Monthly Archives: April 2009

Read stories from the first day

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(Excerpt from the book Creative Learning by Vijoy Prakash)

One of the interesting findings of researches on learning is that the child should be exposed to reading books from quite early in life. This process should start as early as possible without even waiting for the child to show responses to the stimuli. Now it is also being suggested that a child should be read a story or shown pictorial stories right from his/her birth, when he/she returns from the hospital. It may appear that the child is not responding to the story or is not looking at the storybook, but gradually, it would be realised that the faculty of reception sharpens. It has been found that if a child is read a storybook right from birth, he/she may start reading the book right from the age of 3-4 years.

Similarly, if a child is exposed to songs, tunes and rhythms right from birth, s/he becomes more receptive to the rhythmic tunes. If a child were shown more and more pictures from early childhood, his/her spatial intelligence would be more developed in comparison to the child who is not shown any such pictures. Since information is received through sensory organs, all sensory organs should be fully developed to receive information. Hence, games and activities must be designed for developing all sensory organs in early childhood.

Grandma’s Techniques
Many children show great reluctance in eating. There is an age-old tradition to make various designs of ‘rotis’ (breads) for children. Some breads will look like animals, for example, goat, or birds like parrot, or in some geometrical designs. These designs are not only suited to the temperament of the child to facilitate eating, it also makes them learn about various animals, birds, geometrical designs, etc.. Even if the child may be reluctant to eat, he eats the bread, when it is presented in the form of some geometrical design. Many parents further facilitate eating by linking the design to some story. For example, they may narrate a story of a bird and present the bread in the form of the bird to the child.

Dining Time Interaction

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(Excerpt from the book Creative Learning by Vijoy Prakash)

Dining time is another great occasion for learning. Dining together in a family situation is helpful not only in binding the family together, it helps in understanding likes and dislikes of family members also. It is also useful in effecting emotional closeness among family members.

Traditionally, mother and grandmother used to remain present during dining time of the children and other persons, even if they were not dining themselves. This was helpful in showing concern for the family members.

Dining time interactions can be an extremely useful period for learning. This period could be used for

• Learning the experiences of the children during the day in the school and outside.
• Telling the experience of parents during the day.
• Telling the history of the family and the village.
• Discussion on the problems encountered during the day by different members of the family and possible solutions thereof
• Story/puzzle/jokes telling session by children/parents
• Discussion on any news items or important events of the day.

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Interact with children during bedtime

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(Excerpt from the book Creative Learning by Vijoy Prakash)

When young infants go to bed, they expect their parents to be with them. This is a good occasion to interact with them. It has been seen that songs and stories narrated to them at this time have great impact on the development of their brains. Earlier, we had folk stories for these occasions. Now, as parents are living in a nuclear situation and are generally extremely busy people, most of them do not remember these stories. As such, they are not able to make best use of these occasions. There is an urgent need to collect such stories or to write new stories and supply them to young couples.

Shampa learns Hanuman Chalisa at 3 years

Shampa was born in a middle class family. When she was a child of 3 years, her mother Sharda Sinha, a teacher educator, used to sing Hanuman Chalisa (40 couplets in the praise of Lord Hanuman), when she went to sleep. She used to start singing, when she was going to sleep and continued till she was fast asleep. As a result, Shampa learnt Hanuman Chalisa by heart, even at the age of 2 years, which is a commendable feat for any child. Today Shampa is a teacher at Teacher’s Training College, Patna. She feels that such techniques used by her mother had a great impact on her life.

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Develop family as the first school

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(Excerpt from the book Creative Learning by Vijoy Prakash)

Family is said to be the first school, but we have done little to develop it as the first school. Swami Dayanand had identified father, mother and teacher to be the three pillars of education of a child. In Satpatha Brahman it was said,

matriman pitrimanaachryavan purusho ved
(A man is knowledgeable, if he is under the guidance of  learned mother, father, and teacher.)

Unless all pillars are equally strong, the child cannot be said to be properly educated. Today couples get married. They also have children. But, they are never trained in the methods of rearing the children. They are never told how they should steer the child in the elementary stages of learning. It has now been established that about 90% of the development of brain take place before the end of 5 years. Since couples do not know how to take care of the child, they depend mainly upon hit and trial methods. Thus, children may not attain full development of brain as per their own potential.  As such, they are not fully prepared to take advantage of the learning system, when they enter the school system.

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Learning through games

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The article Learning through games by Vijoy Prakash was published in Student Corner in Jagran Yahoo.

There are many games you play in your due course of activities. But have you ever thought about learning with games?

For example, there are many children love playing cricket.

Is it possible to learn from Cricket? Let us see…

In this game learners are divided into two groups. One group asks questions whereas the other group is supposed to tell the answer. As in cricket the baller is given chance to ask 6 questions in a row. Rules have been framed for getting boundaries and sixes based on the complexities of the problem and nature of answer.

Learning Science

Learning through Games
Learning through Games

In this game learners are divided into two groups. One group asks questions whereas the other group is supposed to tell the answer. As in cricket the baller is given chance to ask 6 questions in a row. Rules have been framed for getting boundaries and sixes based on the complexities of the problem and nature of answer. Children enjoy the game and learn the lessons as well. Similarly, children play the game of puzzles as well as carrom. If we improvise the game for learning laws of motion, laws of friction, laws of reflection, chemical combinations etc. it would be much easier to understand.

It can also be used for developing imagination by asking learners to arrange the coins in different shapes and patterns and give them exciting names.

As floor games are quite popular among the village children, they can arrange lot of floor games to learn mathematics, grammar, science and social sciences. In fact, in all classrooms 10X10 squarish pattern can be drawn. In the corridor various patterns 3X3, 4X4, 5X5, 6X6, etc and other geometrical patterns can be displayed.

These activities are new to both teachers and learners, but can be an interesting session of learning.

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Why children do not perform well?

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When children do not get good grades in any subject or are not able to perform up to our expectation, we often chide and goad them to work harder in the subject. Is it the right way to assess and motivate the child?

Experiences at School of Creative Learning have shown that the issue of failure in the examination may be a product of various factors like physical ailment, emotional distraction or disturbance, lack of proper motivation, etc. However, even if there is no such problem a child may not do well in the examination due to different learning style or lack of proper mental competencies. For example, if the child is not doing well in mathematical competencies, one must also look whether the child is of different learning style than logical and/or is deficient in

  • Concentration
  • Memory(logical)
  • Rational thinking

If the child is really deficient in these competencies, the child should be asked to perform exercises to develop those competencies. For example, if the learner’s learning style is different, the teaching learning strategy has to be different. See A short note on Multiple intelligence and How to identify the Learning Style of Your Child for details. Further, if the child does not have good concentration, he should do exercises to develop it. Once concentration is developed, a bit of hard work may do wonders. Following chart may help in diagnosing the basic problems in a child. For appropriate solution consult Creative Learning Volunteers or write to us. The table here shows the reasons for poor performance in the following categories (You can click on them to take you to related matter directly):

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More Comments on Rat Farming

Musahars, Rat Farming, Underprivileged, ,

Rats–coming to your grocers soon!  by John Wood Sr

OpEd News

I personally think Mr Prakash has a noble idea–another good source of cheap protein is invaluable, especially considering how many of the worlds millions live on the edge of starvation. I truly hope that his endeavors are successful, and that his visionary idea spreads across the globe.Which brings us to the United States.

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Coverage on Rat Farming

Media Reports, Musahars, Rat Farming, Underprivileged, ,

BBC News

Read BBC on Rat Farming: August 13, 2008 by Amarnath Tewary

Mr Prakash says his proposals to popularise rat meat eating are intended to uplift their social-economic condition.

“There are twin advantages of this proposal. First, we can save about half of our food grain stocks by catching and eating rats and secondly we can improve the economic condition of the Musahar community,” he told the BBC.

According to Mr Prakash, about 50% of total food grain stocks in the country are eaten away by rodents.

He argues that by promoting rat eating more grain will be preserved while hunger among the Musahar community will be reduced. He said that rat meat is not only a delicacy but a protein-enriched food, widely popular in Thailand and France.

Wall Street Journal

Read Old India rejuvenates as IT rivers of gold dry up: April 10, 2009 in Wall Street Journal by Peter Wonacott

In the village of Deve Kuli, in Bihar, India’s poorest and least literate major state, the Mushahar are the poorest and least literate. Most are farm labourers. About one in 10 can read. So impoverished is this group that they hunt field rats to supplement a deprived diet. Mushahar is Hindi for “rat eater”.

But the outlook for the state’s 2 million Mushahar has brightened in the past year.

Thanks to government aid programs, more Mushahar children are attending school. Increased state investment in roads and local factories has put their parents to work. Demand for labourers has pushed up wages for field work.

In a sign of the times, a government proposal to promote rat farming was ridiculed by the Mushahar, the very group of untouchables, or Dalits, it was supposed to benefit. They worried it would pull their children out of school and extend a social stigma to the next generation. Some protested on the streets of Bihar’s capital, Patna, shouting: “We want to learn to use a computer mouse, not catch mice.”

Growth has slowed in the new India of technology outsourcing, property development and securities trade. But old India – the rural sector that is home to 700 million of the country’s billion-plus people – shows signs it can pick up the slack. The rural awakening helps explain why India continues to grow even as the US recession drags on the world economy.

The change is largely political. In years past, many state leaders rode to power with vows to give voice to lower-caste voters. But after failing for the most part to lift living standards, these officials have been replaced in many cases by leaders who have. In poor and largely rural states from Orissa in the east to Rajasthan in the west, many new leaders have invested in health, education and infrastructure. That has set the stage for the creation of industry and consumer markets and enabled upward mobility.

 

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Rat Farming in Food & Wine Magazine

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The issue of rat eating is discussed in this article The Ubiquitous Rat by Pam Brunning in the Food & Wine Magazine of International Wine and Food Society (IW & FS).

“Rat meat is a healthy alternative to rice and grains,” Vijay Prakash of the Bihar state welfare department told a press conference in Patna , “and should be eaten by one and all. Rat and chicken have equal food values, not only in protein but throughout the entire spectrum of nutrition. I haven’t tried it myself, but my mother has and she finds it delicious. In fact, whoever has eaten rat says it is more spongy and better than even
chicken meat.”

The welfare secretary’s words were greeted with dismay by listeners. “Indian culture is based on vegetarianism,” said chef P. Soundararajan of the Mahindra resort chain. “Our culture and customs are based on not harming any living beings. And besides rats are dirty creatures that only the very poor would eat.”

But Prakash was unrepentant about his government campaign. “ Almost 50% of India’s grain stocks are eaten away by rodents in fields or warehouses. Increased human consumption of rodents will ease soaring food prices and provide increased employment for rat catchers. Rat has almost no bones but many people do not know this simple cuisine fact. We will have a massive media campaign to persuade people to try it. Some of the hotels here in Bihar have started selling rat meat, as a starter. If you order patal-bageri at one of our roadside hotels, that’s what you’ll get. Roasted Rat.”

Some interesting facts from the article:

  • In Aizawl, one of the 11 districts of Mizoram State in India, smoked rat is a highly prized delicacy. The rodent is much in demand in kitchens in this northeastern state. Hundreds of smoked rats come in to the city from nearby villages every morning. Rats caught by traps in paddy fields sell like the proverbial hot cakes. “I don’t keep records of my sales, but Inormally sell about 200 smoked rats daily,” Lalvenpuii, a New Market shopkeeper, told the Indo-Asian NewsService. “They don’t come cheap either, with one smoked rat costing anywhere between Rs.15-20.” (rupees)
  • When food is scarce rats are often a morereadily available source of protein than other fauna. African slaves in the American South hunted wood rats to supplement their food rations. The Aborigines along the coast in Southern Queensland, Australia regularly included rats in their diet. In the Mishmi culture of India, rats are essential to the traditional diet, as the women may eat no meat except fish, pork, wild birds and rats. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that rat meat makes up half the locally produced meat consumed in Ghana, where cane rats are farmed and hunted for their meat.
  • In the 1980’s the University of Reading ran a summer school for Rat Catchers. Students from around the globe spent twelve weeks learning the basics of rodent control in the class room and visiting farms around the district baiting, catching and trapping the rodents. They then returned home to pass on their skills to the locals. Today their talents for catching them live are in much demand.
  • With the credit crunch biting harder people are considering trying alternative forms of protein. Observer columnists Caroline Davies wrote last year, “It’s low in fat, low in food miles and completely free range.” “In fact, some claim that it is about as ethical a dish as it is
    possible to serve on a dinner plate.” No, this time she was not talking of rats but Sciurus carolinensis – the grey squirrel, often known in the country as ‘tree rats’.
  • Butcher David Simpson in Cornwall, whose game counter began selling ‘tree rats’ last year, is struggling to keep up with demand, “We put it on the shelf and it sells.”

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Gamma-Rays from rotating black holes

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Abstract

The gamma-ray luminosity due to the decay of pions produced during spherical accretion onto rotating black holes has been calculated. The model consists of a Kerr black hole of arbitrary angular momentum surrounded by interstellar gas consisting of completely ionized hydrogen atoms. There is an 80% increase in flux as we go from Schwarzschild to the extreme Kerr case.

Paper published in The Astrophysical Journal, 280:848-852, 1984 May 15
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