CTET (Social Science) Official Paper-II May 2016 (English-Hindi-Sanskrit) (Previous Year Paper)

Assessment plays a significant role in the teaching-learning process. Assessment of learning helps a teacher to design his/her teaching in a better way and to know the attainment level of learners in the subject content.

The student understands exactly what they are to learn, what is expected of them and are given feedback and advice on how to improve their work, this is also creative as feedback is given to students based on the results obtained from this assessment so that both the student and teacher can improve their learning process.

• Differentiated learning and teaching strategies refer to those strategies which fulfil the need of every individual whether it is learner, curriculum or teacher.
• An assessment helps a learner to know his /her learning progress.
• Assessment of performance of learners not only helps a teacher to make academic decisions but also provides him/her feedback on the teaching strategies adopted by him/her, his/her level of teaching.
• Assessment is the determinant of learning. Learning can be enhanced by enhancing suitable teaching-learning strategies.
• Assessment is feedback given by teachers, differentiated instructions and opportunities to respond enabled the students to develop concepts at a higher rate.

Thus from above-mentioned points, it is clear that assessment is carried out during teaching-learning to create differentiated teaching and learning strategies.

Important Points

Assessment can be classified into four types on the basis of their purposes-

First Generation Learners are the first in their family lineage to get formal education. The ancestors of such learners were deprived of education due to various reasons. 

They generally belong to the socio-economically disadvantaged communities like Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

• Such children mostly participate a great deal in domestic work and have poor exposure to the outside world.
• They suffer from many problems arising out of poverty and ignorance such as poor health, poor self-confidence, malnutrition etc.
• First Generation learners should be allowed to set their own pace and be given supplementary remedial instruction.
• First generation learners appear to be the most disadvantaged among all learners. They have the double handicap of having class/caste disadvantage as well as a totally illiterate background.

Two broad influencing factors with respect to students’ challenges have been identified as parental support and teacher intervention.

• The teacher must have talk to the children to understand them and make the classroom environment conducive to their learning.
• Teachers also felt a need to pay more attention and spend more time on these students.

A socially disadvantaged child is one who is from a socially and economically backward section of the community, who cannot avail from school because of deprivation of one sort or another.

Such children show cumulative academic deficits, high dropout rate and progressive decline in intellectual functioning.

Remedial Measures-

• The curriculum should be specific and related to the needs and real-life experiences.
• Emphasis should be on learning manual skills, life skills and technical efficiency.
• Interest in learning has to be, created by the teacher, effort should be towards developing self-confidence, self-respect and a sense of cultural identity.
• The socially disadvantaged child need special requirements of a learner calling for a specific adjustment in regular education programmes.

Here it is clear that students from disadvantaged backgrounds should be placed in regular schools and efforts should be made to adapt the curriculum and facilitate learning for all the students in the context of their social and cultural context. 

Additional Information

Causes of Social Disadvantage- 

• Some of the major causes are unstimulating environment, lack of verbal interaction with adults, poor sensory experience, poverty, low social status, malnutrition and broken homes. Most of these causes are due to socio-cultural disadvantage.
• Such a child has characteristics like backwardness, frustration, aggression, inferiority complex, alienation and lack of motivation.

Learning disability is a syndrome found in children of normal or above intelligence characterized by specific difficulties in learning to read (dyslexia), to write (dysgraphia), and to do grade-appropriate mathematics (dyscalculia). 

Key Points

Education of a child with a learning disability-

• Inclusion strategies are the provisions by state and national authorities that students with learning disabilities should be educated with nondisabled students of their age.
• Additional instructional resources can be used for children with LD while teaching them in a general classroom.
• Teachers should make effort to adopt such methods to enhance the understanding and participation of LD children with other children.
• Feedback and corrections are used and are shown to affect children’s participation and performance positively.
• Peer-mediated instruction and computer-assisted instruction are the other methods used.
• An individualized teaching program is required so that the child may get specific instruction in the areas of specific need, like reading, writing, or math.

Thus it is clear that a child with Learning Disability has a right to study in a regular school where there are special provisions for him.

Important Points

Some learning disabilities-

Children are divided into different categories based on their interests, behavior, nature, I.Q level, understandings, grasping abilities, etc.

Important Points 

• Creative children: 
• These categories of children have divergent thinking, curious in nature, exceptional from normal children, have I.Q ≥ 120, and is able to find solutions for different problems on their own.
• Talented children:
• They are those who show high-performance capability in several areas such as artistic and creative work, leadership quality, keen power of observation, etc.

Key Points

Talented and creative children need to be given special attention to enable them to reach their full potential as:

• these children have divergent thinking and are very curious in nature that's why sometimes the classroom seems monotonous to them because they grab things fastly than of their age-peers.
• so, it's a teacher's responsibility to use customized and stimulating instructions method to make learning interesting for them.

Education of Talented and creative child:

• Reform in evaluation system
• Experimentation and independent research.
• Opportunity for involvement for creative expression.
• Special attention to enable them to reach their full potential.

Hence, it is clear that talented and creative children need to be given special attention to enable them to reach their full potential.

Progressive education advocates that young learners should be given the freedom to learn according to their preferences and likes

Important Points

• Based on the belief that education should primarily serve the needs of children and focus on understanding, action, and experience rather than rote knowledge and memorization.
• Children with special needs are taught along with other children while making special provisions for their needs.
• Special education is individualized education for children with special needs. Special education means, “Specially designed instruction, to meet the unique needs of a child with special needs including instructions conducted in the classrooms.
• A free and democratic atmosphere should be provided in the classroom for the proper development of an individual.

Hence, children with special needs do not have to always study in a separate institution In fact, most of them can learn quite well in general classes of a school. 

Thus from the above-mentioned points, it is clear that in a progressive set-up children with special needs are taught along with other children while making special provisions for their needs.

The learner-centred approach of teaching puts learners in the centre and gives primacy to children's experiences and needs.

It strongly believes that when children are given the freedom to work at their own pace, they develop the ability to assimilate the concepts efficiently.

Important Points

Characteristics of the learner-centred approach of teaching:

• It stresses the importance of enquiry, observation and investigation.
• It takes into account learner's capabilities, capacities and learning styles.
• It uses methods like experiential learning, problem-solving, concept mapping and creative writing.
• It emphasizes to provide ample opportunities to the children to foster their own strategy of learning to perform a task.

Role of teacher in learner-centred teaching:

• In this method**, teachers facilitate students as a facilitator** by providing with proper environment and materials to learn at their own pace.
• Teachers foster children’s learning and development best by building on the existing knowledge, abilities, interests, needs, styles of learning and strengths of the children in the class.
• In this approach, the role of the teacher will be that of a friend, facilitator and a guide who create a conducive learning environment for every child through planned activities.

Hence, it could be concluded that Learner-centred teaching means that learners are given an opportunity to construct knowledge and teacher is a guide in the learning process.

Additional Information

'Learning' means a relatively permanent change in behaviour that occurs as a result of experience with the environment. Learning is a process of acquiring knowledge and remembering information so that it may be applied to life situations.

Learning is fostered when the learner has opportunities to practice the new information, receive feedback and apply the knowledge or skill in familiar and unfamiliar situations, with less and less assistance from others.  Some general guidelines to help the children learn effectively are as follows-

• Give the child ample time for practice and repetition
• Use a variety of teaching materials concrete, pictorial, auditory and visual
• Provide a feedback immediately-i.e., tell the child whether he is correct or not
• by giving ample opportunities to the learner to apply a previously learnt skill in a new area of the application without direct instruction or guidance (adaptation) i.e, connecting new materials with something the child already knows
• let the child continue doing the activities which he already knows. He will become better at them and get the confidence to learn new things.

Thus from above-mentioned points, it is clear that learning can be facilitated by connecting new materials with something the child already knows.

Key Points

Principles of Learning-

• Children Learn by Doing
• Learning Proceeds from Simple to Complex
• Learning Proceeds from Known to Unknown
• Learning Proceeds from Concrete to Abstract
• Learning Proceeds from Whole to Part

In Constructivist teaching-learning, we promote learning for the construction of knowledge by learners themselves.  

• Learning for construction of knowledge is the basic presumption of constructivism.
• The emphasis is on such a learning environment where children can construct their own knowledge, develop their capacities and remain an active learner.

Piaget’s Cognitive Constructivism-

• Piaget has a firm belief that learning is a constructive process.
• Piaget emphasized an active learner who can observe, act, modify, manipulate, transform and construct own meaning of an object or event.
• In Piaget’s constructivism, a child’s language was an ecocentric and nonsocial speech

Vygotsky’s Social Constructivism-

• Vygotsky is known as the proposer of social constructivism. Social Constructivism approach talks about the importance of social interaction and context in learning. He believes that learning is social in nature.
• it emphasized on social context; knowledge is mutually built and constructed.
• Vygotsky is of the view that teacher should provide an environment to children to construct knowledge with peers and teacher i.e. co-construction of knowledge.
• for Vygotsky, children use a lot of private speech not only from social communication but also to plan, guide and regulate their behaviour in self-regulatory fashion.

Thus it is clear that in a constructivist classroom as envisioned by Piaget and Vygotsky, the teacher provides an opportunity for the students to engage in inquiry and problem-solving. Such that they construct their knowledge through organization, observation, adaptation and by the help of peers.

Piaget’s views indicate that there is no knowledge that is pre-existing in the world such that it can be ‘taught to a child. Nor does knowledge comes innately (on its own) to the child. Knowledge develops when she acts in the world. His theory also helps in understanding how children ‘construct’ knowledge. Thus, it is also known as a theory in ‘Constructivism.

Key Points

Cognitive development is the process in which cognition (thinking) develops. It is the orderly development of mental and intellectual processes, like logical thinking, making sense of new ideas, solving the problem and the like, that takes place over a period of time.

Therefore teachers ideally would engage in- following for cognitive development in child- 

• facilitates learning by creating opportunities for the children to engage with the world around them and act on it, this enables children to make sense of the world around them and constructs knowledge.
• the teacher is visualized to be a facilitator of children’s learning. The main role of the teacher is understood as being enabling children to construct knowledge.
• observing and engaging with children
• communicating with and relating to children
• understanding their socio-cultural contexts, their paces, styles of learning, and their interests
• developing in themselves the capacity for self-analysis, self-evaluation, adaptability, flexibility, creativity and innovation
• engage with subject content, examine disciplinary knowledge and social realities, relate subject matter with the social milieu of learners

Here it is clear that according to the theory of cognitive development given by Piaget no because the teacher supports and facilitates the active explorations of the children this statement is not correct because the teacher supports and facilitates the active explorations of the children.

Important Points

 According to Piaget, there are four stages of cognitive development:

• Stage I - The Sensory-Motor Stage (birth to 2 years)
• Stage II - The Pre-Operational Stage (2 to 7 years)
• Stage III - The Concrete-Operational Stage (7 to 12 years) and
• Stage IV - The Formal Operational Stage

The correct answer is: "Using a variety of ways to assess children over a period of time"

Key Points

• Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE):
• CCE aims to assess all aspects of a child's development, including cognitive, emotional, and social growth, rather than focusing solely on academic achievements.
• It emphasizes the use of diverse methods of assessment to ensure a holistic understanding of a student's progress.
• Importance of Variety in Assessment:
• Assessing children using multiple methods such as projects, oral presentations, group activities, and observations helps in evaluating different skill sets, including creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration.
• This approach provides a more accurate and well-rounded picture of the child's abilities and areas for improvement.
• Using varied assessment techniques over time reduces stress and anxiety in students by avoiding a one-size-fits-all approach.
• It allows teachers to track progress consistently and intervene early if there are areas where the child is struggling.
• Promoting Active Learning:
• Through diverse assessment methods, students are encouraged to engage actively in the learning process rather than passively memorizing content.
• It fosters a deeper understanding of concepts and builds lifelong learning skills.
• Flexibility in Teaching and Learning:
• Using varied assessment techniques provides flexibility to teachers to adapt their teaching strategies to meet the needs of individual learners.
• It also allows students to demonstrate their learning in ways that suit their unique strengths and preferences.

Additional Information

• Conducting assessment at the beginning and end of the session:
• While pre- and post-assessments provide useful information about a student's baseline and end-of-term performance, they do not offer a continuous understanding of the student's progress during the session.
• This approach does not align with the core idea of CCE, which emphasizes ongoing and regular evaluation throughout the academic year.
• Giving written tests to children periodically:
• Periodic written tests are a traditional method of assessment that primarily focuses on rote learning and memory recall.
• While useful for evaluating academic knowledge, this method does not assess other important aspects such as creativity, problem-solving abilities, or emotional and social skills.
• Having only multiple-choice questions in tests:
• Multiple-choice questions are limited in scope and primarily evaluate factual knowledge rather than higher-order thinking skills like analysis, synthesis, or application.
• Using only this method restricts the ability to assess a student's comprehensive understanding and limits opportunities for holistic evaluation.

Teachers are the implementers of education who foster the potential of young seedlings to grow and bloom. They carry a huge responsibility to shape and mould students' future.

• Teachers are the most important resources in educational settings. They are the key figures for any changes required in the educational field.

Key Points

It is important to appreciate children's work rather than criticize it as:

• it boosts their confidence to explore their knowledge and helps to foster creativity in children.
• creative expression provides the richest opportunities for individual expression and growth.
• it helps them to connect to the teacher in a better way and to don't hesitate to ask for any kind of help.
• students are curious in nature and they feel good when someone appreciates and shows interest in their work.

​

Important Points

**The teacher should keep the following points in view while teaching-**​

• Encourage individuality and originality.
• Encourage the child to freely express his/her ideas.
• Encourage the child to experience creative activities.
• Allow the child to experiment and to make “mistakes”.
• Encourage the child to discover things and to be resourceful.

Hence, it is clear that the above-mentioned statement is correct since it helps to foster creativity in children.

Hint

• Criticizing children's work could lead to low-self esteem and anxiety in them.

Science refers to the study of structure and behaviour of the physical and natural things through observation and experimentation. In other words, science is a classified knowledge gained from a systematic study of the behaviour of nature.

Key Points

• Teaching method is a way to put theory in practice with the help of principles, pedagogy and management strategies. It helps the teachers to plan and present the lesson in a coherent way.
• For a Science teacher, conducting experiments and doing projects will be the most preferred method as at secondary level, Science should be evolved from natural contexts of the learners.
• Scientific concepts are learnt better if learners explore them through activities and experiments.

Important Points

• Experiments:
• It is a process of observation under controlled conditions by using a range of apparatus and methods.
• It refers to an approach to learning in which learning takes place through inquiry, observation, inferring, and testing of a hypothesis.
• Projects
• It is a method which emphasizes the voluntary participation of students by working in a group to complete a specific project.
• It ensures the transmission of practical knowledge to students and active learning by mutual co-operation of a group of peers.

Hence, it is clear that conducting experiments and doing projects will be the most preferred method in the context of the question.​

Motivation inspires people to work, individually or in groups such as to produce the best of results. Pires people to work, individually or in groups such as to produce the best of results.

It is the will to act by exerting a high level of efforts towards the achievement of organizational goals, conditioned by smart and efficient working. 

• The reward is a type of extrinsic motivation. The motivating factors are external, or outside, rewards such as money or grades. These rewards provide satisfaction and pleasure that the task itself may not provide.
• An extrinsically motivated person will work on a task even when they have little interest in it because of the anticipated satisfaction they will get from some reward.
• The rewards can be something as minor as a smiley face to something major like fame or fortune.
• It just means that the pleasure they anticipate from some external reward will continue to be a motivator even when the task to be done holds little or no interest. That is why rewards alone cannot ensure interest and long-term learning.

Thus it is clear that despite giving stars for every work, a teacher finds that the students are not motivated to learn. This is because rewards alone cannot ensure interest and long-term learning. 

Additional Information

Intrinsic Motivation-

• Intrinsic motivation refers to motivation that comes from inside an individual rather than from any external or outside rewards, such as money or grades.
• The motivation comes from the pleasure one gets from the task itself or from the sense of satisfaction in completing or even working on a task.

Vygotsky, a Russian psychologist, has argued that culture provides a social context in which people live, grow, and understand the world around them. This is an understanding which the socio-cultural perspective argues- 

• Vygotsky writes, every function in a child’s cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level and then inside the child.
• Vygotsky believed that cultures, like individuals, have a life of their own; they grow and change, and in the process specify what will be the end-product of successful intellectual development.
• His works say that people live and are located in a culture. They develop from childhood to adulthood in that culture.
• They perform all activities and think within the framework of their socio-cultural environment.
• He understood learning and development as processes that happen during interactions of a child with adults and peers.
• Therefore, their developmental processes can be only understood by studying children’s (or people’s) interactions with their culture.

Thus from the above-mentioned points, it is clear that sociocultural context plays a very important role in learning​. 

Important Points

Some central-concepts of Vygotsky's theory is-

One of the important characteristics of learning is that the acquisition of skills, habits, knowledge, and attitudes, influences the acquisition of new learning due to some kind of carry-over effect. 

Transfer of learning- It implies

• that training is one faculty of the mind that may help in the functioning of older faculties as well various faculties of mind - memory, reasoning, judgment, observation, etc. - are directed or trained through various academic subjects.
• problem-solving, in which experience in one task influences the performance of another.
• comes from the similarity of contents, the similarity of techniques, the similarity of principles, or a combination of these
• take place and effective when the children are encouraged to observe and interact with objects and people

Types of Transfer of Learning-

Thus from the above-mentioned points, it is clear that what the child learns, can apply that learning to various situations depends on opportunities she has to observe and interact with objects and people.

Motor development refers to the development of control over body movements. The child’s capacity to sit, stand, walk, hold an object, eat, write, climb stairs, run, etc. is included in motor development. 

Motor development makes the child mobile, increases his/her range of activity, and helps him/her to explore the surroundings. This also helps in cognitive development.

The physiological development of the human being manifests itself in a universal and orderly process of structural change marked by two interrelated kinds of sequence: (i) The Cephalocaudal and (ii) The Proximodistal

The Proximodistal- In this,

• The middle part of the body develops quicker than the outer part of the body.
• The growth of tissue and structure that is closer to the center of the body is a little faster than the maturation of tissues and systems that are located in its periphery.
• First, whole arm or leg movements are seen, then elbow and knee joint control, and finally the specialized reaching movements of the fingers.

Cephalocandal sequence- 

• As the name indicates, is a progression of differentiation and structural maturation from the head, through the trunk, to the extreme parts of the body.
• This means that the infant’s brain and head grow faster and reach maturity earlier than visceral organs.

Thus from the above-mentioned points, it is clear that the Proximodistal principle of motor development means that development proceeds from the center of the organism to its periphery.

The period of childhood is from two to twelve years of age. Development at this stage is not as rapid as during infancy. During this period the child refines the skills she has acquired during infancy and learns new skills as well. This is the period when coordination of the parts of the body improves.

The characteristics of childhood are- 

• During this period a child becomes more independent though adult guidance is constantly needed.
• The period of childhood is divided into two stages: the period of early childhood (2-6 years) and middle childhood (6-12 years).
• At this stage, the child comes in contact with other children and adults she finds out how to behave in a manner that is acceptable to them.
• A child learns the ways of eating, dressing, talking to elders, and other things that are a part of her culture.
• The social and cultural contexts in which children grow up exert influences in making sense of the social world of the child.
• Childhood is experienced differently by children within a context such as a family, orphanage, school, peer groups, cities, neighborhoods, and so on.
• There are variations in childhood when we compare two different individuals who grow up in different parts of the world with different cultural traditions.
• For example, the behavior of a child reared in a dysfunctional family is different from that of a child grown up in a normal family.

Thus from the above-mentioned points, it Is clear that childhood is experienced differently by children in different social and cultural contexts.

By individual differences-

• we mean physical and behavioural variations, seen in all species including human beings, some of us are tall, some short, some bright and some dull.
• Behavioural variations such as some being aggressive and some being polite.
• Different people have different interests; and their behaviour is influenced by these interests, likings, dislikings, values, beliefs, etc.
• While dealing with heredity and environment in the context of individual differences, one has to be cautioned against the misuse of terms like inborn. acquired. resemblance, maternal impressions. etc.

Key Points

• These differences are caused by heredity and environment. Heredity is determined by genes, chromosomes, and cytoplasm. The environment is determined by family, school neighbourhood, and place of work.
• Individual differences are generally measured through psychological tests such as intelligence or personality.

Factors to cause individual differences- 

Thus from the above-mentioned points, it is clear that Individual differences can be attributed to the complex interplay between hereditary factors and the environment.

Socialization is the process by which we acquire the culture of the society into which we are born - the process by which we acquire our social characteristics and learn the ways of thought and behaviour considered appropriate in our society. During the process of socialization

• children learn about their family traditions from their elders and preserve them and pass them on to the next generation as they grow older.
• helps children to learn and perform the different roles and responsibilities which they have learnt from their elders.

Agents of Socialization- 

Thus from above-mentioned points, it is clear that physical Infrastructure does not play a role in the socialization of children.

According to Piaget, cognitive development takes place at different rates at different stages of development. At the elementary level, there is not only an increase in children's capacity to learn but also a qualitative change in their thinking process. 

• The child actively selects and interprets environmental information in the construction of his/her own knowledge rather than passively copying the information as presented to the senses.
• In fact, the child ‘reconstructs’ and ‘reinterprets’ the environment to make it fit in the existing mental structures. The process of reconstructing and reinterpreting involves two mental processes assimilation and accommodation.​

​

This constant process of assimilation and accommodation in human beings is the way of interacting with the environment and gradually progressing towards cognitive development. It is the way in which they reconstruct and reinterpret reality.

Thus it is clear that according to Piaget, Assimilation and Accommodation pairs is essential for cognitive development of the child. 

Important Points

According to Piaget, there are four stages of cognitive development-

• Stage I - The Sensory-Motor Stage (birth to 2 years)
• Stage II - The Pre-Operational Stage (2 to 7 years)
• Stage III - The Concrete-Operational Stage (7 to 12 years) and
• Stage IV - The Formal Operational Stage

Schemas: Schemas are categories of knowledge that help us to interpret and understand the world.

Concentration is the cognitive process of selectively focusing on one aspect of the environment while ignoring other things. It is also referred to as the allocation of processing resources.

Piaget in his theory of cognitive development talks about cognition (thinking). According to him, the learners acquire knowledge through the interaction of innate power (heredity), environment and maturation.

Piaget has classified the whole continuum into four stages to elaborate on the process of cognitive development:

1. The Sensory-Motor Stage (birth to 2 years)
2. The Pre-Operational Stage (2 to 7 years)
3. The Concrete-Operational Stage (7 to 12 years)
4. The Formal Operational Stage (11-15 years)

The pre-operational stage defines that-

• Pre-operational thinking tends to be egocentric
• Pre-operational thinking tends to focus on only one aspect or dimension of a problem at a time. For example, while looking at the height of an object, the child is unable to consider any changes undergone in its width. The child is unable to handle multiple characteristics
• The pre-operational child cannot understand relational terms such as larger than, darker than
• The child at this stage is not able to understand how things operate internally or how things relate to one another.

Thus it is clear that a child focuses on one aspect of a situation and ignores the others, this is due to concentration. 

Key Points

Lawrence Kohlberg studied moral development by posing moral dilemmas to groups of children as well as adolescents and adults. 

When people are confronted with moral dilemmas, it is their reasoning that is important and not their final decision, Kohlberg theorized that people progress through three levels (comprising six stages) as they develop abilities of moral reasoning.

Key Points

The initial level is the pre-conventional level. People at this level (primarily children) conceive of rules and social expectations as being external to the self. It includes two stages-

Stage-1 Punishment-obedience orientation- 

• At the first stage, the physical consequences of an action determine whether it is good or bad.
• The right is defined by literal obedience to authority and the avoidance of punishment and physical damage.

Stage-2 Instrumental-exchange orientation-

• What's right satisfies one's own needs and occasionally the needs of others.
• the right is defined as serving one's own interests and desires and as letting others do likewise
• cooperative interaction is based on terms of simple exchange

​Thus it is clear that in pre-conventional morality rules are external to the self.

Important Points

The other two levels are-

Vygotsky, a Russian psychologist, has argued that culture provides a social context in which people live, grow, and understand the world around them. This is an understanding which the socio-cultural perspective argues- 

• Vygotsky writes, every function in a child’s cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level and then inside the child.
• Vygotsky believed that cultures, like individuals, have a life of their own; they grow and change, and in the process specify what will be the end-product of successful intellectual development.
• His works say that people live and are located in a culture. They develop from childhood to adulthood in that culture.
• They perform all activities and think within the framework of their socio-cultural environment.
• He understood learning and development as processes that happen during interactions of a child with adults and peers.
• Therefore, their developmental processes can be only understood by studying children’s (or people’s) interactions with their culture.

Thus it is clear that Vygotsky believed that cognitive development occurs in a sociocultural context and evolves out of the child's social interaction. 

Important Points

Some central-concepts of Vygotsky's theory is-

Lev Vygotsky was a Russian psychologist and a social constructivist. He has propounded 'Socio-cultural Theory' which emphasizes the role of social interaction in cognitive development.

Lev Vygotsky emphasized that the acquisition of speech is the major activity in cognitive development. He believed that cognitive skills and patterns of thinking are the product of the interaction between the individual and the socio-cultural institution where the individual grows up.

Vygotsky's view on 'Language and Thought':

• Private speech gives direction to children.
• Language is essential for cognitive development.
• Language plays a powerful role in shaping individuals' thoughts.
• By acquiring language, the child modifies its higher mental functions.
• In the initial stage, thought & language are independent but merge at around three years of age.

Hence, it could be concluded that according to Vygotsky, language plays a crucial role in the development of cognitive ability.

Additional Information

In his "Socio-cultural Theory", Vygotsky also proposed three stages of language that a child progresses while developing language functions.

These stages are:

If a teacher believes that each child is unique and a special individual, and therefore actively involves them in their own education and development.

The teacher is adopting a child-centric education. In this approach, the ‘learner’ or ‘child’ is the main focus of the educational programme. It emphasizes ‘learning’ rather than ‘teaching’.

Child-centric education advocates that-

• accommodate the individual difference and unique character of each individual learner
• each individual’s growth presents a different range of problems and requirements,
• at every stage from the womb to tomb” implying that the child’s individuality and dignity should be respected and his/her needs, interests, aptitude. So that two individual provided opportunities to grow and realise their potentials in the same class.
• Teacher adopts a variety of teaching-learning strategies to address the needs of all children at the same time.
• Varieties of activities/opportunities are available in the classroom, which enables each child to learn at her/his own pace and in tune with her/his own learning style.

Here it is clear that if a teacher believes that each child is unique and a special individual, and therefore actively involves them in their own education and development. The teacher is adopting a child-centric approach to learning. 

Additional Information

In a child-centred classroom-

• The child is not a passive but an active participant in the classroom process.
• Reflects planning of teaching-learning and its monitoring jointly by teacher and children
• Evaluation of the child’s attainment is done to ensure the child’s progress and not as a means of passing judgement on the child’s abilities and achievement. it is diagnostic as well as remedial.

Intelligence is a capacity to understand the world, think rationally, and use available resources effectively when faced with challenges. 

Multidimensional' means intelligence consisting of different aspects derived from experiential, environmental and genetic influences. Intelligence is conceived in terms of multiple abilities.

Howard Gardner, an American Psychologist, proposed the theory of multiple intelligences. 

• There are multiple intelligences with autonomous intelligence capacities.” So, intelligence cannot be viewed as a single entity.
• Gardner initially proposed eight types of intelligence which later on he increased to nine.
• Thus Gardner views each individual as a unique combination of various intelligence.

​Thus from above-mentioned points, it is clear that **Intelligence is a multi-dimensional concept.**​

Key Points

According to linguistic relativity hypothesis or Whorfian theory, our language shapes our thought. 

Key Points

• Whorf proposed that the available words of the language influence our thinking.
• our language does not determine all aspects of our thinking. It only influences the way people think about the relationship between objects.
• Language influences perception, a fundamental aspect of cognition (thinking).
• Language is the main vehicle by which we know about other people’s thoughts, and the two must be intimated.
• people think not just in words but in images and abstract logical propositions.
• Language development is an essential aspect of cognitive development

Thus from above-mentioned points, it is clear that language influences thought.

Additional Information

Theories of language acquisition-

The gender division is something which can be understood as natural and unchangeable and based on social expectations and stereotypes.  Boys and girls are brought up to believe that the main responsibility of girl is housework and bringing up children and boy is to earn for livelihood, do the work of power, driving etc. 

Key Points

Parents tend to buy their children gender-stereotypical toys. They also, intentionally or otherwise, tend to reinforce certain ‘appropriate’ behaviours. Even today girls are discouraged from playing sports like football or from playing ‘rough and tumble’ games and forces to play with a doll. 

• A gender stereotype is an assignment of roles, tasks and responsibilities to a particular gender on the basis of preconceived prejudices.
• It is also the assumptions made about a particular gender that may be positive or negative.
• the cultural expectations are formed around the children, based on gender
• for boy toys like cars, lions, guns and elephants are bought for him preferably blue and never pink
• the girl child is often considered inferior to a boy child and would be encouraged to learn cooking, dancing, singing, housekeeping and the like and she may have restrictions on going out.

Thus from above-mentioned points, it is clear that When parents buy dolls for their daughters and football for their sons, their decision reflects gender stereotyping. 

Additional Information

• gender stereotypes are dynamic and not static.
• Both men and women carry out their responsibilities according to the division of the innate characteristics of gender.
• Gender stereotypes are reflected in marriage, family and community**.**

We know that children with mental retardation have difficulty in understanding, learning and remembering as compared to non-disabled children of their age, which is called individual differences in a child.

Here is a need for an educational and training programme specially designed for each child, based on his individual needs and abilities. This education and training plan is called the Individualized Education Programme (IEP).

• The purpose of the Individualized Education Program is to provide appropriate education and training to every child with a disability, including those with mental retardation.
• 'Individualized' means that the teaching-learning must be developed to meet the educational and learning needs of a single person rather than a group of persons.
• which means that the education and training are devised on the basis of: (i) what are his needs, and (ii) what are his abilities?
• Developing individualized teaching-learning for a particular child is a team effort. The most important persons in this team are the parents of the child.

Thus it is clear from the above-mentioned points, in a classroom, teaching-learning needs to be individualized since there are individual differences among learners.

Additional Information

• Teaching and training of the child should be done in the appropriate context. This means that we should train the child to do a particular activity in the situation in which he needs to show it.
• Evaluation helps to know whether the child is learning what we are teaching and also helps us to evaluate the training programme itself.

According to Chola inscriptions, there were five types of 'land gifts' that Chola kings gave to their people:

1. vellanvagai was land for non-Brahmana, peasant proprietors
2. brahmadeya was land gifted to Brahmanas. Hence, option 2^nd is the correct answer.
3. shalabhoga was land for the maintenance of a school
4. devadana / tirunamattukkani was land gifted to temples
5. pallichchhandam was land donated to Jaina institutions

Key Points

• Brahmadeya Grants were gifts made to Brahmans in the early 600-1200 A.D.
• Brahmadeya represents tax-free land given to Brahmans which could be a small piece of land and even a whole village.
• The gifted land was around various irrigation facilities such as tanks or lakes, in case of the absence of irrigation facilities, new facilities were created near the land.
• Land tax was the primary source of government revenue.
• The Brahmadeya and Devadhana lands were exempted from tax.

• Many new dynasties emerged after the seventh century.
• By the seventh century there were big landlords or warrior chiefs in different regions of the subcontinent.
• Existing kings often acknowledged them as their subordinates or samantas.
• They were expected to bring gifts for their kings or overlords, be present at their courts and provide them with military support.
• As samantas gained power and wealth, they declared themselves to be maha-samanta, maha-mandaleshvara (the great lord of a “circle” or region) and so on.
• Sometimes they asserted their independence from their overlords.
• One such instance was that of the Rashtrakutas in the Deccan. Initially they were subordinate to the Chalukyas of Karnataka.
• In the mid-eighth century, Dantidurga, a Rashtrakuta chief, overthrew his Chalukya overlord and performed a ritual called hiranya-garbha (literally, the golden womb).
• When this ritual was performed with the help of Brahmanas, it was thought to lead to the “rebirth” of the sacrificer as a Kshatriya, even if he was not one by birth.

Key Points

Amatyas were civil servants during Mauryan Empire to look after the day-to-day administration.

Vetti tax is the most frequently mentioned tax in the inscription of Cholas who ruled in Tamil Nadu.

• Vetti was a form of forced labour tax.
• It was levied from common people.
• Common people were forced to work for the king or their village landlords without any wages.
• Chola dynasty is considered one of the longest-ruling dynasties in the world's history.
• Land revenue and trade tax were the main sources of income during the Chola period.

The correct answer is European District Collectors.

Key Points

• Warren Hastings (Governor-General from 1773 to 1785) was one of the many important figures who played a significant role in the expansion of Company power.
• By his time the Company had acquired power not only in Bengal but also in Bombay and Madras.
• British territories were broadly divided into administrative units called Presidencies.
• There were three Presidencies: Bengal, Madras and Bombay. Each was ruled by a Governor.
• The supreme head of the administration was the Governor-General.
• Warren Hastings, the first Governor-General, introduced several administrative reforms, notably in the sphere of justice.
• In 1772 a new system of justice was established. Each district was to have two courts – a criminal court ( faujdari adalat ) and a civil court (diwani adalat).
• Maulvis and Hindu pandits interpreted Indian laws for the European district collectors who presided over civil courts. Hence, option 4^th is the correct answer.
• The criminal courts were still under a qazi and a mufti but under the supervision of the collectors.

https://ncert.nic.in/textbook/pdf/hess102.pdf

The Taiping Rebellion 1850-1864

• It was sparked by the leadership of one man, Hong Xiuquan, from the south of China, who in 1847 failed the imperial examinations for the third time and was delirious for 30 days. Hence, statement 3^rd is not correct.
• When he recovered, he believed that he and his band of believers had been chosen to conquer China, destroy the demon Manchu rulers, and establish the Taiping Tianguo — the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Harmony.
• The Taiping Rebellion was mostly a revolt by poor rural peasants against their landlords and the rich, inspired by the religious pamphlets of an American missionary.
• Their revolutionary program was very wide-ranging. It introduced notions of common property, land reform, equal position of women, abstinence from opium, tobacco and alcohol, calendar reform, literary reform, and above all, a new political-military organization of society.
• The Taiping rebels created a brave new world - a classless society where private property was abolished.  Hence, statement 2^nd is the correct option.
• Their movement was so strong and so popular that it took the central government millions of dollars and fifteen years to defeat them. Not until 1864 was the rebellion brutally put down. It is estimated that the entire rebellion cost more than twenty million lives (twice that of World War I).
• Finally, in 1864, aided by Britain and the other Western Powers with their modern weapons, the Qing were able to re-conquer Nanjing and finally defeat the Taiping Rebellion and reunite China.

New Forms of Imperial Art 

• From the eighteenth century a stream of European artists came to India along with the British traders and rulers.
• The artists brought with them new styles and new conventions of painting.
• European artists brought with them the idea of realism. This was a belief that artists had to observe carefully and depict faithfully what the eye saw. What the artist produced was expected to look real and lifelike.
• European artists also brought with them the technique of oil painting – a technique with which Indian artists were not very familiar.
• Oil painting enabled artists to produce images that looked real. Not all European artists in India were inspired by the same things. The subjects they painted were varied, but invariably they seemed to emphasise the superiority of Britain – its culture, its people, its power.

Picturesque landscape painting

• One popular imperial tradition was that of picturesque landscape painting.
• This style of painting depicted India as a quaint land, to be explored by travelling British artists; its landscape was rugged and wild, seemingly untamed by human hands.
• Thomas Daniell and his nephew William Daniell were the most famous of the artists who painted within this tradition. They came to India in 1785 and stayed for seven years, journeying from Calcutta to northern and southern India.
• They produced some of the most evocative picturesque landscapes of Britain’s newly conquered territories in India. Their large oil paintings on canvas were regularly exhibited to select audiences in Britain, and their albums of engravings were eagerly bought up by a British public keen to know about Britain’s empire.

The correct answer is Chhotanagpur Plateau of India. 

Hundru Falls:

• The Hundru Falls Ranchi is really a panoramic view of the Chota Nagpur Plateau.
• The Hundru Falls is a waterfall located on the Ranchi Purulia Highway in the state of Jharkhand in the Chota Nagpur Plateau.
• On the course of the Subarnarekha River, where it falls from a height of 98 meters forming one of the biggest waterfalls in the state.
• The scenic splendor of these falls captivate the attention of the tourists to a large extent
• The Chota Nagpur Plateau is a plateau in eastern India, which covers much of Jharkhand state as well as adjacent parts of Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal, and Chhattisgarh.
• The Indo-Gangetic plain lies to the north and east of the plateau, and the basin of the Mahanadi River lies to the south.

Hence, option 4 is the correct answer.

East African Plateau: The East African Plateau is a large plateau in the eastern part of central Africa in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. Its elevation is mostly between 1000 and 1500 meters

Western Plateau of Australia: The Western Plateau (sometimes referred to as the Australian Shield), is Australia's largest drainage division and is composed predominantly of the remains of the ancient rock shield of Gondwana.

Tibet Plateau: 

• The Tibetan Plateau, also known as the Qinghai-Tibetan (Qingzang) Plateau, is a vast, high plateau in Central Asia
• The Tibetan Plateau occupies an area of around 1,000 by 2,500 kilometres and has an average elevation of over 4,500 meters.
• It is the highest and largest plateau in the world.

The best means of measuring time is by the movement of the earth, the moon, and the planets. The earth rotates 360° in about 24 hours, which means 15° an hour or 1° in four minutes.

Earths time zone:

• Longitude plays a major role in the determination of local time.

• The 'whole earth' is divided into twenty-four time zones of approximately equal distance.

• Countries spread over large areas have adopted more than one 'time zone' for convenience.

• Russia, America, and Australia have adopted 11, 6, and 3 time zones respectively.

• 1º longitudinal difference means 4 minute time difference.

• The entire earth is divided into 24 zones and each time zone covers 15 degrees longitude.

• Time zones Coordinated Universal Time or UTC is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time.

• It is within about 1 second of mean solar time at 0° longitude and is not adjusted for daylight saving time.

• It is effectively a successor to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

• There are countries having their separate time zones. Based o the UTC time zone the world is divided into 24 time zones.

• There is multiple time zone in the world.

Therefore, option 4 is the correct answer.

The word ‘planet’ comes from the Greek word “Planetai” which means ‘wanderers’. It is a celestial body that does not have its own light. They depend on Stars for their light and energy. In our solar system, there are 8 planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune 

Key Points

Hence, planet Jupiter's shortest rotation period is 9.9 hours.

Tonga Islands:

• It is a Polynesian country, and also an archipelago comprising 169 islands, of which 36 are inhabited.
• The archipelago's total surface area is about 750 square kilometers (290 sq mi) scattered over 700,000 square kilometers (270,000 sq mi) of the southern Pacific Ocean.
• Tonga had a population of 100,651, 70% of whom resided on the main island, Tongatapu.
• Coordinate - 20°S 175°W
• It is geographically positioned both in the Southern and Eastern hemispheres of the Earth.
• The three largest islands are Tongatapu, Ha'apai, and Vava'u, with Tongatapu being the most populated.

Mauritius Islands:

• Mauritius is an island off Africa's southeast coast located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar.
• It is geologically located within the Somali plate.
• Coordinates, 20°17′S 57°33′E / 20.283°S 57.550°E
• Mauritius is a subtropical island country in the Indian Ocean, just over 1,130 kilometers east of Madagascar, off the south-eastern coast of Africa.
• Its outlying territories include Rodrigues Island and other smaller islands.

Both Tonga Islands and Mauritius Islands located in 20ºS latitude.

Hence, option 4 is the correct answer.

Local time can be reckoned with by the shadow cast by the sun, which is the shortest at noon and longest at sunrise and sunset.

• The Prime Meridian of Greenwich has the sun at the highest point in the sky, all the places along this meridian will have mid-day or noon.

• As the earth rotates from west to east, those places east of Greenwich will be ahead of Greenwich time and those to the west will be behind it

• The earth rotates 360° in about 24 hours, which means 15° an hour or 1° in four minutes.

• The time is 12 noon at Greenwich

• The time at 15° east of Greenwich will be 15 × 4 = 60 minutes, i.e., 1 hour ahead of Greenwich time, which means 1 p.m.

• But at 15° west of Greenwich, the time will be behind Greenwich time by one hour, i.e., it will be 11.00 a.m.

• Similarly, at 180°, it will be midnight when it is 12 noon at Greenwich.

Hence, option 3 is the correct answer.

• The earth has been divided into twenty-four time zones of one hour each.
• Each zone thus covers 15° of longitude.
• That means 7.5º on either side from the longitude,
• The time increase towards the east while it decreases towards the west of the respective longitude.

Key Points

Mariana Trench

• The deepest oceanic trench on the Earth, i.e. the Mariana Trench, is located in the western North Pacific Ocean.
• Its maximum depth (≈10,984 m) is found at the southern end of a small slot-shaped valley on its floor called Challenger Deep.
• It is approximately 200 km east of the Mariana Islands and is about 2550 km long and 69 km wide.
• The trench was named after the Mariana Islands which in turn were named after the Queen Mariana of Austria (widow of Philip IV of Spain) and the trench was declared as a US National Monument in the year 2009.
• The Mariana Trench is part of the Izu-Bonin-Mariana subduction system.
• The first attempt to measure the depth of the Mariana Trench was made in 1875 during the 'Challenger Expedition'.

Hence, option 3 is the correct answer.

Additional Information

The Pacific Ocean  

• ​The largest and the deepest ocean, extending from the Arctic Ocean in the north to Antarctica in the south.
• It covers around 46% of the Earth's water surface and about 32% of Earth's total surface area, making it larger than all of Earth's combined land area.
• The centers of the Water Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere lie in the Pacific Ocean.
• The second and the third deepest point i.e. the Horizon Deep in the Tonga Trench and the Sirena Deep in the Mariana Trench respectively, also lie in the Pacific Ocean.
• The seas included in the Pacific Ocean are - the South China Sea, the East China Sea, the Sea of Japan, the Sea of Okhotsk, the Philippine Sea, the Coral Sea, and the Tasman Sea.

The western ghat:

• The western ghat is the mountain range parallel to the western coast of the Indian peninsula.
• The western ghat is also known as Sahyadri.
• The total length of the western ghat is around 1600 km.
• The western ghat region is spread from Tapti to Kanyakumari.
• It passes through the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra, and Gujarat.
• Anamudi is the highest peak of the western ghat.
• All important rivers of Peninsular India originate from the western ghat.
• The major hill stations of the western ghat are Amboli ghat, Matheran, Mahabaleshwar, Panchgani, Kudremukh.

Hence, option 2 is the correct answer.

Additional Information

The Eastern ghat:

• The Eastern ghat region runs parallel to the Bay of Bengal.
• Eastern ghat forms the eastern boundary of the Deccan plateau.
• The north Indian plain is the largest alluvial plain in the world.
• Himalaya is the mountain range that lies between the Tibetan plateau and the Ganga plain.

The Atlantic Ocean is divided into two parts, by the Equatorial Counter Current, with the North(ern) Atlantic Ocean and the South(ern) the Atlantic Ocean at about 8°N

Ocean currents in the Atlantic ocean include the below-given currents:

Gulf stream:

• Another part of the Cayenne current heads northwards east of the Antilles as the Gulf Stream.
• The Gulf stream is one of the strongest ocean currents.

Labrador Current:

• This current drifts south-eastwards between West Greenland and Baffin Island of Canada.
• This current meets the warm Gulf Stream off Newfoundland of Canada.

Hence, option 4 is the correct answer.

Tide:

• Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon and the Sun, and the rotation of the Earth.
• There are two types of tides namely, spring tides and neap tides depending upon the relative positions of the sun, the earth, and the moon.
• The time between the high tide and low tide, when the water level is falling, is called the ebb.
• The time between the low tide and high tide, when the tide is rising, is called the flow or flood.

Hence, option 2 is the correct answer.

​Ocean currents: 

• The ocean current is a general movement of a mass of water in a fairly defined direction over great distances.
• Base on the temperature characteristics it can be categorized as warm and cold current.

Tsunami: 

• A tsunami is a series of waves generated by violent seafloor movements associated with underwater earthquakes, meteorite impact, Landslides on the seafloor, volcanic eruptions, etc.
• However, the most common cause of a Tsunami is earthquakes under the seawater.

Waves: Waves are created by energy passing through water, causing it to move in a circular motion.

Key Points

Permanent Winds:

• These are the winds that blow continuously for the entire year in a specific direction.
• Permanent winds blow extensively over continents and oceans.
• Some important examples of Permanent wind are Westerlies, Easterlies, and Trade winds.
• Westerlies winds: Flow from the west to east.
• Easterlies winds: Flow from the east to the west.
• Trade winds: Flow from the east to the west.

Westerlies

• The westerlies are the winds blowing from the subtropical high-pressure belts towards the sub-polar low-pressure belts.
• They blow from south­west to north-east in the northern hemisphere and north-west to south-east in the southern hemisphere.
• The westerlies of the southern hemisphere are stronger and persistent due to the vast expanse of water, while those of the northern hemisphere are irregular because of uneven relief of vast landmasses.
• The westerlies are best developed between 40° and 65°S latitudes.
• These latitudes are often called Roaring Forties, Furious Fifties, and Shrieking Sixties – dreaded terms for sailors.
• The poleward boundary of the westerlies is highly fluctuating. There are many seasonal and short-term fluctuations. These winds produce wet spells and variability in weather.
• The westerlies are steadier and stronger in the southern hemisphere because they face minimal land interference as compared to the northern hemisphere.
• Land interference causes obstruction in the flow of wind in the northern hemisphere, thus slowing the westerlies.
• The prevailing wind in a region of the Earth's surface is a surface wind that blows predominantly from a particular direction.
• The dominant winds are the trends in direction of the wind with the highest speed over a particular point on the Earth's surface.

Hence, option 4 is correct.

Structure of the Atmosphere:

• Our atmosphere is divided into five layers starting from the earth’s surface.
• These are Troposphere, Stratosphere, Mesosphere, Thermosphere, and Exosphere.

Key Points

Troposphere:

• This layer is the most important layer of the atmosphere.
• Its average height is 13 km.
• The air we breathe exists here.
• Almost all the weather phenomena like rainfall, fog, and hailstorm occur in this layer.

Stratosphere:

• Above the troposphere lies the stratosphere.
• It extends up to a height of 50 km.
• This layer is almost free from clouds and associated weather phenomenon, making conditions most ideal for flying airplanes.
• One important feature of the stratosphere is that it contains a layer of ozone gas.

Mesosphere:

• This is the third layer of the atmosphere.
• It lies above the stratosphere.
• It extends up to the height of 80 km.
• Meteorites burn up in this layer on entering from the space.

Thermosphere:

• In the thermosphere, the temperature rises very rapidly with increasing height.
• The ionosphere is a part of this layer.
• It extends between 80-400 km.
• This layer helps in radio transmission.
• In fact, radio waves transmitted from the earth are reflected back to the earth by this layer.

Exosphere:

• The uppermost layer of the atmosphere is known as the exosphere.
• This layer has very thin air.
• Light gases like helium and hydrogen float into space from here.

​

Hence, option 1 is the correct answer.

Sahara Desert:

• The Sahara Desert is in Northern Africa and is the largest desert in the world.
• It has a total square area of about 3,320,000 square miles.
• It covers around 10% of the African continent.
• Its borders include the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to its west, and the Red Sea to its east.
• This desert is spread over 11 countries:- Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Western Sahara, Sudan, and Tunisia.
• During the summer season, the average temperature of the desert is between 38-46 degrees Celcius.
• It is spread in 86 lakhs square kilometers area.
• The desert got its name from the Arabic word Sahra which means desert.
• There are sand dunes, sand sheets, salt flats, gravel plains, plateaus, and mountains in the desert.
• The highest point of the mountain is the extinct volcano Mount Koussi in Chad, which elevates 3,415 meters.
• The variety of animals found in this dessert are camels, goats, cheetah, gazelles, ostrich, fennec fox, monitor lizards, deathstalker scorpion, and sand viper.

The thin layer of grainy substance covering the surface of the earth is called soil. It is closely linked to the land.

Soil Profile: 

• It is the vertical section of soil from all its horizons.
• There are different types of soil, each with its own set of characteristics.
• It is made of layers, or horizons (O, A, E, B, C, R).
• Put the horizons together, and they form a soil profile.
• Most soil profiles cover the earth as 2 main layers Topsoil and Subsoil.
• Most soils have three major horizons (A, B, C) and some have an organic horizon (O).

A. Horizon or Surface soil

• It is the part of topsoil.
• In this layer, organic matter is mixed with mineral matter.
• It is the layer of mineral soil with the most organic matter accumulation and soil life.
• Nutrients like iron, aluminum, clay, and organic matter are sometimes dissolved and carried out in this layer.
• This layer is depleted of (eluviated of) iron, clay, aluminum, organic compounds, and other soluble constituents.
• When depletion is pronounced, a lighter colored “E” subsurface soil horizon is apparent at the base of the “A” horizon.

Hence, option 1 is the correct answer.

B. Horizon or Subsoil

• It is a subsurface layer reflecting chemical or physical alteration of the parent material.
• This layer accumulates all the leached minerals from the A and E horizon.
• Thus iron, clay, aluminum, and organic compounds accumulate in this horizon (illuviation)

C. Horizon or Parent rock

• Weathered parent material accumulates in this layer, i.e. the parent material in sedimentary deposits.
• It is a layer of large unbroken rocks.
• This layer may accumulate more soluble compounds (inorganic material).

R. Horizon or Bedrock

• This layer denotes the layer of partially weathered bedrock at the base of the soil profile.
• Unlike the above layers, R horizons largely comprise continuous masses of hard rock.
• Soils formed in situ will exhibit strong similarities to this bedrock layer.
• These areas of bedrock are under 50 feet of the other profiles.
• It is also known as D horizon in some cases.​

O. Horizon:

• Layers dominated by organic material.
• Some O layers consist of undecomposed or partially decomposed litter (such as leaves, needles, twigs, moss, and lichens).
• They may be on top of either mineral or organic soils.

E. horizon:

• “E” stands for eluviated layer.
• It is a light-colored eluviated layer, that is eroded by its nutrients.
• It is the horizon that has been significantly leached of clay, iron, and aluminum oxides, which leaves a concentration of resistant minerals, such as quartz, in the sand and silt sizes.
• These are present only in older, well-developed soils, and generally occur between the A and B horizons.

Loamy soil:

• Loam or Loamy soil is composed of sand, silt, and clay.
• The loamy soil consists of more humus, nutrients, and moisture than sandy soils.
• They are easier to till than clay soils and are ideal for agricultural uses and gardening.
• Loamy soil is ideal for growing crops such as wheat, sugarcane, cotton, jute, pulses, and oilseeds. Vegetables also grow well in this soil.
• Vegetables also grow well in this loam soil.

Tea:

• Tea is a beverage crop grown on plantations.
• This requires a cool climate and well-distributed high rainfall throughout the year for the growth of its tender leaves.
• Labour in large numbers is required to pick the leaves.
• Kenya, India, China, Sri Lanka produce the best quality tea in the world.

Method of reduction of industrial disaster:

• Design and Pre-modification review:
• This involves proper layout, facilities, and material selection.
• Research should be done to try to substitute extremely toxic chemicals with safer ones.
• Fewer chemicals should be stored; a reduction in inventory will automatically mean less damage if an accident is to occur.
• Chemical Risk Assessment: Chemicals are assessed based on compatibility, flammability, toxicity, explosion hazards, and storage.
• Process Safety Management:
• ​HAZOP studies, reliability assessment of process equipment, incorporating safety trips and interlocks, scrubbing system, etc. should be done before effecting major process changes.
• Management should try to develop a culture of safety in industrial organizations
• Safety Audits: Periodical assessment of safety procedures and practices, the performance of safety systems and gadgets along with follow-up measures should be carried out.
• Emergency Planning:
• A comprehensive risk analysis indicating the impact of consequences and specific written down and practiced emergency procedures along with suitable facilities should be done.
• This can be done by communities as well as national or regional corporation authorities
• Training: Proper training of employees and protective services should be done.
• Special times and escorts for dangerous vehicles
• Public Cooperation on the road: the public should cooperate with the police and any tankers and heavy-duty vehicles to avoid accidents and allow for the shortest possible on-road time for dangerous vehicles.
• Public awareness:
• Everyone should be aware of potential disasters and informed of protective and safety measures.
• MSDS sheets should be readily available to the public.
• Cautions must be placed to stand out on dangerous household and car care products.
• Proper storage of hazardous Materials:
• All chemicals and hazardous materials should be kept at proper storage temperature and in locked cupboards away from children and animals.
• Also, if reactive substances are stored, they should be stored in a watertight container.

Therefore, Densely populated residential areas should be in the vicinity of industrial areas is not favorable for risk reduction for industrial disasters.

Hence, option 3 is the correct answer.

Key Points

Viticulture:

• The cultivation and harvesting of grapes are called viticulture.
• Viticulture is the specialty of the Mediterranian region.
• The best quality wines in the world with distinctive flavors are produced from this region such as Port wine is famous in Portugal, Sherry in Southern Spain, etc.

Additional Information

The age of Mahajanapadas

• The sixth-century B.C was a period of intense and new political development besides socio-political and religious upheavals that brought two religions to the fore-Buddhism and Jainism. In the later Vedic age, agriculture and iron tools helped people to settle down at one particular place.
• The permanent settlement led to the foundation of the janapadas or small territorial states under the control of a king. The main area of political activity gradually shifted from Western UP to eastern UP and Bihar. This region was not only fertile due to the rainfall and river systems but also closer to iron production centers.
• About 2500 years ago, some janapadas became more important than others and were known as mahajanapadas. Most mahajanapadas had a capital city, many of these were fortified. Hence, Not all Mahajanpadas had a capital city is correct statement.
• The use of better iron tools and weapons along with sound economic growth resulted in the transformation of some territorial states into Bigger and more powerful states, which came to be known as Mahajanapdas.
• All the Rajas of a Mahajanpada met together in assemblies called sanghas to decide upon issues, this statement is incorrect, as there were no such sanghas.
• The important Republics of this period were the Sakyas of Kapilavastu and the Licchavis of Vaishali. But not each Mahajanpada was ruled not by one, but thousands of rulers together, each known as Raja.
• As the rulers of the mahajanapadas were (a) building huge forts (b) maintaining big armies, they needed more resources. And they needed officials to collect these. So, instead of depending on occasional gifts brought by people, as in the case of the raja of the janapadas, they started collecting regular taxes.

Key Points

There were 16 Mahajanapadas in ancient India. They were:

• Anga
• Magadha
• Kasi
• Vatsa
• Kosala
• Saurasena
• Kuru
• Matsya
• Chedi
• Avanti
• Gandhara
• Kamboja
• Ashmaka
• Vajji
• Malla

• Silappadikaram is a literary work in Tamil.
• It is held in high regard by the Tamil people.
• It is written by Ilango Adigal. He was a prince.
• In the epic we get to know about Kannagi, who having lost her husband to a miscarriage of justice at the court of the Pandyan Dynasty, wreaks her revenge on his kingdom.

• Gautam Buddha attained enlightenment in Bodh Gaya. It is located in Bihar.
• The day Gautam Buddha attained enlightenment is celebrated as Buddha Purnima.
• The exact date of is based on the Asian lunisolar calendars and is primarily celebrated in Baisakh month.

Additional Information

• The Buddha had instructed his followers to cremate his body as the body of a universal monarch would be cremated and then to distribute the relics among various groups of his lay followers, who were to enshrine them in hemispherical reliquaries called stupas.
• His body lay in a coffin for seven days before being placed on a funeral pyre and was set ablaze by the Buddha’s chief disciple, Mahakashyapa, who had been absent at the time of the Buddha’s death.
• After the Buddha’s cremation, his relics were entrusted to a group of lay disciples, but armed men arrived from seven other regions and demanded the relics. In order to avert bloodshed, a monk divided the relics into eight portions.
• According to tradition, 10 sets of relics were enshrined, 8 from portions of the Buddha’s remains, 1 from the pyre’s ashes, and 1 from the bucket used to divide the remains.
• The stupa (“stupa” is Sanskrit for heap) is an important form of Buddhist architecture, though it predates Buddhism. The custom of rearing stupas was pre-Buddhist.
• A stupa is a dirt burial mound faced with stone. In Buddhism, the earliest stupas contained portions of the Buddha’s ashes, and as a result, the stupa began to be associated with the body of the Buddha.

The 'Ring wells', excavated in the earliest cities that were developed about 2500 years ago, were used for Garbage dumping.

Important Points Ring wells

• Ring wells were used for the first time under the rule of the Maurya’s in the Gangetic plain which spread out in provinces beyond the heart of the empire.
• They were used as drainage or garbage dumps. The ring wells were found usually in individual houses.
• Some 2500 years ago round structures with rows of pots, or ceramic rings arranged on top of one another were found through archaeological discoveries.
• These structures were known as ring wells.
• It was basically a type of well constructed in the village for common use.
• Water from these wells had multiple uses apart from drinking and washing purposes; in some places as toilets and as drains and garbage dumps in another.
• Ring wells were named because of the lining with terracotta rings which can be distinguished from other types of dug wells.
• In the latest excavation at Purana Qila, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has discovered a ring well that is 4.4 meters below the earth.
• Ring wells, which were first constructed under the Mauryas in the Gangetic plains spread beyond the heart of the empire.
• As ring wells supplied water to people for domestic use, it was no longer imperative to found settlements on the banks of rivers.
• Ring wells also served as soak pits in congested settlements.
• Drainage can be done only in deep spaces so that the water could be stored and passed.
• Ring wells are called because of the terracotta rings. Some of them seem to have been used as toilets in some cases.

It was widely believed that the rule of a just king would be an age of plenty when the heavens would not withhold rain. At the same time, making precious water available by constructing tanks and reservoirs was highly praised.

Sultan Iltutmish won universal respect for constructing a large reservoir just outside Dehli-i-Kuhna.

It was called the Hauz-i-Sultani or the “King’s Reservoir”. 

Key Points

Iltutmish(1211-1236):

• He succeeded to the throne after Qutub-ud-din-Aibak.
• He was the third ruler of the Delhi Sultanate, belonging to the Mamluk dynasty.
• He constituted a corp of forty loyal slave Amirs known as Turkan-i-Chihalgani also called Chalisa.
• He completed the building of Qutab Minar.

• Martin Luther (1483–1546) was a German professor of theology, composer, priest, monk and seminal figure in the Protestant Reformation.
• Luther came to reject several teachings and practices of the Roman Catholic Church.
• He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God’s punishment for sin could be purchased with money, proposing an academic discussion of the practice and efficacy of indulgences in his Ninety-five Theses of 1517.
• His refusal to renounce all of his writings at the demand of Pope Leo X in 1520 and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms in 1521 resulted in his ex-communication by the pope and condemnation as an outlaw by the emperor.
• Luther taught that salvation and, subsequently, eternal life are not earned by good deeds but are received only as of the free gift of God’s grace through the believer’s faith in Jesus Christ as a redeemer from sin.
• His theology challenged the authority and office of the pope by teaching that the Bible is the only source of divinely revealed knowledge from God, and opposed priestly intervention for the forgiveness of sins by considering all baptized Christians to be a holy priesthood.
• He felt that several practices in the Roman Protestant church went against the teachings of the Bible.
• Those who identify with these, and all of Luther’s wider teachings, are called Lutherans, though Luther insisted on Christian or Evangelical as the only acceptable names for individuals who professed Christ.

From the Above discussion, we can conclude that 3^rd statement is the correct answer.

The idea of the “Three Orders” was first formulated in France in the early eleventh century.

• It divided society into three classes: those who prayed, those who fought, and those who tilled the land.
• This division of society into “Three Orders” was supported by the Church to consolidate its dominant role in society.
• This helped the emergence of a new warrior group called knights.

Thus, we can say that both statements A and B are true.

Additional Information

• The Church patronised this group and used them to propagate their idea of “Peace of God”.
• The attempt was to direct warriors away from conflict amongst themselves and send them instead on a campaign against the Muslims who had captured the city of Jerusalem. This led to a series of campaigns called the Crusades.
• These campaigns in the service of God and the Church completely altered the status of knights.
• Originally, these knights did not belong to the class of nobles.
• But by the end of the eleventh century in France, and a century later in Germany, the humble origins of these warriors were forgotten.
• By the twelfth century, nobles also wanted to be known as knights

Today, the use of statistical methods in the analysis, presentation, and drawing conclusions plays a significant role in almost all disciplines, including geography, which uses the data. It may, therefore, be inferred that the concentration of a phenomenon, e.g., population, forest, or network of transportation or communication not only varies over space and time but may also be conveniently explained using the data. 

Key Points

The data are collected in the following ways. These are :

• Primary Sources-
• The data which are collected for the first time by an individual or the group of individuals, institution/organizations are called Primary sources of the data.
• It refers to the collection of information by an individual or group of individuals through direct observations in the field.
• Through a field survey, information about the relief features, drainage patterns, types of soil and natural vegetation, as well as, population structure, sex ratio, literacy, means of transport and communication, urban and rural settlements, etc., is collected.
• Secondary Sources-
• On the other hand, data collected from any published or unpublished sources are called Secondary sources.
• The publications of the various ministries and the departments of the Government of India, state governments, and the District Bulletins are one of the most important sources of secondary information.
• These include the Census of India published by the Office of the Registrar General of India, reports of the National Sample Survey, Weather Reports of Indian Meteorological Department and Statistical Abstracts published by state governments, and the periodical reports published by different Commissions.

Thus from the above-mentioned points, it is clear that a student interviews Tsunami survivors for a project in Geography. This can be considered as a project based on primary sources.

A student comments in the class that corruption is inevitable at the Panchayat level. You would ask questions in the class on how an ideal Panchayat could be made.  

Key Points

Questioning Method- 

• Questioning is a powerful teacher-centered technique of teaching social sciences. Through this technique, the teacher transacts a lot of learning experiences.
• The teacher asks questions and the responses given by the students are strengthened and elaborated.
• Questions can be used to find out how well students understand a particular block of information, to shift student’s attention from one point to another, to increase retention of important points by isolating and emphasizing them, and to put students in the right direction before starting assignments.
• Questioning facilitates high order thinking skills like analysis, synthesis, and evaluation in the students.

Thus from the above-mentioned points, it is clear that by asking the question of how an ideal Panchayat could be made, a teacher gives them an opportunity for further information as to how the panchayat election being held, how many members are in the panchayat system, duration of the panchayat, etc.

Social sciences are the body of knowledge that is concerned with human affairs in the spectrum of broad socio-cultural system. Social sciences constitute an important component of high school/higher education curriculum. The different social science subjects like history, political science, anthropology, philosophy, economics etc. have independent status in high school/university education.

Key Points

• Children learn social sciences in a variety of ways through experience, making and doing things, experimentation, reading, discussion, asking questions, listening, thinking, reflecting, and expressing their voices.
• They require opportunities for all these kinds in the course of classroom transactions.
• You must allow children to ask questions that require them to relate what they are learning in social science classrooms to things happening outside.
• You need to encourage children to answer the questions in social sciences in their own words and from their own experiences, make an attempt to develop multiple perspectives upon the social science concepts and issues. This will foster creative and critical thinking among them.
• One of the most suitable methods for developing concepts is the disciplinary approach or dominant approach. It is a traditional approach and this approach focuses on readily definable and measurable knowledge.
• Listing dominant features involves the students in studying different disciplines that are independent and distinct from each other; specialized teachers to teach disciplines as per their specialization.

Thus from above-mentioned points, it is clear that listing dominant features is the most suitable method for developing concepts in Social Science at the upper primary level.

Key Points

• Geographers, planners, and other resource scientists use maps. In doing so, they make various types of measurements to determine distances, directions, and area.
• A map is the graphical two-dimensional representations of all or part of the Earth’s surface and its features on a plane surface drawn to a specific scale.
• With the help of scales and map projections, a correspondence of every point on the map to the actual ground position can be established.
• In a map, the real-world features have been replaced by symbols, signs, shades, and colors.
• We should represent in directions, distances, areas, and shapes from the way they appear on a geoid.
• Each map has a scale that represents the relationship between a certain distance on the map and the distance on the group.
• The direction is defined as an imaginary straight line on the map showing the angular position to a common base direction. The four commonly known directions are North, South, East and West.

Thus from above-mentioned points, it is clear that Map reading is associated with skills in distance and direction representation.

​At the upper primary stage (class VI-VIII), the social sciences curriculum includes three broad composite instructional areas i.e. history, geography, and social and political life (SPL). Social and Political Life draws its contents mainly from three disciplines i.e. political science, economics, and sociology.

Key Points 

• The nature of Social and Political Science is dynamic as it includes the study of a wide range of things so it keeps growing and developing.
• Its breadth, comprehensiveness, variety, and extent of the learning experiences, the utility in real-life situations, provided through the teaching of social science.
• The subject is important for its subject matter as well as the skills it develops among the students as a responsible citizen of the society. It ensures intelligibility and extension of experiences rather than mere verbal memorization of facts.
• In political science, the focus should be on discussing the philosophical foundations that underlie the value framework of the Indian Constitution, i.e. an in-depth discussion of equality, liberty, justice, fraternity, dignity, plurality, and freedom from exploitation.

Thus from above-mentioned points, it is clear that Social and Political life subject is related to real-life situations.

There is a need for using a variety of methods and techniques in social sciences. Variety in teaching-learning strategies promotes and maintains student interest, accommodates individual learning styles, adjusts for different stages of development and helps in achieving diverse types of learning objectives. 

Key Points

These methods and techniques may be teacher-centred, learner-centred or group-centred as-

• Lecture/Definition
• Demonstration
• Questioning
• Project Work
• Field Work
• Discussion
• Debate
• Panel Discussion
• Brainstorming
• Problem Solving
• Concept Mapping
• Case Study

Thus from above-mentioned points, it is clear that in order to introduce a Social Science topic, A, C and D methods would be most appropriate.

Hint

• Frictional narratives are made-up stories.

The term ‘history’ is used to indicate the process of human development through the ages. So we can say that it is the story of what human beings have done, said, and what they have thought. It is the story of what happened in the past. Story-telling is an effective way to teach history.

Key Points

Storytelling is an innate quality of human beings, which can be useful for understanding and resolving conflicts.

• It is a flexible and in-depth approach that looks at not just ‘what’ was said but also at ‘how’ and ‘why’ it was said and what effect it had on the listener.
• It is an effective method to get the message across.
• It helps to hold the listeners' interest and attention.
• it creates curiosity among the students.
• It can help in creating awareness about one's own attitudes and can bring about sensitivity towards others.

Thus from above-mentioned points, it is clear that Storytelling is an effective way to teach History as it creates curiosity & interest among the students.

Key Points

Land use pattern means the use of land resources under different ecological settings.

• The pattern of land use of a country at any particular time is determined by the physical, economic and institutional framework taken together.
• In other words, the existing land use pattern in different regions in India has been evolved as a result of the action and interaction of various factors, such as physical characteristic of land, the institutional framework, the structure of other resources (capital, labour, etc.) available.
• The geographical location of the region in relation to other aspects of economic development, viz., those relating to transport, industry, trade, etc. influence the land use pattern.
• Simulation and role-play in a land-use pattern :
• They work best when they are brief and discussed immediately. Students should be asked to imagine themselves in a situation or play the assigned roles. Role-playing and simulation have the following advantages:
• powers of analysis and synthesis
• an ability to think ahead from an exciting situation.
• anticipating the probable actions of opponents.
• foreseeing the consequences of alternatives.
• evaluating the pros and cons of alternative courses of action one might take

Thus from above-mentioned points, it is clear that Roleplay is most suitable for teaching the changes in the land-use pattern at the Upper Primary Level.

Key Points

• Historical imagination is a type of prior thinking which allows learner of history to reconstruct the past.
• The imagination of historians may be richer, more diverse, more inventive because they can survive in present but elusive past. It allows the historian to organize the categories that provide him with a match between their expectation and his enquiry.
• Teaching someone to consider another’s perspective is intended to explore these findings. Which provides a good starting point for an understanding of the term.
• Role-play activities play a vital role in developing historical imagination.
• By saying "You are a sailor who has just come back from Barygaza. Narrate your experience to your friend". In these activities the historian can imagine, what is in this way inferred is essentially something imagined. If we look out over the sea and perceive a ship, and five minutes later look again and perceive it in a different place, historian finds themselves obliged to imagine it as having occupied intermediate positions when we were not looking.

Thus from above-mentioned points, it is clear that A is true.

Continuous and comprehensive evaluation means carrying out an assessment of students' abilities continuously through different tests such as unit tests, half-yearly tests, and annual tests and these tests would focus on cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains. It includes an assessment of the abilities of the students in both scholastic and co-scholastic areas. 

Key Points

 In order to impart quality education and help children develop holistically, it is important to know their learning progress in such a manner through CCE, that it helps to-

• It helps the teacher to organize effective teaching strategies.
• Continuous evaluation helps in regular assessment of learners’ progress (ability and achievement) with reference to specific scholastic and co-scholastic areas.
• Continuous evaluation serves to diagnose weaknesses and helps the teacher ascertain individual learner’s strengths and weaknesses.
• It provides immediate feedback to the teacher who can then decide whether a particular unit or concept needs re-teaching in the whole class or whether a few individuals are in need of remedial instruction.
• It helps children know their strengths and weaknesses and motivates them for self-learning.
• It provides the child with a realistic self-assessment of how he/she studies and also helps him/her enhance his/her learning abilities.
• It motivates children to develop good study habits and directs their activities towards the achievement of desired learning goals.
• The continuous and comprehensive evaluation identifies areas such as aptitude, interest, and self-concept.
• It helps in identifying changes in the attitude and value systems of students.
• It helps in making decisions for the future, regarding the choice of subjects, courses, and careers.
• It provides information /reports on the progress of students in scholastic and co-scholastic areas and thus helps in predicting the future success of learners.

Thus from the above-mentioned points, it is clear that Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) burdens the children is incorrect.

A textbook is a collection of the concepts and different propositions in the form of facts, theories, principles, assumptions, hypotheses, etc. on a selected topic or course/class. NCF- 2005 propagated for enriching the curriculum so that it goes beyond the textbook.

Key Points

Textbooks provide you with several advantages in the classroom-

• In order to incorporate local knowledge, traditional skills, diversity among the learners and learning environments, there is a need for a plurality of textbooks and other resources.
• There is a need for multiple learning resources for teachers and children. In order to incorporate local knowledge, traditional skills, diversity among the learners and learning environments, there is a need for a plurality of textbooks and other resources.
• In a diverse society, it is very much essential that all geographical regions and social groups must find space in textbooks. Children must relate themselves to the textbook.
• Textbooks were seen as a major source of knowledge. This foreclosed any innovation by the active participation of the learners, both by teachers and students. The textbook should be used as opening up avenues for further inquiry. This would encourage the learner to go beyond the textbook, to further reading and observation.

Thus from above-mentioned points, it is clear that NCF 2005 is of the opinion that textbooks should be seen as a medium of further inquiry.

Social Sciences include a body of knowledge, which deals with social and cultural aspects of human life. In order to incorporate local knowledge, traditional skills, diversity among the learners and learning environments, there is a need for project work, field word etc. 

Key Points

The issue of diversity needs to be addressed through policies and schemes; and also through the design and selection of learning tasks and pedagogic practices, so that all students irrespective of their diverse backgrounds take interest and develop the confidence to learn, and find the requisite space in the teaching-learning process. 

• Some of the important concerns that should address are- 
• Giving the learner the prime place in the teaching-learning process, i.e. learner-centered.
• Creating a strong bond between school knowledge and knowledge available in the community.
• Ample opportunities must be provided for field-based, participative and experiential learning. Learners should be provided much scope for critical analysis and understanding of the learning contexts.
• Fieldwork is an important learner-centered instructional method in social sciences. It means taking the class into the “real” world.
• It is conducted in real-life situations where they observe a phenomenon, collect the relevant data, process and analyze the data and arrive at conclusions.
• The experiences which students get from their surroundings contribute towards effective and permanent learning.

Thus from above-mentioned points, it is clear that to undertake a project on the lesson, "Undertaking Diversity"  the most suitable method encourages students to think of examples from their surroundings and start a dialogue.

The learning of social sciences is not a new one. The learning of social sciences has become a part of the education system from the first day of the creation of civilization in this world in one way or another.

Key Points

• At the upper primary stage, the subject-area of Social Science drawing its content from history, geography, political science, and economics will be introduced.
• Simultaneously, the child may be introduced to contemporary issues and problems.
• Contemporary issues may be looked at from multiple perspectives introducing the child to the social and economic problems of society.
• Emphasis needs to be given to issues like poverty, illiteracy, child and bonded labor, class, caste, gender, and environment.
• Geography and Economics may together help in developing a proper perspective related to the issue concerning the environment, resources and development at different levels from local to global.
• Similarly, Indian history will be taught emphasizing the concepts of plurality and change.
• The child will be introduced to the formation and functioning of governments at the local, state, and central level and the democratic processes of participation.

Thus from above-mentioned points, it is clear that at the upper primary stage, Social Science includes content from History, Geography, Economics and Political Science.

Portfolio-

• It is the collection of evidence of students’ works over a period of time. It could be day-to-day works or the selection of the learner’s best piece of work.
• Portfolios encourage teachers and schools to focus on important student outcomes, provide parents and the community with credible evidence of student achievement.
• The portfolio provides a cumulative record of growth and development of a skill or competence in an area over a period of time. It also enables a student to demonstrate to others, his/her learning and progress.
• The involvement of the student in reviewing and selecting the content, strategy, and presentation is seen as the main activities for developing a portfolio. So, a portfolio is an innovative approach to promote reflective thinking on a wide scale.

Key Points

Portfolio can include-

• Photographs
• Paintings and other examples of artistic endeavor
• Audio-Video Recordings
• Self Assessment Sheets
• PeerAssessment Sheets
• Parent Assessment Sheets

Thus from above-mentioned points, it is clear that Portfolios are an important tool of assessment as it provides a cumulative record of the growth of students.

Inquiry-Based Learning- The inquiry-based instructional method considers education as an experience, a process, and not as an inert set of facts. Hence, rather than the product (amount of knowledge amassed), the path (the process of learning) is important.

Key Points

• The levels are - confirmation, structured, guided, and open. The levels of inquiry are determined by the guidance/information provided by teachers to students for finding out the solution to the problem.
• Artifacts are representative of cultures, historical eras, and geographic location. They make history learning meaningful because children have opportunities to construct understanding and build knowledge.
• And students consider the practical use and personal value of objects over time and within particular cultures.
• Learning history becomes challenging because students get the opportunity for inquiry, collaborative learning, risk-taking, thinking fluently and flexibly, and arriving at valuable solutions.
• Students become active by engaging in hands-on explorations.
• Students also get information through interviews and questionnaires of an eyewitness that particular inquiry.

Thus from the above-mentioned points, it is clear that teaching the Partition of India through an inquiry method most suitable strategy for collecting eyewitness accounts through interviews/discussions.

Social Science can be effective in promoting harmony between individuals in the society by making the individuals aware of the way the society functions, why is unity important at a national level, the economic and social condition in the society, issues like casteism and discrimination based on religion can be sensitively understood.

Key Points

Reflective teaching implies an active concern with aims and consequences as well as means and technical competence.

• A reflective method of teaching emphasizes changing the way usually perceive teaching and our role in the process of teaching.
• Teachers who explore their own teaching process through critical reflection develop changes in attitudes and information which they believe can benefit their professional growth, as well as improve the kind of support they provide their children.
• Some important aspects of reflective teaching are-
• clear goals for pupil learning, ways of communicating the goals of the teacher clearly to students
• find ways of making students understand their own needs and the teachers' goals
• identify ways of integrating social issues with classroom activities, flexibility, and analysis
• collect data to be able to identify pupil circumstances and ways to restructure, modify or pace learning

Thus from the above-mentioned points, it is clear that In Social Science, reflective teaching is preferred to routine teaching because it implies flexibility, analysis, and social awareness.

Representative democracy is a form of democracy in which the people of the country choose their own representatives. The chosen representatives of the people frame laws of the country.

Representative democracy, also known as indirect democracy or representative government, is a type of democracy founded on the principle of elected persons representing a group of people. 

• In the countries we call democracy, all the people do not rule.
• A majority is allowed to take decisions on behalf of all the people. Even the majority does not rule directly.
• Therefore, representatives are elected by the people.
• The majority of people rule through their elected representatives.
• That is why rule by the people usually means rule by people’s representatives.
• In a representative democracy, people participate indirectly by electing their representatives who make decisions for the entire country.
• Citizens are involved only indirectly, through their elected representatives.
• In a democracy, the governments can be changed by conducting regular elections.
• The elections are considered essential in any representative democracy.
• In an election the voters make many choices:
• They can choose who will make laws for them.
• They can choose who will form the government and take major decisions.
• They can choose the party whose policies will guide the government and law-making.

From the above, we can conclude that the statement 'The decisions are authorised and supervised by the elected members.' is true regarding the representative democracy.

Key Points

• Gram Panchayat is the lowest level of governing institute of villages. Gram Panchayat is constituted of 5 members- the Sarpanch, the Upsarpanch, and Three Panch.
• The Secretary of the Gram Panchayat is a non elected representative selected by the State Government.
• He is responsible for conducting the meetings and also keeps a record of the proceedings.
• The Secretary ensures that the meetings are conducted smoothly without any disputes. He also ensures that all members attend the meetings and presents the  Action Taken Report on resolutions of previous Gram Sabha meetings.

The Secretary overviews all the Panchayat Activities. Hence, the correct answer is the Government. 

Additional Information

• Ordinary people take part in elections and voting. The members of the Gram Panchayat are elected by people, but the Secretary is nominated by the State Government.
• The Election Commissioner through the election commission ensures a level playing field for all the parties in the election fray and observes a Moral Code of Conduct of all political parties.
• The Landlord of the village can take part in the election as a Nominee or by voting.

Cauvery water dispute:

• The Cauvery water sharing dispute has been a bone of contention between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu since the time of the British Raj.
• Many of the districts in both states are dependent on the Cauvery for irrigation, while the city of Bengaluru gets its water from the river.

Cauvery Issue

• The Cauvery is a perennial river that originates in Karnataka and flows through Tamil Nadu into Puducherry. It merges with the Bay of Bengal.
• It is Tamil Nadu's only perennial river and currently the source of over 70 percent of canal irrigation that supplies water to the state's agricultural lands.
• A number of districts in central and western Tamil Nadu, as well as parts of Madurai and Ramanathapuram, have come to depend on Cauvery for drinking water as well.
• Equitable and timely sharing of water by Karnataka to Tamil Nadu, therefore, is vital to both the agriculture and drinking water needs of Tamil Nadu.
• For decades, the two states have fought over the timeliness, frequency, and quantity of water that each is entitled to. This issue has also been an electoral issue and a means of polarising the two states against each other.
• On 16 February 2018, a special bench of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra delivered the verdict on the issue, largely upholding the water-sharing arrangements finalized by the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal (CWDT) on 5 February 2007.
• An important change from the CWDT arrangement was that the Supreme Court awarded an additional 14.75 tmcft (thousand million cubic feet) to Karnataka, keeping in mind the growing drinking water needs of Bengaluru, which it said had attained ‘global city’ status.
• Tamil Nadu's share was therefore brought down to 177.25 tmcft from the earlier 192 tmcft. The court further directed Tamil Nadu to tap into 10 tmcft of groundwater, roughly half of the existing stock of an 'empirical' 20 tmcft.
• The CWDT had not taken the groundwater reserves into account while awarding the water-sharing arrangement. The Supreme Court also directed the Centre to formulate a 'scheme' to implement the verdict.

Therefore, Water resource is key to the dispute between states. Cauvery dispute is between Karnataka & Tamil Nadu.

As a real executive authority, the Chief Minister is called the head of the government.

• He is assisted by his council of ministers who are a part of state executive along with Governor and Advocate-General of State.
• Similar to Prime Minister who is the head of the government at the centre, the Chief Minister is the head of the government at the state level.

Appointment of Chief minister:

• After the elections, the MLAs belonging to the ruling party will elect their leader who will become the chief minister.
• The chief minister then selects other people as ministers. After the elections, it is the Governor of the state who appoints the chief minister and other ministers.
• The chief minister and other ministers have the responsibility of running various government departments or ministries. They have separate offices.

Additional Information

• When no party gets a majority in the elections, governor exercises his own discretion and appoint a Chief Minister accordingly.
• In a case where no party has won the majority votes, Governor appoints the member of the largest party or one from the coalition (if occurs) as the Chief Minister and then he is given 1 month time to prove confidence in the house.
• If the incumbent dies in the office, Governor at his own discretion can appoint a Chief Minister however, the ruling party nominates a member and Governor usually appoints that person as the Chief Minister. This person then has to prove confidence within a specified time.
• A person not belonging to either house (Legislative Assembly & Council) can also be appointed as the Chief Minister, however, within six months of his tenure as a CM he should be elected to either house without which he ceases to be a CM.
• Chief Minister can belong to any house in the State Legislature.

In a weaver's cooperative, the weavers form a group and take up certain activities collectively. They procure yarn from the yarn dealer and distribute it among the weavers. The cooperative also does the marketing.

Weaver’s cooperatives are one way to reduce the dependence on the merchant and to earn a higher income for the weavers.

• In a cooperative, people with common interests come together and work for their mutual benefit.
• In a weaver’s cooperative, the weavers form a group and take up certain activities collectively.
• They procure yarn from the yarn dealer and distribute it among the weavers.
• The cooperative also does the marketing.
• So, the role of the merchant is reduced, and weavers get a fair price on the cloth.
• At times, the government helps the cooperatives by buying cloth from them at a reasonable price.
• For instance, the Tamil Nadu government runs a Free School Uniform programme in the state.
• The government procures the cloth for this programme from the powerloom weaver’s cooperatives.
• Similarly, the government buys cloth from the handloom weaver’s cooperatives and sells it through stores known as Co-optex.

From the above, we can conclude that the statement 'These Cooperative reduce the role of merchants and help weavers to get a fair price for their cloth.' is correct about Weavers Cooperatives.

Indian Parliament is bicameral in nature i.e. that it has two houses.

• Rajya Sabha is one of those two houses, i.e. the upper house of the Parliament.

• The other house is the Lok Sabha (Lower House of the Parliament).

• Rajya Sabha is the second chamber of the parliament and represents the states and union territories of the nation.

• It is empowered to protect the interests of the states and union territories if there is interference by the centre in their work.

• The Rajya Sabha functions primarily as the representative of the states of India in the Parliament.

• The Rajya Sabha can also initiate legislation and a bill is required to pass through the Rajya Sabha in order to become a law.

• It, therefore, has an important role in reviewing and altering (if alterations are needed) the laws initiated by the Lok Sabha.

• The members of the Rajya Sabha are elected by the elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of various states.

• The Rajya Sabha should consist of not more than 250 members - 238 members representing the States and Union Territories, and 12 members nominated by the President.

• The Vice President of India is the ex-officio Chairman of Rajya Sabha.

• The House also elects a Deputy Chairman from among its members.

• Besides, there is also a panel of "Vice Chairmen" in the Rajya Sabha.

• The senior-most minister, who is a member of Rajya Sabha, is appointed by the Prime Minister as Leader of the House.

From the above, it is clear that the statement 'It represents the states of India in the Parliament.' is correct about the Rajya Sabha.

The legislature, executive and judiciary are the three organs of government.

• Together, they perform the functions of the government, maintain law and order and look after the welfare of the people.
• The Constitution ensures that they work in coordination with each other and maintain a balance among themselves.

The judiciary is the system of courts that judge legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law in legal cases.

• The Supreme Court has been assigned a very significant role in the Indian political system and is the final interpreter of the constitution.
• Under the constitution of India, the Supreme Court is provided with the scope of judicial review.
• The judicial review allows the Supreme Court to safeguard fundamental rights and struck down legislation that is violative of Constitutional provisions.
• Under Article 13, 32, 131-136, 143, 226 and 246 Supreme Court can review any law.

Thus, it is clear that the Judiciary is the final interpreter of the Constitution of India.

Key Points 

• The executive is the branch of government responsible for the implementation of laws and policies adopted by the legislature.
• The executive is often involved in the framing policy
• The legislature is not merely a law-making body.
• Lawmaking is but one of the functions of the legislature.
• It is the centre of all democratic political processes.
• It is packed with action; walkouts, protests, demonstrations, unanimity, concern and co-operation.
• All these serve very vital purposes. Indeed, a genuine democracy is inconceivable without a representative, efficient and effective legislature.
• The legislature also helps people in holding the representatives accountable.
• This is indeed, the very basis of representative democracy.