Earth lessons for Delhi`s kids
Terre! Terre! (Earth! Earth!), an exhibition held in New Delhi in October, seemed to draw more children than adults. As is evident from its name, the exhibition aimed at a better understanding of the Earth's environment and its social, biological and physical dimensions. Experiments, visuals and complementary video films served to liven up the show.
The exhibition was sponsored by a group of French institutions.
Terre! Terre! dealt with two key problems: to arrive at a better understanding of the Earth's natural equilibrium systems and to propose areas in which people could manage their local environment in a better way.
The exhibition used simple models. An exhibition consisted of two illuminators facing in the same direction, one of which had a container full of water in front. If you placed your hand in front of both the illuminators, you would find that the heat from the illuminator not covered by the water container was more than the one that was covered, thus demonstrating the earth's atmosphere represented by the water container, protects us from the intense heat of the sun. Another exhibit attempted to show the importance of the ecological web. One could build a pyramid using small circular plates with pictures of organisms. If any plate was removed, the entire structure would collapse, demonstrating that each animal, however big or small, was an integral part of nature.
Such exhibition can help foster the spirit of enquiry among school children if teachers were to get them to make such exhibits themselves.