Visualising our display... 6th and 7th March

We all planned our display for the PYP Exhibition, and we wanted it to be different! We thought of making our display not on the usual 2d panels, but going 3d! 

Our planning of the display

This also meant that we would be using waste materials like bamboo, newspaper, dry grass, paint, etc. The reason for using waste material is that we are the forest savers, and we don't want to waste paper as we have to save the trees. That is why we are using waste material. 

Working towards our display

We have also decided to do a campaign which will include making posters, bookmarks and an exciting play.

Khushi Misra and Anchal Tawar, Mother's Children

Seniors show us the way... Monday, 4th April

‘Dusk to Dawn’ saw its dawn in the PPT on Fossil Fuels presented by Mrs. Ravinder, a senior school teacher, and her students on Monday, 4th April. They took special care to make a presentation, most befitting the age group to be addressed. The language was simple, the pictures, impressive and the colours, attractive. 

Grade 11 students presenting the power point on Fossil Fuels

The presentation began with the question, “What are Fossil Fuels”?

This was very well explained with pictures and bulleted information which made it easy for the students to understand. A detailed discussion followed on the various kinds of Fossil Fuels. Coal, Petroleum and Natural Gas were clearly understood with the help of diagrams.

Visuals and diagrams depicting the origin of fossil fuels

The importance and the advantages of Fossil Fuels were also discussed. The participation showed that they had understood the concept of ‘Form’ and ‘Function’ well. The next discussion was on ‘Alternative Sources of Energy’. The 11^th graders, in response to one of the questions, beautifully brought out the responsibilities which the young children can also shoulder. As one of the students said, “When children speak to adults about what can be done to save the earth and the environment, adults take it more seriously than otherwise. It makes a larger impact on them and they take action faster.”

Students making notes

In the coming weeks, the students researching on Fossil Fuels, will be reflective and work on the various aspects to bring about a change in the attitudes of people. We are indeed very grateful to Mrs. Ravinder and the 11^th Graders for this wonderful presentation. 

Manjula Rao, Dusk to Dawn

FIELD TRIP FRIDAY... 1st April, 2011

Trip to the National Science Centre, New Delhi by the Water groups

An interactive science exhibition delving into the Fresh Water Crisis looming large on our immediate future is currently on display in the National Science Centre, Delhi. The travelling exhibition – Water: a Precious Resource– is on display from 22nd March to 15th May 2011. We, the students of the Water groups, decided to visit this wonderful exhibition which aims to raise consciousness about the world wide crisis of this precious resource that affects over 1.1 billion people around the globe. After much planning, on 1^st April 2011, we went to the National Science Centre to see this exhibition. 

Over there we saw different exhibits on water crisis and water as a finite resource. We got to know that there are different organisations working to save water. One such organisation, such as Swecha is trying to spread awareness and to save water. There were different machines and boards that told us facts about water crisis and how much water is there is in our body. There were a lot of games which were related to water, on water crisis and how to conserve water. They exhibited their work in many ways such as, posters, activities/games, questions and many more. 

The best part was when we saw the water cycle, played games/activities and gained interesting information.  Overall it was an amazing experience and we enjoyed it a lot!!!!! We hope that you visit it too!!!!!

Karmistha Bhimwal and Bhav Agarwal, The 9 Planet Savers and Gauri Saluja, Care to Share.

A walk in the forests, a climb of the mountains, a feel of the earth!

On Friday 1^st April 2011 we, the Global Explorers went on a field trip with another group which was Mothers’ Children.  We invited our school’s CAS Coordinator, Mr. Sunil Bhardwaj to accompany us.  We went to 4 different places in the Aravali Hills. 

 The first place was close to the bottom of the Aravali Hills.  Sunil Sir told us many interesting facts about the Aravali and its habitat such as the Pasendu tree under which the temperature is very low and if you live under that tree for 6 months you will become blind.  After that we visited the mining area, where we saw a mountain that was mined in layers.  

We learnt that the Aravali is one of the oldest mountains in the world.  Then we went to a Concrete Plant where they make concrete which is used to build roads and houses.  We collected many samples of rocks, stones and sand over there.  We all then went to see a brick kiln.  We observed and learnt all about the process of making a brick.  It was an educational but tiring day for everyone as we sat in the bus and ate our lunch.

Riya Kumar and Shai Mahajan, Global Explorers

Groundwater Up ... a documentary on the water crisis in North India

On 30^th March 2011, Wednesday, Ms. Tarini Manchanda came to our school. She is the founder of an organisation called “The Ground Water Up Project”. We had earlier seen a trailer of the documentary movie she and her 2 friends made, on the website www.groundwaterup.com. She showed us the full documentary movie on Water Crisis in Delhi and North India. The movie’s name was “The Ground Water up Project”. Grade 3 students were also present for this interaction as they were doing a unit called “Water Wise” in which they were learning about the wastage of water and water crisis in India. The facts that we learnt from this documentary movie are:-

•           Half of Delhi’s sewage is trapped due to poor waste disposal.
•           Delhi’s groundwater is decreasing and will be finished in 2015.
•           Delhi has no water shortage.
•           New Delhi and South Delhi have a water crisis, even for the rich.
•           If the water is distributed equally there will be enough for everyone.
•           40 % of Delhi’s water is wasted.
•           4000 dams have been built in India.
•           The government plans to build a new dam in Himachal Pradesh.
•           Land to be acquired for the dams is 376 hectares and 642 hectare.
•           10,000 people in Tehri will be submerged.
•           People in Tehri don’t want any more dams.

     The 2^nd documentary movie was called “A dam old story” which was based on the Renuka and Tehri dam. We learnt the following:

•        Due to the Renuka dam being built 34 villages and more than 1142 families will be affected.
•        Renuka dam will submerge 1630 hectares of land.
•        Renuka dam was rejected by the public of U.P (Uttar Pradesh) in 2010.
•        Tehri dam – the water is rising higher – can submerge 100,000 people and 42 villages.

Siddhant Gupta and Anmol Chawla, 
The 9 Planet Savers

A POWERful trip... 29th March, 2011

On 29th of March, 2011, we went for a field trip to Badshahpur petrol pump and the power station. We went with Monica ma’am, Ms. Rao and our group ‘DUSK TO DAWN’ in the morning at 9:40 a.m. We first went to the petrol pump and met the manager there. We were curious to find information and asked him a lot of questions such as- where does the petrol comes to them from, where it is stored.  He answered the questions to our satisfaction. 

We gained a few facts from this trip such as petrol is stored underground in tanks, which are connected to underground pipes and these are attached to the pump. Approximately, 12 thousand litres of petrol is consumed in a day and on an average 1200 cars come to the pump in an hour. There are 40 petrol pumps in Gurgaon, which are visited by about 2 lakhs 80 thousand vehicles every hour. The petrol mainly comes from Iraq to refineries in Panipat and Rewari, and from there it reaches here. 

We then went to meet the Sub division officer of the power station and   found out answers to a lot of questions such as why there are power cuts, why there is shortage of electricity, where we get electricity from, does this power station supply electricity to the whole of Gurgaon, has the consumption of electricity changed over time and has the shortage of electricity affected people. 

 We also found out about thermal power too and learnt that consumption of thermal power affects the environment. Thermal energy comes from Pali and Hydro power comes from Dadri to Haryana. This is supplied in turn from the Bhakra Nangal Dam in Himachal Pradesh and Bihar is the largest supplier of coal in India. The most interesting fact that we gained was that the amount of electricity that our school uses is 11000kw and that the demand for electricity in Haryana is more than the supply, which is the main reason for the frequent and long power cuts that we all face. 

 

Isha  Bhatnagar and Pragya Jhingran, 'Dusk to Dawn'