M

ROLE OF TEXTBOOK IN TEACHING

Teaching and learning require some aids to make the process easier. One of these aids is the
textbook which is very important and the focus of this article. A textbook is a book
containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention
of explaining it.

Textbooks are an essential tool for the educational system.

Benefits of Using Textbooks

1. Textbooks serve as a guide to the prescribed curriculum and syllabus. They ensure
that topics covered are similar across different schools and states.
2. It transmits knowledge, skills, attitudes and values to the teacher and student alike.
3. It provides guidelines for teaching and learning. So, the teacher knows what is
expected when teaching particular topics. They also know the best approach to help
students assimilate better.
4. Textbooks save time and energy when searching for information since it is a source
of the material. They are an easily accessible reference point. It is a readily available
source of information.
5. Using textbooks makes teaching various subjects systematic as it is arranged
according to themes. For this reason, it is easier for students to follow the lessons
and understand them better.
6. They play major roles for weak students to achieve good grades as they are able to
read on their own in more details.
7. It is a reliable point of reference. Because they are properly researched and
therefore credible, while most information on the internet is added randomly.
8. Provides students with several examples, activities and experiments related to the
topics so they can understand better.
9. Textbooks are illustrated so students are able to picture and visualize concepts.
10. They are a footpath and lighthouse as they provide detailed information and also
provides references in case students or teachers require further information.

IMPORTANCE OF EVS IN PRIMARY STAGE

Environmental Studies (EVS) at the primary stage envisages exposing children to the real
situations in their surroundings to help them connect, be aware of, appreciate and be
sensitized towards the prevailing environmental issues (natural, physical, social and
cultural).  Beginning with child’s immediate surroundings (including natural, social, physical
and cultural settings) related to self, home, school and family in the early grades and
gradually moving on to the wider environment (neighbourhood and community at large),
EVS not only helps children to get acquainted with their own environment but it also
strengthens their bond with it.
 THEME – FOOD
Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support and energy to an organism. It can be
raw, processed or formulated and is consumed orally by animals for growth, health or pleasure.
Food is mainly composed of water, lipids, proteins and carbohydrates. Minerals (e.g. salts) and
organic substances (e.g. vitamins) can also be found in food. Plants, algae and some microorganisms
use photosynthesis to make their own food molecules. Water is found in many foods and has been
defined as a food by itself. Water and fibre have low energy densities, or calories, while fat is the
most energy dense component. Some inorganic (non-food) elements are also essential for plant and
animal functioning.
Human food can be classified in various ways, either by related content or by how the food is
processed. The number and composition of food groups can vary. Most systems include four basic
groups that describe their origin and relative nutritional function: Vegetables and Fruit, Cereals and
Bread, Dairy, and Meat.
The concept map given below is made by keeping some simple things in mind that are taught to the
students at primary level.
 PRIVATE PUBLISHER BOOK ANALYSIS

BOOK NAME: ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

WRITTEN BY: Mrs. RACHNA JAIN
EDITED BY: Mrs. BHAWNA MALHOTRA
PUBLISHER: VIVA EDUCATION
PUBLISHED IN: NO INFORMATION WRITTEN ON BOOK
NO. OF PAGES: 140 PAGES
PRICE: Rs. 485(The book is quite costly and might not be affordable
by everyone)
BINDING: THE BOOK IS BINDED TIGHTLY AND IT IS DIFFICULT TO
KEEP THE BOOK OPEN. CHILDREN MAY FACE DIFFICULTY IN READING
THE WORDS WRITTEN IN CORNERS.
PAPER QUALITY: PAPER QUALITY IS GOOD. THE PAPER IS NEITHER
TOO THIN NOR TOO THICK.
AVAILABILITY: EASILY AVAILABLE
FONT: THE FONT IS NORMAL AND READABLE. (The font used are
very interesting and readable, the varieties of colours used makes
the students interested towards the book)
CHAPTER NAME: FOOD (The name of the chapter is self- explanatory
and similar. Learner easily gets the idea about the content of the
chapter after reading the name)
THICKNESS OF BOOK: The book is not too light not too heavy. A child
of grade 3 can easily handle the book
 COVER PAGE
[The book that I got doesn’t have front page as the book is not in a good condition.
But from the available information return on the book I found one cover page on the
Google which I used for my analysis.]
The cover page is quite attractive and full of different colours. On the cover page it is
shown Thought a girl and boy are planting a sapling and the boy is watering whereas
a girl is planting it in mud. Children are surrounded by flowers, trees, leaves, animals
such as squirrel and a bird. In the cover page toucan is seen which may attract the
child toward themselves due to its large beak. Moreover, the name of the book
environmental studies is written in a big free hand font and the largest font is used in
the cover pages compared to the whole book. In addition to this, the name of the
publication is given on the book and its promotion of digital version is present in the
corner of the right side of the book. Teacher can ask a question to the student that
“what the children are doing and why it is necessary”? it helps the child to think
about something that is present on the cover page which we usually ignore and just
look at the page without thinking it's importance. The cover page maybe makes a
child curious to know about the activity and try to do the activity on their own as
most of them have never done this type of activities.
 CONTENT
There are 17 chapters and three sample papers in this book. The average length of each
chapter is 9 pages; it is calculated by observing the length of the chapter given in the
content page. The content page is simple having a boundary which consists of leaves, fishes,
butterflies and some water droplets. While Observing, the content we noticed that some
chapters are arranged in very asymmetrical form. We can relate the content of chapter 1
with chapter 4. Some of the chapters are arranged in such a way that next chapter is
related with the previous one where as in some chapter there are a lot of gaps in between
which may create confusion in the child mind and may form some learning gaps. Chapter is
preceded with next chapter of same theme it will help the child to relate and create a better
understanding. The theme be selected is food and there is a separate chapter of the theme
named food and nutrition which is followed by tongue and teeth and then beak and claws
which is somehow related to my theme. The font used is easily readable by the child.
Moreover the size of the font is neither too big nor too small. The child can easily read the
content of the book. If some more pictures or illustration is used in content page it will look
quite interesting to read.
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Acknowledgement given in this book is also different from the given in other books as be
usually notice that acknowledgement given in other books consist of the thoughts and
gratitude given to different people by the author but in this book acknowledgement is filled
with sites from where pictures are taken which is usually ignored by most of the writers and
none of us seen these types f acknowledgements in the other books we have read earlier.
The page seems quite confusing and due to less space between the content, there are
circles to distinguish between two lines and two separate words. As we know most of us
never read acknowledgement but if someone tries to read this page maybe he or she will
get confused my reading this. We also got an idea by looking at the things written in bracket
the pictures available in the chapter.
 STARTING OF THE BOOK
After cover page and before content there is a page given in the book which
helped the child to revise their previous knowledge. In the page some activities
are given and all are different from each other. Activities include hot questions,
in text questions matching picture collecting and summing up. The activities
seem interesting and help the teacher to easily engage the child in the
classroom. Also, it easily grabbed the child's attention and the teacher gets an
idea about the previous knowledge of the child. Moreover, some questions
given in the page are related the Childs life and close ended but the extension
of such questions by the teacher makes the open ended, like Anita is
celebrating Diwali by lightning diyas and making rangoli. She will not be
bursting crackers how she is concerned about environment. It is a close ended
question but by adding 1 more question like - how you celebrate Diwali at your
home this questions brings a lot of different answers and viewpoints in the
classroom. There are so many pictures in this page which makes it quite
attractive the font used for the headings of the activity are quite large as
compared with the font using questions as they are do small but the child will
may feel difficulty while reading. Usually this type of sheet is available either
before the chapters or at the end of the content but here in the very starting it
is given which is different from the other books.

VISUALS AND ILLUSTRATIONS OF

COMPLETE BOOK

The book is full with different pictures and boxes of different colours. Some pictures are
depicted in form of cartoon drawing whereas, some other real pictures present in the book.
On average four pictures are present on one page the quality of the pictures are quite clear.
We didn't find any blur picture in the complete book. Also the box give given in between the
chapters or at the end of the chapter are light colours and same colour theme is used in
complete book. for example, the “did you know box” is of light mud coloured and “let's do
it” box is of green colour and this colour theme is the same throughout the book apart from
these two boxes there are other like “let's talk”, “hots”, “summing up”, “let's have fun” etc.
The pictures given in the chapters for better understanding of the text and in some picture it
is mention below the picture what the picture is all about picture is not used for
minimization of text but for enhancing or enriching the Concept.

INTRODUCTION OF CHAPTER
The chapter and the theme we selected is related to Childs daily life so while reading the
chapter the child will be engaged with the concept but it also depends on how the chapter is
given in the book and how the teacher proceeds it. The chapter is introduced with a
question, what food you had yesterday for breakfast, lunch or dinner and the child have to
fill this in a table. And the question is followed by another question that can you identify the
source of the food you ate in each meal this question is something both closed ended and
open-ended it depends on answer that we get from the children. The introduction is
continued with the topic “food from plants” and after completion of the each topic one or
two questions are given so that the child related with the content and framed in such a way
that it is related to child’s life. The major topic covers in this chapter is “food from plants”
“food from animals”, “nutrition’s from food”, “how food reaches us” and “eating together”
and “food on special occasions”. There are many subtopics under these topics. Most of the
topics given in the chapter are easily understandable by the child.

VISUALS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

Visuals and illustrations grab attention of young learners. It is very helpful in engaging them
with content. The chapter has lots of illustrations, be it in heading of chapters, borders, page
numbers, etc. also visuals related to topics are given, which act as visual aids for children.
With every topic or subtopic there is a picture given, that helps students to understand well.
Pictures are available for enriching or enhancing the concept not for minimization of text.
Moreover, for better understanding of concept it is mentioned below the picture that what
it depicts and wants the learner to understand. Child will be familiar with mostly all pictures
but there are some pictures for instance- picture of a “bowl of oats” or a “plum cake” which
may not be seen by the child.
 NCF also tells how visualization of concepts is important for abstraction of mathematical
concepts by child.

LENGTH AND LANGUAGE USED

The average length of all the chapters is around 10 pages which include the
previous concepts as well as the new concept throughout the book. The fonts
and language of the chapter is quite clear and legible which make it easy for
the student to understand the things and grab their attention and interest
towards the book. The language is easy and understandable by the child. No
such difficult word is used. Vocabulary used is graded and controlled. The help
of pic\ture is rightly taken to convey the meaning of words and structures. At
some places boxes are given which helps the child to build the concept in
better way and relate it with his/her day-to-day life activities. Moreover, the
font used in the book is easily readable and the largest font used is in the name
of the chapter which was followed by topics, subtopics and then the texts.

FOOTNOTES AND BOXES GIVEN

The book is filled with boxes and footnotes. Apart from main content all other additional
content are given in the boxes and at the end of every chapter an additional content or
story related to the chapter is given in the box. In this book footnotes includes activities,
questions, and some additional information related to the content. The use of boxes of
various kind, grabs the attention of child easily as compared to normal text. The book
consist of some great footnotes includes some fact, definition or ideas to make the learning
of the topic comprehensive and complete.

EXERCISE GIVEN
The exercise section is divided into – ‘Fill in the blanks’, ‘order the steps’, ‘Match the food
with its source’, ‘answer the following question’, ‘hots’, ‘Let’s have fun’ it is very clear from
the headings itself that exercises under these headings are particularly for development of
children’s reading, speaking, writing skills respectively, and they develop listening skills
while listening to the teacher or fellow mates read the chapter in class .
These questions allow children to revisit the story and look at the details, and
answer the questions. These questions test the remembering power of
children, how much they are able to retain. It helps them understand the story
in a better way. A question also asks children to describe the process of
different stages in farmer’s work. If the teacher allows them to write it in their
own word and express this answer themselves instead of just copying and
pasting from the content. It would help children use their own words and
write; it would help them use words from their vocabulary. And put their own
thinking in it. It is very important to let children write and speak in their own
words and describe things, it helps them express their thoughts in a better
way.

The hot question given at end of the chapter, and it plays an important part in concept
development of the child. Higher-order questions are those that the students cannot
answer just by simple recollection or by reading the information “verbatim” from the text.
Higher-order questions put advanced cognitive demand on students. They encourage
students to think beyond literal questions.
 
Higher-order questions promote critical thinking skills because these types of questions
expect students to apply, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information instead of simply
recalling facts. The hot question is interesting and thoughtful indicates that the children
need to think they are not bound to a single meaning of lines but are given chance and
freedom to think creatively and differently and express themselves. Ncf of 2005 also tell us
to give children freedom to think creatively and construct their own meaning and
knowledge
This question Encourage child to go beyond the content and think about it relating to reality
ncf 2005 also states that children need to be taught in relation to their environment and
surrounding and also check their understanding about the theme. Here the question ask “do
you think that midday meal should be every Childs right” it encourage children to observe
their surroundings also this question help them to learn about the schemes of the
government related to food this question is giving space to the Childs thought in the
classroom And also according to ncf 2005 the school should not be a barrier between Childs
life at home and the school life.
The chapter ends with an activity named let's have fun in which they have to make a chart in
the team through this activity children get the chance to interact that is hear others and also
speak and discuss together. In our subject language across curriculum previous year we
started when we read reading by “Krishna Kumar” we learned that classroom discussions
are very important. children should be encourage to speak and listen to other so this
question also promote peer learning and give chance to children to express and share their
thoughts with others and at the same time understand and acknowledge others point of
view.

SOCIO-CULTURAL ASPECTS
Theme explained through cultural perspective examples allow student not only to reflect
and appreciate their own culture but others too to form helps to form an inclusive
classroom. . The involvement of all members of community is an official part of integration
into the classroom. Also gender bias language should not be used in any case. We see no
gender bias language or word is used in the book but it is shown that a girl is preparing the
food which it’s considered normal in our society. Moreover, one interesting thing that we
observe in the book is apart from girls is in the kitchen we have seen girl as a pilot in the
next chapter which is encouraging for most of the girls in the classroom who are pursuing
this dream. The chapter takes up food available in our surrounding and explain everything
by the surrounding environment of children which is common to all. For example, The food
shown in the chapter are majorly known by most of the children and use of different types
of food cereals spices brings a lot of diverse content and information in the class and a good
discussion would take place.

Overall analysis [pvt. publisher]

ANALYSIS FOR BOTH BOOK AND THEME

The concept and the content are placed in such a way that there is a hierarchy
between the concepts. The content start with a major topic and followed by
the subtopics and move in such a way that it follows a proper pattern i.e., it
starts with food from plants and then move towards food from animals and
followed by nutrition from food and balanced diet and major functions of food
and how we get it. Majorly all the topics are almost covered which are
required in class 4. It will help in construction of concept in a connected
manner and the child will appreciate the connectedness of the concept. The
task/activities/ questions are age appropriate and related to the child's daily
life and their surrounding that learners easily relate them with their life for
example; most of the questions revolve around the food they usually eat in
their daily life. Even the chapter starts with a question that what you ate in
your breakfast lunch and dinner and followed by most of the questions that
how foods are cooked in your home what are your favourite daal etc. and the
language used in these tasks are easily understandable by the child.
Moreover, the content gives enough opportunities to the child to develop
various process skills such as classifying, ordering, predicting, grouping, finding
relationships between the concept, hypothesising, questioning etc. which we
have learned in our LME and PEVS classes. It is true that all these skills will not
develop consciously or knowingly in one chapter but unknowingly every
chapter gives the child the scope to develop one or two process skills . Such as
concept skill of questioning and communicating affectively explicitly noticed
from the texts that “draw the chain of event that shows the journey of
sandwich from field to your tiffin.” Such questions in the book help the child to
communicate with the teacher and among themselves as well. It is also
assumed by us that normal questions related to the chapter will be asked by
the students but if the chapter is introduced or understood by the child very
well then maybe he/she will ask the question that are not mentioned in the
book but for their understanding. It helps to develop both formal and
informal method of learning in the classroom. The exercise given in the book
helps the child to revisit the previous topics of themes and helpful for the
teacher to assess for the child had learned in the chapter. If they are doing
some errors it will help the teacher to analyse where or which type of problem
the child is facing as it is conceptual problem or understanding problem of the
child. The book is full of illustration which makes it colourful and attractive.
The only major drawback we found is the chapter introduced in this book vary
from chapter to chapter as some of the chapters are introduced by small
questions where is some are introduced with the small activity but in some
chapter the activities are not that much interesting and it is also observed that
in one or two chapter directly the content is started which Leads to losing of
Childs interest and limit the development of some process skills. Moreover,
the book provides ample opportunities for home task and return work.