By

Dr. Shyam Anand

Upkar Prakashan, Agra-2

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Contents

Environmental Studies

● Our Body ................................................................................................... 3–17

● My Family ................................................................................................. 18–26

● Work and Play ............................................................................................ 27–34

● Plants and Animals ..................................................................................... 35–52

● Our Food ................................................................................................... 53–76

● Shelter ....................................................................................................... 77–82

● Air ............................................................................................................. 83–92

● Water ........................................................................................................ 93–108

● Earth and Sky ............................................................................................ 109–119

● Our Country (India) .................................................................................... 120–139

● History and Culture of India ........................................................................ 140–162

● Indian Constitution ...................................................................................... 163–181

● U.N.O. ...................................................................................................... 182–186

● Practice Set (I–IV) .................................................................................... 187–208

Environmental Pedagogy

1. Concepts and Scope of Environmental Studies .............................................. 3–16

2. Aims & Objectives of Teaching Environmental Studies ................................. 17–34

3. Relation to Science and Social Studies ......................................................... 35–46

4. Curriculum and its Transaction .................................................................... 47–60

5. Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation .................................................. 61–69

6. Learning Environment ................................................................................ 70–76

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Environmental Studies

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Environmental Studies | 3

Our BodyThe human body is the entire structure of a

human organism, and consists of a head, neck,torso, two arms and two legs. By the time the humanreaches adulthood, the body consists of close to100 trillion cells, the basic unit of life. These cellsare organised biologically to eventually form thewhole body.HEALTH

Health is the level of functional and (or)metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, itis the general condition of a person in mind, bodyand spirit, usually meaning to being free fromillness, injury or pain (as in “good health” or“healthy”). The World Health Organization (WHO)defined health in its broader sense in 1946 as “astate of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease orinfirmity.” Although this definition has been subjectto controversy, in particular as having a lack ofoperational value and the problem created by use ofthe word “complete”, it remains the most enduring.Classification systems such as the WHO Family ofInternational Classifications, which is composed ofthe International Classification of Functioning,Disability and Health (ICF) and the InternationalClassification of Diseases (ICD), are commonlyused to define and measure the components ofhealth.

The maintenance and promotion of health isachieved through different combination of physical,mental, and social well-being, together sometimesreferred to as the “health triangle”. The WHO’s1986 Ottawa Charter for Health Promotionfurthered that health is not just a state, but also “aresource for everyday life, not the objective ofliving. Health is a positive concept emphasizingsocial and personal resources, as well as physicalcapacities.”

Systematic activities to prevent or cure healthproblems and promote good health in humans aredelivered by health care providers. Applicationswith regard to animal health are covered by theveterinary sciences. The term “healthy” is alsowidely used in the context of many types of non-living organizations and their impacts for the benefitof humans, such as in the sense of healthy com-munities, healthy cities or healthy environments. Inaddition to health care interventions and a person'ssurroundings, a number of other factors are knownto influence the health status of individuals,including their background, lifestyle, and economicand social conditions; these are referred to as“determinants of health”.CLEANLINESS

Cleanliness is the absence of dirt, includingdust, stains, bad smells and garbage. Cleanlinessincludes criteria such as health and beauty. The termCleanliness derives from the meaning absence ofodour, avoidance of and to avoid the spreading ofdirt and contaminants to oneself and others. In thecase of glass objects such as windows orwindshields, the purpose can also be transparency.Washing is one way of achieving cleanliness,usually with water and often some kind of soap ordetergent. In more recent times, since the germtheory of disease, it has also come to mean anabsence of germs and other hazardous materials.However, dirt may play a useful role in our immunesystems. This shift in thinking can be traced back to1989, when David Strachan put forth the “hygienehypothesis” in the British Medical Journal.Strachan looked at the records of 17,000 Britishchildren and found that the greater number of oldersiblings they had, the less likely they were to comedown with hay fever—a disease which, despite itsname, is far more common in the city than the

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country. Strachan wondered if the older childrenwere bringing home more viral infections to theiryounger siblings, priming their immune systems sothey could better tolerate pollen. The “hygienehypothesis” has now been linked with asthma,allergies, intestinal diseases including Crohn’sdisease, childhood leukemia and atopic dermatitis.There is increasing evidence that the less germspeople are exposed to as a child, the more likely theyare to get sick as adults.

Cleanliness impacts every phase of socialinteraction, generating potentially profound health-related risks and illnesses.BODY PARTSExternal Body Parts :ankles back belly breastsbuttocks cheeks chin earselbows eyes fingers feetforehead hair hands headhips knees legs lipsmouth neck nose shouldersthighs toes tongueInternal Body Parts :Arteries Bladder Blood vesselBone Brain Colon EsophagusHeart Intestines KidneysLiver Lungs Muscle NervesRibs Spine Stomach TendonThroat Tongue Teeth WindpipeBONES

An adult human has approximately 206 distinctbones :

● Spine and vertebral column (26)● Cranium (8)● Face (14)● Hyoid bone, sternum and ribs (26)● Upper extremities (70)● Lower extremities (62)

MUSCLESMuscle (from Latin musculus, diminutive of

mus “mouse”) is a contractile tissue of animals andis derived from the mesodermal layer of embryonicgerm cells. Muscle cells contain contractile filamentsthat move past each other and change the size ofthe cell. They are classified as skeletal, cardiac, or

smooth muscles. Their function is to produce forceand cause motion. Muscles can cause either locomo-tion of the organism itself or movement of internalorgans. Cardiac and smooth muscle contractionoccurs without conscious thought and is necessaryfor survival. Examples are the contraction of theheart and peristalsis which pushes food throughthe digestive system. Voluntary contraction of theskeletal muscles is used to move the body and canbe finely controlled. Examples are movements of theeye, or gross movements like the quadriceps muscleof the thigh. There are two broad types of voluntarymuscle fibers: slow twitch and fast twitch. Slowtwitch fibers contract for long periods of time butwith little force while fast twitch fibers contractquickly and powerfully but fatigue very rapidly.SENSE ORGANS

Traditionally, there are five senses: sight, smell,taste, touch, and hearing. As far back as the 1760’s,the famous philosopher Immanuel Kant proposedthat our knowledge of the outside world dependson our modes of perception. In order to define whatis “extrasensory” we need to define what is“sensory”. Each of the 5 senses consists of organswith specialized cells that have receptors forspecific stimuli. These cells have links to thenervous system and thus to the brain. Sensing isdone at primitive levels in the cells and integratedinto sensations in the nervous system. Sight isprobably the most developed sense in humans,followed closely by hearing.DIGESTION

Digestion is the mechanical and chemicalbreakdown of food into smaller components thatare more easily absorbed into a blood stream, forinstance. Digestion is a form of catabolism: abreakdown of large food molecules to smaller ones.

In mammals, food enters the mouth, beingchewed by teeth, with chemical processingbeginning with chemicals in the saliva from thesalivary glands. This is called mastication. Then ittravels down the esophagus into the stomach,where hydrochloric acid kills most contaminatingmicroorganisms and begins mechanical break downof some food (e.g., denaturation of protein), andchemical alteration of some. The hydrochloric acidalso has a low pH, which allows enzymes to workmore efficiently. After some time (typically an hour

Environmental Studies | 5

or two in humans, 4–6 hours in dogs, somewhatshorter duration in house cats, ...) , the resultingthick liquid is called chyme. Chyme will go throughthe small intestine, where 95% of absorption ofnutrients occurs, through the large intestine, andare eliminated during defecation.

Other organisms use different mechanisms todigest food.RESPIRATORY SYSTEM

In humans and other animals, the anatomicalfeatures of the respiratory system include airways,lungs, and the respiratory muscles. Molecules ofoxygen and carbon dioxide are passively exchanged,by diffusion, between the gaseous external environ-ment and the blood. This exchange process occursin the alveolar region of the lungs.

Other animals, such as insects, have respiratorysystems with very simple anatomical features, andin amphibians even the skin plays a vital role in gasexchange. Plants also have respiratory systems butthe directionality of gas exchange can be oppositeto that in animals. The respiratory system in plantsalso includes anatomical features such as holes onthe undersides of leaves known as stomata.NERVOUS SYSTEM

The nervous system is an organ system con-taining a network of specialized cells called neuronsthat coordinate the actions of an animal and transmitsignals between different parts of its body. In mostanimals the nervous system consists of two parts,central and peripheral. The central nervous systemof vertebrates (such as humans) contains the brain,spinal cord, and retina. The peripheral nervoussystem consists of sensory neurons, clusters ofneurons called ganglia, and nerves connecting themto each other and to the central nervous system.These regions are all inter-connected by means ofcomplex neural pathways. The enteric nervoussystem, a subsystem of the peripheral nervoussystem, has the capacity, even when severed fromthe rest of the nervous system through its primaryconnection by the vagus nerve, to function inde-pendently in controlling the gastrointestinal system.

Neurons send signals to other cells as electro-chemical waves travelling along thin fibers calledaxons, which cause chemicals called neurotrans-mitters to be released at junctions called synapses.A cell that receives a synaptic signal may be excited,

inhibited, or otherwise modulated. Sensory neuronsare activated by physical stimuli impinging on them,and send signals that inform the central nervoussystem of the state of the body and the externalenvironment. Motor neurons, situated either in thecentral nervous system or in peripheral ganglia,connect the nervous system to muscles or othereffector organs. Central neurons, which in vertebratesgreatly outnumber the other types, make all of theirinput and output connections with other neurons.The interactions of all these types of neurons formneural circuits that generate an organism’sperception of the world and determine its behavior.Along with neurons, the nervous system containsother specialized cells called glial cells (or simplyglia), which provide structural and metabolicsupport.

Nervous systems are found in most multi-cellular animals, but vary greatly in complexity.Sponges have no nervous system, although theyhave homologs of many genes that play crucialroles in nervous system function, and are capableof several whole-body responses, including aprimitive form of locomotion. Placozoans andmesozoans—other simple animals that are notclassified as part of the subkingdom Eumetazoa—also have no nervous system. In Radiata (radiallysymmetric animals such as jellyfish) the nervoussystem consists of a simple nerve net. Bilateria,which include the great majority of vertebrates andinvertebrates, all have a nervous system containinga brain, one central cord (or two running in parallel),and peripheral nerves. The size of the bilateriannervous system ranges from a few hundred cells inthe simplest worms, to on the order of 100 billioncells in humans. Neuroscience is the study of thenervous system.EXCRETORY SYSTEM

The excretory system is a passive biologicalsystem that removes excess, unnecessary ordangerous materials from an organism, so as to helpmaintain homeostasis within the organism andprevent damage to the body. It is responsible forthe elimination of the waste products of metabolismas well as other liquid and gaseous wastes. As mosthealthy functioning organs produce metabolic andother wastes, the entire organism depends on thefunction of the system; however, only the organs

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specifically for the excretion process are considereda part of the excretory system. The excretory systemgets rid of waste called urine or “pee”.CIRCULATORY SYSTEM

The circulatory system is an organ system thatpasses nutrients (such as amino acids, electrolytesand lymph), gases, hormones, blood cells, etc. toand from cells in the body to help fight diseases andhelp stabilize body temperature and pH to maintainhomeostasis.

This system may be seen strictly as a blooddistribution network, but some consider thecirculatory system as composed of the cardio-vascular system, which distributes blood, and thelymphatic system, which distributes lymph. Whilehumans, as well as other vertebrates, have a closedcardiovascular system (meaning that the bloodnever leaves the network of arteries, veins andcapillaries), some invertebrate groups have an opencardio-vascular system. The most primitive animalphyla lack circulatory systems. The lymphaticsystem, on the other hand, is an open system.

Two types of fluids move through the circu-latory system: blood and lymph. The blood, heart,and blood vessels form the cardiovascular system.The lymph, lymph nodes, and lymph vessels formthe lymphatic system. The cardiovascular systemand the lymphatic system collectively make up thecirculatory system.FIRST AID

First aid is the provision of initial care for anillness or injury. It is usually performed by a non-expert person to a sick or injured person untildefinitive medical treatment can be accessed.Certain self-limiting illnesses or minor injuries maynot require further medical care past the first aidintervention. It generally consists of a series ofsimple and in some cases, potentially life-savingtechniques that an individual can be trained toperform with minimal equipment.

While first aid can also be performed on allanimals, the term generally refers to care of humanpatients.

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Publisher : Upkar Prakashan ISBN : 9789350133378 Author : Dr. Shyam Anand

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