Year: 2017

Digantar – changing the face of rural education

Arun Elassery
In our series on alternative schools, we profile Digantar on the outskirts of Jaipur that is run by Rohit Dhankar and Reena Das. Digantar runs three schools catering to nearly 600 children from the rural areas. The children learn at their own pace, they learn from each other and they are not distributed according to classes. This complete change in direction has changed the lives of many rural children too.

The science of separation – 2

Avneesh Shukla
The second part of the article on separation techniques deals with decantation, filtration and sublimation and evaporation.

What robotics can bring to the teaching table

Disha Gupta, Adithi Muralidhar and Sugra Chunawala
Robots are a favourite with children and popular too. Because of its popular status, robots can be used as a teaching tool since they provide a fun element for children to explore technology. Keeping this idea in mind, Robotics was introduced at science events to create interest and increase awareness among school children. What happened at these different Robotics workshops and events is explained here in this article.

From seeing to thinking

Yasmin Jayathirtha

During the years I was writing ‘Let’s Experiment’ I was experimenting in my own classrooms, trying to find the best way to integrate experiments into the teaching of the subject. It is very clear to me that no meaningful learning of chemistry can happen without work in the laboratory.

Different strokes with starch

Jyotsna Vijapurkar, Aakanksha Sawant, Swapnaja Patil

The starch test is an easy-to-do test, commonly included in school textbooks (generally from grades 6 through 9). All one has to do is add a few drops of iodine to test if something contains starch; if it does, it turns blue. This test is usually done on potatoes or rice or cereal flours.

Time-table: A regulatory tool?

Manisha Yadav

“The school day, week, month, term, and year need to be planned for a mixture of routine and variation, as children need a little of both, and the kinds of learning we would like them to experience have different requirements”….pp 97, NCF (2005).

Those difficult conversations

Thejaswi Shivanand and Rohan D’Souza

This is the first of a two-part article on teaching about caste in urban schools. The authors’ interactions with teachers from different schools over the years have indicated a woeful non-engagement, especially in urban schools, with a phenomenon that is as pervasive as it is influential in the lives of millions across the sub-continent.

Matters of money

Toolika Wadhwa

This year I complete two decades of my engagement with the disciplines of accountancy and management. In 1996, when I joined class 11, I started on my journey with the two subjects by making, what at that time, seemed a simple choice between studying the theories of management and cutting frogs!

To “Bio Sir” with love

Jyotsna Vijapurkar

This morning I had a glorious start to the day. A sun bird, sporting resplendent crimson on its front, visited the little balcony garden I maintain. Along with two female companions, it was feeding from a few blooms of Clitoria alba.