Question Discussion & Solution

The Montessori method is propounded by ‘Maria Montessori’, an Italian physician and naturalist. This method lays emphasis on student's all-round development which includes personal, social, moral, emotional, and cognitive development of the child.

The Montessori system of teaching is focused on the child as it ensures student's all-round development by:

• making learning fun and burden-free by including self-directed activity, hands-on learning to reach full potential in all areas of life.
• providing many practical exercises in her school to enable the child to learn good habits of cleanliness and order.
• making students learn the lesson of the dignity of labour and self-reliability by attending to their needs themselves.
• introducing concepts such as ‘Learning through living’, ‘Sense training’, ‘individual teaching’.

Hence, it could be concluded that the Montessori system of teaching is focused on the child.

The generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) was earlier known by the name anxiety neurosis or anxiety states. The disorder is more commonly seen in primary care settings or in internal medicine clinics rather than in psychiatric practice.

• GAD is characterized by unrealistic and/ or excessive anxiety which is generalized and persistent, present all the time and is not restricted to certain situations or exposure to certain objects. The disorder has a prevalence of 2-5 per cent and is twice more common in females as compared with males. Onset is usually in the 20s, although persons of any age can be affected.
• Only one-third of patients who have GAD seek psychiatric help. Many go to the general practitioners, internists and cardiologists.
• Symptoms in GAD may sometimes occur in the background of chronic environmental stress. Many times, the illness runs a chronic and fluctuating course, but the response to treatment is good. Mild depressive symptoms are often an associated feature.

Hence, it is clear that GAD stands for Generalized Anxiety Disorder.

The objectives of teaching environmental studies are to create awareness about environmental problems among children and impart basic knowledge about the environment and its allied problems.

Key Points

• Environmental education focuses on studying the interactions between humans and the environment.
• The main objective is solving real-world problems like pollution, deforestation, waste production, or global warming.
• A teacher, therefore, plays an important role in providing environmental awareness and developing a positive attitude and perception towards the environment among students.
• It aims to develop cognitive, affective, and psychomotor, or cognitive domains simultaneously.
• So, the teacher should focus more on the perception of children i.e., he should focus on how they learn and build their concepts by actively interacting with their environment.
• It will help teachers understand how their decisions and actions affect the environment, builds the knowledge and skills necessary. 

Thus, it is clear above that the main focus of environmental studies is to change the attitude and perceptions of children.

The role of the textbook and the teacher, the NCF 2005 emphasizes that learners formulate their own knowledge by connecting new ideas to existing ones on the basis of material/activities (experiences).

Key PointsThe section on ‘Do this and find out is included in different topics in the EVS textbook to -

• In NCF 2005, the teaching-learning of EVS is visualized as including children’s interaction with real-life situations.
• Through, Do this and find out, children get actual engagement, hands-on experience, and reflections on day-to-day activities.
• This approach of learning is referred to as ‘Learning by doing’ which suggests that children actively construct their understanding or knowledge while directly interacting with their environment.
• In this approach children learn (construct new knowledge) by fitting new information together with what they already know, this helps build learning on what is known developing positive attitudes, values, and practices such as respect and care for all life on earth, compassion, caring for self and others, conservation of natural resources, appreciation of cooperative learning, sense of belonging, social responsibility, valuing culture, etc.

Hence, the section on ‘Do this and find out’ included in different topics in EVS textbooks aims at providing direct hands-on experiences.

Ever since 1986 when the National Policy on Education was approved by Parliament, efforts to redesign the curriculum have been focused on the creation of a national system of education.

National Curriculum Framework (NCF):

• NPE proposed a national framework for curriculum as a means of evolving a national system of education capable of responding to India’s diversity of geographical and cultural milieus while ensuring a common core of values along with academic components.
• The NPE (1986) entrusted NCERT with the responsibility of developing the National Curriculum Framework and reviewing the framework at frequent intervals.
• The National Curriculum Framework 2005 is an official document laying down the needs of the school system of India envisioning the Constitution of India upholding all its tenets.
• The main purpose was to reduce the curriculum load, remove the anomalies in the system and to create a consensus with the help of new syllabi in the form of a thematically organized body of knowledge. 

Hence, it is clear that the National Curriculum Framework was developed by the NCERT.

The Five Basic Tenets of the NCF 2005:

• Connecting knowledge to life outside the school.
• Ensuring that learning shifts away from rote methods.
• Enriching the curriculum so that it goes beyond textbooks.
• Making examinations more flexible and integrating them with classroom life, and
• Nurturing an overriding identity informed by caring concerns within the democratic polity of the country.

• University Grants Commission (UGC): It came into existence on 28th December 1953 and became a statutory Organization of the Government of India by an Act of Parliament in 1956, for the coordination, determination and maintenance of standards of teaching, examination and research in university education.
• National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE): The NCTE, as a statutory body came into existence in pursuance of the National Council for Teacher Education Act on the 17th August 1995. The main objective of the NCTE is to achieve planned and coordinated development of the teacher education system throughout the country.
• Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE): It was reconstituted in the year 1962. The main objectives were to serve the educational institutions more effectively, to be responsive to the educational needs of those students whose parents were employed in the Central Government and had frequently transferable jobs.