CLASS V- Lesson 2- Gathering and Organizing information
Kaumudi: Aquarium illustration with children and teacher. Note that some children take notes of what they see while some may be discussing.
The children in fifth standard had been to the aquarium with their teacher. Most of the children including Tejas and Jyoti wanted to have a small aquarium in their own house.
Tejas: We would like to keep fish as pets in our house.
Moz: Why only fish as pets. Why not a dog?
Tejas: We live in an apartment and we cannot keep dogs in our apartment. I like to have a pet.
Jyoti: Most of us like to have pets. So when we saw the aquarium we thought of a small fish tank at home.
Moz: This is a good idea. So how will you go about it?
Tejas and Jyoti: First we had to tell our parents. And they have agreed.
Jyoti: Our parents want us to find out on our own how to setup an aquarium.
Moz: How will you do it?
Jyoti: We know very little about setting up an aquarium at home. We need to gather the information.
Moz: Good. So what is your goal?
Concept:
Identify the goal
For any task like planning a project, an event or problem solving,
Understand and discuss about the task.
Identify the goal. Then start planning various phases of the task.
Goal: Setting up an aquarium at home.
Moz: What do you know about keeping fish at home?
Jyoti: We can keep them in small glass tanks with water. In a glass tank we can see our pet fish swimming in water.
Tejas: Yes. We can even keep them in a small glass pot.
Jyoti: We need to feed the fish regularly. But I do not know about the food that fish eat.
Jyoti: Wonder how long fish live!
Tejas: Some fish eat other fish. Isn't it? So we should find out which fish can be kept together in a tank.
Jyoti: I am sure there must be some fish excreta. How do we take care of this?
Tejas: We do not know how much it will cost to setup a fish tank.
Jyoti: I have to also find how much it will cost per month to take care of the fish.
Concept: Analyze the goal
By discussing what is required with respect to the goal.
Recalling what you know.
List out “What you know” and “What you do not know”.
What we know:
We need a glass tank or bowl, some fish and water.
What we do not know:
Types of fish that can be kept in the fish tank at home.
Which fish can be kept together in the tank.
How long do the fish live.
Food that the fish eat.
How do we take care of the fish.
Cost of setting up the aquarium
Cost of maintaining the aquarium
Moz: Can you categorize the information that you need to find, into main points?
Tejas: Yes. We can. Let us list them out Jyoti.
Concept:
Identify the information required for the task and list out the main points.
Information required to setup the aquarium:
- Types of fish that can be kept at home with details of their characteristics , living conditions etc.
- Fish tanks with sizes, and any other equipment required.
- Taking care of fish with details of food, water, cleaning the tank etc.
- Various costs to setup and maintain the aquarium at home.
Moz: Very good. How and from where will you collect this information?
Jyoti: We can start with my friend who has a fish tank.
Tejas: I saw a book on “fish as pets” and an encyclopedia in the library. I am sure we will find some information there.
Jyoti: We can also go to a pet shop. I am sure we can get some information there.
Tejas: My brother sometimes gets information from the internet for my projects. I will ask him to get us some information on “aquariums at home”.
Moz: Internet is a good resource to get information.
Tejas and Jyoti list the resources from where they can gather information.
Resources: Friends who have fish as pets, books in a library, pet shop, internet
Concept:
Identify Resources
- Identify the resources for information with respect to the goal.
- Look around when you want to gather information.
- Libraries, internet, people, places related to the goal are some of the information resources.
Jyoti: I will first visit my friend and then also get the information from the pet shop which is near my house.
Moz: What will you ask your friend ? And how will you gather information from the pet shop?
Jyoti:I will ask my friend and the pets shopkeeper to tell me all about keeping fish at home.
Moz: Would it not be better if you first asked specific questions?
Jyoti: Yes. Then I will not miss out on the information that I require. I will prepare some questions based on the main points and from the list “what we do not know”.
Moz: Also ask them to give you any other information that you need to know.
Jyoti: Thanks Moz. I will prepare a questionnaire before I visit my friend and the pet shop.
Tejas: I will collect information from the library. With my brother's help I will also see what I can find on the internet.
Moz: You should also have a questionnaire based on your main points. Also remember that when you are looking out for the information you may find some other information that is useful. Note this information too.
Concept:
Capture information:
- While working in a team distribute the work among the group.
- While finding information from people:
◦Be prepared with a set of questions. This helps you not to miss out on important information that you need to know.
◦Always ask if there is anything else you need to know.
- While finding information from resources like libraries, books and internet
◦Note down points as you are reading.
◦Categorize the information under the main points.
◦Get answers for what you do not know.
- Lookout for other important information regarding the task from all resources.
Moz: That was a good exercise on how to gather information for a task. Let us summarize the main steps.
Concept:
Main steps of gathering information:
- Identify the goal
- Analyze the goal
- Identify the information required
- Identify Resources from where information can be gathered
- Capture information
Tejas and Jyoti go home early to collect the information. Next day they show Moz the information that they collected.
Two sets of information with main points and some information under each point. Usha: Can you please give the content. Give an unsorted info under the main points. For example under fish tanks the sequence of collected info is: sizes, details of water, shapes.
Moz: Good work. Did you find any important information other than what you were looking for?
Tejas: One important point I found out was that temperature of water in the tank is important.
Jyoti: I also collected the address and phone numbers of some of the pet shops and of people who have fish as pets. They will be useful if there is an emergency with the pet fish.
Moz: Good. Now combine the information that you have gathered.
Tejas: While collecting information we have put the points under the main points that we listed out.
Combining the information will be easy.
Tejas and Jyoti thus exchange the information and consolidate the information.
A picture of information : Usha please provide the content and take care to see that it matches the previous unsorted two sets of info of tejas and jyoti – Example -Under the first main point: 1. some types of fish, 2. life span of some fish and 3. is again about fish types.
Tejas: This is looking jumbled up. Let us write some detailed points under each main point.
Jyoti: Yes. And then we can sort out the information.
Moz: Which means that you are further categorizing the information.
Tejas: This is just like writing the main steps and then writing the detailed steps while solving problems logically.
Moz: Correct.
Tejas and Jyoti thus further categorize the information as follows:
- Information about fish that can be kept as pets at home.
Types of fish
Which fish eat other fish
How long do the fish live
Tips for beginners
- Fish tanks
Sizes, shapes
Details of water to be put in the tank.
What plants can we keep in the tank.
Other requirements for the tank
- Food fish eat.
What is the food and where is it available?
Do fish also need nutritious food to be healthy?
How many times should we feed the fish?
Any other information
- Taking care of the fish at home.
How often should we change the water in the fish tank?
What do we do about fish excreta?
Pet shops to be contacted during an emergency with fish.
Tips on keeping the tank clean
Costs
Cost of fish and the shop where they are available
Cost of fish tanks
Cost of food
Concept: While organizing information
Worksheets : Gathering and organizing information:
- Organise each group under a category name.
a. WinterSpringSummerSeasons
b. SnakeLizardTortoise______
c. IndiaJapanFrance______
d. TeakRosewoodPine______
e. MarsEarthSaturn______
f. IndianPacificAtlantic______
- Annie wanted to phone her friend in the morning but found that she lost her mobile. Annie has told her brother the following information which includes various places she visited, details of her mobile and when she called or recieved calls.
a)After breakfast, Annie went to her friend Sheetal's house.
b)Annie's mobile is red in colour. It is popular make.
c)In the evening Annie with her family went to the nearby mall.
d)She can hear songs on the mobile.
e)Annie played games on the mobile while her mother did the shopping.
f)Sheetal and Annie went to the nearby playground after playing in Sheetal's house.
g)She plays games on the mobile. She also has a teddy sticker stuck to it.
h)After shopping they had dinner in a nearby restaurant.
i)In the afternoon, after lunch Annie talked on the mobile to her sister in the nearby town.
j)Annie's friend Riya called on the mobile during dinner.
Organize the information for figuring out the possible location where the mobile was lost, and to enquire if someone found the mobile.
- Annual day of the primary section is on March 21.You are given the following information about the programme.
Schedule of the Annual day function:
Welcome by the principal
Welcome song
Dance
Group song
drama
Instrumental music
Awards ceremony
Vote of thanks
The Principal of the School has asked you to prepare the Programme sheet of the annual day
function. You have been instructed by the Principal that the Programme sheet should include
Schedule of the annual function with the following for each item:
The timing of each item on the annual day
Name and the standard of participants
To prepare the Programme sheet, what is the information that you know and what is the information that you do not know?
What is the information that you Know Information that you do not know
______
______
______
- Bholu have been given a camera to take pictures in a bird sanctuary. Bholu has taken the pictures of the following birds. List out the information that you know and do not know about each of these birds. What are the resources from where you can gather information about these birds?
1. 2. 3. 4.
Name: ______
Place where
found:______
Life span:______
5. 6. 7. 8.
Name: ______
Place where
found:______
Life span:______
- Prepare a short note on any of the 3 states in our country. Gather all the information you can get. Now organise them properly. What are the resources you used to get the information?
Activity:
- Form groups of 5. Take a huge white chart sheet. The topic given to you is “global warming” caused by increased pollution levels, power usage, plastic usage etc., Discuss among the team. You can also brain storm, which means each one can give their opinion, discuss and accept or say no to the opinion. Gather information from other resources. Represent the causes of global warming and what each one should “do something” to reduce the global warming.
- Form groups of two students. You are journalists. You have been asked to interview a sportstar. The interview is of 15 mins duration. Pick any one of your favourite sports personality. To plan for the interview you need to know about the person, achievements, awards, interests etc., Go ahead and discuss within the group about the following:
•How much do you know about the sportstar? What else do you need to know?
•What are the resources (Ex: Internet, books, magazines) from where you can gather information.
•How will you organize the information and prepare the questions that you would like to ask? (Ex: While interviewing you may want to ask a question based on the information that you have. Then you need to quickly refer to the information. A series of cards with information like personal details, Recent achievements, awards, etc. May be useful. For each one of these it may be a good idea to prepare a few questions.). Remember that the interview is for 15 mins.
Once you gather and organize the information and prepare the questions, enact the interview in the class. One student can dress up like the sportstar and another becomes the interviewer.
Hint: The interview has the following format: Introduction of the sports star followed by questions about the recent achievements, favorite moments, etc. And then the last question before saying good bye to the sportstar!