tasks 

Demonstrations 

Field trips 


Encourage to write down their notes. 

Allow to take breaks during lessons. 

Incorporate multimedia resources. 

Knowing and understanding the types of 

learning styles is important for students 

of any age. It is advantageous for students 

to understand their type of learning style 

early on so that homework and learning may 

become easier and less stressful in 

the future. 


learning 

ENRICHMENT 

ORIENTATION IN 

SCHOOLS 

‘The function of education is to teach 

one to think intensively and to think 

critically. Intelligence plus character - 

that is the goal of true education,’ 

–Martin Luther King. 

–Dr Vini Sebastian 

As a parent and a teacher-educator, I 

have felt that the school can extend 

itself more to fulfill its responsibilities 

and create happy children. Children going to 

school look burdened with their school-bags 

as well as the activities in the school. The 

interest in learning is not at its optimum. 

How can we create an environment fit for 

learning? How can we enrich our children 

fully to be equipped for the world? 

The main aspect of schooling is the 

curriculum which must help children to 

think intensively and think critically. ‘Theme 

based approach’ to teaching infuses greater 

collaboration of teachers and an integration 

of all subjects into one whole. The teachers 

could decide the themes amicably after 

intensive discussion and research. Parents 

can also be oriented to the themes and can 

be involved accordingly. The whole school 

can celebrate learning theme-wise making 

teaching-learning more intensive. 

An enriching discussion forum to make 

education more interactive among teachers 

can help teachers discuss the challenges 

faced in teaching. It is often seen by parents 

that children do not gain conceptual 

understanding. Teachers want to complete 

their portion on time and conduct the 

required examinations. Children must be 

taught to look at the curriculum more 

critically and make it more relevant to their 

situation. Schools must provide opportunities 

for ‘higher order thinking skills’ and 

discourage rote memorization. 

Teachers must focus more on the student’s 

internal growth rather than marks. There is 

minimal class-room interaction, which leads 

to less understanding of the content taught. 

Moreover, large classes add to the misery of 

the teacher. 

Friendly classrooms with supportive 

infrastructure could be geared towards 

enrichment of students. For more intensive 

interaction, we need moldable furniture. 

Teachers must be able to change the 

structure of the class to suit the students’ 

needs. Children will then be able to come out 

of the monotony of the classroom instruction 

and they can enjoy the difference. Moreover, 

the benches and chairs must be colourful 

Dr. Vini Sebastian, Associate Professor, St. Xavier’s 

Institute of Education, 40-A, New Marine Lines, 

Churchgate. Mumbai -400020. Dr. Vini Sebastian is a 

teacher educator for the last 20 years and has been 

involved in curriculum development in the University of 

Mumbai, research and extension work in teacher education. 

Dr. Vini Sebastian is an author of the book ‘Harnessing 

Parent Resource for Schools’, Lulu Publication. Dr. Vini has 

completed her research in the area of ‘Academic freedom, 

Accountability and Professionalism of Teachers in Higher Education’. With so 

many years of experience in teacher education she believes that, ‘Education is 

the only way to transform hearts’. St. Xavier’s Institute of Education is the oldest, 

teacher education institution in the city of Mumbai. 

and could be made of material on which 

the students can write, for example: piece 

of chalk-board material, so that they can 

scribble their critical thoughts. It would be a 

good idea to have an extension in the benches 

so that they do not suffer from space crunch. 

A flexible timetable will give rise to more 

ideas and more intense activity. Most schools 

have fixed timetables which are unaltered. 

This does not motivate teachers to think out 

of the box. Teachers need time to check each 

child’s performance and also to tackle their 

learning problems. 

When parents come to the teachers with 

the problems of the child’s education, then 

teachers advise them to send the child for 

tuitions. Schools must take responsibility of 

every child whether good or bad, intelligent 

or weak. Extra tuition, therefore, is not a 

solution but remedial classes are. These 

remedial classes must be graded according 

to the need of the child. The supervised 

study programme can be organized to 

enhance the study skills of the child. The 

school can provide the facilities to students 

to study after school hours. It is a good idea 

to ask parents to volunteer for the same. A 

regular parent interaction programme can 

keep the parents updated with many activities 

of the school as well as keep them involved. 


Schools must encourage teachers to 

develop a close bond with their students. 

A home visit by teachers, if encouraged 

by the school, can work marvels for the 

slow learners and students who do not pay 

attention in class. The knowledge of the 

context of the learner, will make teaching 

more intensive. 

As children grow up, their peers are 

very important to them. Psychology has 

enumerated a number of theories of peer 

enrichment. Children are enriched by their 

peers in a more satisfying manner. Peer 

training must be carried out in schools. Much 

of the discipline problem can be controlled if 

we openly speak to the children about peer 

influence. 

Interactive Textbooks helps develop the 

child’s critical thinking ability. Teachers must 

intersperse the lesson with the child’s own 

experience and his perspective, his thought 

processes must be given more importance. 

Technology has become an aid to the teacher 

and it is through technology that the students 

can reach the highest level of understanding 

and participation.Thus technology can be 

used in terms of ready made quizzes, talk 

shows, videos, word-games, interactive 

simulations all available on the web which the 

child can gain access to. 

Schools must give the children some 

buffertime, which will help them to cope 

with their school portion. Some schools have 

hobby classes for the children. These hobby 

classes must not be linked to marks, children 

must enjoy the pleasure of just participating 

in these classes so that they feel emotionally 

enriched by these activities. 

Students can unleash their creative 

potential on the classroom walls in the 

form of charts and cutouts whether it is 2D 

or3D. Teachers can put their minds into the 

classroom displays and reinforce students 

towards knowing themselves. 

Children who are kinesthetic in nature 

can find this as a carpet of creativity. The 

displays in the classroom must not be a 

photocopy of the textbook but the child’s own 

imagination of the concepts..Teachers and 

school authorities can go a bit further and 

creatively decorate the walls of the corridors, 

the staircases and the floors of the school if 

possible with creative talents. 

The neglected affective domain can be given 

importance by making the child reach out to 

the least advantaged. It is the responsibility 

of the teachers to expose the child to various 

situations to develop the child’s sensitivity. 

Sometimes it is seen that students get into 

punching, spitting, giving bad words, accusing 

the peers, emoting in an uncontrolled 

manner. All this kind of behaviour needs 

to be controlled. The school must develop 

community orientation in order to enrich 

the child’s affective domain. 

Teachers must show the positive direction to 

the students. The work environment affects 

the work quality and output of teachers. 

No environment can be enriched without 

research and adequate resources. Research 

helps in looking at problems in depth. Action 

research helps in solving the daily problems 

of teachers and also gives them the hope 

that things can be better. It develops a close 

bond between the children and the school. It 

also helps teachers to publish their results 

for the development of other educational 

institutions. 

In conclusion, enriched learning is when a 

child learns to think and think critically to 

improve his own environment. Teachers must 

teach the children to look within and examine 

themselves. They must be aware of their own 

thoughts and behaviour, if they have achieved 

this education has taken place. 



holistic approach 

IMPACT OF MEDITATION ON THE 

TEACHING – LEARNING PROCESS 

The soul loves to meditate, for in contact with the Spirit lies its greatest joy. The devotee 

who makes the supreme effort is the one who finds God, not the one who keeps seeking 

excuses saying, ‘Let me find a quiet place, then I’ll meditate’. Procrastinators will never 

reach God. But if you tell yourself, ‘Right now, I will go deep in meditation’, you can be 

there in an instant. 

–Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda 

– Sreerekha CV 

Pranam to all the readers... 

I 

write this article as I wish to make the 

readers aware of the need for meditation 

in the teaching-learning process. To this 

world, so obsessed and preoccupied by various 

materialistic aspects, I would like to put a 

question -- Is meditation really beneficial? 

For a beginner it always seems confusing. 

So he /she decides it is something meant for 

ascetics and not for him/her. But if followed, 

we can find that it is very simple and can 

intensely affect our lives. It has a profound 

effect on our routine life and chores. Start 

your meditation and make it a routine - at 

least for 2 minutes a day. In the beginning, 

we can’t realise its mystical effects. Even 

if it is for 2 minutes at the start, regular 

meditation can change you. Herewith, I 

mention the benefits of meditation. 

Helps to keep you stress free 

Reduces ageing 

Helps you to appreciate life more 

Makes you feel more connected with God 

Makes you and those around you happier 

Improves functioning of the brain 

Helps you to have a good sleep 

Improves metabolism and helps lose weight 

Increases immunity and helps fight 

diseases 

Increases your attention span 

The benefits mentioned above are for all 

the people who do regular meditation. 

But students who spend just 15 minutes 

a day on this will get the following 

benefits which can help them generally 

in their studies and particularly in their 

examination. 

Greater confidence 

More focus and clarity 

Better health 

More mental strength and energy 

Greater dynamism 

SREEREKHA is a PGT in Mathematics with 10 years of 

teaching and guiding experience in CBSE schools. She also 

has a PGDCA from IHRDE, Trivandrum. She is passionate 

about finding new teaching tools and techniques which 

replace the traditional teaching methods to inspire the 

young learners to LOVE Mathematics. Currently, she is a 

teacher and CCE co-ordinator at Dr GR PUBLIC SCHOOL, 

TRIVANDRUM . The author may be contacted at : 

sreerekha_c@yahoo.com 

Thus, there is a need to include meditation 

in our school programme, at least one 

period a week. But for that, we teachers 

ourselves should develop into credible and 

coherent role models for the students. 

Children should be a part of a holistic 

system where their minds, bodies and souls 

are nourished. 

To meditate for a short time with 

concentration is much better than to meditate 

for long hours with the mind running wild. In 

the beginning, don’t force yourself to meditate 

for long. Have short meditation sessions with 

intense concentration. Don’t feel bad if you 

become so restless that you are unable to 

meditate deeply. Calmness will come in due 

course of time if you practice regularly. The 

most important thing to remember before you 

start meditating is not to concentrate on its 

results. 

Pure minds and free souls can be achieved 

only through spiritual awakening. . . 

Meditation is not a mere way of fulfilling 

your transient desires but is the real thirst 

of your soul to get the essence of the 

eternal and divine liberation from this 

ephemeral body. 


Pullout PLANNER 



24 The Progressive Teacher May/Jun Mar/Apr 2017

Class VII: science 

nutrition in plants 

Tick ( ) the correct answer 

1. The ultimate source of energy for 

all organisms is 

a. Plants c. Soil 

b. Sun d. Water 

2. Plants synthesise food 

in the form of 

a. Carbon dioxide c. Sugar 

b. Light d. Water 

3. The loss of water in plants through 

leaves and stems is called 

a. Perspiration c. Transpiration 

b. Photosynthesis d. Respiration 

4. Food and water is carried 

throughout the plant by 

a. Leaves c. Roots 

b. Vascular bundles d. Stomata 

5. Haustoria helps plants to 

a. Anchor and absorb food c. Respire 

b. Photosynthesise d. Produce oxygen 

6. Bacteria are present 

in the root nodules of 

a. Parasitic plants c. Saprotrophic plant 

b. Leguminous plants d. Insectivorous plants 

7. Bacteria in leguminous 

plants help in 

a. Capturing oxygen 

b. Capturing carbon dioxide 

c. Capturing nitrogen 

d. Capturing sunlight 

8. Plants with the help of light energy 

convert water and carbon dioxide into 

a. Sugar and oxygen c. Water and sugar 

b. Sugar and nitrogen d. Water and oxygen 

9. Bromothymol blue is used to detect 

a. Carbon dioxide produced by the plant 

b. Oxygen produced by the plant 

c. Presence of starch in leaves 

d. Presence of stomata in leaves 

worksheet 

10. Though mistletoe carries out photosynthesis, 

it is still a parasitic plant as 

a. It depends on the host for nitrogen 

b. It draws water and few other nutrients from the host 

c. It uses the chloroplast of the host to carry out 

photosynthesis 

d. It uses the stored food of the host plant 

Fill in the blanks: 

11. The mutual association in which both organisms 

gain from each other is called _____________________. 

12. Chloroplast contains stacks of _____________________ 

______________________________________________. 

13. Green plants are ________________________________ 

while mushrooms are ___________________________. 

14. During photosynthesis plants use _________________, 

_____________ and sunlight to prepare their own food. 

Max Marks: 20 

15. The plants that trap and feed on insects are called _________ 

___________________________. 

16. Give two examples of parasitic plants. 

_________________________________________________ 

_________________________________________________ 

17. Write the chemical equation for the process 

of photosynthesis. 

_________________________________________________ 

_________________________________________________ 

18. Which plant produces the largest flower and 

what is its mode of nutrition? 

__________________________________________________ 

__________________________________________________ 

19. Give one word for the following: 

a.The structures that contain chlorophyll in them. 

b. Living organisms that can synthesise 

their own food 

20. Spores food hyphae 

Mycellium 

Spores 

The above represents the life cycle of ___________________ 

_________________________________________________. 

© DS Digital Private Limited I Photocopying permitted The Progressive Teacher 

25

worksheet 

Max Marks: 20 

nutrition in animals 


1. Which of the following is 

the correct order of processing 

food in our body? 

a. Ingestion, digestion, absorption, elimination 

b. Digestion, ingestion, absorption, elimination 

c. Ingestion, absorption, elimination, digestion 

d. Ingestion, digestion, elimination, absorption 

2. Breakdown of carbohydrates 

first begins in 

a. Mouth c. Small intestine 

b. Stomach d. Pancreas 

3. Which of the following is 

not a function of the tongue? 

a. Tasting food 

b. Manipulating food within the mouth 

c. Secreting saliva 

d. Pushing food into the pharynx to begin swallowing 

4. Villi are finger- like projections 

in the small intestine that help in 

a. Increasing the surface area of the intestine lining 

b. Secreting digestive juices 

c. Egesting waste 

d. All of the above 

5. Herbivores probably lack 

a. Molars c. Incisors 

b. Premolars d. Canines 


10. Which of the following statements 

about the large intestine is true? 

a. The function of the large intestine is to absorb water and 

some salts from digested food 

b. The function of the large intestine is to absorb water and 

some salts from undigested food material 

c.The large intestine is wider and longer than the small 

intestine 

d. The large intestine is highly coiled 

Fill in the blanks with words provided: 

Twenty, Bile, Chyme, Tearing, Chewing, Food vacoule, Holozoic 

11. There are ______________ 

teeth in a temporary set of teeth. 

12. After digestion in the stomach, food is called__________. 

13. Carnivores have very strong __________teeth. 

14. Most animals have ___________mode of nutrition. 

15. Amoeba forms a __________when it comes 

in contact with food. 

16. Label the parts of the 

human digestive system 

in the following picture: 

6. The stomach of 

ruminants is 

a. Convoluted c. Two chambered 

b. Four chambered d. Highly acidic 

7. The largest part of 

ruminant stoamch is 

a. Abomassum c. Reticulum 

b. Rumen d. Omasum 

8. The gastric juices produced in the 

stoamch act upon 

a. Protein c. Fat 

b. Carbohydrate d. Minerals 

9. Which of the following 

organs secretes bile? 

a. Pancreas 

b. Liver 

c. Gall bladder 

d. Spleen 

26 The Progressive Teacher © DS Digital Private Limited I Photocopying permitted


Heat 


1. Temperature is 

measured in 

a. Celsius c. Kelvin 

b. Farhenheit d. All of the above 

2. Which one of the following 

is the preferred mode of 

transfer of heat energy in solids? 

a. Conduction c. Radiation 

b. Convection d. a and b 

3. Which one of the following is 

the preferred mode of transfer of 

heat energy in liquids and gases? 


b. Convection d. a and b 

4. Heat from the sun travels to 

the earth by the process of 


b. Convection d. All of the above 


materials should be used to 

make a ladle for cooking 

a. Plastic c. Iron 

b. Copper d. Wood 

6. Woollen jerseys have holes in them. 

This prevents heat loss by 

a. Conduction 

b. Convection 

c. Radiation 


7. Food is kept in a cool-box which uses two ice 

packs to keep it cool. 

Where should the ice packs be placed to keep 

all the food as cool as possible? 

a. Both at the bottom of the box 

b. Both at the top of the box 

c. One at the front and one at the back of the box 

d. One on the left and one on the right of the box 

8. Hot liquid in a vacuum flask cools 

extremely slowly. 

This is because some methods of heat 

transfer cannot take place in a vacuum. 

Which methods cannot take 

place in a vacuum? 

a. Conduction and convection only 

b. Conduction and radiation only 

c. Convection and radiation only 

d. Conduction, convection and radiation 

9. An engineer wants to fix a steel washer 

on to a steel rod. 

The rod is just too big to fit into 

the hole of the washer. How can the 

engineer fit the washer onto the rod? 

a. Cool the washer and put it over the rod 

b. Cool the washer and rod to the same temperature 

and push them together 

c. Heat the rod and then place it in the hole 

d. Heat the washer and 

place it over the rod 

worksheet 

Max Marks: 20 

10. A student places 2 thermometers 

near a melting ice cube. X is placed 

above the ice cube and Y is placed below. 

What change will the student observe in the 

readings on the thermometers? 

a. Temperature in X will decrease more than that in Y 

b. Temperature in Y will decrease more than that in X 

c. Both X and Y will show the same decrease in temperature 

d. There will be no change in both X and Y 

11. Convection current blowers should be 

placed on the floors because 

a. This prevents over heating of the blower 

b. They are easy to earth 

c. Hot air goes up 

d. Hot air stays down 

12. Which of the following are 

good conductors of heat? 

a. Copper 

b. Iron 

c. Aluminum 


Fill in the blanks using 

a suitable word: 

Black, Kinetic energy, Thermometer, Thermos flask, Conduction 

13. A thing which keeps things hot ___________. 

14. Transfer of heat without the actual 

movement of particles is called___________. 

15. ________________ is a device used to 

measure temperature. 

16. Heat is the ________________ 

of particles that make up matter. 

17. ________________ bodies are good absorbers and good 

emitters of heat energy. 

18. Draw a well labelled diagram illustrating an example of 

convection currents. 


27

worksheet 

Max Marks: 20 

Acids, bases and salts 


1. Slaked lime improves soil fertility by 

a. Providing nutrition to plants 

b. By increasing acidity of soil 

c. By increasing basicity of the soil 

d. By decreasing acidity of the soil 

2. Turmeric solution turns from 

yellow to red as it is 

a. A base c. An indicator 

b. An acid d. A salt 

3. Antacids are used 

a. To speed up the process of digestion 

b. As an indicator of digestion 

c. To neutralise excess acid produced in the stomach 

d. To neutralise salts present in the stomach 

4. Water sample from a river has a pH value of 3. 

Which substance can be added in to the water 

to neutralise the pH value of the acidic water 

present, without leaving an alkaline solution? 

a. Aqueous potassium hydroxide 

b. Calcium carbonate 

c. Ammonia 

d. Hydrochloric acid 

5. When baking soda is added to vinegar, 

an effervescent reaction results 

due to the release of 

a. Hydrogen gas c. Hydrochloride gas 

b. Carbon dioxide gas d. Carbon disulphide gas 

6. A water sample is tested for pH using a 

universal indicator. The paper turns green. 

What is the pH of this water sample? 

a. Acidic c. Basic 

b. Neutral d. Highly acidic 


is not a natural indicator? 

a. Turmeric c. Purple cabbage juice 

b. Berries extract d. Methyl orange 

8. When Hydrochloric acid reacts with 

magnesium, one of the end products is 

a. Carbon dioxide c. Hydrogen gas 

b. Ammonia d. Chloride gas 


9. Blue litmus paper is dipped into a solution; 

the colour of the litmus paper does not change. 

This indicates that the solution is 

a. Acidic c. Neutral 

b. Basic d. Made by dissolving salt 

10. Which of the following will not produce 

hydrogen when it reacts with acid? 

a. Sodium c. Zinc 

b. Magensium d. Aluminium 

11. Blockage in pipes can be 

cleared by using 

a. Acetic acid and sodium carbonate 

b. Acetic acid and sodium bicarboante 

c. Acetic acid 

d. Sodium bicarbonate 


statements is incorrect? 

a. Some bases are insoluble in water 

b. Pickles can corrode metal containers 

c. Organic acids are weak acids 

d. A salt is always neutral 

State whether the following 

statements are true or false: 

13. Salt is formed by the neutralisation 

of Hydrochloric acid with sodium hydroxide 

14. Bases are used in household cleaners 

15. Sodium hydroixde is an alkali 

16. Turmeric can act as an antacid 

17. Acids present in food, 

can cause tooth decay 

Complete the following reactions: 

18. Zinc + hydrochloric acid 

_____________+______________ 

19. HCl + _______________ NaCl + 

_____________ 

20. Methyl orange + Acid ______________ 



worksheet 

Max Marks: 20 

Rational numbers 

8. Which is greater, the sum of 4 5 and 7 

Tick (√) the correct answer 

1. Every number that can be 

written as fraction, in which both the 

numerator and denominator are 

integers, is 

a. integers 

b. rational number 

c. fraction 

d. decimals 

2. The sum of a number and its opposite, 

or additive inverse, is 

a. 0 b. 1 

c. 2 d. Number itself 

3. Number of rational numbers between 

any two rational numbers is 

a. 2 b. 4 

c. 0 d. Infinite 

4. Multiplicative inverse of 0 is 

a. 0 b. 1 

c. does not exist d. none of these 

5. The product of two numbers is 

If one of the numbers is − 4 , 

the other is 

7 

a. 

c. 

9 

20 

7 

35 

b. 

d. 

−9 

35 

−7 

35 

−9 

35 . 

6. Which one of the rational numbers... 

− 11 5 29 9 

, − , − , is the greatest? 

28 7 42 −14 

a. 

−5 

7 

b. 

c. − 29 

d. 

42 

9 

−14 

−11 

28 

7. Which of the following rational 

numbers is in the standard form? 

a. 

c. 

−4 

11 

−4 

76 

b. 

d. 

9 

−81 

14 

24 

the subtraction of 2 7 and − 1 ? 

5 

−1 

a. the subtraction of and 2 5 7 

b. the sum of 4 5 and −7 

9 

9. Simplify 

a. 16 5 

c. 16 3 

⎛2 3⎞ 

−3 

⎜ ÷ ⎟÷ 

⎝5 8⎠ 

5 

b. −16 

5 

d. 

−16 

3 

10. Simplify −9 −10 15 

× 

⎛ ⎞ 

⎜ × ⎟÷ 

5 

5 ⎝ 3 −4⎠ 

a. − 9 

b. 9 

2 

2 

c. 45 

2 

d. −45 

2 

− or 

9 

Fill in the blanks. 

11. The product of a rational number and its reciprocal is 

__________. 

12. The reciprocal of a, where a ≠ 0, is _________. 

13. Zero has __________ reciprocal. 

14. The numbers __________ and __________ are 

their own reciprocals. 

15. As per the ___________________ property, the two 

rational numbers can be multiplied in any order, their 

product remains the __________. 

State whether the following statements 

are true or false. 

16. The reciprocal of a positive rational number is negative. 

17. The sum of any two rational numbers is also a rational number. 

18. Subtraction of rational number is neither commutative nor 

associative. 

19. In case of division of rational numbers, commutative and 

associative properties are applicable. 

20. Zero is the smallest rational number. 


29

worksheet 

Max Marks: 20 

Exponents and powers 


1. Sum of first n odd natural numbers is 

a. 2n 2 b. n + 1 

c. n d. n 2 

2. Which of the following numbers is a 

perfect square? 

a. 123 b. 576 

c. 189 d. 245 

3. A perfect square number can never have 

the digit ____at the unit place. 

a. 1 b. 5 

c. 6 d. 7 

4. The square of a proper fraction is _________ 

the fraction. 

a. smaller than b. greater than 

c. equal to 

5. The sum of 

1 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 9 + 11 is 

a. 25 b. 16 

c. 36 d. 49 

6. By which number should 588 be multiplied 

so as to get a perfect square? 

a. 2 b. 3 

c. 4 d. 5 

7. A gardener has to plant 500 

saplings in such a way that the number 

of rows and the number of 

columns remains the same. 

How many saplings would be left out? 

a. 16 b. 25 

c. 4 d. 8 

8. A number has 4 zeroes at the end. How many 

zeroes will its square root have? 

a. 1 b. 2 

c. 0. d. Cannot be calculated 

9. (75) 2 – (74) 2 = _______ 

a. 150 b. 149 

c. 120 d. None 


10. A number to the 7th power divided 

by the same number to the 

3rd power equals 256. 

What is the number? 

a. 0 b. 2 

c. 4 d. 6 

11. Find the value of 3 1728 

a. 22 b. 32 

c. 12 d. 82 

−216 

12. Find the value of 3 1331 

−6 

a. 

11 

b. 6 11 

c. − 6 

19 

d. Does not exist 


13. The square of an even number is always 

________________. 

14. The number ending in ___________ numbers of zeroes is 

always a perfect square. 

15. To divide powers with the same base, keep the base and 

___________ the exponents. 

16. To multiply powers with the same base, keep the base and 

_________ the exponents. 

State whether the following 

statements are true or false. 

17. 2 5 is read as five raised to the power of 2. 

18. A square number is always positive. 

19. Cubes of all negative integers are always positive. 

20. The sum of two perfect squares 

is a perfect square. 



algebraic expressions 


1. Sonal planted t fewer trees than Shelly. 

Shelly planted 32 trees. Which expression 

shows the trees planted by Sonal? 

a. 32 – t 

b. t – 32 

c. t + 32 

d. t 

2. Identify the degree of the polynomials. 

20x 6 + 10x 4 – x 

a. 2nd degree 

b. 7th degree 

c. 9th degree 

d. 6th degree 

3. Add the polynomials 

5 x 2 − 3 x + 7 + 2 x 3 + 5 x 2 + x + 5 

a. 2x 3 +10x 2 +2x+12 

b. 2x 3 +10x 2 -2x+12 

c. 2x 3 +2x 2 +5x+71 

d. 7x 3 +2x 2 +7x+5 

( ) ( ) 

4. Find the product of 

a 2 (b 2 – c 2 ) + b 2 (c 2 – a 2 ) + c 2 (a 2 – b 2 ) 

a. 2a 2 b 2 + 2a 2 c 2 + 2b 2 c 2 b. 1 

c. 0 d. None 

5. Find the value of m, 

if 4m = (52) 2 – (50) 2 

a. 102 b. 4 

c. 204 d. 51 

6. Find the value of 

(u 2 + v 2 ), if (u + v) = 20 and uv = 10. 

a. 380 b. 400 

c. 390 d. 410 

7. If 3a + 5b = 21 and ab = 6, 

find the value of 9a 2 + 25b 2 . 

a. 251 b. 261 

c. 361 d. 350 


8. The degree of a constant 

is _____________. 

9. Algebraic expressions having one, 

two and three terms are called ________________, 

________________ and ______________. 

State whether the following statements 

are true or false. 

10. In (–4x 3 + 6y 2 – 3z) – (–5x 3 – 3y 2 – 2z), 

the second equation will become positive. 

11. The difference of 

3ab – 7ab is a positive. 

Match the polynomials 

in column A to its corresponding 

terms in column B. 

Column A 

Column B 

12. xy a. trinomial 

13. 5x 2 – 8y + 2 b. 4ab 

14. 7x 2 + y c. monomial 

15. Monomial d. 6x 3 + 5x – 9 

16. Trinomial e. binomial 

Write your solution in performing 

the given operations. 

17. (8x 5 – 3xy 3 + 2y 2 ) + (2x5 – 2xy 3 + 2y 2 ) = 

__________________________. 

18. (x 3 – 3x 2 + 7x + 2) – (5x 3 + x 2 – 10x + 24) = 

________________________. 

19. 3x3(4y 2 ) = _______________________________ 

20. (6y 2 + y – 5) ÷ (6y - 5) = 

____________________________ 

worksheet 

Max Marks: 20 


31

worksheet 

Max Marks: 20 

factorisation 

Multiple Choice Questions. 


9. The factor of 2x + 8y – 3px – 12py is ______________. 

1. (a + b) 2 equals 

a. (a + b)(a + b) b. (a – b)(a – b) 

c. (a + b)(a – b) d. 2(a + b) 

2. Highest common factor of 7p3q3 and 21p2q is 

a. p 3 q 3 b. p 2 q 

c. 7p 2 q d. 7pq 2 

3. The highest common factor of 6a³b + 3a²b² – 

18ab³ is 

a. 3ab b. 3a 2 b 

c. 3ab 2 d. ab 

4. Evaluate (205) 2 – (195) 2 

a. 400 b. 4000 

c. 100 d. None of these 

5. Which one of the following is not a factor of 

x 2 + x ? 

a. x + 2 b. x + 1 

c. x d. x(x + 1) 

6. Evaluate (2.6) 2 – (0.6) 2 

a. 6.4 b. 6 c. 2.4 d. 0.4 


7. The process of finding factors of an algebraic expression is 

called _____________________________________ 

State whether the following statements are true 

or false. 

10. The factor of 2n 2 – 6n + 4 is (n – 1)(n – 2). 

11. The factor of 25 – p 2 is (5 + p)(5 – p). 

12. The factor of 12b 2 + 17b – 5 is (2b + 1)(6b – 5). 

13. The two factors of x 2 – 4x + 4 are same. 

Match the polynomials in 

column ‘A’ to its proper factor of 

grouping in column ‘B’ 

Column A 

Column B 

14. 2x 2 – 6x + 8 a. 3(x + 3y) 

15. 5x + 30 b. 3xy(2x + 3y)(x – 2y) 

16. 3xy + 21x – 2y – 14 c. 2(x 2 – 3x + 4) 

17. 5x 2 + 11x + 2 d. (y + 7)(3x – 2) 

18. 3x + 9y e. (5x – 1)(x – 2) 

19. 2x 3 – 4x 2 – 6x f. 5(x + 6) 

8. Factorisation of ______________ is (t + 7) (t + 1). 

20. 6x 3 y + 3x 2 y 2 – 18xy 3 g. 2x(x + 1)(x – 3) 


Class IX: BIOLOGY 

Diversity in Living Organisms 


1. Which one of the following is not included in Linnaean 

hierarchy? 

a. Order c. Genus 

b. Category d. Species 

2. The vascular system first developed in 

a. Algae c. Mosses 

b. Liverworts d. Ferns 

3. Which of the following are the most primitive and 

simple seed plants? 

a. Angiosperms c. Bryophytes 

b. Gymnosperms d. Pteridophytes 

4. The double envelope system first developed in 

a. Kingdom Monera c. Kingdom Fungi 

b. Kingdom Protista d. Kingdom Plantae 

5. Which one of the following is a true fish? 

a. Cat fish c. Jelly fish 

b. Cuttle fish d. Silver fish 

6. Three chambered heart is present in 

a. Frogs c. Birds 

b. Lizards d. Fishes 

7. Multicellular photosynthetic producers of the 

biosphere belong to 

a. Kingdom Plantae c. Kingdom Monera 

b. Kingdom Fungi d. Kingdom Protista 

12. Binomial nomenclature: Carolus Linnaeus :: Five 

Kingdom classification: _________ 

13. Amoeba: Pseudopodia :: Asterias: _________ 

14. Diatoms: Protista :: Cyanobacteria: ________ 


15. A chitinous exoskeleton and jointed legs are the 

characteristics of phylum_________. 

worksheet 

16. The __________are referred to as the ‘amphibians of 

the plant kingdom’. 

Match each term in Column B with its related term in 

Column A. 

Column A 

Column B 

17. Endospore a. Fungi 

18. Cyst b. Monera 

19. Spore c. Protista 

20. Given below is the diagram of a 4 chambered heart. 

Identify the vertebrate animal groups which have a 4 

chambered heart. 

Max Marks: 20 

8. The birds have bipedal locomotion as it 

a. Reduces weight c. Provides support 

b. Increases speed d. Spares forelimbs for flight 

9. Which one of the following is an exclusively marine 

phylum? 

a. Porifera c. Coelenterate 

d. Echinodermata d. Protozoa 

10. Which one of the following plants produces seeds but 

not fruits? 

a. Pine c. Banyan 

b. Maize d. Mint 

Complete the following Analogies. 

11. Balanoglossus: Protochordata :: Marsilea: _______ 


33

worksheet 

Max Marks: 20 

Why Do We Fall Ill? 


1. Which one of the following diseases is not contracted 

by droplet infection? 

a. Tetanus c. Mumps 

b. Diphtheria d. Leprosy 

2. Which one of the following diseases can be cured by 

giving ORS-Oral Saline Solution? 

a. AIDS c. Chickenpox 

b. Hepatitis d. Cholera 

3. Which one of the following diseases can be 

transmitted by shaking hands? 

a. Common cold c. Malaria 

b. AIDS d. Polio 

4. Which one of the following diseases is present right 

from the birth? 

a. Sickle cell anaemia c. Amoebiasis 

b. Cancer d. SARS 

5. A pathogen refers to 

a. Any microorganism 

b. Microorganism inside a body 

c. Disease causing organism 

d. Cultured microorganism 

6. A person who does not maintain personal hygiene is 

most likely to suffer from 

a. Genetic diseases c. Degenerative diseases 

b. Deficiency diseases d. Contagious diseases 

b. Lymphocytes d. Antigens 


9. Which one of the following statements is not correct? 

a. All antibiotics are specific 

b. All antibodies are specific 

c. Antigens help in blood grouping 

d. Antibodies are produced by B lymphocytes 

10. In which disease, a common cold infection progresses 

into pneumonia, resulting in death of the patient? 

a. AIDS c. Cancer 

b. Influenza d. Typhoid 

Complete the following analogies. 

11. Influenza: Virus :: Cholera: _______ 

12. Syphilis: Sexual contact: Pneumonia :: _________ 

13. Penicillin: Alexander Fleming :: Smallpox vaccine: ___ 

_____________________________ 

14. B cells :: Humoral immunity :: T cells: ________ 


15. The aim of vaccination is to induce ______________ 

immunity against microbial invasion. 

16. Influenza is ________ disease while tuberculosis is 

__________ disease. 


Column A. 

7. Which one of the following diseases is not caused by a 

mosquito bite? 

a. Encephalitis c. Dengue 

b. Filariasis d. Amoebiasis 

8. Which one of the following is not involved in the 

defense of our body against pathogens? 

a. Neutrophils c. Macrophages 

Nutrition in Plants 

1. b 2. c 

3. c 4. b 

5. a 6. b 

7. c 8. a 

9. b 10. b 

Fill in the blanks 

11. Symbiosis 

12. Thylakoids 

13. Autotrophic and 

Saprophytic 

14. Carbon Dioxide 

and water 

15. Insectivorous 

plants 

16. Examples for 

parasitic plants: 

Cuscuta, Indian 

pipe 

17. 6CO 2 

+6H 2 

O 

C 6 

H 12 

O6+6O 2 

18. Rafflesia, 

Parasitic 

19.a. Chloroplast, 

b. Autotrophs 

20. Bread Mould 

Answer Key - Class VII: science 

Nutrition in Animals 

1. a 2. a 

3. c 4. a 

5. d 6. b 

7. b 8. a 

9. b 10. a 


11. Twenty 

12. Chyme 

13. Tearning 

14. Holozoic 

15. Food Vacoule 

16. Labels for the 

diagram 

a. Liver 

b. Stomach 

c. Large 

intestine 

d. Small intestine 

e. Anus 

Heat 

1. d 

2. a 

3. b 

4. c 

5. d 

6. a 

7. b 

8. a 

9. d 

10. b 

11. c 

12. d 


13. Thermos Flask 

14. Conduction 

15. Thermometer 

16. Kinetic energy 

17. Black 

Acids, Bases and Salts 

1. d 2. c 

3. c 4. b 

5. b 6. b 

7. d 8. c 

9. b 10. d 

11. b 12. d 

True/False: 

13. True 

14. Ture 

15. True 

16. False 

17. True 

18. Zinc+Hydrochloric 

acid→Zinc Chloride 

and Hydrogen Gas 

19. HCl+NaOH→ 

Nacl+H 2 

o 

20. Methyl Orange + Acid 

→ Pink/red solution 

Rational Numbers 

1. b 

2. a 

3. d 

4. c 

5. a 

6. d 

7. a 

8. a 

9. d 

10. a 

11. 1 

12. 1/a 

13. no 

14. 1; -1 

15. Commutative, 

Same 

16. False 


18. True 

19. False 

20. False 

Answer Key - Class VIII: MATHEMATICS 

Exponents and Power 

1. d 

2. b 

3. d 

4. a 

5. c 

6. b 

7. a 

8. b 

9. b 

10. c 

11. c 

12. a 

13. Even 

14. Even 

15. Subtract 

16. Add 

17. False 

18. True 

19. False 

20. False 

Algebraic Expressions 

1. a 

2. d 

3. b 

4. c 

5. d 

6. a 

7. c 

8. 0 

9. Monomial; 

Binomial; Trinomial 

10. True 

11. False 

12. c 

13. a 

14. e 

15. b 

16. d 

17. 10x 5 +5xy 3 +4Y 2 

18. -4x 3 -4x 2 +17x-22 

19. 12x 3 y 2 

20.Y + 1 

Factorisation 

1. a 

2. c 

3. a 

4. b 

5. a 

6. a 

7. Factorisation 

8. (t + 4) 2 - 9 

9. (2-3p) (x+4y) 

10. False 

11. True 

12. False 

13. True 

14. c 

15. f 

16. d 

17. e 

18. a 

19. g 

20.b 



Natural Resources 


1. The ultraviolet radiations are absorbed in the 

stratosphere by 

a. Carbon dioxide c. CFC 

b. Ozone d. Oxygen 

2. Which one of the following is mismatched? 

a. Fossil fuel burning - release of carbon dioxide 

b. Nuclear wastes – Radioactive wastes 

c. Solar energy – Greenhouse effect 

d. Biomass burning – Release of carbon dioxide 

3. BOD-Biochemical oxygen demand measures 

a. Water pollution due to organic wastes 

b. Water pollution due to inorganic wastes 

c. Polluting capacity of effluents 

d. Air pollution 

4. The ozone layer is chiefly disturbed by 

a. Automobile exhausts c. Greenhouse effect 

b. Acid rain d. Supersonic jet planes 

5. What will be the effect on the temperature of the 

earth’s surface, if there was no carbon dioxide in the 

atmosphere? 

a. No effect 

b. The temperature will increase 

c. The temperature will decrease 

d. Will depend on the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere 

worksheet 

Max Marks: 20 

8. As DDT travels along the food chain, its concentration 

a. Decreases c. Stays constant 

b. Increases d. Fluctuates randomly 

9. Which one of the following is not a pollutant? 

a. Hydrocarbons c. Carbon monoxide 

b. Carbon dioxide d. Sulphur dioxide 

10. The fish die in the water bodies polluted by sewage 

due to 

a. Pathogens c. Reduction in oxygen 

b. Clogging of gills by silt d. Foul smell 


11. Thermal pollution: Water pollution :: Acid rain: _______ 

12. Greenhouse effect :Carbon dioxide: Ozone hole :: 

_________ 

13. Fertilizers: Eutrophication :: Pesticides: _________ 

14. DDT :: Non biodegradable pollutant :: Sewage: 

________ 


15. The process of nutrient enrichment of water, and 

consequent loss of species diversity is referred to as 

________________. 

16. The increase in the global mean temperature is 

referred to as ______________. 


Column A. 

6. Acid rain is mainly due to 

a. Sulphur dioxide pollution c. Pesticide pollution 

b. Carbon monoxide pollution d. Dust particles 

7. In the future, skin related disorders might be more 

common due to 

a. Use of detergents c. Air pollution 

b. Water pollution d. Depletion of ozone layer 

Diversity in Living Organisms 

1. b 

2. d 

3. b 

4. b 

5. a 

6. a 

7. a 

8. d 

9. d 

10. a 

11. Pteridophyta 

12. Robert Whittaker 

13. Tubefeet 

14. Monera 

15. Arthropoda 

16. Bryophytes 

17. b. 

18. c 

19. a 

20. Mammals and 

Birds 

Answer Key - Class IX: biology 

Why Do We Fall Ill? 

1. a 

2. d 

3. a 

4. a 

5. c 

6. d 

7. d 

8. d 

9. a 

10. a 

11. Bacteria 

12. Cough/Sneeze/ 

Droplet/Infection 

13. Edward Jenner 

14. Cellular Immunity 

15. Specific 

16. Acute, chronic 

17. b 

18. a 

19. d 

20 c 

Natural Resources 

1. b 

2. c 

3. a 

4. d 

5. c 

6. a 

7. d 

8. b 

9. b 

10. c 

11. Air Pollution 

12. Chlorofluorocarbons 

13. Biomagnification 

14. Biodegradable 

Pollutant 

15. Eutrophication 

16. Global Warming 

17. b 

18. c 

19. a 

20 d 

Improvement in Food Resources 

1. b 

2. b 

3. a 

4. d 

5. b 

6. c 

7. b 

8. a 

9. c 

10. b 

11. Exotic/Foreign 

Breed 

12. Bottom Feeder 

13. Weedicide/ 

Herbicide 

14. Poultry Disease 

15. Silver 

16. Intergeneric 

17. c 

18. b 

19. a 

20 d 

Light - Reflection and Refraction 

1. a 

2. b 

3. c 

4. b 

5. b 

6. d 

7. a 

8. b 

9. d 

10. a 

11. Incidence, 

Thickness 

12. Increases 

13. Thermosetting 

14. 1, 125 

15. Refractive index 

16. False 


18. True 

19. False 

Answer Key - Class X: physics 

The Human Eye and the Colourful World 

1. a 

2. b 

3. a 

4. b 

5. b 

6. c 

7. b 

8. d 

9. d 

10. c 

11. Real, Inverted 

12. ConesDroplet 

13. - 5D 

14. VIBGYOR 

15. Tre 

16. False 


18. False 

19. True 

20 False 

Electricity 

1. d 

2. c 

3. c 

4. b 

5. c 

6. d 

7. d 

8. b 

9. c 

10. c 

11. Viriable 

12. Series 

13. Earth 

14. 25 : 1 

15. Resistance 

16. False 


18. True 

19. True 

20 False 

Magnetic Effects of Electric Current 

1. a 

2. c 

3. a 

4. a 

5. b 

6. d 

7. a 

8. c 

9. d 

10. d 

11. Fleming’s Righthand 

rule, motion 

of the conductor 

12. Electromagnet 

13. Magnetic South 

of earth 

14. Terminates 

15. False 

16. True 

17. Ture 

18. False 

19. False 


35

worksheet 

Max Marks: 20 

Improvement in Food Resources 


1. Which method of animal breeding results into 

the Mule? 

a. Selection c. Inbreeding 

b. Interspecific hybridisation d. Cross breeding 

2. Which of the following statements is NOT true for 

mineral nutrition? 

a. 13 essential plant nutrients are obtained from the soil 

b. N, P, H are called the primary nutrients 

c. Manures replenish the general deficiency of nutrients in 

the soil 

d. Green manures are used for crops that require high 

nutrient input 

3. Which of the following is NOT true for organic 

farming? 

a. Use of fertilizers 

b. Use of blue green algae 

c. Use of green manure 

d. Use of biological pest control 


8. Inbreeding is possible between the two members of 

a. Same species c. Same genus 

b. Different species d. Different genus 

9. The process of bringing a species under human 

management is called 

a. Breeding c. Domestication 

b. Selection d. Hybridisation 

10. Which statement is NOT true for animal breeding? 

a. Composite fish culture uses 5-6 fish species in a single 

pond 

b. The Indian bees have a high honey collection capacity 

as compared to Italian bees 

c. Milk production can be increased by increasing the 

lactation period 

d. The nutritional requirements of broilers is different from 

layers 


11. Sahiwal: Indigenous breed :: Jersey: _______ 

4. Green revolution in India was possible primarily 

due to 

a. Hybrid seeds 

b. Increased area for crop cultivation 

c. Improved technique of irrigation 

d. Mutations resulting in semi-dwarf varieties 

5. What will be the effect on the temperature of the stored 

grain, if it is stored without drying? 

a. No effect 

b. Temperature will increase 

c. Temperature will decrease 

d. Will depend on amount of oxygen in the atmosphere 

6. Which one of the following methods is most 

commonly used for bringing about crop variety 

improvement? 

a. Selection c. Mutation 

b. Hybridisation d. Genetic engineering 

7. Which one of the following methods is most commonly 

used for cattle breeding? 

a. Random mating c. Mutation 

b. Artificial insemination d. Hybridisation 

12. Catla :Surface feeder :: Carp: _________ 

13. Methyl bromide: Fumigant :: 2, 4 D: _________ 

14. Foot and mouth disease :: Cattle disease :: Ranikhet: 

________ 


15. The tremendous increase in egg production in India is 

referred to as ________________revolution. 

16. Triticale has been developed by __________________ 

hybridisation. 

Match the following: 

Column A 

Column B 

17. Exotic breed a. 1 : 3 

18. Crop rotation b. Legumes 

19. Intercropping c. Leghorn 

20. Cross breed d. Karan swiss 


class x: physics 

worksheet 

Max Marks: 20 


37

worksheet 

Max Marks: 20 

The Human Eye and the Colourful World 


1. The eye lens is 

a. convex and its focal length is maximum while viewing 

the distant object. 

b. convex and its focal length is minimum while viewing 


c. constant and does not change at all. 

d. concave and its focal length is maximum while viewing 


2. The function of iris is 

a. to identify the colour of an object. 

b. to control the amount of light entering in the eye. 

c. to focus the image on the retina. 

d. all of these. 

3. The least distance of distinct vision is 

a. constant and is equal to 25 cm. 

b. more than 25 cm for a person having Hypermetropia. 

c. less than 25 cm for a person having Hypermetropia. 

d. less than 25 cm for a person having Myopia. 

4. For a person suffering with Shortsightedness 

a. the rays coming from infinity meet behind the retina. 

b. the rays coming from infinity meet in front of the retina. 

c. the rays coming from infinity meet at the far point. 

d. the rays coming from infinity meet at the retina. 


8. Which phenomenon is responsible for the reddening 

around the sun at the time of sunset? 

a. Dispersion of light. 

b. Reflection of light. 

c. Refraction of light. 

d. Scattering of light. 

9. According to the Tyndall effect, 

a. if size of particles is very small, they scatter more light 

of smaller wavelength. 

b. if size of particles is bigger, they scatter light of all 

wavelengths equally. 

c. the colour of the scattered light depends on the size of 

particles. 

d. all of these. 

10. Which of the following phenomenon is NOT due to the 

atmospheric refraction? 

a. Size of sun appears larger at the time of sunset. 

b. Twinkling of stars. 

c. White colour of clouds. 

d. Advanced sunrise and delayed sunset. 

State whether the following statements are true or false: 

11. The images formed on the retina are __________ and 

___________________________. 

5. Which of the four figures depict Myopia? 

a. (i) and (iii) 

(I) 

(iii) 

b. (ii) and (iii) 

c. (i) and (iv) 

(ii) 

(iv) 

d. (ii) and (iv) 

6. The refractive index of glass 

a. for all colours of the light is same. 

b. is minimum for violet colour and maximum for red 

colour. 

c. is maximum for violet colour and maximum for red 

colour. 

d. is maximum for yellow colour and maximum for red 

colour. 

7. The blue colour of the sky is 

a. due to the refraction of light. 

b. due to the scattering of light by the molecules of 

gases. 

c. due to the dispersion of light by the molecules of 

gases. 

d. due to the absorption of light of all colours except blue 

by the molecules of gases. 

12. Colour blindness is due to the absence of some type 

of cells in the retina called __________. 

13. The far point of a person is 2 meters. The power 

of lens required to correct the defect of vision is 

___________. 

14. The order of colours in the spectrum of natural white 

light is referred by ____________. 


15. Near point of a person suffering from Hypermetropia 

is more than 25 cm. 

16. The speed of violet light is more than that of red light 

in glass. 

17. Myopia is corrected by the use of convex lenses of 

suitable focal lengths. 

18. Presbyopia is corrected by the use of bifocal lenses. 

19. The size of pupil is independent of intensity of light. 



Electricity 


1. If a current of 1 A is flowing through a wire, the 

number of electrons passing through the wire in 1 

minute is 

a. 6.25 × 1018 

b. 3.75 × 1019 

c. 6.25 × 1020 

d. 3.75 × 1020 

2. Which of the following statements is correct? 

a. In primary cells, chemical energy changes into 

electrical energy and the chemical reaction is 

reversible. 

b. In primary cells, electrical energy changes into 

chemical energy and the chemical reaction is 

irreversible. 

c. In secondary cells, chemical energy changes into 

electrical energy and the chemical reaction is 

reversible. 

d. Secondary cells, cannot be charged. 

3. A point charge – q 0 

is carried from infinity to point A 

and then to point B. If potential at A is V A 

and potential 

at B is V B 

then 

a. V A 

= V Infinity 

B +Q 

b. V A 

> V A B 

q 0 

B 

c. V A 

< V B 

d. V ≥ V 

A 

B 

4. The potential difference V across AB and the value of 

resistance R (between AB) are 

a. V = 3 V and R = 1 Ω 

1=1.5 ampere V 

A 

b. V = 4.5 V and R = 3 Ω 

c. V = 3 V and R = 1.5 Ω 

A B 

d. V = 4.5 V and R = 3 Ω 

+ - 

V=4.5 volt 

5. According to Ohm’s law R = V 

I 

if 

a. V is doubled, R is also doubled. 

b. V is doubled, R is halved. 

c. V is doubled, R remains same. 

d. None of these. 

6. The R where p is resistivity, A is area of cross 

– section and L is length of the conductor. Then R 

increases with increase of temperature because of 

a. Increase of L. c. Increase of volume. 

b. Increase of A. d. Increase of p. 

7. Two bulbs each marked 100 W-220 V in series are 

connected across 220 V. The total power consumed is 

a. 200 W c. 50 W 

b. 100 W d. 25 W 

worksheet 

Max Marks: 20 

8. Kilowatt-hour (kwh) is 

a. The unit of power and 1 kwh = 1000 W 

b. The unit of energy and 1 kwh = 3600 kJ 

c. The unit of power and 1 kwh = 1.3 Horse power 

d. The unit of energy and 1 kwh = 1000 kJ 

9. A wire of length 1 m and resistance 20 Ω is stretched 

to the length of 4 m, the new resistance will be 

a. 20 Ω c. 80 Ω 

b. 40 Ω d. 60 Ω 

10. When two resistance are connected in series, the total 

resistance is 25 Ω and when the same two resistance 

are connected in parallel, the total resistance is 6 Ω. 

The value of the two resistances are 

a. 12.5 Ω and 9 Ω c. 10Ω and 15 Ω 

b. 20 Ω and 5 Ω d. 12 Ω and 13 Ω 


11. Rheostat is a __________ resistance and it is 

connected in series. 

12. Kilowatt-hour meter is connected in _______ with the 

circuit. 

13. In the power cord used in house hold appliances, 

the lead covered with green rubber connected with 

__________ of the socket. 

14. There are 5 resistance each of resistance 10 Ω. 

The value in series combination is Rs and the 

value in parallel combination is Rp. Then Rs : Rp = 

___________. 

5. The slope of potential difference (V) and current (I) 

gives __________ of the conductor. 


16. The resistivity of all good conductors is equal. 

17. Ohm’s law is obeyed by all type of conductors. 

18. An Electric fuse wire has a low melting point. 

19. A Kilo-watt hour meter is connected in the series of 

the wiring. 

20. In the verification of Ohm’s law, ammeter and 

voltmeter can be interchanged. 


39

worksheet 

Max Marks: 20 

Magnetic Effects of Electric Current 


1. Who gave the experimental demonstration of 

magnetic effect of current? 

a. Hans Christian Oersted c. Alessandro Volta 

b. Sir Isaac Newton d. Charles de Coulomb 

2. The direction of magnetic field around a current 

carrying straight wire is found by 

a. Fleming’s Left-Hand Rule. 

b. Fleming’s Right-Hand Rule. 

c. Right Thumb Rule. 


3. Which of the following statements is wrong? 

a. Strength of an electromagnet is inversely proportional 

to the resistance of the coil. 

b. Strength of an electromagnet is directly proportional to 

the number of turns in the coil. 

c. Strength of an electromagnet is directly proportional to 

the current in the coil. 

d. Strength of an electromagnet can be changed as per 

our requirement. 


8. The magnetic field lines due to the current carrying 

straight wire 

a. Parallel to the current carrying conductor. 

b. Anti-parallel to the current carrying conductor. 

c. Circular. 

d. Radially outward. 

9. Which of the following indicates the magnetic effect of 

current? 

a. The relative motion between coil and magnet 

producing current. 

b. A charged metallic sphere brought near a strong bar 

magnet. 

c. The dynamo producing d.c. voltage. 

d. The force acting on a current carrying conductor when 

placed in a uniform, magnetic field. 

10. Induced current in a coil does NOT depend on 

a. number of turns of the coil. 

b. strength of magnetic field. 

c. resistance of the coil. 

d. temperature of the coil. 

4. The direction of induced current in a conductor is 

determined by using 

a. Fleming’s right-hand rule. 

b. Left-hand thumb rule. 

c. Maxwell’s cork screw rule. 


5. Which of the following is NOT applicable for an 

electric motor? 

a. The split rings act as commutator. 

b The carbon brushes rotate with the armature. 

c. The rectangular coil is free to rotate between the 

cylindrical pole pieces of a horse shoe magnet. 

d. By reversing the terminals of the battery, direction of 

rotation of coil is also reversed. 

6. The instruments based on magnetic effect of current are 

a. Galvanometer. c. Motors. 

b. Electro-magnets. d. All of these. 

7. When N-pole of the bar magnet is moved towards the 

wooden rod inside a solenoid, then 

a. No magnetic poles are 

induced in the solenoid 

b. N-pole is induced on the left 

of the solenoid 

c. The galvanometer shows deflection 

d. There is no current in the 

galvanometer if the magnet stops 


11. The above diagram depicts _______________ and the 

thumb indicates the direction of ______________. 

12. The polarity of a/an ______________ can be reversed 

by reversing the direction of current. 

13. The N-pole of a magnetic compass points towards 

North of earth because ___________ lies in that 

direction. 

14. The magnetic lines of force originating at N-pole 

__________ at S-pole 


15. A Galvanometer works on the principle of 

electromagnetic induction. 

16. A current carrying circular coil behaves as a magnet. 

17. In a motor, when the coil rotates a reverse voltage is 

also produced. 

18. Steel can also be used for electromagnet. 

19. The induced current in a coil is independent of speed 

of rotation of the coil. 


classroom display pullout 

Mar/Apr May/Jun 2017 

www.progressiveteacher.in 25 41

Pullout PLANNER 


Environmental Education 

–Arti Prasad 

Responsible behaviour is the need of the 

hour; and ecological sciences are the 

door to sustainable development. We 

have to be cautious of our limited resources 

that we consume without thinking about the 

future. Educating our children from early 

childhood and inculcating good values and 

habits may lay strong foundations and lead us 

on to a path of sustainable development. 

Consciousness is awareness. Environmental 

awareness is to understand the fragility of 

our environment and the importance of its 

protection. One needs to be aware of the 

duties and responsibilities, in order to deal 

effectively and conserve the environment. The 

primary goals of Environmental education 

are to deepen the students’ engagement with 

issues in environment and science and take 

sensitive actions to improve the quality of life. 

Environmental education can be traced 

to outdoor education, and its history is 

intimately intertwined with that of outdoor 

Environmental Education: 

Component Of Sustainable 

Development 

The ultimate aim and critical role of education is shaping human behaviour. It is our prime 

duty to take care of the well-being of the earth. The present day society needs to formulate 

an innovative Educational Policy aimed to evolve a ‘Complete Man’ with three major goals; 

Academic Excellence, Moral and Spiritual Values and Social Sensibilities. 

and experiential education. The roots of 

environmental education can also be traced 

to recreational camping, which began to be 

practiced during the period 1861–1880, 

the nature study movement. According to 

Carlson (2000), the beginning of outdoor 

education as a ‘learning method’ began in 

1930. Environmental education took an 

important seat in science curricula and 

was endowed with a concrete form as a 

discipline in the late 1960s. The main aim of 

this was to develop environmentally literate 

Arti Prasad has a post-graduate degree in Physics with a B.Ed 

and M.Phil. She has 21 years of experience in the teaching 

domain. She is an alumnus of DEI (Dayalbagh Educational 

Institute), which is celebrating 100 years in the service of 

education. She started her teaching career as a Physics teacher 

in DPS Vasant Kunj. Presently she is the Principal of Soami 

Nagar Model School, in Soami Nagar, New Delhi. SNMS fosters 

academic excellence along with physical, cultural, intellectual, 

ethical, spiritual education with scientific methodology 

and transforms children into good citizens by fostering courage, character and 

commitment. 

She is an educationist and academician by choice and has a strong passion for 

teaching and serving the society. She has conducted various workshops for teachers 

and students in different areas related to Curriculum (development & designing, 

planning) and CCE. She has been an excellent sports person and has participated in 

Table tennis, Volleyball, Shot-put at the regional and national level. 


citizens who have the knowledge and skills 

to take responsible action with regard to the 

natural environment. The first international 

conferences on environmental education were 

held in the 1970s. 

The United Nations played an instrumental 

role in developing the basic premises 

and guiding principles for environmental 

education curriculum development. 

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING AND 

INSPIRATION Educating adolescents 

about the impact they have on their 

environment is necessary for nurturing 

lifelong environmental stewardship. In 

the last twenty years, environmental 

education has been gaining a stronger 

foothold in classrooms across the globe. 

The purpose of environmental education is 

to teach students how to take responsible 

decisions, using critical thinking in order 

to take action to maintain or improve our 

environment. Educators should encourage 

even small steps toward environmental 

conservation, as they are the building blocks 

to lifetime environmental conservation 

action. Accordingly, the primary goal 

of environmental education is to instil 

knowledge that leads to pro-environmental 

actions and behaviours in individuals, 

groups and society. Engaging the learners 

in hands on activities, actionable learning 

has a positive effect on the outcome of 

environmental education. 

One idea which our students shared a few 

years ago, regarding ‘Recycling’ of resources 

was to make an ATM machine. It is a reality 

now and has taken a new shape. People can 

put plastic bottles in it and get some money 

out of it. Fig 1. 

In this way people are motivated and we 

can save our environment from profusion of 


plastic. It’s very unfortunate that we have to 

buy drinking water today. Two decades ago, 

people used to drink ground water available 

without any fear of micro bacterial diseases. 

But purification industry of water and now 

air too has grown tremendously making huge 

profits, due to human greed and irresponsible 

behaviour towards invaluable resources 

provided by nature. 

Students of my school also make hot 

compost using dry leaves collected from the 

campus and biodegradable waste. In this 

project all teachers, parents and children 

are involved. This manure is then used to 

maintain the school garden, thus inculcating 

a sense of belongingness in all stakeholders. 

Students also did an interdisciplinary Bicycle 

project to promote healthy habits in citizens. 

The students of Class VII researched and 

collected data on various aspects of cycling 

and enjoyed this learning process. Our 

institute set an example of learning and work 

experience ranging over the entire spectrum 

of both, the world of education and the world 

of work. Students are motivated by positive 

changes that help our environment such as 

recycling. Inquiry style learning is one way to 

incorporate positive action. Students learn by 

observing, asking questions, critical thinking 

and problem solving. 

TECHNOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT 

Technology plays an important role in 

sustainable development. In recent years we 

have seen much innovation in the field of 

Robotics; Drone delivery to various places 

and help in disasters; use of cutting edge 

science in green buildings; smart options 

in Green building technology and thus 

saving energy. 

CRRI (Central Road Research Institute) 

Project: Plastic has taken a hot seat in 

Fig 1. 

Recycling banks that pay subway credits for plastic bottles 

our lives and has become an integral part, 

replacing other materials. It is durable, 

lightweight, and does not decompose. Hence, 

it is a threat to the environment. Prof R. 

Vasudevan, Professor of Chemistry at Madurai 

developed a technology for plastic waste 

disposal. In 1990s a new technology was 

evolved, which mixes plastic asphalt and forms 

a compound called polymerized bitumen. 

Government made it mandatory for all road 

developers to use waste plastic, along with 

bituminous mixes for road construction. This 

type of road construction process is extremely 

eco-friendly, with no toxic gases being released. 

When used in roads, it withstands monsoons 

and wear and tear. More than 1,200 kilometres 

of roads have been built using 3,500 tons 

of plastic waste and offering greener way to 

travel in India. 

Eco friendly road for green future and 

sustainable development is the core of 

environmental technologies and is used in 

monitoring of environmental issues and 

conservation of energy; be it use of solar 

energy, photovoltaics, sewage treatment, 

hybrid electric vehicles and many more. 

There is a dynamic relation between 

education, learning, environment and 

sustainability issues. Quality education 

system provides a balanced view of life 

with material pursuits being subsumed 

by higher intellectual and spiritual goals. 

Environment education is a unique approach 

and is characterized by its distinctive flavour. 

We should find different ways to improve 

education in order to enhance environmental 

and sustainability goals. Education, 

communication, and public awareness are 

essential elements in improving the quality 

of life of all people and their environment. 

Environmental consciousness is an ideology 

that evokes the responsibility of humans to 

respect, protect and preserve the natural 

resources. It leads to the planet’s longevity 

as a healthy place for humanity’s continued 

evolution. We can accelerate exemplary 

growth, duly propelled by the twin objectives 

of value education and consciousness. We can 

transit from knowledge society to a wisdom 

society surcharged by the spirit of ultimate 

consciousness. 

References: 

[1] Federal Register. (1996). Definition of environmental 

education. December 10, p. 65106. 

[2] Wells, N. M., & Lekies, K. S. (2006). Nature 

and the life course: Pathways from childhood nature 

experiences to adult environmentalism. Children Youth 

and Environments, 16(1), 1-24. 

[3] Stevenson, K. T., Peterson, M. N., Bondell, H. D., 

Mertig, A. G., & Moore, S. E. (2013). Environmental, 

institutional, and demographic predictors of 

environmental literacy among middle school children. 

Plods ONE, 8(3), 1-11. doi: 10.1371/journal. 

pone.0059519 

[4] Short, P. C. (2010). Responsible environmental 

action: its role and status in environmental education 

and environmental quality. 

FORM IV (RULE 8) 

Statement about ownership and other particulars about magazine 

entitled “The Progressive Teacher.” 

1) Place of Publication : New Delhi 

2) Periodicity of publication : Bi-monthly 

3) Printer’s Name : Sonal Khurana 

Whether citizen 

of India : Yes 

4) Publisher’s Name : Sonal Khurana 

Whether citizen of India : Yes 

Address : 406, Sant Nagar, East of 

Kailash, New Delhi 

5) Editor’s Name : Rita Wilson 

Whether citizen of India : Yes 

If foreigner, state the 

country of origin : Does not apply 

Address : Flat # 2-A, 5, Under Hill Lane, 

Civil Lines, Delhi-110054 

I, Sonal Khurana, hereby declare that the particulars given above 

are true to the best of my knowledge and belief. 

Dated: 

Sd/- 

1st March, 2017 Sonal Khurana, Publisher 


lesson planning 

TEACHING FOR UNDERSTANDING AND RETENTION: 

INVESTIGATIVE LEARNING APPROACH 

–Deepthi Uthaman and 

–Gajendra Khandelwal 

As teachers all of us strive to live up 

to this idea and thus keep innovating 

our lesson plans to make them more 

powerful. 

Teaching is a passion for us at the Biology 

department at TGES, Rajkot. We try to come 

up with lesson plans that help students gain 

more from our classroom teaching. The 

reason for us to think differently was the 

assessment papers. While checking papers we 

realized that some students had completely 

misunderstood certain concepts, despite what 

we considered flawless teaching sessions. We 

thus comprehended a gap in what we taught 

and what the students imbibed. Somewhere it 

is difficult to gauge, how far what we 

teach actually reaches the students in the 

desired format. 

This made us realize that if things have to 

be imbibed properly, mere psychological 

presence of the student is not enough. It 

requires engaging them in the learning 

process, thus inspiring students towards 

inquiry-based learning. This, we found, 

facilitated long-term retention of the concept. 

These experiences drove us to create lesson 

plans differently, thus giving rise to the idea 

of Investigative Learning Approach (ILA). 

This idea envisaged by us has brought a 

radical change in our teaching pedagogy. The 

outcome of this has been very encouraging as 

we found the students changing from passive 

listeners to inquirers and the classroom 

becoming a more interesting place. With the 

success of our ILA strategies, we are happy 

to share these ideas with the 

teaching community. 

Investigative learning 

approach-1: Enzymes 

We started this for the chapter ‘Enzymes’ 

(ISC) Grade 11. This involves, students 

investigating the properties and factors 

affecting enzyme action by performing 

experiments in groups and deriving 

conclusions that then result in their 

understanding the concepts. Drawing 

conclusions based on the data collected by 

students creates better understanding by 

engaging and empowering the students thus 

allowing better retention of concepts. 

We have tried to include experiments with 

chemicals/materials that are readily available. 

Some of these experiments are a part of the 

practical syllabus for ISC. However, most 

of the time it is seen that students simply 

follow the protocol without thinking about 

the concept. Our idea is to integrate these 

experiments with the theory thus facilitating 

better understanding. 

To engage and involve students it is 

important to trigger their curiosity and 

generate interest for the topic. We began our 

session by introducing some real life 

The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The 

superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. 

–William Arthur Ward 

Grade 11 students performing enzyme experiments 

connection related to the topic Enzymes. We 

gave an Eclair to each student and asked 

them how is it that the centre is soft and the 

covering is solid and hard.[This is due to the 

use of enzyme invertase that acts on sucrose 

breaking it down to glucose and fructose 

making it soft]. We could also discuss other 

examples like why is commercially available 

fruit juice transparent as compared to home 

made fruit juice or the difference between 

regular washing powders and biological 

washing powders. There are washing powders 

with enzymes as their constituent. These 

Dr. Deepthi 

Uthaman 

An educator 

by choice, her 

Ph.D. is on 

reproductive 

endocrinology. 

Her school 

and college 

life gave the 

opportunity to assimilate knowledge 

and experience diverse traditions and 

cultures from different Indian states. 

She has taught students from grade 

VIII to post-graduate level and 

has worked as the Principal of a 

residential school. 

Her teaching pedagogy emerged to 

new horizons after attending the IB 

& CIE workshops, PBL training (Buck 

Institute of Education, California) and 

the Wide world online training for 

TFUT (Harvard School of education). 

Currently she is Biology facilitator 

and HoD, at TGES, and is passionate 

about implementing new teaching 

strategies in her classes. She is 

also passionate about sharing her 

knowledge and experiences with 

her teammates help them grow 

professionally. She can be reached at 

deepthi.uthaman@tges.org 

examples stimulate the thinking mode among 

the students. 

What is a biocatalyst? 

Now, we began 

the lesson by a 

discussion about 

production of 

ammonia. Students 

know Haber’s process and the conditions 

required for it i.e about 400-500 degree 

celsius temperature and 200 atm pressure. 

We compared this to the production of 

ammonia in the liver cells where ammonia is 

Gajendra 

Khandelwal 

An educator 

with extensive 

and varied 

experience in 

teaching science 

is enthusiastic 

about teaching. 

He is M. Sc in 

Botany, B Ed and a CSIR NET (Life 

science) qualified teacher. 

He has experience teaching 

varied boards like CBSE, ISC, CIE, 

IGCSE, and IB that contribute to 

his innovative teaching strategies. 

Attending the IB & CIE workshops, 

PBL training (Buck Institute of 

Education, California) and the Wide 

world online training for TFUT 

(Harvard School of education) has 

also contributed to his novel lesson 

plans. 

Currently he is a senior Biology 

facilitator at TGES, handling IB and 

ISC classes.He is passionate 

about teaching and learning and 

likes sharing his ideas and strategies 

with colleagues helping them 

enhance their classroom strategies. 

He can be reached at gajendra. 

khandelwal@tges.org 


produced without such high temperature and 

pressure. How is this possible? 

Another example is the production of 

carbonic acid from water and carbon dioxide. 

In this, the reaction is very slow, about 200 

molecules of H2CO3 are formed in an hour. 

However inside a cell, this reaction speeds 

up dramatically with approximately 600,000 

molecules being formed every second. How is 

this possible? 

This leads to the term biocatalyst. We then 

explained biocatalyst and gave the definition. 

Difference between 

catalyst and biocatalyst 

To understand the difference between 

biocatalyst and catalyst we let the students 

perform an experiment working in groups. 

We asked them to compare the action of 

inorganic catalyst (MnO2) and organic 

catalyst (catalase). Both MnO2 and catalase, 

work on the same substrate (hydrogen 

peroxide). Potato extract was used as source 

for catalase. They had to put both in two 

different test tubes containing same amount 

of H2O2 and observe the difference. The 

effervescence from the tubes was a clear 

indicator of which acts faster. 

Before adding catalyst and 

biocatalyst 

After adding catalyst 

and biocatalyst 

Interpretation: The tube with catalase shows 

faster and more effervescence. 

Chemical nature of enzymes 

A major misconception among students is 

that ‘enzymes are living’. 

Instead of just explaining that enzymes are 

chemicals, made up of proteins, students 

were asked to perform biochemical tests. 

This included selecting a pure enzyme, and 

performing a test for carbohydrate, lipid and 

protein for it. 

Table 1: Table showing results for the 

biochemical test 

By interpreting the results of these tests, 

they were able to confirm that enzymes are 

proteins. We also clarify that all enzymes 

are not protein in nature because RNase also 

shows catalytic property. 

Structure of Enzyme: 

It’s shape matters... 

Most enzymes are proteins. The unit 

biomolecules covers the structure of proteins. 

Table 1: Table showing results for the biochemical test 

Biochemical 

test 

Observation 

Iodine test Benedict’s test Emulsion test Biuret test 

Conclusion Negative Negative Negative Positive 

Interpretation: positive biuret test indicates presence of protein. 

Students are thus familiar with the tertiary 

structure of protein. 

To clarify that enzymes are globular in shape, 

we use a ribbon to give them the idea of the 

folding in levels of protein structure. This 

gives them visual clarity about the globular 

structure of enzymes. 

The active site of the enzyme and its 

significance is explained here. 

How do enzymes work? 

The mechanism of action of enzymes can be 

explained by - the Lock and Key hypothesis 

Enzyme and different 

substrates 

Enzyme with specific 

substrate 

and the induced fit hypothesis ; we used 

magnetic cardboard pieces to explain 

the lock and key mechanism for enzyme 

specificity. 

Enzymes and activation energy 

Enzyme speeds the rate of reaction, by 

decreasing the activation energy. This can 

be observed if we allow hydrolysis of a 

particular substance with enzyme and 

without enzyme. We selected hydrolysis of 

starch by keeping the test tubes in water bath 

set at 80 degree celsius for different 

time interval and one with enzyme, the 

product of hydrolysis - sugar was observed 

by Benedict’s test. Students were asked to 

perform this experiment and deduce the 

results. 

Table: 2 Table showing the hydrolysis of 

starch at different temperatures and with 

enzyme 

Enzymes specificity: 

To bring the concept 

of enzyme specificity, 

we decided on another 

experiment that 

would show that only 

a specific enzyme 

will act on a specific 

substrate. Starch 

was selected as the substrate and different 

enzymes like lipase, amylase, protease and 

sucrase were added to check their action on 

starch. Hydrolysis of starch was checked by 

using Benedict’s test. [Other than this, we can 

use amylase which can be used with different 

substrates- starch, sucrose and egg albumin 

or catalase from potato with H2O2, water 

and sugar solution] 

Enzyme and products 

Table: 2 Table showing the hydrolysis of starch at different temperatures and with enzyme 

CHEMICAL TEST OBSERVATION CONCLUSION 

Test tube A with 5 ml starch solution. 

Perform Benedict test 

Test tube B with 5 ml starch solution. 

Place it in water bath at 80 degree 

celsius for 10 mins. Perform benedict’s 

solution. 

Test tube C with 5 ml starch solution. 



solution. 

Negative Benedict’s test. 

Solution remains blue in colour. 





Test tube D with 5 ml starch solution. 



solution. 

Test tube E with 5 ml starch solution. 

Add 5 ml amylase. After TWO minutes 

perform Benedict test. 



Positive Benedict’s test: Brick 

red ppt. indicates complete 

hydrolysis of starch. 

Figure: Ribbon model to explain the globular shape 

(tertiary level) of enzymes 


Interpretation: They could see that hydrolysis of starch took place within two minutes with enzyme, whereas 

without enzyme complete hydrolysis did not happen even after 20 mins. 


Table: 3 Table showing the results of test for starch with different enzymes 

TEST 

Test tube with 5 ml starch 

solution. Add 

sucrase and leave the 

solution for five minutes. 

Perform benedict’s test. 

Test tube with 5 

ml starch solution. Add 

proteases and leave the 

solution for five minutes. 

Perform benedict test. 

Test tube with 5 

ml starch solution. Add 

salivary amylase and 

leave the solution for five 

minutes. 

Perform benedict’s test. 

Test tube with 5 ml starch 

solution. Add lipase and 

leave the solution for 

five minutes. Perform 

benedict’s test. 

OBSERVATION 

CONCLUSION 

Negative 

Benedict’s test 

Negative 


Interpretation: Hydrolysis of starch was seen only with amylase, indicating specificity of enzyme. 

Positive Benedict’s test 

Negative 


Factor affecting enzyme action: 

Chemically most enzymes are protein. 

The integral protein conformation decides 

their catalytic activity. Enzymes will lose 

their catalytic activity by any factor that 

dissociates or breaks it into its subunits. 

There are different factors , pH, temperature 

and substrate concentration that affect 

enzyme action. 

In order to show that pH affects enzyme 

action we chose an experiment with catalase 

and H2O2. Students were given different pH 

solutions [4.2, 6.8, 7.2, 8.2 and 9]. Potato 

discs were used as source for catalase. These 

discs were added in tubes containing pH and 

H2O2. The release of oxygen caused the discs 

to rise up and float. 

Fig: Activity of catalase (in potato disc) in 

different pH solutions of H2O2 

Similarly different temperatures and 

substrate concentration on enzymes were 

tested. Students performed experiments to 

draw conclusions and thus know how these 

factors affect enzyme action. The conceptual 

part is explained after every experiment. 

Fig: Activity of catalase (in potato disc) in different pH solutions of H2O2 

Interpretation: the results indicated that catalase functions best in pH 

9.4. [It may vary between 8-9] 

Some questions that may be given at the end 

of the chapter for assessment- 

• What happens if there is no enzyme in a 

cell? 

• Why do we need so many enzymes, why 

can’t we have just one for all reactions? 

• Are enzymes water 

soluble? 

• Enzymes are reused. 

Is enzyme production 

inside cells a continuous 

or once in a life time 

process? 

• Enzymes speed up the 

reaction rate. What 

controls this speed? 

This is a part of the 

lesson plan that includes, 

experiments/activities 

to make the topic of 

Enzyme interesting and 

engaging. Students were 

very enthusiastic about the 

Biology classes during this 

entire chapter. The detailed plan 

for this lesson with experimental protocols is 

available with us and we will be more than 

happy to share it. 

Acknowledgements- 

Lab technicians- Mrs Madhuri Parmar and 

Ms Anila Patel 

Photo credits- Ms. Manmitha Deepthi 


character building 

–Surekha Nayani 

The scenario regarding teenagers in 

1970s and 1980s -- mostly children 

belonged to joint families or nuclear 

families where the mother was the home 

maker and children spent most of the time 

with their mother or father or grandparents. 

The affection and values of the family 

members impacted them which included both 

respect and fear. There was very little scope 

for the child to be lonely. The conversation 

among the family members and bonding with 

siblings built confidence and awareness in 

teens. The absence of internet and television 

in most of the homes gave scope for teens 

to play games which gave physical exercise 

and relief from stress, bonding with friends, 

learning tolerance and sharing. The movies 

made were socially appropriate with less 

violence. The spare time available in the 

evenings provided scope to interact with 

parents and grandparents; this helped not 

only in inculcation of good habits or values 

but also helped in tackling real life situations. 

In the present generation, there are many 

contrasting features in the life of a teenager 

like the transformation of most of the joint 

families into nuclear families. Mostly both 

the parents are working, so the child spends 

time alone or with only siblings at home. 

This gives scope for children to spend time 

with electronic gadgets, television, internet, 

etc. All these have ill effects on children 

like eye sight problems, obesity, lethargy, 

insecurity, decrease of thinking skills and 

creativity, lower retention, etc. The pressure 

put by parents to excel and peer pressure 

is developing a mind set of intolerance 

and unhealthy competition in children. The 

influence of media like negative news every 

day in the newspapers, movies and television 

ADOLESCENCE- not a 

drop in water but 

water in a drop 

Teens are becoming a widely discussed subject today as 

their changing lifestyles are bringing about a lot of change 

in the world. In the past, the lifestyle of teenagers was not 

the same as of now. In those days most of the teens were 

more interested in studies, sports, hobbies and day to day 

activities. But today it is different. Today, teenage life is all 

about movies, parties, mobile addiction, etc. 

programmes not appropriate to age , easy 

access to internet no doubt influence the 

thinking of the teenagers and disturbs their 

mind. Physically the body undergoes many 

changes in teenage due to the release of 

hormones and this also results in stress both 

physical and mental. 

Surekha Nayani, M.Sc (Chemistry),B.Ed has fifteen years 

of teaching experience in CBSE schools and has been 

teaching Physics and Chemistry to secondary school 

students. 

Presently, she is working as Head of the Department of 

Science and also as CBSE Co-ordinator in Delhi Public 

School, Nacharam, Hyderabad. As HOD she trains teachers 

in teaching-learning processes like developing and 

presentation of content, preparation of worksheets and 

question papers, designing CCE etc. and also conducts 

workshops on various aspects of teaching science. 

She has written articles on teaching science by focusing 

on creative methodologies which arouse interest in the subject. She strongly 

believes that every teacher should emphasise proper planning, preparation 

and effective presentation of subject matter, every day and in every class with 

commitment which influences and empowers student learning. 


Every parent will agree that in their teenage 

they were not as smart as their children are 

and it is applicable to next older generation 

too. Thus it is observed that generation 

after generation the intelligence of children 

or teenagers is higher as compared to the 

previous generation. If we look at present 

day teenagers, the confidence levels, 

communication skills, independent thinking, 

ambition, learning skills like sport or art are 

very high compared to their parents. As per 

Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest, 

teenagers are trying to prove themselves 

to be the best and win fame as early as 

possible. But in this race for fame and 

money the attachments or bonding with 

family, values and traditions are losing out. 

If the multitalented teens are carefully 

moulded, they can become balanced and 

productive adults. It is vital for parents to 

spend valuable time with teens, to understand 

them by placing themselves in their shoes and 

at the same time explaining to them what 

is right and what is wrong. Importance of 

mutual understanding can be discussed. In 

building confidence and trusting parents, 

situations can be created to give freedom 

to teenagers to take their own decisions. 

Psychologists say that it is difficult to teach 

values and it is certainly true that children 

are honest and considerate. The best way 

children learn values, is by observing what 

parents do, and draw conclusions. Children 


observe what parents do, and really value 

and develop value system of their own. Along 

with parents, peers influence teenagers. 

Research says that the child and parent bond 

must be strong so that the opinion of peers 

is filtered through the values. The working 

parents can plan their day in such a way that 

the available time is spent qualitatively with 

teens. It is rightly said at home parent is the 

teacher and at school teacher is the parent. 

The role of parents and teachers is most 

vital in shaping a good person in the society. 

Teachers handling teenagers can take the help 

of a counselor or psychologist of the school 

to get them on the right track. 

Television, movies, books, peers, religious 

institutes are all strong tutors regarding 

values, but no matter how strong these 

cultural forces, most teenagers still point to 

their parents as the primary source of their 

strength and values. Thus, quality time spent 

by parents, concern, acceptance of views or 

feelings of teens, teaching them to accept ‘no’ 

in life, relating to them their experiences so 

as to have awareness of life situations, will 

develop a strong and healthy bond between 

parents and teens with more scope to remove 

negativity and develop positive attitude. An 

ear to hear is what teenagers search for and 

with whom they are comfortable. It is the 

responsibility of parents to provide a healthy 

and congenial atmosphere at home so that 

there is no scope for teenagers to get diverted 

from academics, life skills and values. How 

many teenagers do we know, who say ‘my 

best friend is my parent’. 

The highly energetic teens must learn a sport 

or any art form (music, dance, etc) so that 

their energy is spent constructively and their 

fast thinking brain remains engaged. These 

activities help the teens to learn aesthetic 

skills, overcome restless attitude and give 

stability to the body physically and mentally. 

The stress caused due to various reasons can 

be easily overcome, if the teens are involved 

at least for an hour in these co-curricular 

activities every day so that they become 

physically fit and their concentration in 

academics can be improved. 

Empathy and values cannot be taught. 

Teenagers can learn empathy and pick up 

values if they are treated empathetically. 

Mahatma Gandhi – ‘You must be the change, 

you wish to see in the world’. 


project work 

–Rathna Sindhur 

Children of grade 8 were 

introduced to The Age of 

Elizabeth. They studied in 

brief about the historical events 

and social conditions in each 

period in general and The Age 

of Elizabeth in particular. The 

Elizabethan Era was marked 

by a strong national spirit, by 

patriotism, by religious tolerance, 

by social content, by intellectual 

progress, by religious tolerance, 

by social content, by intellectual 

progress, and by unbounded 

enthusiasm. 

In the age of Elizabeth, we note 

that the tremendous impetus is 

received from the Renaissance, 

from the Reformation and from 

the Exploration of the New 

World. 

Main topics of our study were 

noted- 

Overview- 

1. What is literature? What is 

its importance? 

2. Research on ‘The Rise of 

Drama in England’ 

3. The Distinguished Literary 

Artist - William Shakespeare 

4. Classification of his plays- 

‘The Merchant of Venice’ as 

an example 

5. Growth of Trading by 

understanding the rhyme ‘Baa 

Baa black sheep...’ 

6. Explorations and Discoveries 

- The first circumnavigators 

7. Written Compositions - The 

Art of Essay writing 

8. Comparative Literature 

(Drama) 

9. Glossary of Literary terms 

10. Conclusion- Present learning 

in ISKCON 

Research - First the deed, 

then the story, then the play - 

that seems to be the natural 

development of drama in its 

simplest form. This created interest 

in the students in theatre and 

wanted to gratify the awakened 

national spirit and get their first 

knowledge of national history. 

Students collected information, 

noted how each writer covered 

the whole field and almost every 

form and variety of the drama 

in all ages. Their enthusiasm 

was reflected in the paragraph 

writing activity conducted. The 

aim of this exposure developed 

interest in students and they traced 

the progress of Greek Theatre, 

Sanskrit Theatre, French Theatre, 

Irish Theatre, and Russian Theatre. 

The Wonders of 

Shakespeare 

William Shakespeare is 

considered the supreme literary 

artist of all times. He was a man 


Project Activity- 

The Age of Elizabeth 

The age of Elizabeth is generally regarded the greatest in the history 

of our literature. Elizabethan literature is intensely romantic; the 

romance springs from the heart of youth, and believes all things, 

even the impossible. The great schoolman’s credo, ‘I believe because 

it is impossible,’ is a better expression of Elizabethan literature than 

of mediaeval theology. 

deserving of remembrance and 

deserving of praise. 

Two theories to account for 

Shakespeare:- 

Genius or Training 

1) All came from within - that 

his genius was his sufficient 

guide; and to the over 

mastering power of his genius 

alone we owe all his great 

works. 

2) All came from without - he 

lived in a play loving age; he 

studied the crowds, gave them 

what they wanted, and simply 

reflected their own thoughts 

and feelings. 

Such an age of thought, feeling, 

and vigorous action, finds 

best expression in drama; and 

the wonderful development 

of the drama, culminating 

in Shakespeare, is the most 

significant characteristic of the 

Rathna Sindhur with her ambitious 

aim inspires young minds about love 

of learning and helps them become 

free thinkers. Rathna currently 

teaches English from Class III-V at 

Edify School in Bengaluru. Prior to 

this she taught French at elementary 

level from 2009-2012 at VIBGYOR 

High. Rathna loves to be working 

with people from different trades 

and walks of life at varied levels. 

As an ISA coordinator at Edify School, she balances 

concerns of different groups in order to reach a common 

goal. Academically, Rathna is an MA in English from KSOU 

Mysore University; she holds Diploma in Teachers Training, 

Cambridge TTF and Level-A in French from Alliance 

Francaise. 

Elizabethan period. 

The Merchant of Venice - a 

careful reading of this play 

leaves us the impression that 

it was a period of rapid growth 

and development which probably 

corresponds with the growth and 

experience of the poet’s life. 

The Merchant of Venice - this 

play is an amalgamation of two 

main stories the Casket story 

and the Bond story. The theme 

of the story is the winning of an 

otherworld bride. The comedy of 

this period is perfect in its kind 

- unsurpassed for the marvellous 

harmony it established among 

so many apparently discordant 

elements. 

The Mercantilist Era 

The enormous advantage 

that England had over other 

countries as a feeder of sheep 

and as producer of best wool 

gave England the opportunity 

gradually to win the command 

of the world’s cloth market, as 

she had long commanded the 

European market for raw wool. 

For centuries wool weaving 


occupied men’s daily thoughts in 

town and village, literature and 

common speech acquired many 

phrases and metaphors borrowed 

from the manufacture of cloth 

-‘thread of discourse’, ‘spin a 

yarn’, ‘unravel a mystery’, ‘web of 

life’- while all unmarried women 

were put down as ‘spinsters’ 

Growth of Trading by 

Analysing the Rhyme- students 

of grade 5 focused on Growth of 

Trade and banking of this period 

by analysing the rhyme Baa Baa 

Black Sheep have you any wool? 

Explorations and Discoveries - 

The Circumnavigators 

Students were exposed to the 

first circumnavigator Ferdinand 

Magellan who discovered 

Philippines. This voyage proved 

most fruitful for science. It gave 

the first positive proof of the 

earth’s rotundity and the first 

true idea of the distribution of 

land and water. 

Vasco da Gama, the discoverer 

of the sea route to East Indies 

which had been the principal 

market for trade in spices, 

precious stones and pearls. 

Christopher Columbus reached 

America. 

Essay Writing 

What is an essay? 

This was a very fascinating 

activity. As said by Dr. Samuel 

Johnson, an essay is ‘a loose 

sally of the mind; an irregular 

indigested piece’ Here our 

students recounted what a 

good essay is and analysed the 

structure of essay. 

Students of Grade 5 wrote essays 

analysing the major characters 

of the play The Merchant of 

Venice. 

Essay on Love representing – 

Portia 

Essay on Ambition representing- 

Bassanio 

Essay on Sleep and Jealousy - 

Shylock 

Essay on Cleverness 

representing- Portia 

Essay on Values representing- 

Nerissa 

Social Awareness- (Skit/ 

Drama)- Present Learning In 

ISKCON 

‘Sarve cha sukhina santu, 

Sarve santu niramayaI 

Sarve bhadrani pashyantu, 

ma kaschiddukha bhag bhavet II 

Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti’ 

Skit ‘LEAD A GOOD LIFE’. A 

student of Grade 5 took part 

in the activities conducted by 

an organisation ISKCON and 

undertook activities in her 

neighbourhood to make the 

audience aware and consciously 

practice values like compassion 

and mercy towards people. 

References: 

1) Recent articles published on 

Shakespeare in The New York 

Times (January) www.nytimes. 

com 

2) College Composition by 

G.K.Chettur 

3) English Literature by William. J. 

Long 

4) Text books related to The Age 

of Elizabeth 

5) The Merchant of Venice by 

Anand Nandawani 

6) English Syntax by Paul Roberts 


sports 

SPORTs AND GENDER 

(WOMEN EMPOWERMENT) 

This article focuses on the interaction between Sport, Gender and Women Development 

in the series of articles highlighting the power of sport to generate real social, economic 

change and contribute to sustainable development, social cohesion and challenge mind 

sets and prejudice. 

–Mona Shipley 

Because women account 

for one-half of a 

country’s potential 

talent base, a nation’s 

competitiveness in the long 

term depends significantly 

on whether and how it 

educates and utilizes 

its woman…in order to 

Mona Shipley is a Social entrepreneur, Change maker and Sport for 

Development expert with over 18 years of progressive experience 

in education sector. Formerly at the British Council for over 15 

years she has expertise in Business Development with Private/ 

public sector and strategic engagement with Ministries and Policy 

heads in India and UK. She has headed various transformative, 

bilateral programmes leading to reforms within the schools, higher 

education and vocational education sectors. Physical Education 

Cards, PEC and Connecting Classrooms are some of the key 

innovative programmes meeting global standards she led on 

with a buy-in from MHRD and Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sport. 

Other key organisations she worked with closely are UNICEF, 

UNESCO, DFID, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), London Olympics Organising 

Committee (LOCOG) Youth Sport Trust, UK Sport, Special Olympics, National College of 

School Leadership UK, School Standards Inspectorate bodies OFSTEAD and Qualifications 

and Curriculum Authority QCA , UK. She has represented India and the British Council 

as a speaker on various National and International forums. Is an Aspen institute of 

Leadership Scholar - awarded to leading thinkers, innovators contributing to their country’s 

development. 


maximize competitiveness 

and development potential, 

each country should strive 

for gender equality – that 

is, should give women the 

same rights, responsibilities 

and opportunities as men. 

-A world Economic Forum 

Report 

In many countries, it has been 

recognized that sport can be a 

force to amplify women’s voices 

and tear down gender barriers 

and discrimination. Women in 

sport defy the misperception 

that they are weak or incapable. 

Every time they clear a hurdle 

or kick a ball, demonstrating not 

only physical strength, but also 

leadership and strategic thinking, 

they take a step towards gender 

equality. 

Women are far more visible in 

sports today than at any previous 

point in history. The Olympics 

of the modern era started as 

an all-male event, with women 

making gradual inroads to 

compete in different disciplines. 

As such, women competed for 

the first time at the 1900 Games 

in Paris. With the addition of 

women’s boxing to the Olympic 

programme, the 2012 Games in 

London were the first in which 

women competed in all the 

sports featured. 

Why talk Gender? 

‘Gender’ refers to the sociallyconstructed 

roles of and 

relationships between men 

and women. Gender focuses 

on the inequalities between 

males and females. Analyses of 

gender differences often show 

a disadvantaged and weaker 

position of women and girls in 

social, political, economic, legal, 

educational and physical issues. 


Role of Sport 

in addressing 

Gender issues 

The concept of gender equity 

recognizes that men and women 

have different life experiences, 

needs, levels of power and access 

to decision – making levels in our 

own society and that these should 

be identified and balanced. 

In recent years, there has been a 

significant shift from advocating 

for ‘gender equity in sport’ to 

using ‘sport for gender equity 

and personal development’. 

Sport provides a way to reach 

girls on a variety of social issues, 

including health, education and 

human rights particularly when 

social interaction outside the 

home is constrained. It provides 

girls with safe spaces in which 

to assemble, enjoy mobility 

and freedom of expression, 

build skills in communication, 

teamwork, leadership and 

negotiation and create their 

own social supportive networks. 

Achieving sport goals and 

playing alongside boys increases 

their self esteem and enhances 

their self image leading to 

greater confidence and self 

empowerment. Given that sport 

is traditionally a male domain, 

girl’s participation in sport itself 

challenges gender stereotypes, 

breaking deep rooted attitudes 

held by boys, families and 

communities. 

Exposure to competing at 

national and international levels 

boosts public recognition of the 

skills that women and girls can 

develop through sport. For 

example Indian sportswomen, 

P V Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, 

Mary Kom, Dipa Karmakar 

Sakshi Malik , Deepa Malik 

(Paralympic Champion) are 

not only leaders and inspiring 

millions of girls and women 

but are also challenging 

traditional society norms and 

gender based sports thinking. 

Promoting gender 

equity through sport 

Role of Policy 

Government should provide 

a policy on providing equal 

opportunities for sport 

engagement: this could be in 

terms of education programmes, 

access to facilities, safe spaces, 

sponsored programmes for girls 

and women and human resources. 

These should be accompanied by 

proper accountability methods to 

track progress and achievement. 

Role of Society, Education 

Boards, Principals and 

Teachers 

Girls’ education has profound 

and long lasting benefits for 

families and entire communities. 

After witnessing the Indian 

Women Power in Rio 2016, we 

must encourage participation 

of girls and women in sports 

from school level. Parents’ 

awareness and support is 

critical. School management 

boards should introduce systemic 

programmes for physical activity 

(physical education and school 

sport), install proper training 

facilities and have recognition 

programmes in place. Training 

and empowerment of teachers 

is mandatory to motivate girls 

to participate in sport. Focus 

should be on participation and 

fun rather than on competition 

and performance. This is more 

effective in achieving an inclusive 

approach to promoting gender 

equity 

Public advocacy and 

recognition 

Consistent advocacy programmes 

on the long lasting benefits of 

sport, especially for girls, women 

and community empowerment 

can impact participation. 

There should be regular 

promotion and recognition of 

women’s involvement in sport 

as a contribution to public life, 

community development and 

building a healthy nation. 

Media 

Even though there is growth 

and popularity of women 

sports, female athletes are still 

considered inferior to male 

athletes. Evidence can be in the 

form of less media coverage on 

girls and women’s achievement 

in sport. Compared to male 

athletes there is an obsession 

with the body of female athlete 

rather than on her athletic skills. 

This inequality within sport will 

continue to exist until the media 

re-examines its portrayal of 

female athletes. 

Organizations 

working on 

Development of 

Women through 

Sport 

1. UN Women - The United 

Nations Entity for 

Gender Equality and the 

Empowerment of Women - 

See: http://www.unwomen. 

org. They work with sports 

organizations across the 

world to teach everyone that 

gender-based violence has no 

place in or off the field. 

2. Women Win – A global 

leader in girls’ empowerment 

through sport, leveraging on 

the power of play to help girls 

build leadership and become 

better equipped to exercise 

their rights. See: https:// 

womenwin.org/about 

3. Special Olympics - Special 

Olympics (SO) is the world’s 

largest sports organization 

for children and adults with 

intellectual disabilities, 

providing year-round training 

and competitions to more 

than 5.3 million athletes in 

170 countries. Recognized 

by the International Olympic 

Committee and a federation 

in India, SO works with girls 

with and without intellectual 

disabilities through unified 

sport. Details : www. 

specialolympics.org 

INSPIRING ROLE 

MODELS IN SOCIETY 

Shikha Rani-Figure 

Skater trained by Special 

Olympics Bharat- 

Himachal Pradesh. 

23 yrs of age , a sport star par 

excellence Shikha dances with 

perfect balance, play bocce, takes 

part in athletics and competes 

at National and International 

Sporting events. What makes 

her a phenomenon is that she 

engages in all these activities 

even after being born without 

fingers and toes, having facial 

distortions, impaired speech 

and having mild intellectual 

disabilities. 

Born into a poor family, her 

journey began wth Prem Ashram, 

a special residential school in 

Himachal Pradesh where she 

joined Special Olympics Bharat 

and was introduced to Ravi 

Kumar, her coach and mentor. 

Seeing her potential and ability 

to circumvent her physical 

condition, her coach put her on 


to Roller skating. It required 

intense coaching, focus on 

balance and coordination. She 

often fell, hurt herself, but 

gradually learnt to balance and 

in 2008 began partipating in 

Skating competitions. In March 

2017, she competed at the 

Specal Olympics World Winter 

Games in Austria in solo figure 

skating. 

Shikha keeps pushing herself, 

fighting her physical condition 

and is very sincere to her 

practises. She works hard to 

be able to face international 

competition. She has many 

sporting achievements to her 

name Sister Vincy, Principal, 

Prem Ashram : Her life is 

transformed. The Special 

Olympics gave her the confidence, 

opportunities to interact with 

peers . Earlier, she looked 

helpless , often trying to hide 

her face and even her hands and 

feet. Now, she talks about sports 

about her practise sessions, her 

progress. 

Ravi Kumar, SO Bharat Coach, 

Shikha has shown tremendous 

improvement in her behaviour . 

It has made her mentally strong 

and physically fit. She even leads 

a programme where she is a 

group leader telling others about 

Bocce and long jump. Through all 

the travel involved, she has grown 

to be self-reliant and confident. 

Shikha, is the epitome of grace, 

strength, courage, determination 

and grit for her family, friends 

and millions of followers. She 

owes this to her engagement in 

Sport. 

Manmeet Manchanda – 

Sport Fitness Trainer 

From a simple girl next door to 

a fierce Sport fitness trainer, role 

model and inspiration for girls, 

women and even men, Manmeet’s 

journey started from Lancers 

Convent in Delhi where she recalls 

her lack of interest in studies and 

her interests in outdoor sports 

and activities. From a business 

family, supported by parents she 

was able to take part in sport till 

the time her family business ran 

into trouble. Leaving her studies 

she joined her father to make 

ends meet and revive the business. 

Following the traditional norm, 

she took on the role of being a 

wife and a mother. During all of 

this she completely lost track of 

herself and her interests. Her 

family’s lack of confidence in her 

abilities to achieve anything in 

life sent her into a depression till 

the day she met her first fitness 

trainer Ravi Chitkara. 

Ravi inspired her to get into 

shape, find her balance and 

mentored her to be mentally 

strong. These helped her gain 

confidence and transform herself. 

She emerged like a swan and 

was admired by her friends and 

family. Manmeet’s journey from 

losing herself and finding her 

new confident image made her 

empathetic towards other girls 

and women fighting weight issues 

which motivated her to become a 

full time fitness trainer. 

Manmeet went on to complete 

professional fitness courses. 

Currently, she is one of the most 

sought after trainers. She is 

mostly admired for her dedicated, 

persevering and empathetic 

approach while conducting 

training sessions . Very focused 

and goal oriented she motivates 

her trainees to achieve the 

unachievable. 

In conclusion, enabling girls to 

access benefits of sport will 

also ensure that their rights 

are protected and enhance the 

range of life choices available 

to them as women. This will 

have profound and long lasting 

benefits for families and 

communities. 



leadership 

–Lt Col A Sekhar 

When Ms. Rita Wilson, in her 

charming, dignified way got me 

to speak about leadership at the 

Progressive Teachers’ Conclave in Kolkata 

(2015), we at Atul Vidyalaya made a 

short video on leadership from a School’s 

perspective. It was then, that we made a slide 

with an image of Goddess Saraswati 

as shown:- 

Interestingly Dr. Thomas Schaedler of Geneva 

presiding at the Navrachna School’s golden 

jubilee as a keynote speaker highlighted the 

same point, albeit differently focusing on 

the insane expectations of miracles from 

millennial parents for their off springs. 

With this fairly uninviting appetizer, let us 

look at the keys to be a successful School 

Leader. Let me assure you; this is purely 

personal and biased!!! 

1. Be authentic 

The world of internet, digital media, Twitter, 

Face book, etc. is celebrating fraud and 

chicanery big time. The attempt is to drive 

you to win the moment by hook or crook 

disregarding everything else. Thus, in an 

increasingly ethereal world without substance, 

authenticity in words and action defines you 

as a strong leader. 

2. Trust but check 

The biggest challenge I faced after hanging 

my Olive Green Uniform was the instinctive, 

yet visceral lack of trust in the civilian 

space. The Armed Forces, where trust is 

embedded into the system (unless proved 

otherwise) is the cornerstone of our esprit de 

corps. The civilian space functions under the 

disagreeable ethos of dominant trust deficits, 

unless demonstrated otherwise. 

A scholastic institution functions optimally 

when the leader leads the way in trusting 

people proactively and is more than 

trusted in return. 

3. Aspire for respect, 

not popularity 

Often, in this aspirational, I me, myself 

world of instant nirvana, the urge to be 

popular and liked is very very high. The 

race for popularity results in vocal minority/ 

Lt Col A 

Sekhar is 

Principal of 

Atul Vidyalaya 

in Valsad, 

Gujarat. 

Founded in 

1991 under the 

sponsorship of 

Lalbhai Group 

of Industries, 

Atul Vidyalaya aims at creating 

a kind of education centre where 

each child is imparted knowledge, 

which is contemporary and deeply 

rooted in Indian cultural heritage. 

Col Sekhar has achieved various 

awards and accolades, including 

extraordinary leadership award from 

Educom World. 

Leadership 

Leadership … a ten letter word whose literal, contextual 

and practical understanding has, and continues to stump 

billions… Huge tomes, articles, videos, case studies have 

made us wiser, yet brought into sharp relief the wide gulf 

between theory and reality… 

mob mentality/forced consensus/driven 

decision making, leading to disastrous loss of 

creditability. 

The leader has to consciously focus on 

earning respect through deliberate long term 

strategies for the betterment of the school, 

even at the risk of short term unpopularity. 

A tough task, but possible, and immensely 

satisfying. 

4. Focus on socio 

emotional learning 

The techno social cultural revolution 

happening across India has turned upside 

down family behaviour and ethos. The 

emotional cushion available earlier at home 

has dried up; sadly, with working parents, 

there are now significant deficiencies. 

Schools, despite limitations, have to be 

the repositories 

of compassion 

and empathy - the 

leader, the Principal 

undoubtedly. 

5. Tough but fair 

Parents, teachers, 

students and the wider 

community look up 

to the School Leader 

(still) as a role model. 

It is a huge burden 

to carry. The key 

operational word is 

fairness. Unpopular, 

tough decisions 

are accepted (even 

grudgingly) if the 

leader is perceived to be a fair individual, 

even when his/her family is involved. 

6. Be an effective communicator, 

especially during crisis 

Bad news never gets better with time, 

especially in this media intense world. 

Thus, move upfront, use simple declarative 

sentences, speak the whole truth, and accept 

the consequences upfront, alone. It is your 

dharma to shield your staff at all times, even 

more when crisis hits the institution. 

Six workable ideas out of my own 

experience… 

Do you agree? 

Further, feel free to visit us at Atul Vidyalaya 

and see for yourself as to whether we walk 

the talk… 


ook reviews 

Milestones 

(Integrated Social Studies for Classes 1–8) 

Authors: Savita Khanna, Geeta Duggal, Mary Georgy, Pooja 

Bhatia, Joyita Chakraborty 

Publisher: Madhubun® Educational Books 

New Milestones is a completely revised and updated edition of the 

popular social studies series that was first published in 2008. 

The revision has been made to meet the requirements of the 

latest NCERT syllabus and the guidelines of the National Curriculum 

Framework (NCF). 

As social sciences play a key role in helping learners understand 

the constantly evolving world they live in, every effort has been made 

to ensure that the content acts as a foundation, from which the natural 

curiosity, spirit of enquiry and imagination of the learner develop. 

New Milestones follows the story-line approach for Classes 1 

to 5, endeavouring to provide a common ground for facilitating the 

teaching-learning process. The stories woven are simple and beautifully 

illustrated, with thought-provoking questions intermingled with 

concepts, that compel the learner to grasp the outcomes without stress. 

In Classes 1 and 2, learners increase their understanding of 

their world, focusing on themselves, their friends, families and their 

environment. They will broaden their sense of place and understand 

how and why people’s activities are influenced by their environment. 

They will gain a greater sense of time and recognise important events 

in their own lives. 

Milestones 3, 4 and 5 will enable the learners to create a timeline 

of events; record their knowledge using pictures; connect their own 

experiences with what they have learnt; identify the causes and effects of 

certain phenomena, organise and interpret information using graphs and 

charts; identify the contributions of a person or an event; and understand 

the basic structures and functions of the government. 

In Classes 6, 7 and 8, the study of social science bifurcates into three 

distinct disciplines which are interconnected through time and space. 

A sincere effort has been made to introduce our historical past, current 

social issues, geographical context and cultural heritage. 

The history section enables the learners to familiarise themselves 

with the main social, political and economic developments in distinct 

historical periods. The learners will learn about timelines, chronology, 

dynastic succession, and will be able to construe the relationship 

between cause and effect. Every effort has been made to mention 

primary and secondary sources; along with archaeological sources, to 

give an objective historical perspective. 

The geography section enables the learners to understand their 

immediate surroundings and the world at large. They will understand 

how human life and environment are interconnected as geographical 

factors determine, to a great extent, what people do in a particular place, 

at a particular time. 

The social and political life section familiarises the learners with our 

current political scenario and the forces that operate within it. It teaches 

them how our social life is greatly shaped by our political framework. The 

inclusion of real life case studies allows the learners to relate to critical 

issues. Lastly, it will teach learners the advantages of being proactive 

and aware citizens. 

The New Milestones series is a completely updated learning package, 

which fulfils the needs of the learners as well as the facilitators. We have 

tried our best to generate interest and enthusiasm among learners to 

appreciate our past, our environment and our society and how all these 

collectively influence our lives. 

SOCIAL STUDIES 

The Blue Marble 

(ICSE Geography for Classes 3–8) 

Author: Rita Fernandez; Series Editor: Baruna Ray 

Choudhury 

Publisher: Madhubun® Educational Books 

Geography is a living subject. It involves the study of the 

ever-changing earth and sheds light on the elements that 

make up our environment. It helps us to see how humans are 

interdependent and adapt themselves to the changing environment. 

The Blue Marble is a new series for teaching geography to 

Classes 3–8, written in consensus with the latest syllabus for ICSE 

schools, and focusing on inculcating environmental sensitivity in 

learners. They learn to examine their relationships to their immediate 

surroundings like school, neighbourhood, city and state; and also to 

distant entities like country, planet, galaxy and the universe. 

Human actions have brought dramatic changes to the 

environment. Increasing population and the resultant increase in the 

demand for energy have put a lot of pressure on existing resources. 

The growing population has led to an imbalance in our ecosystem as 

our current reserves cannot sustain the ever-increasing population. 

Our cities have become very crowded and infrastructure has been 

unable to keep pace with that. A study of geography stimulates 

learners to analyse these issues sensibly and be prepared as future 

generations who will have to deal with all these issues in various 

facets of life. 

The books lay special emphasis on linking geography with 

everyday life. The Ignite Your Mind questions enable the learner to 

relate to the concept, taking cues from his/her daily routine. Give 

It a Shot activities enable assimilation of the concepts learnt in the 

form of interesting activities and projects. Additional information 

is given as Fact Bite and application-based picture study questions 

are given as Pictography in Classes 6–8. 

The approach to practical activities encourages learners’ 

participation and enables them to work effectively in a team. The 

number and range of exercises has been planned keeping in mind 

the needs of the latest syllabus. 

The contemporary pedagogical methods of the series support 

an application-based study of geography. The series will not only 

acquaint learners with the concepts, but also help in developing 

the following skills: 

• Mapping skills: Learners will learn how to use and read maps, 

signs, symbols, index, floor plans and layouts. 

• Analytical skills: Learners will learn to make linkages between 

physical and geographical features, climate, flora and fauna and 

human lifestyle. 

• Problem-solving skills: Thought-provoking questions, conceptbased 

projects, crosswords and activities develop problemsolving 

skills of learners. 

The simple, lucid language of the text, and the accompanying 

vivid images will make the books appealing to young learners, 

while the application-based approach will make them appreciate 

the nuances of geography. 



events 

Online registration portal launched for 

Cambridge English Language Assessment exams 

VFS Global Edu Support Services Pvt. 

Ltd. has partnered with Cambridge 

English Language Assessment (a 

part of the University of Cambridge) to 

offer the Cambridge English tests in India. 

VFS Global has launched an online portal 

to enable parents of young children to select 

and buy online the Cambridge English: 

Young Learners (YLE) exam and books for 

their child. The portal, which is aimed at the 

parents of the young test-takers, provides 

ease and flexibility of use wherein all the 

information about the test and the payment 

gateway are integrated online. 

Parents can register their children online, 

select the test appropriate for each child, 

along with the most convenient date, test 

venue and make the payment online. Please 

visit http://www.cambridgeenglish-vfsglobal. 

com for more comprehensive information. 

The service is being delivered by VFS 

Global Edu Support Services Pvt. Ltd., the 

Australian Prime Minister and Education Minister meets with 

the winners of India Schools Video Competition 

Australian Prime Minister, the Hon 

Malcolm Turnbull, MP and Senator 

the Hon Simon Birmingham, MP 

and Minister for Education and Training, 

Australian Government met with the winners 

of The Advance to Australia, ‘A2Oz’ - India 

Schools Video Competition 2016-2017 in 

New Delhi 10 April 2017. 

Students from New Delhi, Noida and 

Nashik schools won study trips to 

Australian Universities. Students from 325 

schools across India participated in the 

education arm of VFS Global. The exams 

will be conducted in five cities currently – 

Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru and 

Jalandhar and are soon expected to expand 

to 12 cities across India. 

Cambridge English: Young Learners(YLE) 

is a series of fun and engaging activitybased 

English language tests. They introduce 

primary and lower-secondary level students 

to everyday written and spoken English, and 

are an excellent way to gain confidence and 

improve their communication skills. The tests 

are created for children and use topics they 

are familiar with. 

The exams systematically cover four major 

competition and developed short films on 

next generation fields of study in areas of 

growing career opportunities in aerospace, 

construction management, earth sciences, 

nanotechnology and story-telling through 

dance. 

The winners of the competition organised 

jointly by the Australian Trade & Investment 

Commission (Austrade), and Cambridge 

English Language Assessment are: 

• Aerospace theme - Sanskriti School, New 

Delhi 

aspects of language skills - Reading, Writing, 

Listening and Speaking - and test the 

practical use of communicative language. 

This helps students develop everyday 

communication skills required to make 

friends, travel, study and work anywhere in 

the world with the support of good English - 

the universal language. 

The exams start at beginner level and go up 

to higher level exams enabling students to 

improve their English step-by-step and build 

their confidence. Every test is designed to 

meet the broader objectives of truly nurturing 

and contributing to a student’s learning and 

development. 

• Earth Sciences theme -Wisdom High 

International School, Nashik 

• Construction Management theme - Delhi 

Public School, RK Puram 

• Story-telling through Dance theme - 

Kothari International School, Noida 

• Nanotechnology theme - Wisdom High 

International School, Nashik 

Students along with teachers from each of 

the winning schools will travel to Australia 

to participate in an all-expenses paid study 

programme to the sponsoring Universities 

between May to July 2017. 


Fiction 

Reading 

for students 

• Reading is the basic foundation 

on which academic skills of an 

individual are built. 

• Reading doesn’t just enhance the 

child’s ability to comprehend various 

concepts with ease, but also develops 

critical thinking skills. 

• Reading helps in mental development 

and is known to stimulate the muscles 

of the eyes. 

• Reading is an activity that involves 

greater levels of concentration and 

adds to the conversational skills of 

the reader. 

• Reading is the single most important 

skill necessary for a happy, productive 

and successful life. 

Reading … 

In these busy times, when we don’t 

even have time to eat breakfast, it isn’t 

surprising that we have given up on 

reading ... or rather we have forgotten 

the importance of reading. Reading is the 

basic foundation on which academic skills 

of an individual are built. Our education 

system acknowledges the fact that reading 

is important for the holistic development of 

a student, and hence ‘it’ is considered a top 

priority. Reading doesn’t just enhance the 

child’s ability to comprehend various 

concepts with ease, but also develops 

critical thinking skills. 

Educational researchers have found that 

there is a strong correlation between 

reading and academic success. Reading 

helps in mental development and is 

known to stimulate the muscles of the 

eyes. Reading is an activity that involves 

greater levels of concentration and adds 

to the conversational skills of the reader. 

It consistently enhances the knowledge 

acquired. Reading is the single most 

important skill necessary for a happy, 

productive and successful life. A child who 

is an excellent reader is a confident child, 

has a high level of self-esteem and is able 

to easily make the transition from learning 

to read to reading to learn. Learning to read 

well is an essential life skill that teachers 

must ensure that their students acquire. So 

if you want your students to be successful 

encourage them to read. 

I am sure that this list would be of interest to 

your students. 

–Editor 

60 The Progressive Teacher May/Jun Mar/Apr 2017

Mar/Apr May/Jun 2017 


Principal Q&A 

Principal DR (MRS) VINEETA KAMRAN 

City Montessori School, Lucknow 

Birthday : 17 th October 

Place of Birth : Ludhiana, Punjab 

Hometown : Lucknow 

How did you feel on the first 

day being School Principal: The 

first day of my appointment as a 

Principal was a memorable day 

indeed. I could sense that my life 

was about to change in totality. 

The focus had now shifted from 

a mere classroom to the entire 

school infrastructure, spread over 

a vast campus of ten acres of land. 

The first day was a promise to 

myself to take full charge of 

my responsibilities as not only 

the Leader of Educators but as 

a Change Maker in the lives of 

future leaders of the world and 

to make enriching contribution 

to society. There were endless 

aspirations, countless dreams 

and a deep rooted desire to soar 

high in the arena of Quality and 

Excellence in Education along 

with my most accomplished staff 

members. 

The best thing about being a 

Teacher- Leader: For me the 

ideal embodiment of a Teacher- 

Leader is Dr Jagdish Gandhi, 

Founder Manager, City Montessori 

Schools. When it comes to leading 

teachers, it is not the knowledge 

and the content that makes a 

difference but the paradigm shift 

in perspective, looking at things 

as a whole, rising above personal 

interests and acting as a human 

engineer, a problem solver, a friend, 

a philosopher and a guide. A 

teacher leader has to be visionary, 

strategic, beneficent, adaptive and 

virtuous. 

What are the traits of an 

effective Principal: An effective 

Principal should empower, ignite 

and transform all who come 

across in the journey of life. 

She must create a school vision, 

mission and action plan as it is a 

mission statement which defines 

the very reason of our existence. 

A Principal should have goal 

setting competencies and must 

know the art of management 

of objectives. He/ She must 

build alliances, partnerships and 

bridges that connect people. A 

Principal needs to build a strong 

school community wherein all 

stake holders - parents, students 

and staff are well connected and 

contribute to each others’ success 

and betterment. 

Please describe the role you 

feel parents should play in the 

operation of the school: 

Our school has always believed 

that the parents are the major 

stake holders in the overall 

progress of the child and even 

the institution as a whole. 

Meaningful involvement of the 

parents in schooling is critical 

to a child’s overall development. 

It allows parents and staff to 

work together in respectful 

and mutually supportive ways 

creating an environment in which 

understanding, trust and respect 

can flourish and provides children 

with ample opportunities to 

unleash their hidden potential. 

When you visit a classroom, 

what are the first things you 

look for as signs that the 

classroom is an effective 

learning place: 

The facial expressions of the 

students say it all about the 

involvement of the students in 

the teaching learning process 

being facilitated by the teacher. 

Classrooms in the 21st century 

have to become the nerve centres, 

a place for teachers and students 

to connect with those around them 

and their community. In this new 

environment, the classrooms can 

only be effective when teachers 

become less of instructors and 

more of social architects of 

information, giving children the 

ability to turn knowledge into 

wisdom and nurture the mind and 

spirit of the young child. 

What is your vision of Special 

Education: 

I do accept the fact that every 

student has unique individual 

needs. It is essential that 

individual differences and needs 

be evaluated before planning 

for special education. Special 

Education is a programme that 

meets the academic, physical, 

social, behavioural and emotional 

needs of every student so that 

he has equal opportunities 

to succeed and become a 

contributing member of society. 

In order to make this programme 

successful, there must be trained 

special educators to provide 

differentiated instruction based 

on each student’s unique needs 

as an Individual Education Plan 

(IEP) has to be developed for 

each student. The staff has to be 

trained in classroom management, 

behavior modification, conflict 

resolution and techniques 

to support the success of all 

students. These students should 

not be segregated but should 

be integrated with the normal 

students. 

What’s your view on e-learning: 

The latest and most effective 

way of teaching these days is to 

make use of the vast receptacle of 

knowledge that is available to us 

on the internet. This can effectively 

be brought about by ensuring that 

the teachers are well versed in 

latest technological advancements 

and are able to make use of 

the limitless treasure. The use 

of interactive white boards is 

a valuable tool that can bring 

the syllabus to life by making it 

enjoyable, relevant and vibrant. 

This can also be used to build 

a constructive teacher- learner 

bond where the two interact 

with each other even when not 

physically present. E-learning also 

helps the students to become self 

dependent as they learn by trying 

to find additional knowledge by 

themselves. 

How to make Inclusion a 

reality: In order to make inclusion 

a reality the school system must 

be: 

• Child centred: Children with 

disabilities need child centred 

curriculum, which takes into 

account the individual needs of 

children. 

• Participatory: Children with 

special needs require a learning 

environment in which they can 

actively participate in learning. 

This may require suitable 

infra structure of the school 

as well as maximum use of 

educational tools. 

• Partnership with parents: 

Co-operation from parents is 

a key factor as children learn 

at home too. Parents must be 

involved in teaching learning 

process of special children 

as parents can follow the 

teaching guidance at home. In 

short, inclusive education is 

not possible without parents’ 

partnership. 

Your favourite book: THE 

LEADER WHO HAD NO TITLE 

by Robin Sharma 

It talks about a 

revolutionary new 

model of leadership 

where everyone needs 

to embrace change, 

drive innovation, take 

responsibility for ones actions and 

inspire the team mates. 

Your views about the social 

responsibility of a modern 

school: We at City Montessori 

School believe that a school 

should act as a light house to the 

society illuminating the path of 

humanity. A school must concern 

itself with the affairs of the age. 

It must provide redemption to 

mankind from its godlessness, 

ignorance, disorder, confusion and 

conflict. One of the important 

aims of socially responsible 

school is to develop the power of 

independent and creative thinking 

and a unification of intellect, 

feeling and righteous action. 

The school’s utmost culture 

cannot be closed and ethnocentricit 

has to be open, cosmopolitan 

and global in outlook. The 

world has to be brought into 

the classroom. It is the social 

responsibility of a modern school 

to specially design its curriculum 

so as to create a global mindset 

amongst students conscious of 

their duties and rights as citizens 

of the world. 

What are the major qualities 

you see in a new teacher: A 

good teacher should 

• Be a role model to students 

• Focus on Value Development 

• Be an advocate of positivity 

• Inculcate self belief in children 

• Be M.A.D – Make A 

Difference - to the lives of the 

children 

One piece of advice that 

you want to give to the new 

teachers: A modern teacher has 

to be a social architect. He must 

nurture the mind and spirit of 

the young. A new age teacher 

has to play multifarious 

roles. He has to be a leader, 

subject expert, disciplinarian, 

counselor, change agent, 

mentor and sometimes even a 

cheer leader.

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