Monsoon Geographies and subject integration (8,9 Sep. ‘08)
“Huyyo huyyo maley-raaya”
Linking different subjects through Geography
What are the geographies of the monsoons in India? What do they have to do with art, literature, physics, biology, and film songs? Teachers in Hubballi (Karnataka) found out!
- Date: 8 & 9 September 2008
- Venue: Agastya International Foundation (AIF), Hubballi (KA).
- Participants: Local teachers and AIF teaching staff. Subjects taught included: Art, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Social Studies, Economics, Mathematics, Hindi, and English.
- Total number of participants: 34
- Language: The workshop was conducted in Kannada.
Abstract:
The monsoons are vital for life in the Indian sub-continent. As such, they touch every aspect of our lives from food, clothing, and shelter to music, poetry, and economy. Using Geography as a framework to understand the nature of the monsoon phenomena, this workshop looked at how to integrate a wide variety of subjects while teaching about the monsoon. The teachers developed inter-disciplinary lesson units for different grade levels and presented them.
Background:
With this workshop, TIIGS began a three-part collaboration with AIF (read about the other teachers workshop and a students workshop also) .
The philosophy of TIIGS fosters inter-disciplinary thinking, pedagogy, and practice among all subjects. Geography is not only a subject in its own right, it is also a natural home where all subjects meet. This approach leads to meaningful “horizontal integration” — integrating subjects within one grade level — to help students learn both Geography the inter-disciplinary approach.
Precis:
Day 1 was devoted to understanding the general structure, timings, and Geographies (yes, plural) of India’s monsoons. This was, as with all TIIGS presentations, interactive and with multi-sensory, multi-media inputs. The participants even sang in groups — the songs pertained to the monsoons. The presentation connected the monsoon Geographies to all other subjects, including some that are usually not part of a curriculum.
On Day 2, participants prepared a lesson-unit that covered the subject that each person taught. Each lesson unit was aimed at different a school level. These lesson units have been left with the participants with a request that they revise it and implement it.
Read the report on the participant feedback here. (Requires PDF reader)
Listening to a participant’s self- introduction.
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Teacher presenting his group’s lesson unit.
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A teacher arguing vigorously with a colleague.
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Mediating a very animated and passionate debate!
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Teacher talking about how art can be made part of teaching monsoon geographies.
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The workshop participants with the presenter.