PEDAGOGY AND INTERGRATION OF ICT IN TEACHING ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE

The need and importance to study Environmental Studies is well understood by everyone. Considering this NCERT has developed environmental studies as an integral part of schooling. Following are some steps taken:

  1. Environment studies is included as a subject at primary level.
  2. The need of environment studies was felt in 1970.
  3. NCERT has included environment studies as a compulsory subject at primary level of schooling.
  4. The National Education Policy, 1986. also emphasised the importance of environment studies at school level.

The objective of environmental studies are as follows:

  1. They are dependable on each other to meet these needs.
  2. There are social, economic and behavioural changes in and around them.
  3. They will develop needful expertise for the development of society.
  4. The study of Environment will develop democratic values in the children.
  5. Develops understanding to establish relation between past, present and future.

Rules and Environmental studies at primary level

  1. Teaching-learning should be interactive
  2. Activity based learning
  3. Local problem should be emphasised,
  4. Through grouping of students.
  5. Suggestion should be given properly to conduct activities in and out of class room. There should be detailed discussion on physical, biological, social and cultural aspects.
  6. There should be awareness programme.

 

Different teaching approaches for environmental studies

  1. Story or narrative
  2. Role play
  3. Discussion
  4. Audio-Visual materials
  5. Study and visit of historical places, museum etc.
  6. Community Resources
  7. Integration Method
  8. Co-operation Method
  9. Inter subjects’ method.

There are other different indicators of Environmental studies for the standard of quality education. NCF, 2005 has put more importance to the learner’s standard of learning. Those indicators are as follows-

(a) Observation and Reporting: Participation in investigation, explanation and work study and drawing of landscape and map.

(b) Expression: Expression of learning standard is an important indicator. The learners can express frilly, through acting, doing some works and so on.

(c) Explanation: It is another indicator of learning standard. They can do it through storytelling, arguing on an issue and so on.

(d) Gradation and classification: The learners should be able to grade and classify a subject matter and thereby prove the standard of his/her learning.

(e) Questioning: The ability of questioning also shows the standard of his/her learning. The learners should be able to question and learn the unknown.

(f) Interpretation: The ability to interpret some issue also shows the learning quality of the learners. A learner. A learner should be able to define and issue find possible reason.

(g) Equality and justice: The sense of equality and justice of a learner proves his/her quality of learning. Thus, the learners are expected to differentiate good and bad justice and injustice, equality and inequality.

(h) Co-operation: Enthusiastic and cooperative approach of learners is an important indicator of quality learning. Hence, the learners are expected to imbibe their character through this quality indicator also.

Integration of ICT in the teaching of environmental science

In today’s era of technological advancement, Information & Communication Technology (ICT) plays a vital role in the teaching -learning process. Various ICT tools like the computer (Desktop & Laptop), Projector, interactive White Boards, web boards, Pen Drives, DVDs/CDs, smart phones, tablets, Scanner, printer, photocopier etc. can be used in a classroom of Environmental Studies (EVS) for increasing the knowledge output of the learners about the subject. Integration of ICTs empowers both teachers and learners leading to a transformation of the traditional instructional process from being highly teacher centric to a student centric process, which results in increased learning gains by the students. The use of ICT however, requires a very thoughtful planning. Appropriate selection of ICT tools and developing new teaching strategies are major things to be looked upon by the teachers while integrating ICT in the teaching-learning environment.

Importance of ICT in teaching of environmental science

Using ICT tools in the teaching process, the teachers can propose more and more examples that are collected from the internet portals. They can make use of internet video portals to provide experimental knowledge on environmental studies. ICT can also be a potential alternative to field trips and outdoor learning experiences by providing access to places at times when they are otherwise inaccessible.

The main role of ICT in teaching of Environmental studies can be outlined by the following points-

The use of ICT tools such as projectors and computers give a better presentation and illustration of information to be delivered to the students. This encourages learning and understanding.

2) The use of advanced experiments, which can be watched directly from open streaming platforms like: YouTube etc. improves understanding of the physical experiments carried out in the labs.

3) The teacher can add more and important details to his study notes from the research done on internet to

help students understand the concepts better.

4) The ICT tools, such as a computer, provide a better and a secure storage for the learning tools such as study notes which can be accessed whenever they are needed for clarification.

5) Research ideas can also be obtained from the internet thus helping students in doing their research

Use of ICT in teaching of environmental science

The use of ICTs in the classroom is very essential for the students to leam effectively. It minimises the existing technology gap in the teaching and learning process, helps the learners to acquire knowledge, reduces the amount of teacher directed instructions as well as increases opportunities for teachers to help with specific and particular needs.

At the primary level, teaching of Environmental studies can be incorporated with ICT tor the following points-

  1. Now a days there are various streaming platforms available in the internet such as YouTube, teacher tube, khan academy etc. from where various experiments with water, soil, air etc can be watched. These videos can improve the understanding of that activity. For eg: Videos on experiments about an EVS topic, like: the germination of seeds, which are available in various streaming platforms helps the teacher to make the students understand the process properly within a short time in the classroom itself, rather than waiting for several days to complete the actual process.
  2. A model EVS classroom should be full of joyful activity-based teaching and learning, which encourages the students to observe, explore, ask question and share experiences during the teaching-learning process. ICT tools play a major role in this aspect Various audio visuals with rich content such as our environment and family, festivals, general knowledge, geographic regions etc. can make the classroom interesting and promote two-way communication. For e.g.: Interactive Audio-Visuals about various festivals like: Bihu, Onam, Pongal, Eid, Dussehera, Christmas, Guru Nanak Jay anti. Buddha Purnima etc. make the students understand the value and rich culture of different communities easily. Such audio-visuals offer the students joyful learning and make them remember the concepts easily.
  3. For the differently abled students, recently Assistive Technology such as: phonetic spelling software, talking calculator, variable speed recorder, videotaped social skills etc. have been developed, which enhance the understanding, activity and participation of those differently abled students. For eg: the especially abled students can learn about their environment, develop interpersonal skills, knowledge about health and hygiene etc. through this assistive technology enabled audio visuals, which influence their social and physical living.
  4. E-books and educational websites also have positive impact on the quality of education delivered in an EVS classroom. These ICT tools enhance and simplify the overall teaching learning experience. For eg: The teacher can gather extensive information on topics, such as: Crops production and preservation with the help of various e-books/websites available. With the help of these ICT tools, teacher can deliver quality content to the students and also refer to these knowledges at any time.