Changing the way we teach in schools

[I recently wrote a post on LinkedIn about the importance of interdisciplinary learning in our schools. The origin of this thought was a teacher training program that I tried to conduct a few years back. Though I could do only one session of this, I did concretize the thought in form of a document. This post contains that document.]

The Cultural History Project: Learning multiple subjects through history

[History - Astronomy – Biology –Engineering/Physics – Chemistry]

The Pyramids in Egypt [Context: Egypt]

Aim:

This activity aims to invoke original thinking in students. This is done through a thought experiment that puts students in situations where they have to find ingenious solutions to the problems presented within given constraints using their creativity. Asking ‘good questions’ is a skill that needs to be developed but even several adults lack it. With this exercise, students will get into the mode of asking questions with an aim to disentangle the situation, find the relevant information, and reach a solution.

Activity

Imagine you are transported to 8,000 BCE by a time-machine. You are standing geographically in the same place but have gone back some 10,000 years. On the basis of your imagination and your knowledge (previous readings or documentaries that you may have watched), answer the following questions:

1. What will you see around you? What do the humans look like? Are they erect, bipedals? Or do they look more like apes? 

2. Where do they live? What kind of houses do they build? 

3. What do they eat? From where did they get this food? 

4. Did they live in villages? Or did they live as wandering hunter-gatherers? 

5. What kind of objects did they possess? Stone tools? Wooden tools? Metals? If yes, which metals? How did they hunt? 

6. What did they know? Did they know how their own bodies worked? Did they understand the movements of the Sun, Moon, and stars? 

7. What did they know about animals, plants (as poison or food, as useful or not), about predators or prey?

8. What was their concept of time? Did they have something like years, months, weeks, or days? Why? Why not? If yes, how did they keep track of the dates and times? [In parallel, one can ponder over the reason for 60 minutes in an hour, or 60 seconds in a minute, and not 100. See: https://www.quora.com/Why-is-time-calculated-in-60-minutes-per-hour-and-60-seconds-per-minute-Why-cant-it-be-100-minutes-per-hour]

9. Was it necessary for them to keep track of seasons? Why? How did they keep track of seasons? What methods were available for this? (e.g. they required the concept of numbers if they wanted to keep track of seasons to allow some rudimentary calendar. Or they may have observed the flowers or river water levels to guess the arrival of a new season. But to guess how close we are to the start or end of a particular season will again need some form of concept of numbers).

10. What did they do all day? What was their routine? What did they talk about (their topic of conversation)?

11. What about their social structure? Was it a patriarchal or a matriarchal society? Or was it more equal? What was the role of the two genders? Was it a joint family? Or actually a joint village (huge extended family)? Were there any social divisions? Was it monogamous society or polygamous? Did marriage exist as an institution? If not, how did monogamy work? How were the tribes or villages structured politically? Did they fight with other tribes? 

12. What was the mode of communication with their own tribe members and with others? What kind of language was spoken? (One can show that a complex language development over time allowed humans to form complex thoughts and ideas, and to pass them to others, and also allowed them to collaborate)

13. What was the place of humans in the food chain? Why? Did humans have some special capability that made them rise to the top despite being physically weaker? (ability to make tools, adapt to varied climatic conditions and food sources, and the ability to pass knowledge from one generation to next, thus quickening the evolution compared to extremely slow evolution of other species based on changes in their gene pool). (Also, humans are the only species that has the capability to imagine, i.e. think abstract thoughts, and hence plan strategically).

Commentary on activity

This is a scenario which is covered nowhere in the books. Maybe it gets just a brief mention. Thus, even for teachers, there is no baggage of their own education and even they can try to be original in their thinking. 

The critical question is not to find the right answer. May be no one has the exact answer. What is important is that we help students understand the concept of scientific query, the formation of hypothesis and theories, and the possible ways to test it. 

One could use guess work, but the verification may be done through evidence. This evidence could be in the form of written records (text, cave paintings, stone inscriptions), archaeological records (e.g. animal bones with marrow eaten point to use of some hard tools which means only humans could have done that. Hence, humans were the scavengers in the food chain at some point in time. Or houses, objects, graves etc.); or geological records.

Activity continued . . . (Part-2)

Now move forward a few thousand years. Imagine you are in 3000 BCE. What was the world like then? Answer the same questions as above, but also think about the reason for the developments. We have archaeological records for the civilizations that existed in that era and we can easily see the complexity of human development. 

Specifically, focus on the question: what kind of numbers existed then? What was the need for them? What purpose did they serve? Why were more sophisticated mathematical forms required? (Buildings, political organization (collection and distribution of taxes, and record maintenance), and tracking heavenly bodies for religious and agricultural reasons (e.g. Sereus recurrence as an indication of flooding season in Nile Valley). Or was it sheer curiosity? 

In this simplified world, let us try to develop some of the tools that we take for granted today:

1. Develop a system to measure length, area, volume, weight, time. (Note: Today, the concepts of volume and area need formulas and use concepts of multiplication. Was it done the same way in 3000BCE? If not, what could have been the alternatives?)

2. Develop a system of writing and counting. What is the need for such a system? How could uniformity be brought in this across the state?

3. Draw a perpendicular using a rope and a stick.

4. Draw a line that is perfectly in North-South direction using a magnet, rope, and stick

5. Draw an angle bisector and parallel lines using ropes and sticks.

Activity continued . . . (Part-3)

A. There is a heavy stone (3ftX1ftX2ft). This stone needs to be pulled 15m and then lifted to a height of 2 ft. All you have is ropes, wooden poles, wooden planks, stones, and a pulley. 

B. Refer to Water Shaft Theory of Egyptian Pyramids (https://blog.world-mysteries.com/mystic-places/building-the-giza-pyramids-water-shaft-theory/). Use the experiments performed by Chris Massey to transport weights.

C. Put a car in neutral gear. Mark the place where its front tires are. Ask one student to push it from behind. Keep adding students till it gets pushed. Ask them to push it for 15m (mark the end line in advance). 

D. Take a steel cupboard of 5-6 ft. height and keep it in an open space on the floor. Ask one of the students to try to push it from the top, center, and bottom. The student should be able to at least lift it a little when she pushes it from top. Ask the same student to open a door by pushing it from the latch, at the middle, and at 1ft. from the hinges. 

The following concepts can be taught using this exercise:

Physics

1. Levers, cantilevers, and beams
2. Friction, Force, momentum, inertia, mass, weight, power
3. Use of pulleys and inclined planes, and the forces that act there. Centre of Gravity.
4. Fluid Mechanics: Archimedes Principle, Relation between Pressure and velocity in a fluid, Buoyancy and its real-life applications (how heavy objects like ships float in seas, Submarines and how do they operate? How Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour in WW-II using modified torpedoes). How can you use water to create perfectly levelled stones and perfect angles? (Along with physics, this requires creativity.)
5. Activity C (Car) can be used to demonstrate momentum, relations of velocity, force, acceleration etc. (equations of motion), co-efficient of friction. Students can be asked to calculate the force needed to move the car to end line.
6. Activity D (Cupboard & Doors) can be used to demonstrate point of contact, friction at the point of contact, lateral and circular movements of center of gravity, the reason (and formulas) for the force needed to open a door at different distances etc.

Geography

1. Use River Nile videos to show what are floodplains, what is a delta and how is it formed, how does flooding help make Nile plains so fertile. What is silt and its linkage to agriculture?
2. What is an estuary? Examples can be taken from India (Delta of Ganga or Brahmputra, Sundarbans, Estuaries in Kerala etc.).
3. How could a desert land sustain such a rich life? (due to annual Nile flooding. Its regularity allowed people to prepare in advance. Case of annual Kosi floods in Bihar can also be discussed and why it is not a boon but a bane)
4. What is desertification? What are the factors that cause it? How does this impact earth’s climate? 

Biology

1. What kind of flora and fauna is found in deserts? What are the strategies these species use to survive?
2. What kind of animal and plant life is supported in a delta and an estuary? Why?
3. What were the nutritional sources available to hunter-gatherer societies? Compare their diets to those of Egyptians, people in Indus valley civilization, and the modern urban and rural people. Analyze these diets in terms of daily calorie and nutrient intake versus needs (based on physical and mental requirements).
4. What was the source of drinking water for Egyptians and hunter-gatherers? What diseases were likely to be common in these societies? How did people try to reduce incidences of such diseases?
5. What were the ways to prevent food deterioration and for extending its shelf life? (Sun drying, fermentation, salt or oil addition). What are the principles behind all these preservation techniques?

Further, one can carry on this query in the following direction:

https://news.psu.edu/story/141300/2008/03/24/research/probing-question-how-were-egyptian-pyramids-built

How was the stone used for pyramids quarried? Some of the stones are 2.5-8 ton, but there are 15 ton as well as 70-80 ton stones. They had no stone tools. Remember, it was copper age. How were these massive stones cut? How were they moved from quarries to sites? How were they lifted? Pulleys? Ramps? Water?

What was the purpose of building these massive tombs? How long did it take to build the pyramid of Giza? How much labor (man-hours) were needed? Were these labor slaves or voluntary workers looking for a job? One can also ponder over the consequences of building such huge structures: probable bankruptcy or revolt.

What are mummies? How were they preserved? Why were they preserved? What else was there in the tombs? What was the chemical process used to preserve bodies? What happens to our bodies when we die (if not burnt)? How are cells recreated? How does body heal normally?

How did they decide the engineering aspect? How much force needed to lift stones? What made the structures stable?  

Calculate the amount (volume) of stone used in building the pyramid of Giza. If the pyramids were built today, how much will it cost? (This question will require students to make several assumptions and delve into the real world issues of land measurement, different elements of project costing, and may go into budgeting exercises of modern governments and their sources of revenue).