Concept and Scope of EVS Questions and Answers

Answer: D

A major objective is helping learners link classroom learning to life outside the school.

The NCF 2005 and the NCERT EVS syllabus for classes III to V aim to connect children's learning with their own surroundings and experiences. EVS is meant to help children observe, explore and make sense of the natural, social and cultural environment around them, rather than learn disconnected facts.

Preparing for science at the middle stage and developing in-depth understanding of subject concepts belong to later stages, where science and social science are taught as separate subjects. Hands-on skills are a means to the objective, not the objective itself.

Answer: C

The answer is Both Assertion and Reason are correct and Reason is the correct explanation of Assertion.

The EVS syllabus for Classes III to V is organised around six interrelated themes: Family and Friends (with sub-themes on relationships, work and play, animals and plants), Food, Shelter, Water, Travel, and Things We Make and Do. Each theme is linked with the others so that children see the environment as a connected whole.

The syllabus presents each theme through questions that start from the child's experience, so that understanding of the theme is built through inquiry. The key treats this as the reason the syllabus is theme-based, and so as explaining the assertion. (The paper prints 'interreleted' for 'interrelated'.)

Answer: A

It implies going beyond the textbooks.

One of the guiding principles of NCF 2005 is to connect knowledge to life outside the school and to enrich the curriculum so that it goes beyond textbooks. In EVS this means using children's experiences, the neighbourhood, field visits and other materials, not just the textbook pages.

Linking to global issues is too narrow and remote from children's lives, the whole school approach is about involving the entire school in environmental practice, and going beyond the curriculum is not what the principle says.

Answer: D

The answer is All of the above.

Holistic learning develops the whole child, cognitively, socially and emotionally. NCF 2005 envisages EVS at the primary stage as integrated (bringing together science, social science and environmental education), thematic (organised around themes from children's lives, such as family and friends, food, water, shelter and travel), and inclusive (drawing on the experiences of all children, whatever their background or ability).

Each feature contributes, so no single one of them alone is the answer.

Answer: C

It implies that the load of incomprehension needs to be reduced.

The Yash Pal Committee's report Learning without Burden (1993) argued that the real burden on children is not the weight of the school bag but the burden of not understanding: having to memorise information that has no meaning for them. Reducing that burden means making learning meaningful and connected to children's lives.

A lighter school bag, fewer chapters or a halved curriculum treat the symptom, the physical load, rather than the main problem the report identified.

Answer: D

The objective that should NOT be pursued is to develop precise quantitative skills among children through understanding of environmental issues.

The NCF 2005 objectives for EVS at the primary level include nurturing curiosity and creativity about the natural environment, engaging children in exploratory, hands-on activities to build cognitive and psychomotor skills, and helping them see relationships between natural, social and cultural environments.

Developing precise quantitative skills is the task of mathematics, not an objective of primary EVS, which is why it is the odd one out.

Answer: B

EVS for classes III to V integrates the concepts and issues of Science, Social studies and Environmental education.

Under NCF 2005, Environmental Studies at the primary stage is a single integrated subject that draws on science, social science and environmental education, organised around themes from the child's life rather than separate disciplines.

The other options leave out one or two of these three components, so they describe only part of the integrated subject.

Answer: B

The true statement is that for classes I and II, EVS is taught through language and Mathematics.

In the NCF 2005 scheme there is no separate EVS textbook in classes I and II; environmental themes are woven into the language and mathematics books. EVS becomes a separate subject from class III to class V.

So EVS is not a separate subject from class I, it is not taught through language and mathematics in classes III and IV, and it is not taught through science and social science in classes I and II.

Answer: C

The subtheme is Animals.

The NCERT EVS syllabus for classes III to V is organised around six themes: Family and Friends, Food, Shelter, Water, Travel, and Things We Make and Do. The first theme, Family and Friends, is divided into subthemes: Relationships, Work and Play, Animals, and Plants.

Family and Friends, Food, and Things We Make and Do are themes themselves, not subthemes.

Answer: B

The blanks are filled by Cognitive, Social, Familial, Extended.

The completed objective reads: to enhance the child's cognitive understanding and efficiency so that curiosity about social facts is awakened, which helps in moving from the familial environment to the extended environment. This follows the way EVS is organised: it starts with the child's immediate family and surroundings and widens step by step to the neighbourhood, the community and the wider world.

The other sequences do not fit. 'Psychodynamic' and 'emotional' understanding are not what EVS sets out to build, and option 3 reverses the direction of movement, going from the extended environment back to the familial one.