2019 ~ SCIENCE DEPARTMENT, TCV SCHOOL SELAKUI

Capacity Building Workshop on Teaching of Science July 21, 2019

Two days capacity building workshop on teaching and learning of science was conducted by CBSE on 19 and 20 July 2019 at The Sapience School, Vikas Nagar, Dehradun. Three of our science teachers Mrs. Choezin Lhamo, Ms. Pema Dolker, and Mr. Tenzin Jamyang attended the workshop. The objective of carrying out such program was to equip and enhance teachers with basic teaching and learning skills in science. The resource person for the workshop was Mrs. Deepti Sharma, (MSc. MEd., MCA), the principal of Pragyan Public School, Jewar. There were around 50 participants from different schools in the Doon valley. The first day was dedicated to understanding the objectives of teaching and learning sciences at the secondary level in accordance with the National Curriculum Framework (NCF-2005) and creating effective lesson plans based on Bloom’s taxonomy and Howard Gardener’s multiple intelligence. The participants were then grouped to carry out a series of activities in collaboration. The activities were for effective communication, word search, learner-centered instructions, and drafting a common lesson plan involving all the important parameters for effective learning. Handouts were also provided to aid in discussion and writing the lesson plan. On the second day, Mrs. Deepti presented on different means and methods to assess and evaluate student’s progress. The groups were involved in identifying questions as good or bad for proper evaluation and assessment of student-centered learning be it on marking scheme or based on the overall learning outcome. The use of graphic organizers and its various types were introduced with sample formats in the assessment and evaluation. The session concluded with each group presenting their final teaching practices after careful discussion and deliberation of the two days of learning. Our science teachers were refreshed after attending the workshop. Mr. Tenzin Jamyang expressed, “it was all about learning, unlearning, and relearning. I am excited and looking forward to taking the next class after this”. They appreciated and thanked the CBSE board for coming up with such initiatives and the school leaders in providing such rare opportunity which will go far in the sound all round development of the nation builders, the effect of which will be reciprocated in our students.

Department of Education organized its 3rd CTA Level Science, Mathematics and Environmental Exhibition 2019 at TCV Suja and scheduled for 3 days from 19 to 21 June. It has been organized for the past 3 years to seed scientific curiosity, inquiry, and innovation in the minds of young learners. The theme for the exhibition this year was ‘Scientific Solutions for Challenges in Life’ Six sub-themes under the theme were agriculture, waste-management, resource-management, mathematical-modeling, transport and communication, and health and cleanliness. Past two exhibitions were held at Lower TCV and THS Mussoorie respectively, following which 3 students had the opportunity to represent CTA and their respective school at the national level (JNNSMEE).

This year a total of 34 students from 14 different schools are taking part in the 3rd CTA Level Science, Mathematics and Environment Exhibition and out of these 34, seven projects are from TCV Selakui. These 34 exhibits were selected out of 65 exhibit entries through preliminary evaluation by 3 judges.

Day 1; Exhibition was inaugurated by the Secretary, DoE, CTA Mr. Karma Singey la followed by the presentation on the topic ‘water management-challenges and ways ahead’ prepared by respective schools.

The guest speaker Mrs. Tenzin Kunsang from the health department of Health spoke about WASH Project and presented the water management situation of our Tibetan settlements.

The afternoon session was dedicated to the evaluation by the judges.

Day 2; Exhibitions were kept open for the public (students of TCV Chauntra followed by TCV Suja in the afternoon session). The students had good interaction with the presenters and seemed happy to learn many new things.

In the afternoon, certificates distribution, award presentation, and scarf offering were done.

Out of 34 exhibits, the top six were selected out of which four positions were bagged by our TCV Selakui students.

Students name	Exhibit topic	Position
Nyima Tenzin	Antifungal soap	1^st
Nyima Tsamchoe	Natural lizard repellent	3^rd
Tenzin Jangchuk	Simple handmade water filter	4^th
Tenzin Yonten	E- frigerator	6^th

Followed by the closing speech from Chief Guest, Mr.Tenzin Dorjee, Head, Academic section, DoE and word of thanks by Mr. Tenzin Kalsang, Sci EO, DoE.

2019 Class wise Science Presentation during the morning assembly

On 6^th May, Class VIII A students presented their science presentation on the topic ‘First Aid’ under the supervision of their science teacher Mrs. Choezin Lhamo. The whole class was divided into 5 groups and each group presented on one basic first aid skill. The 5 topics include:

Choking
Burns
Bleeding
Shock
CPS ( cardiopulmonary resuscitation)

Each group representative gave a brief with the demonstration by 2 other group members on their topic. In the end, all the class VIII A students sang a group song titled ‘First Aid Friends'.

Demonstrating first-aid during CPS (Cardiopulmonary resuscitation)

Demonstrating first-aid practice when choking happen

2019 - Earth Day Celebration
Theme: Protect Our Species

Friday, April 26

Every year, TCV School Selakui celebrates the Earth day by organizing different events and this year too was no different. All the students and staff assembled at the school basket-ground court at 5:45 am. The day has begun with a prayer for Mother-Earth for 10 minutes led by Rev. Geshe Tenzin Thekchok La. It was continued with a nature walk in a group headed by senior students who explained the significance of mother nature to the younger students in their group.

The key program embarked at 8:50 am in the school hall and it was joined by program coordinator Mr. C.S. Bhatt from Navdanya biodiversity and organic farm as a chief guest.

Short video clip on mother nature was screened https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM6txLtoaoc followed by a presentation on Seed Preservation relating to the theme of the year by a team of 10th grader who returned from Navdanya program the night before. Then a bunch of class 6th students wonderfully sung “Earth is our home”.

Afterward, another presentation was done by another Navdanya 10th grader team on Kitchen Gardening and Pit Composting. Students whose essays, trash-cash models, and paintings were selected shared their thoughts with the audiences. Short movie video on 3 days Navdanya program was shown. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G91nhyDMt_A

Finally, the chief guest of the event, Mr. C.S. Bhatt shared his wisdom by speaking on why we as a human are responsible for the depletion of our environment and how we can save it. He also expressed his strong emotion towards Tibetans and its struggles.

The function successfully ended with the screening of the movie “Blue Planet” in the school hall.

Praying for Mother-Earth.

Nature walk followed by dicuss on importance of mother nature.

School principal Mr. Duke la welcoming chief guest Mr. C.S. Bhatt

6th grader singing "Earth is Our Home".

Presentation on Seed Preservation.

Word of wisdom shared by Mr. C.S. Bhatt.

April 25, 2019, Thursday

Since the past few years, one of the annual major projects of Tibetan Children’s Village School, Selakui has been the three days Navdanya program. This time, 20 students from class tenth participated along with school science teachers Ms. Sherab Wangmo and Ms. Pema Dolker as an escort teacher. The students' selection was based completely on their interview performances. The event took place from 19 of April and finished on 21 April 2019.

The main aim of this program is to inculcate and enhance the participant knowledge of organic farming and environmental related challenges and how and why Navdanya preserved the seed species. Apart from theory, students were able to take part in organic farming processes as well.

First Day

The Navdanya coördinator Mr. J.P. Khali inaugurated the event by speaking on how the Navdanya comes to existence and about its founder Dr. Vandana Shiva and her struggle and success. Later continued by National coördinator Mr. D.S. Negi who spoke in details on seed preservation. Moreover, to enhance in-depth comprehension, he took them to the field to explain how the seed selections are done.

In the evening events, participants were taken for field tour guided by Mr. C.S. Bhatt and Mrs. Bhuvneshwari Students were introduced different types of crops, medicinal trees, seed bank, vermicompost as well.

Second Day

The day embarked with chamomile harvesting for almost one and half hour followed by field work led by Mr. P. Kimothi. During the fieldwork, the soil was prepared for plantation of vegetables in the evening by removing the weeds, leveling the soil. In the afternoon session, students were taught why kitchen gardening is important and which type of vegetables and fruits are suitable for the kitchen garden. Besides that, the lecture was followed by the teaching of how to transfer saplings to garden in practical. At the end of day two, students planted one big plot of with saplings of Tomato, Chilly, and Brinjal. In addition, some Marigold flowers were planted in between the vegetable saplings to distract the pollinators and other pests from damaging the vegetable crops. After dinner, students were shown a documentary movie called “Bullshit” to understand the journey of Dr. Vandana Shiva.

Third Day

On the third day, everyone took part in collecting the leaves fallen around in the campus during the morning cleaning time headed by Mr. Giresh. Then later, Mr. Kimothi and Mr. Anand explained on different types of compost and specifically stressed on how to make a pit compost. Also, the students learned how to make pit compost in physical. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJba8Mu8G8s
Afterward, in the evening, the participants got an opportunity to have question answer session with Mr. Giresh, who is the present coördinator of local farmers around in Dehradun locality.

On 22 April 2019, during Earth Day celebration function in school, The participants shared their knowledge and experience they acquired from Navdanya with the rest of the students through presentations and video. They presented particularly on Seed preservation, Kitchen gardening, and Pit composting followed by a short movie of their three-day stays at Navdanya.

Mr. J.P. Khali explaining the participants about Navdanya and its purposes.

Mr. D.S. Negi teaching students' how to select seeds properly based on physical characters.

On the farm tour guided by Mr. C.S. Bhatt.

Mr. C.S. Bhatt explaining the procedure of vermi-wash.

Mr. Jeet with students harvesting the Chamomile.

Collected seeds of Chamomile.

Preparing the soil for plantation.

Removing weeds.

Saplings: Tomato, Chilly, and Brinjal.

A picture after the completion of transferring of saplings.

Hands-on learning of how to prepare pit compost.

The total number of twenty students, ten from each of class tenth and class twelve participated in the 5 days long workshop on Basics in Nutrition by Dr.Bianca-Maria from Switzerland. The workshop was also attended by TCV Selakui hostels warden, home mothers, head of the non-teaching staff Mrs.Kunsang and biology teacher Ms. Sherab Wangmo. This event took place in Industrial Training Institute (ITI) from 11th-15th March 2019.

Dr. Bianca convinced the participants that thoughtful nutrition leads to a healthier and happier life by justifying her points with lots of research related examples and her experiences being a nutritionist. Immense interest in the seminar from the students and staff was being observed as well.

The participating students announced that they had meaningful, super learning and they are highly grateful to Dr. Bianca for the effective yet informative presentation, also to our school administration for providing the opportunity.