3rd Class Science Travel and Communication Travel and Communication

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

This lesson will help you to:-

• understand the need for travel
• examine why and how people travel from one place to another.
• find out different modes of transportation.
• explore different kinds of communication.

Interesting Facts

• First metro train ran on 10^th may 1963 in London.
• Moscow metro rail service is the busiest railway service where 55 lakh passengers travel daily.
• In India Kolkata was the first city to avail the services of Metro in 1984.

QUICK CONCEPT REVIEW

We all go from place to place for our work, for studying; to meet our relatives etc. Every morning you stand on your bus stop waiting for your school bus. Your school bus takes you to your school. Like this whenever we have some work we go from place to place by using different means of transport.

The 'means' taken from going place to place depend upon the distance to be covered. The place which we intend to go may be at a short distance or at a long distance.

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY TRAVEL?

To travel generally means to go from one place to another. We travel because of different motives. We travel alone, in groups, with our family or with our classmates depending upon the purpose of our travel.

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY TRAVEL?

We travel when we have to go to some place for our work. There are various purposes like going to school, college etc, we also go to different cities to meet our relatives, to spend holidays, on our school trips. We either go alone like when our parents go to their offices or we go with our family like when we go meet our relatives, to attend family functions etc.

We can travel short distance or long distance

• Either of short distance like within the locality or within the city.                                
• Or long distance such as out of city or out of country.

WAYS TO TRAVEL

The vehicle we use to travel is known as means of transportation. The means of transport taken depends upon the distance to travel. With the increase in the use of new technologies today we can travel to any place using new means of transportation. In old times means of travel were very few like:

Walking: In old times people used to cover long distances on foot. Later they started using animals such as horse and oxen etc.

Bullock Cart and Horse Carriages: They were used for travelling in old times especially in India. Today they are used in smaller towns.

People also use mules and horses to travel in hilly areas. We use camels to travel in deserts.

Today we have plenty of options to travel. We can divide them according to our travel on road, by air and through water.

ON ROAD

Bicycle: You might have got a bicycle and had a ride on it. We can use this while moving within our locality or over short distances.

Car: We use a car to travel distant places or when we go with our family.

Scooter: This can be used to go to nearby places and sometimes to distant places also.

Bus: We often use buses to go to our school. We also take buses to go from one city to the other.

Trains: Trains are usually preferred to travel long distances. But in some cities there are local trains too which move within the city only.

We board the trains from railway stations. When you go to a railway station you can see different tea stalls, book shops etc. Trains run on the railway tracks which are specially designed for them. There is a ticket collector in train who checks the ticket of the passengers. He is called the TTE (Travelling Ticket Examiner). The driver of the train runs the train. There are coolies also who carry our luggage for us. There is a lot of hustle bustle on the platform. The venders keep coming in the train and sells off eatables. Railway provides a cheap and fast means of transport. It can carry lot of passengers and heavy and bulky goods from one part of the country to another. All the important cities and towns are connected by railways. With the coming up of metro trains it is easier to travel in day to day life.

Historical Preview

• Earlier in the past we did not have the facilities of post offices or phone. Then how did people used to communicate?
• In olden times when people did not have any other means of Communication they used to communicate their ideas and Views through symbols which had longevity of information. The examples are cave paintings.
• When the language was developed messengers were used to carry the written message. They used to carry the message either by foot or on horseback.
• Carrier pigeons have also been used to transfer physical messages from place to place.

For air transport we use aeroplanes. Aeroplanes are the fastest means of transport. A pilot flies the aeroplane. We board the plane from airport. However, air travel is expensive. We can easily go to different countries, for studying, working or just for travelling.

IN WATER

We can also travel in seas and oceans through ships. They are also used to carry goods from one country to another. They usually travel a long distance. Steamers and boats sail along big rivers carrying passengers and goods from one part to another. Water transport may be slow as compared to other means but it is a cheap way to transport bulky goods over long distances.

So we can say that we need to move from place to place for different works and we use different modes of transport to go depending on our needs.

But what if we do not want to go to some place but we need our message to be delivered?

In that case we take help of letters. We write a letter and put the address on which we want it to get delivered. We also put a stamp on it and post it in a letter box. The postman collects it and takes it to the post office. There sorting of the letter is done according to cities. After being stamped again it is sent to the concerned city and a post man delivers it to the address mentioned on it.

We also have the facilities of phones to deliver the message. We can instantly deliver our message or can talk to a person sitting anywhere.

Now a days we can give our message through computer e- mail also. With the help of fax machine and computer we can also send written documents to any place.

If we want to broadcast a message to a greater number of people then we use media. For example radio is an effective means to broadcast audio signals. Whereas television can be used to broadcast both pictures and sound.

SIGN LANGUAGE

Usually we feel that people use sign language to communicate with those who are deaf. However, there are many other reasons also why such language is used. It can be due to language barrier i.e.; not understanding the other's language and also there are people who take a vow of silence. This means they don't speak (even though they can).   

• Sign language is any means of communication through bodily movements, especially of the hands and arms, used when spoken communication is not possible or desirable.
• Even the dance 'mudras' used by dancers is a form of sign language.

Misconcept / Concept

Misconcept: Cellular (mobile) phones can work independently as they are wireless

Concept: Mobile phones receive signals from the towers. When someone makes a call the signals are first received by the nearest tower and forwarded to the respective mobile.