Connecting and Reconnecting threads of an old lesson with the new lesson

In the morning I had written on how we are leading a compartmentalized education system, though reams have been written on critiquing the current methodology and I did nothing new, A simple thought passed my mind, lemme just analyze myself today and evaluate my teaching skills. I am spearheading the campaign on how to integrate nature activities with the School curriculum, then why should I not connect it in this School where ELNA is being implemented currently.

So,today I had to take a lesson on Carbon Footprint for class 1-3...made a PPT on carbon footprint, had done a survey last week among the kids to understand 'Self waste Generation Questionnaire' and what their carbon footprint will total out to be etc and explain those numbers which were collected via that survey.  I was a little nervous as I did not know how to introduce this concept to these kids, who just understand waste and CO2 but have not yet been exposed to bigger jargons like Carbon footprints etc.

So I thought lemme simply go back to last week's session of ' Self Waste generation Observation Sheets' and ask them what they were able to decipher out of those observation sheets. Kept probing them on whether there was a change in any of their actions at home wrt HOW NOT TO GENERATE WASTE. The results were astonishing. Most of them said they were cautious of their actions when it came to using water, electricity, paper etc. That's exactly what I had wanted from last week's session but was not still not sure how do I connect it with Carbon Footprint.
Then one of my colleague simply asked them about whether they know CO2 & what it is? One child answered, yes, its a bad gas and causes pollution.. Bingo!!! I had got my break through and the key to explain them what is Carbon Footprint in a simple way. The job was done... But to ensure it went home with them, I gave an assignment where they would write a story on how 'a thing went to garbage bin when it was not meant to be', using the words, recycle, reuse, waste, reduce , carbon footprint etc.
Finally I learnt, to make children understand any concept we have to go back to and fro and keep connecting and reconnecting them with their surroundings then only they will learn how to integrate.
We need to integrate our lessons with our experiences and then children will follow us!!

Why is it difficult to study under tree shades and still be an achiever

I have always wondered how Nature when connected with studies will make an impact on children's ability to learn!! As a kid I always used to look outside the window of my class room and wondered why my teacher did not take us outside for nature walks and connect the subjects with our surroundings...
I remember being taught in our history classes that until the beginning of the last century schools in India were held under tree shades and children were taught things which were related to their day to day life... As the child progressed to higher realms of studies, he was introduced to bigger and more complex ideologies of life and nature... The end result of this form of education was that every kid who attended School was clear and strong in his basics.

But today, the scenario is totally different. I am conducting a workshop in school under a Format developed by on Experiential Learning Via Nature based Activities (ELNA) where children will be doing a series of activities under a theme related to nature and be evaluated under the Observation, Exploration and Expression format as prescribed by CCE (NCERT), the results are astonishing.

In the first week of this activity, approximately 60% of the children from the whole school who filled in a questionnaire and then totaled their scores, got their totals wrong. I am not saying that they are poor in Maths or they can't read but it just shows that their ability to concentrate and observe simple things has still not been developed, no matter which ever class they are in. The ability to apply the basics of Maths have not been developed when it comes beyond the so called MATHS CLASS...

Is this what we call education, a COMPARTMENTALIZED EDUCATION? Then I suppose we need to re-look at what our ancestors did, I will not say they were wrong, at least those who studied were clear in thier basics unlike today's children.