Month: February 2020

Question of the Week

B R Sitaram Here are the answers to last month’s questions! Q 1. Which of the following is the most important cause of stomach ulcers? i. Eating spicy food ii. Drinking excessive coffee iii. Infection by a bacterium iv. Less exercise v. Excessive use of oil A. The surprising answer is (iii). It was thought that bacteria cannot survive in the harsh environment of the stomach, but the bacterium Helicobacter pylori does survive and causes gastric ulcers! Q 2. In 1828, the German chemist Friedrich Wohler synthesized urea. Why is this considered to be such an important event in the history of science? A. Before this event, scientists distinguished between organic chemicals, which came from living organisms and inorganic chemicals, which were found in non-living objects. Urea is clearly organic but Wohler managed to synthesize it from inorganic substances, showing that there was nothing “living” about organic chemicals. Q 3. Worcester, Leicester, Cholmondeley and Warwick are the names of cities in England. In addition to this, however, these cities have something else in common. What is it? Hint: it has to do with the names of the cities. A. All these words have pronunciations very different from their spellings! Their phonetic spellings would be Wooster, Lester, Chumley and Warick! Q 4. Epimendes, the Cretan, said “All Cretans are liars”. Why is this statement so important in logic? A. This is a very early example of a self-referential statement, a statement that refers to itself. To see why it creates problems, imagine that the statement is true. Then Epimendes, being a Cretan, is lying, hence the statement is a lie. But that means that Epimendes is telling the truth, which means that the statement is true! So, was Epimendes right or wrong? You decide! Questions for this month How come we do not have 4 seasons (summer, autumn, winter and spring) in the tropics? Which months would be the hottest near the Equator? If someone tells you that a particular product is not made up of chemicals, what would your response be? Vehicle tyres, as you would have seen, have lots of treads. Obviously, treads increase friction. But you do not need fancy treads to do this, all you need is a rough surface. Why do tyres have such treads then? The other day, I was using an elevator when I caught sight of a notice, “Maximum 8 passengers, 544 kg”. Why this strange number, 544? Why not 550, 500 or 600 kg? Send in your

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Taking play seriously

Indira Subramanian
In the Indian school context, play has been relegated to the sidelines, as a pedagogy of learning. So how can the principles of play be given a more central role in schooling? This article gives a few tips on how teachers can foster playful learning in their classroom.

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It's time… to talk about it!

Neerja Singh
How can parents keep pace with their growing children? With reference to sexual assault, the author lists a few steps that parents can take to engage with their children and to keep the lines of communication open at all times.

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It’s time… to talk about it!

Neerja Singh
How can parents keep pace with their growing children? With reference to sexual assault, the author lists a few steps that parents can take to engage with their children and to keep the lines of communication open at all times.

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Reflections on language pedagogy

Chintan Girish Modi
In his review of the book ‘Perceptions of Language Pedagogy’ by N. S. Prabhu, the author attempts to bridge the gap between academic scholarship and school teaching. The book contains several ideas that would greatly help English teachers.

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Flexibility in assessment: the way ahead

Divya Kapoor
Can a flexible assessment system help students to be more engaged and enthusiastic and also benefit from the teaching-learning process? Today’s learners need to be given the freedom to choose their assessment in terms of the mode, time and medium of assessment. This article focuses on effective flexible assessment strategies that can be implemented in the curriculum and the role of the teacher in giving students the autonomy to choose their mode of assessment.

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Reaching head, heart and body

P. Ajitha
The process of teaching and learning becomes more engaging when the teacher decides to meld a classroom experience into a lived experience. Here is how a teacher turned a letter- writing activity in the classroom into an experience where the students learned to value the essential worth of a letter.

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