Learning & Education: Books, Reports & Newsletters

PostedonApr. 27, 2014in Learning and Education

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Resources for Learning & Education: Books, Reports & Newsletters

Books

  1. Big Rain was written when the author Gayathri Bashi tried to explain to her three-year-old how the devastating floods in Kerala had affected family and friends and so many, many others. It talks to children through very simple text and evocative visuals, ending with the important reminder that if you look after nature, nature will look after you. It enables conversations that can heal and empower. (checked on 4 Feb. 2019)
  2. Textbooks for Sustainable Development: a Guide to Embedding  provides a toolkit to enable textbook authors to place Education for Sustainable Development at the core of their subjects in ways that are at once practical for them and interesting and relevant to the students. In fact, it demonstrates successfully how ESD has become an important indicator of educational quality. (checked on 7 Feb. 2018)
  3. People and Wildlife edited by Tanya Majmudar and Sujatha Padmanabhan. 10 short stories (for readers of age 10+) from across the country about people who have special bonds with the wildlife around them. (checked on 12 Sep. 2018)
  4. A Forgotten Liberator: The Life and Struggle of Savitribai Phule (translated from Marathi) has essays on the 19th century woman who waged a battle against caste inhumanity, patriarchy and oppressive orthodoxy and became India’s first woman teacher. (checked on 13 Jun. 2019)
  5. Deschooling Society by Ivan Illich advocates for creating educational webs which heighten the opportunity for each one to transform each moment of his living into one of learning, sharing, and caring. The book searches for criteria which may help us distinguish institutions which merit development because they support learning in a deschooled milieu; and to clarify those personal goals which would foster the advent of an Age of Leisure (schole) as opposed to an economy dominated by service industries. (checked on 24 Oct. 2017)
  6. So that we know, by Zena Sorabjee, is a handy children’s guide to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations in 1948. Published by Vakils, Feffer & Simmons Pvt. Ltd., the illustrated book explains the contents of the 30 articles with simple stories, explaining the concepts of equal justice, equal opportunity and equal dignity without discrimination in neighbourhoods, at schools and in other places. (checked on 25 Jun. 2015)
  7. Something to Chew On – How much thought do we give to Food, its textures, aromas, tastes and colours? Kalpavriksh’s book for young readers talks about the history of food, what it does to the Earth and so on. (checked on 2 Sep. 2016)
  8. Hindi ki Duniya series of textbooks and workbooks, complete with audio CDs and flashcards, has been published by Orient Blackswan Ltd. The books have been designed keeping in mind the situation of non-Hindi speaking children of classes 1-5 who learn Hindi as a second or third language. The content and methodology of these books has evolved slowly and organically in the classrooms of Rishi Valley School over a period of more than 18 years. (checked on 25 Jun. 2015)
  9. Our Experiments with Ragi (illustrated booklet) – recipes by The Ragi Project run by students and staff of Poorna Learning Centre, Bangalore. (download pdf https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=YXB1LmVkdS5pbnx3b3JrLWluLXNjaG9vbHN8Z3g6N2QzNjA2ZDQwMzgxZTg2MA) (checked on 18 Jan. 2018)
  10. A Naturalist’s Journal by M Yuvan published by Notion Press is a book for people of all ages that will surely make you look at spiders, caterpillars and many of Nature’s creations with new eyes and a gladdened heart.  Any teacher taking children on Nature walks or struggling to make biology classes interesting can use his essays to bring in a spark of excitement and involvement to children today who are so alienated from Nature. (Checked on 23 Oct. 2017)
  11. Work and Wisdom of Vernacular Educators from India by Multiworld India. (checked on 25 Jun. 2015)
  12. English translation of the book Divaswapna by Gijubhai Badheka,  one of the pioneers of children’s education in India. (checked on 25 Jun. 2015)
  13. The Documentation centre at INTACH, New Delhi has several books and journals on museums, art history, environment, newspaper clippings and other online resources. (checked on 25 Jun. 2015)
  14. The Library at Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai is one of the largest libraries in the country on Natural History, it also has a vast collection of old books on the subject. (checked on 25 Jun. 2015)
  15. The Poop Book (see a review) by Tejaswini Apte-Rahm and Sujatha Padmanabhan, published by Kalpavriksh. (checked on 3 Jul. 2018)
  16. The Marathi book Mor Mitranchi Shala (meaning The School of the Friends of the Peacock) is a compilation of articles that describe how education was taken into the homes of the children of deprived (Katkari adivasi and Gavali-Dhangar) communities of Chiplun (in Ratnagiri district) of Maharashtra, by volunteers of Shramik Sahayog, the organisation that has also published the book (2014) edited by Rajan Indulkar (Phone: 02355-256004). (checked on 25 Jun. 2015)
  17. Our Land Our Life – A curriculum for children of rural communities in India, researched and prepared by Nyla Coelho and published by Organic Farming Association of India, Goa. (checked on 3 Nov. 2015)
  18. Tending a Schoolyard Garden is an introductory handbook (based on best practices from field tests for the implementability of skill-based education as outlined in the book Our Land Our Life of curricular ideas of organic farmers) by Nyla Coelho, published by NEG-FIRE. It introduces teachers and schools to the exiciting world of gardening, and through it, to the joy of working alongside children – growing food, cooking it, taking responsibility for the waste created in the process, and in doing so, teaching and learning vital lessons for life. It comes with a detailed list of carefully selected resources, also provided on the CD that comes with the handbook. Distributed by Peoples Books, email:[email protected]. (checked on 25 Jun. 2015)
  19. Learning at Bodhshala written by Rajan Venkatesh, and published by Society for the Integrated Development of Himalayas (SIDH) and Other India Press. The author ran the school at SIDH for four years. His experiments in education revolved around a Production-Integrated Basic Education programme inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘Buniyadi Shiksha.’ Venkatesh sought to implement a curriculum which would re-orient the school to its community. To this end, the students set-up a seed bank, assisted in the farming and production of various spices and herbs, and learnt crafts like carpentry and tailoring. (checked on 25 Jun. 2015)
  20. Learning for Living: Towards a new vision for post-school learning by Britt Baatjes et al. In the (South African) context of deepening inequality, poverty and unemployment, the need for a humanising, liberating and critical approach to learning and pedagogy in post-school education is becoming urgent. The rural and urban voices that speak in this book tell us that the current system is out of touch with the ways in which they are making a life. (checked on 10 May 2018)

Articles, Essays & Reports

  1. Madras Naturalists’ Society comes up with internship on nature by Prince Frederick. Offered by Madras Naturalists’ Society, Urban Wilderness Walks equips life science students to conduct nature walks in their neck of the woods as well as biodiversity-rich spaces and to help create a culture that fuels interest in citizen science. (checked on 10 Nov. 2021)

  2. Social Movements and Educational Change: A Case Study of the Adivasi Munnetra Sangam by Amman Madan, Rama Sastry and B Ramdas. It illustrates how fundamental shifts in control of power within the system can result in greater inclusion of oppressed groups. (checked on 11 Feb. 2019)
  3. Nai Talim Today: Gandhi’s Critique of Industrialism and An Education for Swaraj by Pallavi Varma Patil and Suit Sinha. The authors argue that an imagination of reinvented Nai Talim is possible today in Indigenous communities, where there is a spirited resistance to industrialism, looking, as an example, at the ongoing experiment of the Zapatistas of Chiapas, Mexico. (checked on 3 Feb. 2022)
  4. A report Waste Matters put together by students of Class 11 (2017-18) of The Valley School in a year as part of their Environmental Studies coursework, and a booklet Let’s Learn about Our Waste which captures some of their work and learning and a link to a survey  on ‘Waste’ which they compiled and analyzed. (checked on 9 Jun. 2018)
  5. In the essay What does it mean to do Biology in the age of extinction? the author Kaustubh Rau attempts to provide answers to the question, do biologists have a added responsibility in responding to the climate emergency within the context of their discipline? If yes, what is the kind of Biology that should be practised going forward and what are the changes we should make to reduce carbon emissions as a community? (checked on 16 Sep. 2019)
  6. Adharshila Shikshan Kendra: An experiment to reconstitute possibilities for Adivasi children (a paper) by Karishma Desai. It argues that Adharshila Shikshan Kendra’s educational innovations exemplify efforts to reconstitute Adivasi citizenship by imagining new ways of relating, being, and belonging. (checked on 25 Nov. 2019)
  7. Shared Schooling Practices of the Education Network, written by Mr. B. Ramdas. All members of the Education Network are persons who have felt that there was something that both rural and urban schools were missing and so in their own way as teachers, educationists, formally or non-formally, have attempted to create spaces for children to build a better life for all. Most have been working with marginalised communities, but others have also been working with the middle class. (checked on 25 Jun. 2015)0
  8. ‘The Education Question’ from the perspective of Adivasis: Conditions, Policies and Structures (2012) by P. Veerbhadranaika, Revathi Sampath Kumaran, Shivali Tukdeo and A. R. Vasavi, published by the National Institute of Advanced Studies. (checked on 25 Jun. 2015)
  9. We are not too young by Linda Kabaira. Story (based in Zimbabwe) on an attempt to encourage generations of system thinkers by bringing the ethics and principles of permaculture design and regenerative systems into the classroom. (checked on 20 Jul. 2018)
  10. The Public School Nightmare: Why Fix a System Designed to Destroy Individual Thought? Gatto, J. (1996). In M. H. (Eds.), Deschooling Our Lives. Gabriola Island, BC, Canada: New Society Publishers. (checked on 25 Jun. 2015)
  11. On the Wildness of Children: the revolution will not take place in a classroom by Carol Black discusses why the institutionalised learning model needs replacement to let children develop their own potential. When free to run in the open air, to move, to speak, to ask questions, to explore, to play, to work, to participate, the child who is ”wild” in a classroom becomes a human being, a friendly, helpful companion, she observes. (checked on 16 Jan. 2018)

  12. Six Ideas for System Change by John Foran. The musing of a U.S.-based educator-activist, tending to focus around what university teachers could and should be doing in aid of our students in combating the climate crisis. (checked on 4 Feb. 2020)
  13. Schools for Wisdom by David Brooks describes a shift from content to life skills as the proper response to a high-tech economy, and analyses its relevance. (checked on 18 Oct. 2015)

  14. To prepare climate strikers for the future, we need to rewrite the history books by Amanda Power. This article discusses why the climate strike generation needs to think about how societies over the centuries have obtained, organised and used resources, and what the consequences have been for human inequality and the environment, and learn from the ways of living, thinking, and gaining knowledge of different indigenous communities around the globe,  for their practices are appropriate from the ecological point of view. (checked on 6 Mar. 2020)

  15. The Parrot’s Training, by Rabindranath Tagore, Pioneer in Education, excerpted from: V. Bhatia (ed.) 1994 New Delhi: Sahitya Chayan.  A copy may be ordered from Banyan Tree. (checked on 24 Mar. 2016)
  16. Education as an instrument of cultural defoliation: A multi-voice report, by Zerbo, J. K. (1997). In M. R. Bawtree(Eds.), The Post-Development Reader (pp. 152-160). Halifax: Fernwood Books. (checked on 25 Jun. 2015)
  17. Empowering the Rural Poor to Develop Themselves: The Barefoot Approach, by Roy, B (2008). Massachusetts: Innovations. (checked on 25 Jun. 2015)
  18. Medak Schools Grow Their Mid-day Meal. This report by CEE Andhra Pradesh describes the process followed in Andhra Pradesh at the end of which 108 of the 136 schools (that were able to develop gardens) want to continue the activity in the coming year as well. Many schools have started collecting seeds for the next year. Most schools produced the vegetables without using chemicals. A manual for teachers was developed in Telugu and a bimonthly newsletter was circulated to share news and updates between the schools, the field co-ordinators and others involved in the programme. (checked on 25 Jun. 2015)
  19. Death and Rebirth of Atlantida: The Role of Social Learning in Bringing about Transformative Sustainability Processes in an Ecovillage (in Colombia) by Marth Chaves et al. The authors explore the role of social learning in bringing about transformative sustainability processes among individuals and communities. At a time when sustainability is being seriously questioned in terms of what it is and how it can be implemented and evaluated, there are increasing calls to focus instead on sustainability processes. (checked on 27 July 2017)
  20. What a new university in Africa is doing to decolonise social sciences the African Leadership University in Mauritius is working towards a decolonial social science curriculum. They’ve adopted seven commitments to help meet this goal, and which they hope will shift educational discourse in a more equitable and representative direction. (15 May 2017)

  21. Imagining the “open” university: Sharing scholarship to improve research and education by Erin C. McKiernan states that open scholarship, such as the sharing of articles, code, data, and educational resources, has the potential to improve university research and education as well as increase the impact universities can have beyond their own walls. To support this perspective, he presents evidence from case studies, published literature, and personal experiences as a practicing open scholar. (checked on 15 Nov. 2017)

  22. जोतिबांचे लेक : संस्कारक्षम मनाचं घडणं – लेखक हरीश सदानी. मुलांचं व्यक्तिगत तसंच वस्ती-समुदायातील लोकांचं स्वास्थ्य केंद्रस्थानी ठेवून भोरमध्ये ३ ते ६ वर्ष वयोगटातील मुलांना ‘प्रोजेक्ट री-इमॅजिन’ द्वारे मोफत शिक्षण पुरवताना शिक्षण-संशोधन, शिक्षक-प्रशिक्षण, पालकांचा सहभाग वाढवण्यासाठी नावीन्यपूर्ण उपक्रम हे सारं समांतर सुरू ठेवणा-या स्वप्निल गायकवाडांविषयी लेख. (30 मे 2021 रोजी लिंक तपासली आहे)

Newsletters

  1. Ecoversities (completed 5 years) has somewhere around 180 ‘member’ organizations from around 40 countries, and over 300 individuals with active regional weavings in Latin America , the Pacific, India, Europe, Africa, North America and the Arab world. Here is their newsletter. (checked on 22 Sep. 2020)
  2. Located in Munsiari (Uttarakhand), Jungli School is an informal gathering of young and old that comes together to learn and have fun. The idea behind their newsletter was to say hello to all the people who had shared some learning with the Jungli School at one point of time or another, and to share some news with them. Newsletter for 2014 in Hindi, Newsletter for 2014 in English, Newsletter for 2015 in English. 2017 in Hindi and 2017 in English. Send your feedback.(checked on 2 Jan. 2018)
  3. Geography and You (G’nY), the development and environment magazine, addresses various issues related to India’s infrastructural, environmental, social and economic concerns. (checked on 25 Jun. 2015)
  4. Centre for Environment Education (CEE) brings out newsletters to spread awareness on environmental and sustainable development issues among a wide cross-section of people. (checked on 25 Jun. 2015)
  5. Education for Change blog and newsletter. (checked on 25 Jun. 2015)
  6. A newspaper In English as well as Tamil on the theme of ‘Forests’ by 12-14-year-old students of Vidya Vanam school in Anaikatti, Tamil Nadu. (checked on 17 Aug. 2018)
  7. The TeacherPlus magazine now is a folio-sized, full colour publication with a glossy cover and each issue comes with a separate pull-out poster or a set of activity sheets. (checked on 25 Jun. 2015)
  8. Krishnamurti Foundation India publishes Newsletters in English and Indian Languages – an opportunity to understand the teachings of J. Krishnamurti. (checked on 25 Jun. 2015)
  9. Newsletter – Dec. 2015 by students of the The Creativity Adda which is in operation at a Govt. school in Darya Ganj, Delhi. The Adda is based on the pedagogy of self-designed learning and draws inspiration from Gandhi’s Nai Taleem, Tagore’s Shantiniketan, democratic school movement, and others. (checked on 18 Jan. 2016)
  10. Newsletter of Viswa Bharathi Vidyodaya Trust (VBVT), Gudalur (checked on 19 Oct. 2018)
  11. Newsletter of Puvidham Learning Centre – a learning center for local kids, set up near Dharmapuri, Tamil Nadu, with a focus on farming. (checked on 10 Jan. 2019) A recent issue of their Newsletter (checked on Oct. 2021)
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