The five Es of EVS

Gowthama Rajavelu

Environmental studies (EVS) needs to be taught by a teacher who can both explore the concepts and also take the students along. ‘Why’ and ‘How’ matters! You must have heard of the five Ws and one H approach. It suits journalists, investigators and even researchers. Likewise, to be a good EVS teacher, you must always ask ‘why and how’ for whatever you do or experience. This can be reassuring as well as inspiring for children whose primary learning happens through imitation.

Environmental studies is a perfect blend of learning science with a social touch. The NCERT textbooks present it rationally at a steady pace from grade three to five. Progression of concepts across grades happens through themes – food, travel, family and friends, water, shelter, things we make and do.

Themes not just help children get a sense of a concept but encourage them to go deeper and ponder over the ideas. Activities, discussion and projects add value to the segment by enhancing the teaching-learning process. Every activity is designed to induce the explorative spirit among the students. Hence, the responsibility lies with the teachers who must not only engage the children but also help them appreciate and discuss the concepts.

Here is one such example, where a government primary school teacher from Puducherry (Mr. Sivakumar) used various pedagogical processes to create a lively atmosphere for the EVS classroom. This particular example emerged from his classroom while handling the food theme in grade 5.

Before getting on to the actual classroom process, I would like to give a basic outline of how a food theme progresses across grades for the benefit of the reader. In grade 3, the theme starts from what we see and eat at home and school on a daily basis (Foods we eat) and move to the basic cooking process, where students learn about cooking and the utensils used for cooking (What is cooking?). Then they understand the people involved in cooking (story of food) in their homes. In grade 4, students learn where the food they eat at home is actually produced. Hence, an introduction to farming is given (Basva’s farm). Once they are clear about the basic farming processes and the tools used, they get to know how food is stored and preserved before reaching the market and then to their homes (from market to home). Then, different eating practices among different communities are highlighted. Cultural diversity is explained through food (Eating together and Food and fun).

Students are familiar with the production and procurement of the food they eat. In grade 5, the theme begins with the process of digestion, i.e., what happens after they eat food (Tasting to digesting).

Mapping our food – Engage
Food is an interesting and engaging topic for children. Just the name of a food item is enough to generate an animated discussion.

In this case, the teacher started the class using the example of the mid-day meal, its menu, variety and taste. He took the discussion forward by selecting a food item and mapping its origin.

For example, the idli was chosen as a food item. It was written on the board and a discussion followed about its previous form – what’s before idli? What’s before that and that? It went on and on until the children came up with the response word ‘farming.’ We stopped there and came back to idli again.

The discussion was productive. Students were asked to write and draw a few things on the board. They actively volunteered, when it came to writing on the board.

Where do we get food from?
Followed by the deep discussion on mapping the food, the teacher planned a visit to a nearby farm. Hearing about this ‘exposure’ visit, students were excited as they do not get such opportunities often.

Initially, the teacher arranged for a session in the classroom where a farmer interacted with the children about farming, tools used, processes and procedures. However, the children got enthusiastic only after visiting the farm. It was a brinjal and beans farm.

Children asked several questions: for instance if pesticides and insecticides kill insects, why don’t they affect the plant too? Pointing to the flower of the Sesbania grandiflora plant (Agati), one boy curiously noted that its flower looked like a banana. Also this was the first time that he had seen a leafy vegetable in the form of a tree.

What happens after eating?
After mapping the food from source to plate, tasting was introduced. Students were asked to close their eyes and imagine their favourite food in their mouths. When asked about what food they were tasting, they said – fried rice, noodles, biriyani, etc. Their selection of food items reflects the growth of fast-food outlets in semi-urban and rural hamlets too.

Coming back to the activity, the students were given worksheets, which had an outline of a human body. They had to imagine the journey of the food through the body. Students were curious and started drawing. Some said that they didn’t know how to draw and were not aware of the journey of the food. To which the teacher replied that he too did not know and that they will learn together.

Students started drawing something like a tube from the mouth and a pot-like structure. Everyone was enjoying the activity. Some students were copying from other students; the teacher asked them not to do that. A few erased it and drew on their own but the rest continued copying.

Food tasting exercise
The tasting activity was carried out followed by the drawing. The teacher brought tamarind, sugar, salt, masala peas, groundnut, bittergourd, neem leaves, gooseberry, lemon and chilli powder.

Students, blindfolded, used their senses like touch, smell and taste to identify these food items.

First, the teacher gave them a single food item (sugar, salt, tamarind, etc.) and then she mixed two items like lemon with salt, bittergourd with sugar and gooseberry with chilly and salt. Students found all the different types of tastes. They touched, smelled and tasted the food items. Food items like neem leaves, sugar and salt were identified after touching itself. Tamarind, lemon and masala peas went up to next level of smelling. Groundnut, bittergourd and gooseberry were identified only after tasting.

While tasting the mixed food items, students were able to differentiate the items. One student was given a mixture of bittergourd, salt and sugar. He tasted it and could identify only the bittergourd and the sugar. Even after repeated questions he could identify only these two.

The digestive system
Two videos of the human digestive system were shown to the students. The first video was a Tamil narration of the human digestive system – what happens to food after swallowing? Where is the stomach? Where will the digested food go? Where will the undigested food go?

Since the video was in Tamil, students enjoyed it and also asked questions in between
• What is the liquid inside the stomach? Is it water?
• Why does food break into pieces after falling into the liquid?
• What is the difference between the small and large intestine?
• What is anus?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc-PBAvNMho&t=138s

The second video also had the same narrative but in a different style. The video had two curious children wanting to know about the status of food after it is eaten. They use their magical power and get into one boy’s mouth, who was eating an apple. Then they travel deep into his body along with the apple pieces to know and understand what happens to them.

Since it was in a story format with some magic, students were excited and listened carefully. The narration was in English but they were able to follow the process of digestion since they had already learnt something in the Tamil video they had seen earlier.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKaBQrFdNtw

Elaborate discussion
Discussion about the video was generated among the students. While watching the video, the teacher asked questions like
• Why do we have teeth?
• How does a solid food become liquid after chewing?
• What are the food and wind pipes?
• Have you seen the liver elsewhere?

The teacher made the students think by asking such questions. Students were able to connect to the concept of food and digestion while thinking and answering the questions such as the importance of teeth and saliva and difference between food and wind pipe. Also while discussing the liver and its role in digestion, students seemed familiar about it as they had seen and also eaten chicken and mutton liver, so they were able to connect that with the human liver.

Evaluation – drawing
The same drawing sheet, where they had used their imagination to draw the journey of food, was given to students to draw the digestive system again. Since, they had watched and learned something about the digestive system, there was a lot of difference with their drawing as compared to the previous one.

Although, this 5E approach is for grade 5 – it catered to the entire food theme across grades. Testing prior knowledge of children, exploration activities, exposure visits, evaluation through creative expressions were a few methods employed during the process that proved to be effective.

The entire process took about three periods, other than the exposure visit. Students enjoyed the entire process as they got ample scope to participate in discussions, express their views and ideas. Also they were able to think and interpret the concepts, considering the teaching-learning time frame.

The author is an environmental educator, avid birder and traveller. He loves to travel around places and explore its natural landscapes, cultural diversity and also write about it. At present, he is a Resource person with the Azim Premji Foundation. He can be reached at gowthy87@gmail.com.