Yogesh Pathak

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Grade 2 should be a consolidation year where learners will revise most of the ecological and man-nature relationship concepts learned in Kindergarten and Grade 1.

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In addition, below are the suggested key concepts and clusters that would form the 2nd-grade strands of the Web of Ecological Concepts:

• What makes wind happen? What are the kinds of wind we experience in the local climate? (skip global wind patterns, etc). What is the seasonality in local winds?

• What makes rain happen? What is the seasonality in rain? What causes storms?

• What is the overall journey of a river? Where is it rapid and where is it calm? What is a river basin? How do waterfalls get formed?

• Similar questions as rain on snow, if applicable to local climate.

• How and why do insects run and fly? What is their speed and pattern of moving?

• Same questions for: snakes & lizards, frogs & turtles, local birds, and local mammals.

• What is migration among animals (high level. Refer mostly to birds).

• Examples of interdependence in nature. Take at least 2 dozen examples of various kinds to communicate the diversity of interdependence in nature.

• What does it mean to study a given class of plants or animals systematically? What is classification (high level)?

• Why collect specimens from nature? How does it help our understanding?

• Who are some key naturalists locally and in my country (past key contributors as well as contemporary)? What have they collected, classified and contributed?

• Fishermen: How do they fish in rivers/lakes/oceans, bring the catch to shore, clean it, dry it, where do they sell it?

• Similar understanding of collectors of forest fruit, leaves, flowers, vegetables, gum etc.

• What does the life of a goat/cattle herder family look like?

• What does the life of a local farmer look like? What goes on in the farm through the year?

• Consolidation: What kind of a web is nature? Take local and global examples.

• Consolidation: What can we say about the relationship between nature and man? In what ways are we dependent and independent of nature?

 

Each of these concepts could be integrated in the 2nd grade curriculum in a preliminary way. Parents and teachers could co-create and co-facilitate a variety of activities to make this happen. The actual content of each activity would differ as per local ecosystems and habitats, locals land and water forms, and local climate. (Eventually we will publish some guidelines on the activities).