This is a monthly newsletter published by Azim Premji University, as a part of Forests of Life, a climate awareness festival celebrating forests — a quest and yatra of young people from across different parts to engage with the youth of this country. In this edition, we celebrate International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, aiming to raise awareness and protect the rights of the world’s indigenous population. We intend to pay respect to all the Indigenous people who have made significant contribution towards the preservation and transmission of traditional knowledge.

We all know the pure pleasure of listening to stories as children and we have, in this issue, articles that demonstrate how storytelling can be used to great success in subjects as diverse as maths, physics, social studies and inclusion in schools everywhere – urban or rural. There are descriptions of how discussions emerging from a single story can be skillfully used to arrive at some really important understanding. All this adds up to creating a channel of exchange that cuts across age groups and backgrounds and finds common ground in the magical world of stories.

This paper revisits a part of the analysis by Banerjee et al. (2020), in which they examine the consequences of the nation-wide scale up of reforms to the funds management system (e‑FMS) in India’s national workfare programme, using a two-way fixed effects specification. They report a substantial 19 percent reduction in labour expenditures. We exploit the recent literature that highlights the limitations of the TWFE estimator in the presence of staggered roll out and effect a Goodman-Bacon decomposition of the TWFE coefficient, to pinpoint sources of identifying variation. We undertake a detailed examination of subsamples of six constituent and valid DiDs based on timing of treatment that are averaged into the TWFE coefficient to identify heterogeneity in treatment effects. This disaggregated subsample analysis does not support the conclusion of any reductions in MGNREGS labour expenditures, suggesting that the TWFE coefficient based on the full sample is indeed biased.

Authors:

• Deepti Goel
• J.V. Meenakshi
• Zaeen De Souza

This issue of the Learning Curve tries to answer some hard questions about the present environmental crisis : who can we turn to make the changes required? How can we attempt to restore some of the lost balance? How can we make sure that this planet does not become extinct by the next millennium? Schools across the country are doing their bit, beginning with primary school, to create a well-informed, environmentally-aware generation. 

Author:

• Zico Dasgupta

The efficacy of survey-based policy recommendations is primarily dictated by the quality of data collected in the first place. Is the survey truly representative of the population it claims to characterise? Are respondents voicing their true opinions or are they playing to the gallery? Did enumerator bias creep into the data? These are questions that most users of surveys have, but are typically brushed aside in the race to get the analyses out. While there are no foolproof measures to ensure that survey data are authentic, certain steps can be taken to improve their dependability. One such is the use of what is called ​‘para data’ (data about the process of data collection), to streamline enumerator practices, and thereby improve the reliability of the data being collected. This report details our experience of using para data to improve the quality of the India Working Survey (IWS).

Authors:

• Deepti Goel
• Rosa Abraham
• Rahul Lahoti

A field study was conducted in August, 2021, with 363 primary school teachers across 18 districts to capture teachers’ voices on what has happened during school closure since the pandemic began and what needs to be done once schools reopen.

The articles in this issue are broadly based on the two aspects of play in learning – the innumerable lessons that are learnt from play – teamwork, strategy, inclusion, respect, sharing, handling fights, settling arguments, addressing bullying, and second, how play can be used as pedagogy for circular learning as well as structured activities such as educational videos and unstructured ones like pretend play. The idea behind both is to nurture the free spirit with which child must learn.

Yellow foot Clam (Paphia malabarica) fishery of the Ashtamudi lake, one of the deepest lakes in Kerala supports the livelihoods of thousands of clam-collectors in the region. These clams are highly demanded in the international market and it enables the clam-collectors to generate their income through export began in late 80s. An increased export market demand exerted a lot of pressure on the resource which ultimately led to the depletion of clam resources. As a response to this unexpected decline in resource size and lost income, the clam collector community in Ashtamudi came forward to address the issue by forming a collective of clam-collectors at the village level. As a management strategy, they voluntarily abstained from fishing during the breeding season and demanded management of resource through a participatory mode of governance. After years of experience in the management of resource through voluntary measures, Ashtamudi clam resource entered a new régime of resource management. It got certified as ​“sustainable” resource by the world’s largest marine wild-catch certification program, the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) which promotes the governance of marine fisheries resources through market incentives. This study is an attempt to understand these varied and unique governance régime experiences of clam resource from participatory to market-based systems and the implications of these governance regimes in the property rights, livelihoods and social development of clam-collectors of Ashtamudi.

Our bi-annual publication in Hindi bringing together the experiences and views of teachers in the field of education.

The recently released data from the 2017 – 2018 Periodic Labour Force Survey have created a controversy regarding the quantity of employment generated in the past few years in India. Estimates ranging from an absolute increase of 23 million to an absolute decline of 15.5 million have been published. In this paper we show that some of the variation in estimates can be explained by the way in which populations are projected based on Census 2011 data. We estimate the change in employment using the cohort-component method of population projection. We show that for men total employment rose but the increase fell far short of the increase in working age population. For women, employment fell. The decline is concentrated among women engaged in part-time or occasional work in agriculture and construction. 

Authors:

• Paaritosh Nath
• Amit Basole

Does there exist a trade-off between labour’s income share and output growth rate? Or does a reduction in wage share in itself reduce the output growth rate? These questions have returned to the centre stage in the midst of India’s present crisis as the government sought the dilution and suspension of labour laws as a counter-cyclical policy instrument. In the absence of any other stimulus or countervailing factors, the impact of such a policy would hinge on the relationship between income distribution and effective demand. This paper attempts to lay bare this relationship for the Indian economy through an empirical analysis of India’s macro data and a theoretical model on the basis of regression results.

Author:

• Zico Dasgupta

This issue proves that children can, and do, learn, provided they get the encouragement, support, respect and dignity that is due to them during the process and after. The response got for the topic was so overwhelming that it led to the creation of a second part.. It is all about children learning. and enjoying themselves in the process, rather than just getting a formal education.

पाठशाला भीतर और बाहर का तीसरा अंक स्कूली शिक्षा के दो महत्त्वपूर्ण सरोकारों पर चर्चा व विश्लेषण करता हैं- रटन्त पढ़ाई का मसला और सही मायने में सीखने का सवाल। शारीरिक दण्ड के ऐतिहासिक और दार्शनिक आयामों पर भी इसमें एक लेख शामिल है। इस अंक में कुछ अनुभव आधारित लेख भी हैं जिनमें एक ग्रामीण परिस्थितियों में शिक्षक की निर्मिति पर, एक स्कूल हेडमास्टर की यादों पर और एक इस बात से सम्बन्धित है कि हम बच्चों को कितना समझते हैं। भारत में शिक्षा के विकास पर लेख की ऋंखला इस अंक में भी जारी है क्योंकि इसमें यात्रा के एक महत्त्वपूर्ण कालखंड के अध्ययन को प्रस्तुत किया गया है। हर अंक की तरह इस अंक में भी शिक्षकों से साक्षात्कार और पुस्तक चर्चा जैसे स्थाई स्तम्भ शामिल हैं। 

The third issue has articles that discuss and analyse two important concerns of school education – the question of rote memorization and actual learning. There is also an article on the historical and philosophical dimensions of corporal punishment. There are interesting experience-based articles – one on the process of making of a teacher, one on the reminiscences of a school headmaster and another related to how much we understand children. The series on the development of education in India continues as it covers an important period in that journey. Then there are regular columns like interview with a teacher and book reviews.

The Karnataka Crime Victimisation Survey report is based on the findings of a crime victimisation survey undertaken by Azim Premji University with the assistance of independent field investigators in 2017. The main objective of the survey was to understand the scope and nature of crime in the state and to analyse the extent to which the National Crime Records Bureau records capture the rate of crime in Karnataka. 

It is certainly a platitude to say that learning can happen everywhere and at all times, at the most unexpected places and moments in our lives. However, that said, we also recognise that the school is a very valuable place of learning: formally and systematically in a graded way,level upon level so that we can tackle end-of-stage examinations which help us to choose our futures. But while all this is happening, a lot of undocumented and stimulating learning is going on simultaneously,
In this issue, articles on experiential learning about the environment, reading as a means of expanding horizons as well as acquiring language skills, the morning assembly as a treasure house of the learning experience- are all here. Other articles have given detailed accounts of science as a dispeller of superstition and an enhancer of a spirit of enquiry and curiosity. Sports do more than just teach the rules of the game, suggests an article: they can internalise values, inculcate inclusion and gender equality. There is an array of perspectives on the learning within learning which, paradoxically, falls outside of it.
All in all, this issue confirms what has long been felt and known — the learning that occurs outside the classroom is as vital as the formal pedagogy which takes place inside.

Explore big questions around 4 themes: black holes, the wound healing capacity of the skin, Higgs bosons, and the matrix of life. 

Use the activity sheets in ​‘A milky way to learn biology’, ​‘What do we really see’, and ​‘Trees and seasons in a changing world’ to introduce students to thinking like a scientist, the human vision, and neighborhood trees. 

Discover how astronomers measure distances in space in our new section ​‘How do we know?’ Explore how engaging students in raising an urban terrace farm can strengthen their understanding and involvement with the local environment in ​‘Pedagogy of dirty hands’. 

Try out the concept builder from ​‘Physics for closeted Aristotelians’ to find out how well your students understand motion under gravity. 

Read our ​‘Research to practice’ section to discover how to create embodied learning experiences for students in the science classroom. Or learn more about the first image of a black hole in our section ​‘Hot off the press’.

Looking for more? Enjoy our pull-out poster on human skin and booklet on identifying 10 common trees.

Explore the ​‘Evolution’ of stars, the Earth, life, and humans through three articles for our adult readers and one short story written for young adults. 

In ​‘Annals of History’ relive the contentious process of arriving at the unexpected mathematical pattern that has become key to our understanding of the diversity of life on Earth. 

Read ​‘Research to Practice’, ​‘The Science Educator at Work’ and ​‘Teaching as if the Earth Matters’ to see how complex concepts related to energy, evolution and soil can be taught through metaphors, art and real-world experiences. 

Learn more about Lynn Margulis’s ​‘controversial’ ideas and life in science in ​‘Biography of a Scientist’. If you’d like more, try some simple classroom experiments from ​‘The Science Lab’ to understand foundational principles in Physics. 

Use the seven activity sheets from ​‘Life in your Backyard’ to introduce your students to the fascinating world of spiders. Plus, enjoy our nine pull-out posters on themes as diverse as ​‘Benthic Fauna’, ​‘The Hard Problem of Consciousness’, and ​‘Ocean Acidification’.

Education initiatives are part of governments all across the globe, guided by a much-deliberated system of principles influencing decisions that are aimed at achieving pre-determined outcomes, which, in turn, are perceived to be beneficial to a particular country’s goals. Much thought goes on behind creating initiatives: they are statements of intent and, equally, the task of implementation is a very complex one. Not just that, innovative education initiatives have the huge additional responsibility of creating and shaping future generations, who, in turn, are any country’s future. The initiatives have to keep in mind the cultural and social norms of the country, while creating the atmosphere for salutary change. Another aspect that has to be taken into account while designing innovative government initiatives in education is the changes in society and its demands, both locally and globally, and rethink their strategies in order to benefit a new and contemporary scenario which will equip children to face and handle challenges of current times.

Education policies have resulted in several enduring legacies in keeping with the ever-changing society, as well as its political manifestos. Because of the dynamic nature of society in general, and the speed with which the world changes, bringing with it changes vis-a-vis every aspect of socio-economic-political change, national education policies from 1968 have seen changes in 1986, 1992 and now a draft policy in 2016. It is expected that each policy, when introduced, will take into account the demands of the day while preserving the central core of its goals. National educational policies are, or at least should be, the consequence of a clear understanding of the socio-cultural beliefs of India, and at the same time having clarity in introducing a system that is aligned to the goals enshrined in our Constitution and has the avowed purpose of creating a democratic society of enlightened citizens. In this Issue, we have articles which examine education policies from 1968, which was the starting point chosen for this issue. The draft policy of 2016 has been closely examined, as have the ways in which language and literacy have been addressed. Another article is an examination of the history of educational policy documents. Other articles have been written about specific aspects such as CCE and the Midday Meal Scheme. This is only a sampling and we hope that readers will find this Issue interesting.

Volume 6 Issue 2: It is a pleasure to share with you, our readers, the collection of articles in this, the July 2017 issue. The (un)popular view of mathematics being a terrifying subject takes a completely new twist with the first article in which a mathematician takes on a terrorist threat! The hunt for answers to a mathematical problem is usually an absorbing one, at least to aficionados of the subject but Arun Vaidya’s fascinating story I M Code makes it a matter of life and death.

Following this, we have an article on another application of mathematics: Interpolation by Sankaran Viswanath. You will see again how mathematics is a tool for prediction, and how data can be fitted into mathematical expressions which then provide a mathematical model. From here, we move on to card tricks; yes, fun and mathematics can go together — and At Right Angles shows you how in Suhas Saha’s Ternary Base Magic Trick. A quick peek behind the magic reveals patterns based on the ternary base, it’s not as complex as it sounds, read on to find out. Our Features section ends with Shailesh Shirali’s exposition on Quadrilaterals with Perpendicular Diagonals, a nice bouquet of Arithmetic, Algebra and Geometry for you.

In ClassRoom, we have the second part of the Inequalities series started in the March 2017 issue, again, both Algebra and Geometry are used to first prove the arithmetic mean- geometric mean inequality and then apply it in several situations to illustrate the power of this relationship and also view its implications in graphs, geometric figures, functions􀀿􀀿􀀿.the list of connections seems endless! Moshe Stupel and David Ben-Chaim appear next with their article Three Elegant Proofs, the name says it all, we promise it lives up to its title. CoMaC, as usual, provides an indepth analysis of an often-asked question, now increasingly appearing even in WhatsApp forwards: What’s the next number? Is the answer really unique as the question implies it to be? More on numbers with Swati Sircar and Sneha Titus, writing on the Sums of Consecutive Natural Numbers; mental mathematics becomes visual all of a sudden, and this Low Floor High Ceiling activity is sure to appeal to a variety of learning styles. Vinay Nair takes up the theme of Divisibility by Primes and provides some powerful tests using an ​‘osculator’. Students are sure to be intrigued. ClassRoom concludes with a Proof Without Words on a property of the Orthocentre of a triangle.

For some time now, we have been featuring articles by students and we are particularly happy when they write in with their own discoveries. So much so, that from this issue onwards, we have devoted space to Student Corner in the ClassRoom section. Featured this time are Bodhideep of class 6 and Parthiv of class 11, you are sure to be impressed with their discoveries.

Our cover this time, features Golden Quadrilaterals and the illustrations have been provided by Michael de Villiers, who continues his series on constructive defining. These beautiful quadrilaterals have been defined by investigation and are an interesting activity for students who believe that everything in mathematics is pre-defined and that there is nothing new in mathematics to be discovered.

Problem Corner has seen some changes over the last few issues. In a deliberate attempt to avoid a ​‘camp’ approach to problem solving and to make this section more inclusive, we have a wide variety to interest our readers. Prithwijit De sets the ball rolling with his article on ProblemPosing. This is followed by Middle and Senior Problems addressed to different age groups. CoMaC presents a theorem about a triangle and a problem about a rational number; the titles are deliberately bland but these are as fun as Shailesh Shirali’s Adventures in Problem Solving.

The Review this time will certainly have you leaping to order this book: The Cartoon Guides to Calculus and Algebra, a series whose name says both all and nothing. Can such a serious subject be illustrated with cartoons? With mathematical rigour? Read the Review and I’m sure you’ll be convinced.

Our issue concludes with the PullOut — Padmapriya Shirali focuses on Large Numbers and how students can grasp this concept. I am sure that adults too will enjoy this refresher course and pick up tips on how to make this topic child- friendly and approachable. So it’s over to you now! Happy reading.…

This paper explores the construction of hybrid spaces through the observation of middle school children engaged in short science projects in an informal science learning programme. Hybrid spaces are not just physical structures, but refer to contexts, relationships and knowledges developed by children as their social worlds and identities merge with the normative expectations of school science. Hybrid spaces have been characterised in three different ways: as a convergent space between academic and traditionally marginalized knowledges and discourses; as a navigational space, or a way of crossing and succeeding in different discourse communities; and as a space of cultural, social and epistemological change where competing knowledges and discourses challenge and reshape both academic and everyday knowledges. (Moje et al., 2004; Barton et al., 2008). This paper characterises such hybrid paces by analysing activities of children working on short projects in the broad area of: ​‘Trees, plants and insects’, during a summer camp held at the Azim Premji University. Children seemed to primarily use the ​‘third space’ to navigate between different funds of knowledge and succeed in science. They developed science artefacts such as scrapbooks and a children’s magazine, and negotiated new roles for participating and expressing their developing science identities. They also brought in local knowledge and activities from their home contexts such as gardening, cooking and socialisation with members of their own and wider community. Informal settings help in the negotiation, construction and development of these hybrid spaces, and is particularly meaningful for children who otherwise see science as being alien and outside their everyday lives. Children brought different funds of knowledge into their participation and discussions from both their formal and informal experiences linked to science. Children decided their own trajectory of learning experiences in consultation with the facilitator. This paper also describes various possibilities in informal settings and learning experiences within and outside formal school settings, which help children explore and engage more deeply with their developing interests in science.

In this issue, we have a range of articles recounting personal experiences of teaching with the goal of inclusive learning rather than a random attempt at throwing information at a mixed ability group, only some of whom could lick the system with others falling by the wayside. Readers will find that diverse aspects of assessment have been thoughtfully tried and objectivity is a key theme. Another important aspect of assessment, namely, reflectively constructed rubrics have been given a place in this issue.

This issue of Learning Curve deliberates on the the purpose of social science in society, what the National Curriculum Framework says about the subject, the many moral conflicts while teaching it, pedagogic dilemmas, and a look at social science education across the world. The effort has been to give our readers an honest and comprehensive view of the nature of social science as a subject.