Activity Based Teaching of EVS at Primary level

Abstract

Environmental studies have been one of the independent curricular areas at the primary stage curriculum during the last three decades. Being environmental based in nature, it has been given due weightage in the primary stage curriculum It is a known fact that child in the early years interacts with his/her environment, and as a result, he/she gains lot of concrete experiences from the immediate environment. The process of environment-based education therefore, enables him/her to internalize these experiences and gets an opportunity to develop necessary process skills, habits, attitudes and values for improving quality of life. Keeping this vital aspect in view, in classes I and II, it was introduced as an integrated subject area without making any distinction between the natural and the social components of the environment. In classes III to V, although the focus was continued on the environment, both in terms of content and processes, it was being introduced in two parts: Environmental Studies - I (Social Science) and Environmental Studies II (Science). The content/concepts of Environmental Studies-! was drawn from different areas of social sciences while the content/concepts of Environmental Studies-II was drawn from natural sciences. Due to this disciplinary treatment of this subject area (Social and Natural Science), the major focus of teaching-learning was more on subject’s concepts, and thus the instructional material tended to be more information loaded.