Another visit to the CMU Department of CEE

It was nice to visit the CMU (Children's Media Unit) department of CEE. Went through the recent publications that they have done and having a glance on the prior once also. They have been involved in the publication done by CEE for many of the environmental activities all around India.



There I met Rajeswari mam, a scientist and a part of the publication design team at CMU. After discussing my project and what I intended to do, she added on a lot of information and insights to it. She also showed me a lot of books and other publications trying to help me out to understand the concept of pond ecology from the scientific approach as well as from the targeted audience point of view.

Trying to understand the targeted audience

For the target audience my major focus is on the upper primary and middle school level students. In India CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) classifies Middle School as Class 5 to Class 8 (typically ages 10–13). There are other Central Boards such as ICSE (Indian Certificate of Secondary Education). Each state has its own State Board. Each has its own standards, which might be different from the Central Boards.In some institutions, providing education for 5th to 10th are known as secondary school.


Education scientist Sugata Mitra tackles one of the greatest problems of education -- the best teachers and schools don't exist where they're needed most. In a series of real-life experiments from New Delhi to South Africa to Italy, he gave kids self-supervised access to the web and saw results that could revolutionize how we think about teaching.
The "Hole in the Wall" project demonstrates that, even in the absence of any direct input from a teacher, an environment that stimulates curiosity can cause learning through self-instruction and peer-shared knowledge. Mitra, who's now a professor of educational technology at Newcastle University (UK), calls it "minimally invasive education."

On my prior visit to CEE (Centre for Environment Education) I met Pankaj sir and Rajashree mam from the CMU (Children's Media Unit) there. During the conversation Mam showed me this Draft of teaching manual contaning materials meant for the understanding for the teachers on how to make the kids explore a pond in a better manner. I just read it briefly and the excercises and the games were really nicely designed strategy to get the kids of different age groups involved in the understanding of the pond ecology.

A visit to GEER Foundation

Gujarat Ecological Education and Research (GEER) Foundation is an autonomous body, set up in 1982 by the Forests & Environment Department, Government of Gujarat. The Foundation has been registered as a Society under the Indian Societies Registration Act, 1860, and as a Public Trust under the Bombay Public Trust Act of 1950.The Foundation is governed by a Board of Governors chaired by the Hon'ble Chief Minister of Gujarat.

Ecological education being one of the primary objectives of the Foundation, nature education programmers for specific target groups such as school children were initiated by the Foundation way back in 1982. Till date, the Foundation has organised 3,068 camps which have benefited more than 1.70 lakh school children and 10,000 teachers. Special camping sites at Indroda Nature Park (INP) and Hingolgadh Nature Education Sanctuary (HNES) have been developed for this purpose. The Foundation organises about 150 nature education camps every year covering about 7,500 students and 300 teachers. During each camp, participants stay in the wild for two nights and three days. Recently, GEER Foundation has developed a wilderness park in the eastern part of the Indroda Nature Park with good camping facilities viz. good dense forest, tents, cottages, amphitheatre, wildlife interpretation centre etc.

Discussion with my Project Guide Mr. Rupesh Vyas

Went to the IT Center (NID) to have a discussion with Rupesh Vyas, my guide for this project. After a discussion and after going through my research methodologies he suggested some rectifications in the Phrases and stages and gave some insights on how to diagnose it and analyze and synthesize on it. Then he suggested to always refer back to the strategies designed and said to follow design iterations considering design factors for the strategy designed.

We then also discussed upon the targeted audience and the cognitive ability of the targeted audience. While discussing he helped me in putting my intentions for the project into appropriate words. His insights were of great help to further analyze where the whole project was heading towards.

A visit to CEE ( Centre for Environment Education )

Centre for Environment Education (CEE) was created in recognition of the importance of environmental education in India’s overall environment and development strategy. The result of a unique partnership between government and a non-governmental institution, CEE was established as a Centre of Excellence in 1984.
CEE has inherited the rich multi-disciplinary resource base and varied experience of Nehru Foundation for Development, its parent organisation, which has been promoting educational efforts since 1966 in the areas of science, nature study, health, development, and environment.

At the time it began its activities, CEE was perhaps the only organization actively engaged in environmental education in the country. While carrying out programmes in different parts of the country, it was located only at Ahmedabad. Within five years of activities, it was realized that for a country as vast as India and its diversity, physical presence was important for effective implementation. Based on this, the first regional office was opened for the Southern region in 1988-89. Since then it has been a conscious effort to have an office or presence in the geographical area of work.

After completing a decade of activities in 1994, it was decided to move more from environmental education to environmental action. This was an outcome of the learnings and experiences in the first ten years. CEE began more pilot, field-level and demonstration projects towards sustainable development which could be scaled-up and replicated. Within the next ten years, these projects formed a major chunk of Centre’s activities.

Today, CEE works for a wide range of sectors, target groups and geographical areas. CEE sees a major opportunity in the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-14) to further contribute towards sustainable development.

nice iniciative taken by the Missouri Department of Conservation.

There was a very small man made pond at the end of the Jurassic and Fossils park. Interestingly the children were interacting a lot with the creatures inside the pond. Cat fishes and tortoise were clearly visible. One thing was understood the children were highly excited to see and interact to the responding creatures in the pond. Then and there came the idea that if that fresh water ecosystem is presented to them in an exciting manner they surely will get excited and in long term conscious about the conservation of nature themselves.

Today in the morning at 8:30 am boarded the NID bus going to gandhinagar campus and then to got to Indroda Park for collecting information. Since today there was a match in the Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera a lot of pepsi add campaigns were vissible and could see the floodlights while the bus passed by the stadium.





After reaching Indroda park we forwarded towards the Jurassic and Fossils park. The entrance gate was very interesting and attractive. While entering the park saw a man instructing some school kids about the dinosaurs that once existed in this planet. Later came to know the person was Rao ji bhai who was a instructor at the park and has worked in GSI prior to this with a lot of geologists and has a lot of experience in identifying fossils in the kutch region.




Observed a whole lot of different types of 1:1 ration of dinosaurs models that existed once and thr information graphics about them. Rao ji Bhai also gave us the information about lot of prehistoric fossils and how they were bought into that park.

A pond ecosystem is a complex interdependent system of plants, animals and microorganisms along with the physical environment in which they live. Pond ecology depends first and foremost on the freshwater environment for nutrients and survival.

Ponds are usually shallow, which allows sunlight to reach organisms growing on the bottom. A freshwater pond ecosystem consists of a four habitats, populated by three types of organisms that live in four different habitats. Every element of a pond ecosystem works in conjunction with the others to maintain balance.

Organisms in a Pond Ecosystem

Fishes, plants, algae, fungi, and microorganisms in the pond ecology fall into three categories:

• Producers - those that provide or are food for other species.
• Consumers - those that partake of the food provided by Producers.
• Decomposers - those that decompose and consume dead organisms

Habitats in the Pond Ecology Ecosystem

A habitat is a structure or environment which provides the needed elements for the life of an organism. A pond is made up of four interdependent habitats:

• Shore Habitat - The organisms that inhabit the shore habitat are dependent upon what kind of shoreline exists. Some shorelines may not be conducive to plant growth, where others may contain all four of the predominant pond ecosystem organisms.
• Surface Film - Insects such as water striders and other organisms able to walk or float on the surface inhabit the surface of the pond ecosystem. They feed on the floating plants, dead insects and even each other when need arises.
• Open Water - Fishes and plankton inhabit this third habitat of the pond. Phytoplankton (algae) and zooplankton (insect larvae, invertebrates, rotifier, and tiny crustaceans) are present as well.
• Bottom Water - Bottom habitat varies according to the depth of the pond. Shallow ponds with sandy bottoms may contain insects, earthworms, and snails. A deep pond with a muddy bottom will contain dragonfly nymphs, microorganisms, maggots, and flatworms.

The Pond Ecosystem Food Chain

In order to live, all organisms must eat. A food chain is a hierarchical system of consumption. There are three basic levels in the food chain of a pond.

• Producers or autotrophs: Made up of phytoplankton and plants, these organisms use sunlight and photosynthesis to create their own food.
• Herbivores: Insects, invertebrates and crustaceans which consume the plants.
• Carnivores: Fishes and other organisms which can feed on both plants and herbivores.

The decomposers, or sapotrophs, are at the very bottom of the food chain. Mostly comprised of fungi and bacteria, these organisms are vital to the nutrient cycle, as they convert all dead into carbon dioxide and nutrients that can be readily use by algae and plants to produce food.

Maintaining a Pond Ecosystem

When a pond ecology ecosystem is in balance, you have healthy plants and fit fish. When that balance is disrupted, you have a murky, unhealthy mess. Learning as much as you can about how to maintain your pond is the only way to assure a clear, beautiful pond that operates well on all levels, and supports all its elements.

Whether natural or man made, a pond is something that has to be watched over and kept up to assure that it, and the creatures that inhabit it, stay as healthy and disease free as possible.