Gyankriti School, Indore, Grade 1
February 2018

Our first year with Small Science

One year ago we started our first batch of Grade 1. As I wrote earlier, it was a comparatively easy decision for us to go with the Small Science curriculum for EVS. Small Science was completely in sync with our own teaching philosophy and methodology. Also unlike the experience of many other schools our parents readily accepted the idea of no EVS textbooks or workbooks for Grades 1 and 2. As we come close to the end of this academic year 2017-2018, I would like to share some highlights of using the Small Science Teachers’ Book:

• • Truly learn by fun method: Small science is not restricted to what we generally perceive as school in general and textbooks in particular. All the activities are age-appropriate and taken from the Indian context — that is why children enjoy throughout the coursework. I would also like to mention that this is one subject where all the students are performing more or less at the same level. This is possible only because of the vast variety of activities and emphasis on hands-on learning. There are many things which are seldom found in any textbook, some examples:
    1. Pets are introduced along with ‘other members of the family’ – Class 1 & 2 book, page 14
    2. Urban children can name fruits and vegetables but they can’t identify common food-grains. Small science covers this topic in detail, knowing our food is very important for a healthy life — Class 1 & 2 book, Topic 7
        
       
       

       Assignment on foodgrains

     

    3. Comparison between creepers and climbers. Now whenever our children go to the school garden or any other outdoor place they keep debating about nearby creepers and climbers — Class 1 & 2 book, page 26
    4. Common misconceptions about snakes and what to do in case of snake bites — Class 1 & 2 book, page 40
        
        
       
       

       Assignment on googling names of 5 snakes

    

    First aid for snake bite

     

    5. Festival related activities — Class 1 & 2 book, Topic 19
    6. List of outdoor games that children can play with little or no resources. People who spent their childhood without mobile phones and TV are gripped with nostalgia when they see children playing and enjoying games like langdi, chor-police, lukachuppi etc. Class 1 & 2 book page 109

     

    

    Ice-water game

    

    Ghoda Badaam khaye, peeche dekhen maar khaaye

     

  • Tons of thought provoking questions: Usually the Science textbooks are full of facts and information. Small Science tries to build upon those facts and lead the children to scientific thinking. This helps us maintain the ‘children-centric’ teaching methodology instead of ‘teacher-centric’ methods where only the teacher is lecturing and students quietly listen. The habit of asking questions continues even after the Science period. Once our children read about ‘invisible ink’ in a storybook and they wanted to practically see it. So we actually showed them how ‘invisible ink’ could be just milk and it can be heated to reveal the hidden text.

 

 
 

• No language barrier: All of us are very much aware of the problems faced by English medium students from middle-class or lower-class background. Science teachers in most of the schools lecture in vernacular language as students prefer to be taught that way. But when it comes to writing or presenting their thoughts all of a sudden we expect them to switch to English. Students of age 6-7 years develop cognitive abilities and spoken language much earlier than literacy and numeracy skills. Students in schools where textbooks are used for EVS teaching are forced to cram answers in English. Many times they are not able to express their thoughts properly because of limited English vocabulary. Small Science curriculum helped us in this context as well. We encouraged and allowed students to write their thoughts in Hindi if they were not able to think in English. This system also helped some mothers at Gyankriti: they were able to focus more on the content of assignments instead of language. I would also like to clarify that Gyankriti is not opposed to use of the English language, we just want the children to develop proper literacy skills before we expect them to do original creative writing in a foreign language. Many of our students can write in English as well but what about the rest of students who will reach this level of English literacy skills after an year or two? This flexibility helps the students in coping with the EVS syllabus in the primary years; eventually we are confident that all the students will learn to write answers in English. The Small Science’s pattern of only a Teacher’s book in Class 1 & 2 is a blessing for the so-called ‘average’ and ‘below-average’ students.