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Showing posts from July, 2023

Vaping and e-cigarettes: A Threat to the Well-being of School Children

In recent years, vaping and e-cigarettes have gained popularity among school children who are enticed by the allure of looking ‘cool’ and ‘adventurous’. However, what might seem like harmless fun can have severe consequences on physical, mental, emotional, and social health of these youngsters. The editorial of The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health journal categorically mentions that, “Despite being marketed as a safer alternative to cigarettes, e-cigarettes are highly addictive and harmful. The high nicotine content (even in some products labelled “nicotine-free”) can lead to dependency over time, posing a unique risk to the developing brain. Emerging evidence suggests adverse effects on long-term development of brain structure and function, as well as potential changes in neurocognition and behaviour. E-cigarettes also contain chemicals harmful to young lungs (e.g., ultra fine particles, volatile organic compounds, heavy metals), resulting in adverse cardiopulmonary effects, chron

Innovative Teaching Pedagogies – Need of the hour

Dear Teachers Greetings! We all are aware of the fact that under the NEP-2020, CBSE lays great emphasis on implementing innovative teaching pedagogies in our schools to enhance students' learning experiences. Here, I would like to share with you some ideas and suggestions for incorporating four very important pedagogies namely experiential learning, storytelling, art-integrated learning, and sports-integrated learning in your day to day teaching practices: 1. Experiential Learning Experiential learning is an engaged learning process whereby the students ‘learn by doing’ and by reflecting on the experience. Experiential learning activities can include, but are not limited to, hands-on laboratory experiments, simulations, internships, field trips, research based projects and performances. Learning that is considered ‘experiential’ contains the following elements - 1. Reflection, critical analysis and synthesis. 2. Opportunities for students to take initiative, make