The Link between Primary Mathematical Concepts and higher Mathematical Concepts | UNIT-3 | MASTER EDUCATION | PRIMARY/HIGH SCHOOL MATHEMATICS

UNIT-3

The Link between Primary Mathematical Concepts and higher Mathematical Concepts

Now, when we come to the higher Mathematics concepts that comes from sixth class to 10th class, we encounter a variety of topics.

Let's take one topic and see how the primary mathematical concepts pave the way for a clarity about the higher concepts.

Let's take the first concept of percentages or discounts or compound interest.

For example, in percentage when you say we have a person who got 60 per cent, it is clear that a person didn't get exactly 60 out of 100, he might have got something out of something, let's say you got 360 marks out of 600, so PER CENT or per hundred is a concept clearly connected to fractions.

A person in the primary mathematical stage, having learnt fractions perfectly as illustrated in the last chapter would easily understand the concept of percentages, discounts and interests.

This is because once he gets the concept of fractions connected to real life, the concept of percentage or discount would be just merely an additional application than something entirely new, but notice that in most schools, this concept is not at all clear in the primary section, so when they come to the higher level, it becomes mechanical like you say, 50% means 50/100 directly, we don't know why we are saying, 50% is 50 by 100, we don't know why, but actually, the concept is very simple and this detachment from real life is needless

This concept is seemingly so difficult for most people simply because and merely because in the primary level, they did not have a concept of fractions connected to reality and real life and through games as we saw in the last chapter.

So if you don't do that, this problem will never get solved. The only way to solve the problem in higher mathematical concepts is the same. There's only one way to solve the problem of mathematics on the higher level and that is to make the foundation in the primary level extremely strong.

By strong here we mean connected to real life and real world through activities and games.

So that is the only way.

Now suppose we take geometry, even geometry is mainly about numbers, manipulation of numbers with additional concepts of cube, cone, cylinder, circles etc which are easily learnt.

When you take algebra the concept of the x and y will be very clear if you're clear about numbers as such. Suppose you say 2 + x = 5, a good student will clearly understand x is simply an unknown number, the student will look at x not with a phobia but he will simply look at that number which when added to 2 would give 5 and he'll be confident that it should be three. And thus all rules in algebra would seem simple and floeing from number concrpts only with X simply seen as an unknown number.

So as you can notice, once the primary basic mathematical concepts are crystal clear and connected to real life the higher level concepts actually become quite simple, and also the student has a power to understand the concepts in a powerful way. He becomes actually powerful when he goes on the higher level concepts like In trigonometry, we have ratios that relate to angled in a right angled triangle

Ratios are simply fractions and again a student who is comfortable with fractions would grasp trigonometry too which connects angles with lengths or ratios.

In calculus they talk about rate of change of one variable or quantity with respect to another, how one thing changes with respect to another every moment,

Here too it is like algebra and if we can arithmetise algebra then the concepts of differentiation, limits and integration would really be clear.

Same thing with other topics like statistics, orobsbilty , series, permutations , coordinate geometry etc.

In all these you have simply quantitive relationships between two or more measurable quantities and a clear concept in a certain situation.

As we go even on the highest level, the relationships and patterns become more.

All the people who finally become scientists are those people who have very solid foundational concepts in the primary level, because they can think mathematically, are comfortable in mathematical concepts even the higher level concepts, whivh in their mind are rooted to the basic concepts and are learned conceptually and are not detached from real life.

But what's happening in schools? If you notice in schools, all these higher level concepts are detached from reality, they are again, played as a game, whether it is trigonometry or coordinate geometry or geometry.

We know very well the students get marks, but they're not able to use this mathematics that they're learning because they don't have any idea why they are learning and what they're learning and there's a common experience that so many people ask, Why am I learning this? Like for example they keep on doing this derivations in trigonometry but they don't know why they're doing it. They don't understand that trigonometry is relating one thing with another, for example, in physics you have a concept like sin(i)/sine(r) is equal to refractive index where you are relating using the trigonometry for a certain real life application.

In the same same way you're using the sine wave, in physics where you are showing the relationship again of one variable with another.

Now, these are concepts to show relationships between two things. So once basic concepts of relationship of numbers of numbers and fractions, are absolutely reality oriented, once a student can observe patterns and grasp higher level concepts as connected to reality,

a student feels Mathematics to be simple and also he becomes adept in USING Mathematics in real life work.

Again, we see the power of grasping of all Mathematics concepts conceptually and the uselessness of detaching Mathematics from real life.

Chapter 4

The Relationship of Mathematics and other fields and subjects.

Maths is a very powerful subject and since it deals with measurements, pattern recognition and logical connections directly or indirectly, it is related to almost every subject you can think of.

Relationship of maths to physics.

It's a very common fact that in physics, you will find lots of equations. You'll find for example, trigonometry and calculus used directly because physics is about the relationship of one variable with another.

Lets take the equation of the Universal law of gravitation to see how Mathematics becomes very important in Physics.

The is

F = GM1M2/r2

This is actually a proportionality relationship.

F is directly proportional to M1, F is already proportional to M2 and F is inversely proportional to R square and there is a proportionality constant

This is a concept in sixth standard mathematics called Proportionality You have a direct proportionality or you have a inversely proportionality concept.

If a student doesn't understand these concepts, he will not understand this physics equation. It would not connect to reality. But if a student understands these concepts, then he will be able to SEE the physics concepts and the actual reality there!! He will see that one mass is attracting another mass and if you double the distance, then four times the force reduces, if you triple the distance, nine times of force reduces etc

That reality of the equation will be seen by him,

But largely this is NOT the case and most students see this equation like an abstract equation with obviously no connect to real life. That's the reason why they have problems in physics when they come to physics, F = GM1M2/r2 is a mechanical equation manipulated mechanically

If the maths were known, if that proportionality concepts were known that physics would have become very clear because mathematics, we repeat is a connection to reality of relationships of one variable to another. We're able to connect the whole of physics, to reality only when we connect the equations properly to reality.

Math and physics are deeply inherently interconnected.

In fact many of the maths concepts that came were invented by physicists down history to manage quantitaive relationships.

The relationship of maths with economics, politics, management etc is obvious. There's a lot of statistics, there's a lot of percentages. Obviously, there's a lot of mathematics involved with economics and social sciences, because when you talk about GDP, for example, you must have an exact understanding of the concept.

Nowadays there's lot of lot of propaganda done by manipulating numbers, but if you are good at understanding the concept of a number, concept of percentages, how to be analytical through numbers, you'll be in a better position to analyze data, huge data, whether it's statistical or percentages, or other concepts in economics. Even calculus is nowadays used, because things are changing and wherever there is change, wherever there is data, wherever there is a relationship of one variable with another maths comes in inevitably, as we said earlier

Maths is an inherent natural and intrinsic part of reality.

Again, Maths is obviously very very deeply connected with engineering, whether it's computer science or architecture or civil engineering. You have absolutely deep advanced applied mathematical concepts to handle complex situations.

For example, Google is nothing but a way by which hundreds of variables are manipulated, through very complex mathematics, but if you notice that at every step, it is measurements, it is relationships, it is patterns, it's logical connections quantitatively connected to each other.

So obviously in technology also maths comes.

Such connection of Mathematics to various fields are innumerable.

Also Mathematics being so precise enhances senses and directly ot indirectly comes in arts like painting, music, dance, sculpture, architecture etv

Also a student who masters Mathematics the way we have ecplsinef in this nook becomes very sharp in logical thinking too and very precise .

So, what IS the power of mathematics?

In conclusion, we can say that mathematics is that science by which we have concepts which handles data, which handles relationships, which handles patterns so that we can gain power in any subject by using quantitative measurements, relationships and patterns to HANDLE large data to come to certain creativity with respect to creating large scale things, like a bridge, skyscraper, going to the moon etc etc

So, Mathematics is a literal power. It expands your mind. It enables you to handle large amounts of data.

We close the whole book with one great quotation:

“Knowledge is power'

but we would like to add that knowledge is coded through mathematics. So it is mathematics which makes knowledge a great power.

THANK YOU!!

Mathematics in the Primary Classes | UNIT-2 | MASTER EDUCATION | PRIMARY/HIGH SCHOOL MATHEMATICS

MASTER EDUCATION 

PRIMARY/HIGH SCHOOL MATHEMATICS

Chapter 2

Mathematics in the Primary Classes

We saw in the last chapter, how implicit measurements happen via comparing, classifying, counting, sorting and ordering.

All these happen naturally by the senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell, via the Child's sensitive and discriminatory mind.

This could be called implicit mathematics or the Pre Mathematical level concepts or abilities.

Mathematics is also a subject and a powerful one. The interesting thing about mathematical concepts is that they simply make conscious and precise, the pre-mathematical concepts, and these concepts too have to be learned by linking with real life. These concepts are NOT abstract things detached from real life.

Let us look at the basic concepts of maths that we need to learn in the primary level.

The first concept of mathematics is obviously the NUMBER concept, but we must really recall here that the child already has a concept of number in a certain sense.

A child knows that there is ONE table or ONE apple or ONE book or ONE samosa or ONE person.

He knows this concept of 1 implicitly because if you bring in one more, let's say you have one ball and you bring another ball, the child will know, via his senses that it is not one now, but TWO books, thus he does have a concept of two books, two balls, two samosas, two people, etc.

Also, it's a well known fact that human beings can directly sense without counting, one, two, three, four and five. This is called subtitation After five, it becomes many, even here, if a child is shown, let's say 12 pencils, he can break it into three fours and thus grasp the concept of 12. Also, if there are three pencils and one more is added, the child can directly perceive that it has become four now, if one more is added it has become 5. So clearly there is an Ordered numbering concept, already present in a child!

In school that implicit order 1, 2, 3 is made conscious, so this become the conscious concept of one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and nine, after which we create a concept, the PLACE VALUE system.

We create 10, meaning 1 tens and 0 ones.

11 is one ten and 1 ones

12 is one tens and 2 ones

And so on with

100, 1000 etc

We created so that we can have larger numbers. Now, let's say we take 16, 16 is perceived by the child as one tens and 6 ones, only by lots of linking to real life and via games.

This is where we should be very careful, not to detach the concept of number from real life. It is very easy to detach the concept of number, let’s say a higher number, 25 from real life, and that is, what is happening in most schools.

They take the concept of 25 and directly teach 25 as an abstract number, and then they start playing games with that number, in a detachment way, with mechanical rules of addition, subtraction, multiplication tables, multiplication and division..

They forget that 25 is actually two tens and five ones and that this concept must be highly concretized directly through real life activities in real life games.

If that is not done, the concept of 25, 35, 55, 53, 54 remains abstract in his mind and most people have such abstract concepts of numbers in their mind. They can't see 55, they can’t see 67, they can't see 535, but a good student, who directly relates mathematics to real life is able to see 535 clearly as 5 hundreds, 3 tens and 5 ones. An image is formed in the mind.

Thus it is very needless to detach the concept of number, including the place value concept from real life.

How do we directly connect numbers including higher numbers to real life?

here are two ways to connect to real life: One is directly to connect to the actual things happening or seen in the world, and the other is to play creative games, so that the students can reinforce these concepts directly and feeling them and seeing them as REAL LIFE numbers of things.

We can teach the place value system too by connecting it to real life. So we MUST NOT teach the place value system as an abstract thing, we directly use activities.

Also we teach all basic operations addition, subtraction multiplication and division via many activities and play repeatedly done.

Here we must use real life situations.

We have seen from our experiences that there are great possibilities of creating real life situations and games, and that the possibilities are actually endless and this requires only a proper creativity from the part of the teachers.

We also have lots of mathematics directly that we can use from real life, like supermarket with lots of goods with prices on them,

we can use weights and heights of students in class and the weights and heights of family members,

We can use expenditure at home, we can use length and breadth and height of the room, of the Board, of the Corridor and all the measurements of areas of the ground and you can get a sense of the numbers.

We can also have ads, we can also observe whether there are numbers in it with discounts,

We can have railway time tables, we can have all time measurements or daily time management, weekly time managements, monthly time measurements and yearly dimensions,

We can have ages and differences of ages between people, we can have scoring in games where numbers are added, so addition, subtraction, multiplication and division can be taken from these real life situations and activities.

The next major concept we have in primary classes is the concept of fraction. A fraction is wherever there is one unit which has been divided to many parts and you consider the parts that's when the fractions come in. So fractions come in many real life situations and here we use the real life games.

Illustrative activities and games to teach concept and operations in fractions.

While teaching fractions, the concept of LCM, equivalent fractions, multiplication of fractions and division of fractions should not be made mechanical. Like, for example, we say that 1/2 divided by 2/3 is 1/2 multiplied by 3/2 where 2/3 is reversed.

But why?

It cannot be felt if one merely gives the rule.

As can be seen from the

Steps of the ladder….given below…

Each concept or operation is felt and understood naturally.

Let us look at each of these from an educational point of view.

1, 2….9 – operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division

1 to 100 - operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division

Big numbers - operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division

Fractions - operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division

Decimals - operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division

Powers

Roots

Factors Each of these must be connected to reality and the operations must be learnt with that feel, of it being, natural and simple. That is the litmus test. This can only be achieved by researching on countless activities vailable. The simple point is that every student must GET the result. He must grasp the concept fully and feel comfortable fully in the operations of it.

Mathematics as an intrinsic and natural part of life | UNIT-1 | MASTER EDUCATION | PRIMARY/HIGH SCHOOL MATHEMATICS

MASTER EDUCATION  

PRIMARY/HIGH SCHOOL MATHEMATICS

UNIT-1 

Mathematics as an intrinsic and natural part of life.

When most people think about Mathematics, they think about it as a dreaded subject, which only some are good at and they also think that such people are specially intelligent. This is the common view, but this view could be termed as the greatest irony when it comes to subjects.

This is because mathematics is an intrinsic and natural part of life and in fact every aspect of living contains mathematics implicitly.

Let us see how Mathematics comes into play, implicitly, intrinsically, naturally as a child grows from birth to the age of three. It is, in fact, a tremendous growth that by the age of three, a child learns naturally and absorbently a great deal of information, so much so that by three he feels at home in his surroundings and develops a language and even a distinctive sense of being, a personality and an identity!

The point is that this tremendous development actually is accompanied intrinsically by a mathematical sense of --

Implicit measurements, Pattern recognition, Awareness of cycles, Complex relationships of a variety of things between two or more things

Comparison by similarities and differences,

Matching of complementary things, Sorting and classifying Development of fine discrimination's of sensory differences in seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, smelling innumerable things.

Discrimination of touch senses to develop, fine, and gross motor skills,

And many, many more skills, observations.

All of these can be actually rooted to a mathematical measuring sense.

Let us concretise the above processes by some examples to make it fully clear how mathematics can come in operation in every single action that you observe in the world.

A child tremendously desires to learn and he or she is extremely sensitive and absorbent. This was explained and brought to light first and deeply by Maria Montessori, a century back. She urged us “to discover the child”.

What is a child? Especially in the first three years of his life.

A child is curious, active and deeply hungry to use his body and mind and its potential capacities. This manifests as being non-stop active which many interpret as hyperactivity or even being naughty,

In his natural surroundings a child observes innumerable things with high sensitivity and absorbs this information and makes it part of his own.

Sensory Observations

Let us look at all the sensory observations he makes with his sensitive intelligence and how a mathematical discrimination comes naturally into play.

He observes, for example, the cycle of night and day and within that, he knows the gradations from early morning, to afternoon, to evening, to night,

He senses time, implicitly also,

And also seasons and weather.

He's measuring the gradations of heat so that he can know whether it's early morning or afternoon. He is ordering the time,

As we can see, all these are actually measurement processes, mathematical processes.

Same thing happens when he hears sounds, whether it's loud or soft, also he can listen sharply to music, he can even understand whether it's something sad or happy or light on his own level. He listens to music of of all kinds.

He listens to voices of human beings of his mother, father, all the people around him, children, adults

He learns again. Measuring, ordering, comparing, matching all the sounds made by all the things whether it's vessels or wind or bus or car, bike TV , actually hundreds and hundreds of things, he listens to them, he can observe and measure their pitch and loudness and quality.

In all of this, he is implicitly and sharply aware and measures the pitch and loudness and even quality

The child is also comparing and matching and ordering and classifying, for example, he knows human sounds are different from cat sounds and these are different from dog's sounds, etc.

All the sounds in the world around him have been sorted, classified, ordered, learnt and stored within his mind! This is a mathematical feat!

The same happens with sight, he knows the colors of everything implicitly, and the gradations of color eg light blue, dark blue, medium blue.

He knows the degrees of each color.

He knows the colors of every single thing and the types of colors they can have. For example, faces, clothes, trees, animals, vehicles, food stuff and all the things around him.

He knows all the touch feelings whether it is hot, cold, and all kind of touch sensations which he can feel around him. For example, he knows the touch of his father and mother, of his doll, of his dog, water, carpet, bed, etc.

The same thing happens with smells about all kinds of things in his environment.

In fact, a child is very sharp with all his senses and through his senses he learns through the processes again of measuring, of ordering, of matching, of classifying.

Learning By Doing

Also, he learns to DO things to find out how things work, and what things are,

So he not only observe by his senses, he needs to EXPERIMENT with things to learn about the world, so he has to use his hands, his body along with his mind and senses, to learn about the world,

We observe children do a variety of activities with their hands and bodies and they are non-stop active, which is what exasperates adults

For example, he bangs his doll or takes out his toy apart.

He always wants to play, and play for him means simply to experience and experiment with everything.

For example, moving a ball, bending his spoon, banging his spoon with a vessel, breaking things, playing with water, using a pen, even eating things. He is all the time trying to learn about the properties of all things through doing and playing!

Thus he is using his hands and the body. Here the examples are infinite and finally a day comes when there is nothing that he has not become acquainted with.

He has learned, by touching or playing, with a purpose, everything.

Especially if he's given more freedom, he learns more sharply, more perfectly.

In fact, a child would love anybody who would give him things to play with, who would guide him to play with, who would help him to play with, he would then play endlessly and without stop.

He would repeat the same thing endlessly!

This is clearly observable by anybody.

Why? What is he doing? Why is he doing that?

He's doing that because he's learning, there's a tremendous need

biocentrically within him, to feel at home, in this world, to feel comfortable in this world, to feel powerful in this wonderful world and to feel confident in this world.

This is a need, and not just a luxury, it's a need bio-centricity and deeply

A child has the curiosity and the desire to know, to grow, to become powerful and to become confident.

It is inherent intrinsically, a part of a human being. This is the great insight which all great educationists.

We can easily see that the child is again implicitly relating one thing with another, observing many things and while observing he is sensing the implicit measure of all dimensions

So obviously, he's relating one thing with another via implicit measuremrnts.

He understands that this is what he has to do.

Another remarkable thing is that he learns the names of all the things and he names all the actions also, in fact all the words, and his absorbent mind grasps all kinds of words and sentences and idioms and phrases in his local language and with no book, only by hearing and watching people and their expressions and body language, he learns something so tremendous as a language, a complex language!

It is in fact an intellectual and mathematical feat!

We all know how much a three year old learns but we take it for granted.

But what we must note here is that a mind, a mathematical mind, deeply and sensitively, connected to senses and guided by a powerful absorbent mind is doing its work non-stop.

Thus, we see a mind, a human being is absorbent. A human being has a discriminatory capacity to observe and order, classify, sort and match by implicit measurements.

Man is a measure of all things. Many people have said, but many great philosophers have also said, man measures all things implicitly.

Now we can see clearly that mathematics is not an abstract detached subject which only some are good at.

Now, we can see the irony of thinking that way.

Mathematics is actually a natural and intrinsic part and parcel of life, living your whole life with such an ability, at least potentially.

Now, we are ready and can ask the real questions with respect to the subject of mathematics.

When so much can and has been learned by three years itself, when so much is part and parcel of the mind itself, the mathematical intellectual mind to observe via sharp sensory abilities and absorbent mind, then what should happen next?

What should the child learn in mathematics When he enters schools?

What is the task in Mathematics in the pre primary and primary levels?

And in the higher levels. How should mathematics be used in life?

What IS really the subject matter of mathematics? What are the topics of mathematics?

And why only those?

And why should they be learned?

Should the same processes detailed in this chapter be carried out but explicitly ?

Now we are looking at mathematics in a totally different way, yet totally real way, connecting it TO life, making it an intrinsic part of life.

In fact, mathematics becomes a way of life and living!

The above questions specifically on formal Mathematics would answered in the next 2 UNITS.

How a teacher should be…. WRITTEN AND UNWRITTEN RULES FOR A TEACHER | HOLISTIC EDUCATION FOR A PASSIONATE LIFE!! | A Manual for Teachers, Parents, Educators and Self-Educators

UNIT -8

How a teacher should be….

WRITTEN AND UNWRITTEN RULES FOR A TEACHER

A teacher should be at his best, and strive always to grow and learn.

The school expects each teacher to update his knowledge of English and also his depth of understanding in subject.

This includes his skills in Language and his Subject.

They expect him to appreciate the text book methodology that is activities centric and holistic.

They expect him to be sincere and love teaching.

They want him to always be clear about the fact that the child has rights and he is only a facilitator and not a lord over the child.

They expect him to follow the minimum routine guidelines like syllabus completion, corrections, entries, punctuality, proper dress code and behavioral code..

They expect each teacher to voice his grievances not in private but fearlessly and openly to the management.

They expect all heads, whether curriculum, Principals, HOD's, Coordinators, HM's to maintain the utmost dignity, especially when voicing criticism.

Criticisms should always be on the work not on the person.

It is all about opening your eyes, deriving deep,

Creative satisfaction from sharing that which you have seen,

To open and always be open to learning,

To grow... to bloom...

Without end,

To be happy and enthusiastic and

To look at a child fresh and

See him for what he truly is,

A being so free,

So happy, so willing to learn and grow,

And thus to strive to live up to the

Demands of such a demanding child!!

OPENING YOUR EYES TO THE WORLD… RELEASING YOUR CURIOSITY… | HOLISTIC EDUCATION FOR A PASSIONATE LIFE!! | A Manual for Teachers, Parents, Educators and Self-Educators

UNIT - 7

OPENING YOUR EYES TO THE WORLD… RELEASING YOUR CURIOSITY…

The beauty and the wonder of the world

The most beautiful thing is one’s power to see, to grasp, to understand the world.

It is man’s nature, to think, to have the power to understand how the world works.

From the time that man came into being from the ape, evolved and became a man like you and me, he began to wonder when looking at the world that presented itself to him.

Man looked at the twinkling stars, those lifeless things, hanging in the sky in countless numbers and he wondered …

What are those stars . . .

The world, the huge expanse of space and he in the midst of it . . .

He looked at the phenomenon of night and day, the way the sun came upon the east and set on the west, day in and day out . . . with no break, relentlessly and monsoon uniformly. He observed the way seasons came into being, from spring, tomorrow, to winter and the summer and he wondered …

He wondered about the earth too hanging in the wide expanse of space and all things falling on its surface when left free from a height.

He wondered at the pull of the earth that could act with no contact.

He felt the air around but could not see it and he wondered about a thing that exists but can’t be seen …

He wondered about winds and sometimes string winds, like storms. He wondered about the fury of nature.

This man looked at life – plants, animals and himself too and wondered about life itself…the whole mechanism of each plant, animal having learnt to survive.

About himself too, he wondered… Is there a creator, or is man simply another type of species? He wondered about his own capacity to wonder, to think, to grasp and understand things around him…

What does man fear, why is there joy, fear, guilt, jealousy, love – all the feelings?

What are the roots of these feelings? Who is man? What is man? What is man’s life? What is death, just, finishing, or what?

What is the strange uplifting feeding one gets, when suddenly one feeds totally free, when there is nothing to think…..

Man wondered most about man himself, and how he could and should live …..

Step by step, man got the answers … he saw deep laws at work, a deep regularity on things….he understood science by his eyes opening up.

There came many discoveries!! Man understood heal, light, sound, electricity and magnetism atomic structure, reactions, (chemical changes), seasons, earthquakes, volcanoes, formation of mountains, Oceans, winds, formation of earth and the solar system, the birth and death of stars including the sun.

He understood the chemical reactions and processes in the bodies of man/animals and also plants!!

Step by step, man uncovered so many hidden workings in the Universe!!

He understood by implication, the beast in man, the brain washed, grasping man, and out of terror, living with that blind state of mind that believes anything told - a dead, unthinking, unfeeling mind...

Only a man who learns by opening his eyes and becomes aware and conscious is truly educated, and lives in deep joy….

WONDER QUESTIONS ABOUT THE WORLD

MATCHING THE SYLLABUS

WONDER. QUESTIONS

AN ASSIGNMENT TO KNOW THE WORLD IN ESSENCE!

Do you know the answers to the following 100 natural questions...if you do...you are on the road to be the top in your profession!!

If not, know these answers...they would give you the power!!

BUT know the answers really...

YOU should be convinced!!

WONDER QUESTIONS

Find out how the whole world works by getting the answers to the following wonder questions in

History, Physical Science and Natural Science and Geography

Some Hints/leads have been given!! ALSO GOOGLE WOULD GIVE YOU GOOD ANSWERS....

HISTORY

How did the universe come into existence? (Big Bang)

How were all the billions of stars formed? ( Nuclear Fusion reactions)

How were all the billions of galaxies formed?

How did our solar system come into existence?

How was the earth formed and how did it become what it is today?

How did the first life come into existence? (Conditions then led to the formation of life and that was REPEATED in the lab)

How did Evolution bring about the around million kinds of species on earth, each adapted to its surroundings?

How and when did man and woman come into existence?

What was the life and struggles of the early man? ( Nomad, faced the ice age)

When did the early man settle down in one place and why?( Discovered Agriculture)

How did the ancient civilizations come into being?

What was the story of the Egyptian civilization?

What was the story of and specific contribution of the Mesopotomian civilization?

What was the story and specific contribution of the Sumerian civilization?

What was the story and specific contribution of the Ancient Chinese civilization?

What was the story and specific contribution of the Vedic civilization?

What was the story of Judaism?

What is the story of the Buddha and what was his influence?

What were the story and the great contribution of Greek Civilization? (Birth of Philosophy....serious inquiry into fundamental questions....Socrates, Plato and Aristotle...had a great influence on later history and still influences us today....)

What was the story of the rise and fall of the Roman Empire?

What is the story of Jesus and how and when did Christianity become an official, political power?

What were the dark ages? How was life then?

What is the story of Prophet Mohammad and Islam?

What were the crusades and why did they happen?

What was the renaissance and how did it transform the way the world thought, worked and lived? (re birth of the Greek spirit)

What was the reformation? And why did it happen? (Christianity challenged from within)

What were the roots of the Scientific Revolution? ( Mathematics that was natural and experimentation...father of this Revolution was Newton)

What were the major core discoveries that happened during the Scientific revolution and after in Physics, Chemistry and Biology?

(Our High school syllabus in science!!)

What is the story of the American Revolution and why and how did it happen?

What is the story of French Revolution and why and how did it happen?

What is the story of Napoleon?

Who was Karl Marx and what did he propogate?

What is the story of the Russian revolution?

What is the story of World War-1? Why did it happen?

What was the Great depression?

What is the story of World War-2? Why did it happen?

What was the Cold War? How did the USSR fall?

What are the problems in the world today?

( All these above stories from history are fascinating...google the questions>>.You will love the answers and really wonder and grasp the world too!!)

What does History teach us with respect to those problems?

( if you answer all the above slowly and carefully, you will come o your own actually obvious understanding)

PHYSICAL AND NATURAL SCIENCE

Why don’t things fall in space? Why do things fall on earth?

Why don’t bodies moving in space ever stop?

(Newton's laws of motion)

Why do bodies weigh lesser on the moon and nothing in space? Yet, why is it as difficult to move a body in space as on earth or anywhere?

( Difference between mass and weight)

How do Rockets go up?

( Newton's third law)

Why do the planets go around the sun?

(How does any body go around in a circle? ...google this)

Why do some bodies float and others sink?

( you need to understand the difference between mass and density)

Why do an iron nail sink and a ship made of iron float?

( Same as previous question)

How does a Pressure cooker work?

When do we feel hot and when cold?

( Your hands can deceive you!! Google this question)

What are the 3 ways by which heat is transmitted?

( Conduction, convection and radiation)

What is the difference between heat and temperature?

( It is interesting. please google this)

Why do things become heated when there is friction of any kind?

Why does heating expand substances?

Why do some things become heated more quickly and others more slowly?

How and why does solid become liquid and liquid a gas when heated?

( All the questions connected to heat is rooted in the basic question- WHAT I HEAT?)

Why is a solid, a liquid and a gas each in that particular state?

Why/ how do we hear sound?

Why are some sound loud and other softer?

Why are some sounds at a higher pitch and others at a lower pitch?

How does the ear work?

Why is music pleasant to hear? What is music?

Why and when do we hear an echo?

( ask yourself why can't we see the vibrations and how can such a minute pressure make "sounds" )

What is needed to see things?

Do we see light or do we see because of light?

How do know that light travels in straight lines?

How/ why do we get reflection of light?

Why do we see ourselves in the mirror?

Why can’t we see air/glass?

How do we see colors?

Why does a prism break light into the 7 colors? How do we get a rainbow?

How are mirages formed?

How do microscope and telescopes and spectacles work?

( Light is invisible" Wat does it mean? if you can answer this, you have got the whole concept of light)

How do motors work?

How do generators work?

What are Electro - magnetic waves really?

How do we know that atoms exist?

( Dalton's law of definite proportions was the first lead...THERE IS SOMETHING INSIDE!!)

What is an electron and how was it discovered?

What is a proton and how was it discovered?

What is a neutron and how was it discovered?

How are the electrons distributed in atoms?

What are nuclear fusion reactions and what is happening in the sun?

What s nuclear fission?

What is radioactivity?

What are valence electrons and how do they determine the properties of things?

How/ why do two substances combine in a chemical reaction?

What are acids and bases?

What are metals and non metals?

What are the main processes in plants?

What are the main processes in animals?

What is a cell and how does it function?

What re the core ideas of evolution and mutation?

What is genetics and the function of DNA?

GEOGRAPHY

What is the reason for the seasons and also why do the seasonal patterns vary across the earth?

How do we get winds and what are the major large scale winds?

Why do we get earthquakes? What is inside the earth and how do we know that?

Why do we get volcanoes?

How were the oceans, deserts and mountain ranges formed?

How was the moon formed?

Why is the earth tilted?

Why does the earth rotate around itself and revolve around he sun?

What are the time zones and what are they dependent on?

RELATING TO THE CHILD | HOLISTIC EDUCATION FOR A PASSIONATE LIFE!! | A Manual for Teachers, Parents, Educators and Self-Educators

UNIT -6

RELATING TO THE CHILD

There are three aspects to teaching - the proficiency in the language(medium), the mastery of your subject and the third is - relating to the child.

How do you see a child? One of the most remarkable books is Montessori's "Discovery of the child ".

Look at the word here- " discovery". Normally when we see a child, we see him as either a person who needs to be controlled, or a being who is inferior and who needs to be pumped with some information.

That is all most people feel...

But if you look at a child keenly with no prejudice or previously held belief, you open your eyes to that child out there....

You will see an active, restless being. He is actually, naturally enthusiastic, eager to learn. if he could feel that thrill, he would become boundless in working hard. He would be sensitive if he hears a genuine VOICE of feeling silent. He would be in deep attention, if something makes sense to him.

In fact, he is all this and more and this is the deepest, most profound thing to understand that the child is already hungry , that he is naturally ambitious.

Only then we would understand why, we must have a deep understanding of the subject, why we should link it to life and why the subject should actually EMPOWER THE CHILD.

The child is the father of the man - the moments of discovery, of being deeply touched, by the daily lessons, year in and year out over a decade is that base that makes our CHARACTER AND LIFE.

This is the NOBLE task of a teacher - to help the child in flowering and blooming into a beautiful, sensitive, powerful man/woman...

THE MONITORING PROCESS AND CCE | HOLISTIC EDUCATION FOR A PASSIONATE LIFE!! | A Manual for Teachers, Parents, Educators and Self-Educators

UNIT - 5

THE MONITORING PROCESS AND CCE

Monitoring is very important. It is the process by which we know whether we are really carrying out what we decided to do.

The following excel sheets could be filled under each heading with students’ names on the left and appropriate filling in,

Languages

Text book comprehension (TBC) monitoring sheet

Vocabulary worksheets 1 & 2 monitoring sheet

General Book reading monitoring sheet

Revision Tests

Exam

Creative writing monitoring sheet

Subjects:

Text Book Comprehension (TBC) monitoring sheet.

Activities monitoring sheet ( 1, 2, 3, …)

Revision Test

Worksheets in Math and Monitoring sheet.

Other Activities

Term wise participation monitoring sheet

Assembly

Song / Dance

Public Speaking

Field Trips

Art / Craft

Others

The sum of all these activities would be presented in report card along with the routine evaluation.

About CCE

Continuous and comprehensive evaluation has to be both formally carried out and also informally and intensely. Education is exactly CCE, each moment, and we need to ask all the time – Am I getting the learning outcomes? Are all the activities carried out? Are the activities making sense to students? Is the child growing in knowledge and power by the illumination of real understanding?

All of the above has to be flexible to suit the particular school’s culture, aims and also the local conditions.