Current Affairs Teaching

  Evaluation in Social Science   LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Understand the concept of evaluation in social science
• Engage with the purpose and need of evaluation in social science
• Know the process and the strategies to evaluate in social science
• Elaborate the difference between measurement, assessment, and evaluation
• Explore the challenges of evaluation in social science

  INTRODUCTION What my students have learnt is a very fundamental question every teacher asks to oneself, and everyone gets a different kind of answer to this. There are reasons for this, which we will be discussing later in this chapter, but here, we are more concerned about the processes of evaluation in social science. Important questions that every Social science teacher must ask to oneself are the following: How well do the learners learn? How can they become better? Where do we change the pedagogic practices? A very common pattern of evaluating the learners is to make them take a test and evaluate their learning and performances. If the learner's score is 60 marks out of 100 marks, then the teacher may think that the learner is above average, but actually this does not provide a complete and accurate picture of the student's learning in Social science because such a standardised test d oes not help to understand the learner's learning about Social science. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the learner at all the levels and maximum ways of evaluation. It must be a combination of summative and formative evaluation. Along with this, it is also important that the teacher must know all kinds of strategies and ways of evaluation. Such few ways can be assessment of learning, assessment for learning and assessment as learning. Another important question that can be asked here, when we know that learning and assessment cannot be separated, is why there is a need for specially organised evaluation. It must be a part of teaching-learning process or inherent in the pedagogic practices. In other words, it can be put as 'Do we need to do evaluation at all?' A more useful question that may be asked here is why do we try to evaluate the knowledge of a learner rather than other aspects such as skills, ability, and so on? Why do we see changes in the evaluation process from time to time? Why is there a need for a common evaluation patternor process, knowing that the entry point in education is different for every individual, and so on. Evaluation becomes more significant and crucial in social science because the way this is done in schools (very objective) does not match with the nature of social science. In such a situation, questions arise such as what is the role of evaluation in Social science for teaching and learning? What kind of association or relationship does the teacher try to visualise between objectives of social science and outcomes of learning? Does the learner have any role more...

  Sources: Primary and Secondary     LEARNING OBJECTIVES  

• Understand the meaning and use of various sources in teaching-learning process
• Familiarise with the idea and concept of primary and secondary sources with their meanings and examples
• Elaborate on how do primary and secondary sources develop critical and analytical skills and abilities in learners

  INTRODUCTION A source is a mean through which one will be able to know about any concept, fact, or information. Source facilitates the conceptual clarity about any idea or information. It also legitimates the authenticity of the given idea. Historian makes sense of the prevailed idea based on the various available sources. Researchers also explore and elaborate about the research area based on various kinds of resources. Similarly, resources are also very significant for a teacher to facilitate the learners' ability to learn with authenticity. How knowledge will be accepted by the large community of society or the person of concerned field will depend on the available sources; these sources will prove that knowledge. Overall, one can say the authentication or validity is important for knowledge and it comes from the resources that are used to prove a particular knowledge. In the subject like Social sciences, the use of sources becomes more important as it culminates proves from the resources available. There are various kinds of sources available, which facilitate the teaching of Social sciences; however, these sources can largely be classified in two categories: primary sources and secondary sources.   PRIMARY SOURCES It is an important source that facilitates learning and research. It provides first-hand substantial proof or evidences about any persons, facts, events, and ideas. Primary sources can also be known as records in original form related to history, economic, politics, sciences, and so on. Such sources are prepared largely by the people involved in the task and procured it in the form of written, audio, video, or any other forms. Therefore, it can be said that primary sources are the sources in the form of physical objects and documents that were created during a specific time. These evidences are available during that particular time when these primary sources were prepared or written or available. This is the reason why they provide authentic information about the particular time on any significant event. It is important to know here that these sources will always be original and authentic, and therefore, it will always be same because they have already taken place. It is not necessary to continuously write primary source on the spot; however, they can also be prepared or written as proceeding of the event in the form of memoirs or oral history. It is important to keep in mind that primary sources can be of only one perspective and there may be other perspectives that may or may not get a chance to be written. Particularly, in history, the question 'Whose history?' is a very fundamental question, which raised not only various more...

  Developing Critical Thinking     LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Understand why we need to be a critical thinker
• Explore the approaches and strategies to become reflective practitioner
• Elaborate upon the ways of developing critical thinking in learners
• Engage with the process of developing effective critical thinking
• Plan educational practices based on critical thinking

But if thought is to become the possession of many, not the privilege of the few, we must have done with fear. It is fear that holds men back - fear lest their cherished beliefs should prove delusions, fear lest the institutions by which they live should prove harmful, fear lest they themselves should prove less worthy of respect than they have supposed themselves to be.  ?Bertrand Russell (Principles of Social Reconstruction) You assist an evil system most effectively by obeying its orders and decrees. An evil system never deserves such allegiance. Allegiance to it means partaking of the evil. A good person will resist an evil system with his or her whole soul.      ?Mahatma Gandhi   INTRODUCTION Understanding about critical thinking processes and helping learners to become a critical thinker is a challenging task. It is a challenging task, but it is not a difficult process because it needs prolonged engagement with the problem. Therefore, developing critical thinking needs time, effort, and engagement. The statements given by Russell and Gandhi clearly describe critical thinking. It is about thinking regarding anything with analytical perspective, which also includes raising question to the existing structure or system or what so ever is prevailed and unfair. But largely, critical thinking is perceived as a process, which awakened the individual intellect. It is not a new concept, but it has a history of 2500-year old with its inter-disdplinary nature. Critical thinking is a disciplined intellectual skilful thought processing, which helps to analyse, synthesize, and evaluate the past and present situation and also make inferences about further j action logically. It is a self-planned and self-disciplined way of thinking that uses high level of logical reasoning. All critical thinking must have rationality behind the arguments.   WHY WE NEED CRITICAL THINKING Human beings are distinct from animals not only by the characteristic of thinking but also by thinking critically and rationally. Critical thinking is not restricted to school alone, but it works globally. Hence, we should understand the meaning of critical thinking in-depth. When a child demands anything or acts for something or an adult works in an office to achieve something, critical thinking is needed. But it is important to know the kind of critical thinking that is required to be understood. It means critical thinking is associated with a kind of thinking that improves the quality of thinking while dealing with the problems. Humans need a critical thinking to lead a rational life. It helps to take decision about the problems and conflicting situation. As mentioned earlier, it is needed by all, that is, from childhood to old age, to more...

  Classroom Processes, Activities and Discourse   LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Understand the meaning of classroom discourse
• Understand about various approaches to learning
• Elaborate about the issues associated with various approaches that help to understand the classroom discourse
• Become an effective teacher with abilities to organize various activities for learners

  INTRODUCTION In last few chapters, we developed an in-depth knowledge about Social science such as its nature, epistemology, challenges, issues, and so on. At the beginning of this chapter, we have a comprehensive understanding and teaching of Social science. The main objective of the chapter is to engage the classroom processes with various activities. It has been already established that Social science is not a simple subject rather is a complex enough as it deals with subjectivity and Social issues and concerns. Initially, this chapter will discuss various perspectives and approaches to learning, but it is important to understand that these approaches are not only psychological rather these are based on classroom activity based. How to make a Social science class more interesting, effective, and so on? Discussions in the following sections will also facilitate to know about the handful and practical activities to engage learner in the class.   APPROACHES TO LEARNING There are various approaches to learning. It is important to know that approaches to learning, that is the ways of learning and how to organize active, collaborative, lively, problem-solving based, and experiential activities in classroom. Further section of the chapter will deal with these approaches in details. These approaches of learning are as follows:              1.         Active learning approach              2.         Collaborative learning approach              3.         Inquiry-based learning approach              4.         Problem-based learning approach              5.         Peer learning approach              6.         Community learning approach              7.         Experience-based learning approach              8.         Reflective learning approach   Active Learning Approach Active learning approach can be understood when learners are engaged in two-way process simultaneously and it means doing any work and thinking about the work he/she is doing. It means that active learning approach rejection is an idea of simply watching, listening, or noting down from the board. However, an important thing has to be kept in mind that active learning should not be for long duration of time, rather, it should be short duration of time such as a few minutes. Active leaning is a flexible approach for teaching, as it can be used with any other way of teaching; for example, it can be merged with lecture methods, group activities, collaborative task, and so on. There is also a need to understand why we need to incorporate or use active learning strategies for teaching. There is research-based evidences that simple lecture method makes class boring, where children fail to relate themselves with the classroom processes. The concept of teachers know all and learners know nothing dominant in lecture methods. Active learning simply means to make learners participate in the classroom processes actively and doing more...

  Issues and Challenges of Teaching-Learning Social Science   LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Understand the objectives of teaching of Social science at various level of school education
• Engage with issues, challenges, and concerns about pedagogy and pedagogical processes of social sciences
• Explore the debates and issues of Science versus social science
• Understand the possibilities for improving pedagogy of social science

  INTRODUCTION The problem and issues of teaching-learning Social sciences emerge, when the nature of social science understood wrong. We have already discussed the nature and pedagogy of social science. On the basis of the understanding of these two chapters, now we will try to explore the problems, challenges, and issues of teaching-learning Social science. Social science has been misunderstood from various points of view, and mainly, it is an amalgamation of History, Geography, Political science, etc. There is a great need to understand social science in its own way that has its existence beyond this amalgamation. We have to understand that teaching-learning Political science does not mean just to interact in the class or simply try to transfer the information available in book; rather, it is complex process that helps a child engage with the concern .discourse. To understand teaching-learning Social science beyond simply transferring information, this process will be more meaningful to both the learners and the teachers. Before we move ahead and discuss about the issues and challenge of teaching Social science, it is essential to understand the objectives of teaching of Social science. National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2005 articulates these objectives at various levels such as primary stage, upper primary stage, secondary stage, and higher secondary stage. Here, we are more concerned about secondary stage; therefore, first, we would be discussing about the overall objectives of teaching of Social science and then objective of teaching Social science at secondary level. According to NCF 2005, studying the Social sciences is vital for many reasons. It enables children to:                1.         Understand the society in which they live - to learn how society is structured, managed, and governed, and also about the forces seeking to transform and redirect society in various ways.              2.         Appreciate the values enshrined in the Indian Constitution such as justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity and the unity and integrity of the nation and the building of a socialist, secular, and democratic society. 3.         Grow up as active, responsible, and reflective members of society. 4.         Learn to respect differences of opinion, lifestyle, and cultural practices. 5.         Question and examine received ideas, institutions, and practices. 6.         Acquire pleasure in reading, by providing them with enjoyable reading material.             7.         Undertake activities that will help them develop social and life skills and make them understand that these skills are important for social interaction.   OBJECTIVES OF TEACHING SOCIAL SCIENCE AT SECONDARY LEVEL (NCE 2005) The objectives of teaching Social sciences at the secondary stage are to develop among the learner analytical more...

  What Is Pedagogy   LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Understand the concept of pedagogy with respect to various thinkers
• Engage with issues, challenges, and concerns about pedagogy and pedagogical processes
• Visualise the role of teachers with respect to pedagogy
• Understand the pedagogic beliefs of various schools of thoughts
• Develop critical perspective about participatory approach to pedagogy
• Explore the comprehensive environment for comprehensive pedagogy

  INTRODUCTION Pedagogy, methodology, and teaching strategies are used interchangeably; however, there is huge difference between these terms and using them interchangeably will ruin the actual meaning of pedagogy. Actually, pedagogy is a larger concept, and it is not possible to just study it in a classroom context. In its wider sense, it is a process of explaining, elaborating, and engaging with any phenomena. Therefore, it becomes comprehensive method rather than simple methods and strategies. In other words, it can also be said that methods and techniques can be part of pedagogy. In a classroom context, pedagogy deals with many things together, which includes learner, learning, knowledge, textbooks, methods, techniques, discussion happening in class, classroom environment, and so on. Pedagogy in its actual sense can be understood as a practice with praxis along with theoretical construct. It deals with the concern of how to teach or provide opportunities to learner to learn reflectively, which provide enough opportunities to understand, and analyse the social life and social events. Pedagogy provides a comprehensive outlook towards life and associated concerns. Paulo Freire can be taken as an example where he talked about his way of teaching 'critical pedagogy.' It provides a wider, critical, and reflective process to challenge the oppression of the suppressed. It liberates learner from slavery mindset, and provides knowledge and consciousness. Critical pedagogy managed to do this because it incorporates the background of the learners, their contextual issues, their experiences, and so on. Therefore, pedagogy is an outlook and way to perceive, learn, establish, and use of knowledge to become liberate. Therefore, we have to understand it very clearly that pedagogy is not only teaching in a class or transacting content to the learners but also associated with thinking and practicing it. Teaching is a very specific task, whereas pedagogy has to deal with larger concerns.                        In recent past, numerous works have been done on pedagogy with respect to various disciplines including sciences, social sciences, and languages. These works provide a comprehensive understanding about pedagogy not only on particular subject but also in general. 'Critical pedagogy,' 'Social pedagogy', and 'Folk pedagogy' can be taken as examples. Before we move ahead to understand the pedagogy and pedagogy in detail, we should understand the very meaning of education so that we can make better sense of pedagogy and pedagogical processes.   EDUCATION Although it is very difficult to summarise the meaning and nature of education in few worlds, some understanding about what education is all about is essential. Therefore, we will try to discuss about education more...

  Human Environment   LEARNING OBJECTIVES ?              Understand the various aspects of human environment ?              Know the spread of population across India with various associated aspects of population ·                     such as density and growth ?              Explore the various kinds of settlements ?              Become familiar about the different types of transportation in India ?              Understand the concept of migration and reasons of migration   INTRODUCTION Human environment is constituted by humans, their activities, and environmental features they have created for their convenience and comfortable life. How do they live, where do they live, their population, their mode of communication among themselves, and how they survive, all these questions are the matter of human environment. In this chapter, we will focus on certain aspects of human environment such as human settlements, migration, transportation, and population.   POPULATION When we think about the word population in the context of human beings, the few things that immediately come to our mind are people, specific geographical area, composition of different groups, density, distribution, and so on. These words have a very important role to define the status of population of a region, country, or continent. In this section, we will discuss about Indian population. India is the second most populous country of the world, and China being the first. However, as we are growing very fast in numbers, we will definitely snatch the crown of world's most populous country from China. At present, according to 2011 census, the total population of India is 1,210,726,932. As mentioned earlier, if we want to understand population, we have to focus on its different traits such as distribution, density, growth, and composition. Hence, first we will start with the concept of distribution in the way to understand Indian population.    Distribution of Population India has unequal distribution of population. Some states have very high population and some have very less. Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, and West Bengal are the highly populated states of India. States such as Sikkim, Jammu & Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand have very small share of population of the total population of India. There are various reasons behind this unequal distribution in India. 'Among the socioeconomic and historical factors of population distribution, the important ones are evolution of settled agriculture and agricultural development, pattern of human settlement, development of transport network,industrialisation, and urbanisation. It is observed that the regions falling under river plains and coastal areas of India. have remained the regions of high population concentration. Even though the uses of natural resources such as land and water in these regions have shown the sign of degradation, the con centration of population remains high because of an early history of human settlement and development of transport network. On the other hand, the urban regions of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata Bangalore, Pune.'Ahmadabad, Chennai, more...

  Globe   LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Learn about the concept of globe
• Understand the various imaginary lines that help us to identify the different aspects of the world with the help of globe
• Know the concept of latitudes and longitudes
• Explore the motion of Earth along with its inclination on its axis
• Familiarise the time zone system

  INTRODUCTION Globe is a three-dimensional, spherical, scale model of Earth. It is derived from the Latin word globus, which means mass or sphere. There are different kinds of globes like celestial globe, which represents the positions of stars in the sky. Geography is the science of location and maps. The location is presented relatively and this process is called relative location. In geography, we use two basic methods to locate a place; they are latitudes and longitudes and these are the imaginary lines on Earth.   Latitudes Imaginary lines parallel to the equator is called latitudes. Equator is also a latitude that divides the earth into two equal parts: northern part and southern part. The value of equator is 0°. The earth is divided from 0 to 90° latitude. The 231/'0 latitude is also known as Tropic of Cancer that falls in the northern part and when the same degree falls in the southern part, it is known as Tropic of Capricorn; however, 66V2° northern latitude is called Arctic circle and 66V2° southern latitude is called Antarctic circle. Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn denote the boundaries of areas where the sun's rays fall directly. Figure 3.1 Latitudes Longitudes The longitudes are divided into two parts by prime meridian (denoted by 0° longitude) eastern and western. It passes through Greenwich near London. The earth is divided from 0° to 360° longitudes. All longitudes meet at the morthern and southern poles. Longitudes join at all the places of that particular longitude. The longitude 180 is international Date Line. Witch is not a straight line, and It Is deliberately drawn in a zig-zag manner to save the country form partition, which passes through pacitic ocean. The date of the western part of countries of this line is aheadof the eastern part of contries. This is the reason for a person who travels from east to west will   loseone day; while a person who travels from west to east will gain one day. The value of one longitude is 4 min; therefore, towards east, the time increases, and towards west, it decreases.   MOTIONS OF THE EARTH Earth has two motions: one on its axis and the other around the sun. The first motion on its axis is called daily rotation, while the second one around the sun is called yearly motion. Because of the motion on its axis. Earth rotates from west to east; further, it takes 24 h to complete the rotation, and therefore, there are more...

  Environment   LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Understand the concept of environment and atmosphere
• Explore the composition and various layers of atmosphere
• Engage with the process of atmospheric circulation
• Explore about human environment, manmade environment, and human-environment Interaction

  INTRODUCTION Air is an essential part of our life. We have to do many activities such as eat and drink to survive. Similarly, we breathe every second to live, and for it, air is very important. It is possible to survive few days without food, but not without breathing. To breathe, air is needed, and therefore, we need to understand atmosphere and climate in detail. Atmosphere is the mixture of gases. This mixture consists of life-giving gases such as oxygen (for humans and animals) and carbon dioxide (for plants). For exploring these gases and atmosphere, we have to understand the concept of Environment   ENVIRONMENT We are surrounded by many objects such as living and non-living things, constructions, as well as natural components. These constitute the environment. Simply, we can say that environment is a combination of natural and man-made phenomenon. There are many components of environment and we can majorly categories them into three parts: natural, manmade, and humans, Natural environment is divided into four major parts: 1. Atmosphere 2. Hydrosphere 3. Lithosphere 4. Biosphere   Atmosphere The term atmosphere emerged from two Greek words atmos, which means vapour, and spharia (sphere). Atmosphere can be understood as a layer of gases surrounding our planet. The major | qases available in our atmosphere are nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide. Atmosphere functions as a shield and protects and saves us from ultraviolet rays, cosmic rays, and so on that are coming from the solar system. It is important to know that the available condition of our atmosphere was not always like this; rather, it took millions of years to reach this state.   Atmosphere composition Gases, water vapour, and dust particles are constituents of atmosphere. Table 4.1 shows various gases of atmosphere.   Table 4.1 Gases and their volume percentage in atmosphere  

Constituent           Percentage by volume
Nitrogen	78.08
Oxygen	20.95
Argon	more... Catgeory: Teaching Air   Air   LEARNING OBJECTIVES Know about the gases composition in atmosphere and the structure of atmosphere Understand about weather and climate Explore and understand about air, air pressure, and various kinds of winds Engage with the understanding of various kinds of jet streams along with humidity   STRUCTURE OF ATMOSPHERE The atmosphere is made up of various layers and these layers exist because of significant changes happened in temperature. We must know that gravity plays a major role in this formation, because it pulls the air towards the earth which is known as air pressure. The layers constitute atmosphere are discussed below.              1.         Troposphere: The expansion of this layer is a little above the surface of the earth. The reason behind the life on the earth is due to the gases present in this layer. The height of troposphere is 8 km on planes and 16 km on the equator. The height of troposphere varies according to the seasons. It is high in summers and low in winters. All the climate-related process occurs in this layer, such as formation of clouds, rain, storm, and so on. As we go upwards in this layer, the temperature turns low. It has the highest temperature in equator area and lowest temperature in the Polar Regions.             2.         Stratosphere: It is the second layer of atmosphere that is situated above the troposphere. The temperature is evenly distributed in this layer. It is free from surface-related temperature effects and also from climate activities, which makes it suitable for aeroplanes. The expansion of this layer is 18 km to 32 km. Sometimes, a special type of clouds is constructed in this layer called mother-of-pearl clouds. Furthermore, this layer is very thick on Polar Regions and very thin at the equator.            3.         Ozonosphere: Most of the ozone gas of atmosphere is found in this layer, and it absorbs the ultraviolet rays of the sun. The expansion of this layer is 32 km to 60 km. The unique characteristic of this layer is that the temperature increases with an increase in altitude. In this layer, the temperature raises at a rate of 5°C per kilometre.            4.         ionosphere: The height of ionosphere is 60 km to 640 km. We can divide this sphere into many layers. The lowest layer of this sphere is called D-layer that reflects long radio waves. Other layers such as E-1, E-2, F-1, and F-2 reflect short radio waves.            5.         Exosphere: This is the last and the highest sphere of atmosphere. It has no limited boundary. Its approxim.ate expansion is 640 km. Helium and hydrogen are dominant gases of this sphere.   Composition of gases of the Atmosphere Important gases of the atmosphere are as follows: Nitrogen: 78.8% Oxygen: 20.95% Argon: 0.93% Carbon dioxide: 0.036% Helium: 0.0005% Ozone: 0.0000001%   WEATHER AND CLIMATE Weather is the state of atmospheric conditions at a more... Catgeory: Teaching Current Affairs Categories National International Agreements Appointments Government Schemes Summits Awards & Honours Business Economy & Banking Defense Sports Ranks & Reports Important Days Persons Science & Technology State Environment Bills & Acts Schemes Miscellaneous Archive August 2020(12) February 2020(218) January 2020(208) July 2020(35) June 2020(150) March 2020(99) May 2020(42) April 2019(263) August 2019(333) December 2019(336) February 2019(274) January 2019(299) July 2019(356) June 2019(226) March 2019(261) May 2019(262) November 2019(226) October 2019(230) September 2019(317) April 2018(296) August 2018(291) December 2018(302) July 2018(309) June 2018(312) May 2018(322) November 2018(284) October 2018(276) September 2018(272) Trending Current Affairs Pakistan Hosts SCO Anti-Terror Meeting Nepal, 1st Country In South-East Asia To Eliminate Trachoma: WHO SIDBI To Extend Direct Funding Facility To VLEs In CSCs NITI Aayog, ABB India Sign Pact To Benefit India From AI, Robotics PM Of Netherlands Inaugurates Indo-Dutch Ganga Forum Netherlands Becomes 64th Signatory Member Of International Solar Alliance Barbados Elects Mia Mottley As 1st Female Prime Minister Airtel Payments Bank Appoints Anubrata Biswas As MD And CEO Mission Innovation Ministerial Meeting Held In Sweden Prime Minister Modi Chairs 26th Pragati Interaction Please Wait you are being redirected.... You need to login to perform this action. You will be redirected in 3 sec × Reset Password. Email : Send Password Cancel Add Mobile Enter Mobile Number Submit Logout Enter OTP OTP has been sent to your mobile number and is valid for one hour Enter One Time Password Submit Change Mobile: Submit Logout Mobile Number Verified Your mobile number is verified. Close Free Videos × For free video lectures fill in the form below and we will get back to you. * Email Address: * Mobile Number: Submit Cancel