Dr AVTAR SINGH RAHI - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Dr AVTAR SINGH RAHI

Conceptually environmental education means environmental training which aimed at developing speci... more Conceptually environmental education means environmental training which aimed at developing specific skills, in relation to specific tasks which are often jobrelated. People need to understand why they are required to like recycle or protect environment; otherwise it is unlikely that they will be committed to carrying out these actions. For this reason, actions and behaviour overlap with attitude and theoretical educational processes, and environmental consciousness and commitment are important outcomes of environmental training, along with practical know-how. Research shows that consumers often make inferences about a product based on its characteristics and the benefits the consumer desires from that product. If consumers are environmentally-conscious but do not make the choice to purchase these types of products, what is holding them back from making that purchase? Research has shown that an attempt can be made to change habits by prompting an individual to actively think more about the actions they are taking rather than just repeating their usual habits. Behaviour of any person in daily life at academic institution or work place and home is a reflection of his or her internal awareness of that person about knowledge and participatory practices. What environmental issues have planted in one's mind will portray in his (her) behaviour. Need, consequences and control motivate respondents to respond reciprocally. The present scenario is crying for public awareness and participation for bringing about a behavioural change and finally restricting further damage to the environment. This study found mean score of 3.99, 4.05 and 4.30 with respect to intentions, directions and actions of prospective teachers towards environmental issues. This study tried to assess the prospective teachers' viewpoint regarding their intentions for better actions towards environment and issues. It is the intention which tries to build a directional approach. A well-built directional approach decides the actions.

It is not possible for an individual to live in a society or environment without having any conce... more It is not possible for an individual to live in a society or environment without having any concern for it. Where the individual lives, produces some waste which he/she cannot hold with for a longer period of time. While most material waste is re-used in the industrial process, many forms are released into the environment, with negative environmental side effects, such as pollution and lack of sustainability. Prospective teachers and general public today is exposed to huge information. It is the perception and attitude which differentiate one person from another. Increasing awareness on the various environmental problems is enforcing respondents to become more conscious of their own behaviour with respect to the environment. How are people and students being prepared for what is ahead? More importantly, how are environmentalists, policy makers, policy implementers and teachers being prepared to teach students and people? Educating the public and creating public awareness is a necessity for the success of the environment. There is a need for knowledge and skills for problem-solving and critical and creative thinking. Understanding global environmental issues and taking action to confront them are challenges that need to be addressed not only by educators but also by planners, economists, policy makers, natural and social scientists, and the general public. The current research is the pioneer study and will contribute a significant role to identify the prospective teachers’ beliefs about information seeking and responsible behaviour towards environment. In the case of this study, the researcher was particularly interested to gain an understanding of what information attitude, responsibility and behaviour, the prospective teachers have in terms of raising awareness of environmental issues in the Haryana State. This study selected twenty questions and grouped these in eight traits or groups which include Information Quest, Information Reliability, Information Applicability, Information Testing, Belief Breaker, Information Seeking Behaviour, Responsible Behaviour and Knowledge Behaviour to study the Information Attitude, Responsibility and Behaviour of Prospective Teachers. The present scenario is crying for public awareness and participation for bringing about a behavioural change and finally restricting further damage to the environment. This study found an overall score of 4.06 with respect to information attitude, responsibility and behaviour of prospective teachers towards environmental issues. It is better to say that this score indicates only 6% higher information attitude, responsibility and behaviour of prospective teachers than average behaviour and it can be concluded that behaviour is not environmentally perfect or mature. It is not the information but the knowledge and understanding which tries to build a directional approach.

Water is very important for our life and earth’s development because it sustains life. Although i... more Water is very important for our life and earth’s development because it sustains life.
Although it yields no calories, it is considered one of the nutrients. Water is being used in all
religious rituals and ceremonies since Ancient India because it is believed that the pure, divine
and well provided waters convey the offerings to Gods. Although roughly 66% of earth’s surface
is covered by water but water is scarce, as most is salt water. Less than 2.5% of all of the earth’s
water is fresh water and even very less of that is available to humans for their multitudes of uses.
Water has always been at the center of healthy ecosystems and human societies, yet the water
resources on which we all depend are becoming increasingly polluted. When water changed its
action from sustaining to endangering of life, we could not answer because we were busy in
exchanging nature to comforts. Water is used in both productive and consumptive activities and
surface water was insufficient, we started exploiting groundwater. We were not free enough to
think that water resources are non-renewable, we continue to dig more and more and that much
that we are left with empty and dry Punjab. Adoption of new agricultural technology consisting
of hybrid seeds, chemical fertilizers, insecticides, pesticides, herbicides, and modern agricultural
practices and industrialization set Punjab agriculture on to a new growth trajectory. Within a
few years Punjab emerged as a heartland of India’s successful green revolution strategy.
Punjab, the most stunning example of green revolution in India, is now at the crossroads.

Rapidly growing population and increasing economic development is putting strain on nation’s reso... more Rapidly growing population and increasing economic development is putting strain on nation’s
resources. Contamination of environment with materials that interfere with quality of life or natural
functioning of ecosystems is pollution. All know pollution as harmful and serious problem but generally
people don’t care. India has pollution abatement strategy which includes legal framework and
Environment Authorities. But the problem is that technology has become handmaiden of those who seek
power or exercise it. It is widely believed that India as dharmakshetra, has the potential to point the way,
because the possibilities of dharma are much richer here than elsewhere. Dharma offers a clearly defined
system of ethics, guide to ecological living. It is not only the government but people also should
determine to overhaul the entire system and dharma and spiritualism in India, has the power to do this.

Teaching perhaps is the only profession which accommodates new and unproven, places at the same s... more Teaching perhaps is the only profession which accommodates new and unproven, places at the same situation as veteran and provides no organized support. Academic progress of students depends heavily on talent and skills of the teacher leading their classroom. Teaching may be described as a commitment to “care and welfare of pupils” or even as the “Journey through the Heart”. Teachers are now considered as “Social Reformers”. Processes of becoming a good and effective teacher involve varying degrees of personal and professional growth. Professional learning should always address identified gaps in student achievement. Teacher professional learning can focus on real issues and avoid providing information that may not benefit the participants. Our work in educational institutions is about bridging the knowledge gap between educators and their practice. There is need to identify whether student perceptions, classroom observations and assessments of teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge are aligned with value-added measures to find the areas where teachers need to become more effective. The goal of this paper is to use classroom observations to help teachers improve student outcomes. Teaching is a complex task and value-added measures can captures the impact of differences in teacher effectiveness.

Today we are moving through a deteriorating world where problems manifest themselves at an ever i... more Today we are moving through a deteriorating world where problems manifest themselves at an ever increasing rate, while becoming more complicated. We produce more food, more comforts, more luxury and more and more. We are doing as if it is our last day to get something. We don’t like to share ourselves with others. As human population continue to grow, material consumption intensifies and production technology including synthesis and manufacturing in laboratories further expands; by consequence the quantity and quality of environmental resources keep steadily decreasing. To dilute ill effects of its work, the world is trying to “go green”. But any development which is the product of green scheme can’t be termed as sustained. We need to search methods to conceptualize the problems and develop strategies for their solution. A man can’t ruin the earth alone but it requires a group and nature alone has the capacity to revert back to its original and pure position but every time it asks for a cost or sacrifice. Environmental sustainability requires changes in age-old patterns of thinking about the abundant availability of natural resources which is no longer the case, and a focus on human survival through controlled environmental exploitation within ecological limits. A sketch discussing most pressing environmental problems and their general driving forces is necessary to get rid of today’s alarming situations. So there is a need to study nature, humans and effects from environmental to behavioral and from general to specific terms.

The environmental concern is growing today at greater speed in developing, developed and underdev... more The environmental concern is growing today at greater speed in developing, developed and underdeveloped countries because the consequences of environmental damages has become so apparent and horrifying. Besides destructive trend on environment, sluggish improvement on the environmental awareness and initiatives revealed bitter consequences of the environment. While there is consensus about the severity of environmental degradation taking place worldwide, there is little consensus about what can, and should be done to avert future environmental catastrophe. Educating the public and creating public awareness is a necessity for the success of the environment. Environmental educators need to keep the proper hat on their heads when doing environmental education programs. The emphasis should be on teaching people how to think, rather than what to think. Environmental Awareness not only implies knowledge about environment but also attitude, values and necessary skills to solve environment related problems. People need to learn ways to perceive environmental problems. It is very essential for each individual to develop an awareness of protection and preservation towards environment. It is imperative that humans implement new ways of thinking and change their current ways of living due to the irreversible effects of environmental degradation. It is only the knowledge and understanding that can do this. Prospective teachers not only study this for themselves but can spread the knowledge and understanding to students they will meet in future. A lot of research tools are available to measure environmental awareness of students and teachers but almost no reference was available to measure environmental awareness of Prospective Teachers. So, it was decided to construct an Environmental Awareness Scale for Prospective Teachers. The questionnaire was designed specifically for this study, keeping in mind the fact that environmental degradation is not a prominent environmental issue for people in India, as compared to developed countries. A particular interest was emphasized while constructing this questionnaire so that an understanding of what the prospective teachers have been doing in terms of raising awareness of chemicals and their hazardous nature and to understand their future plans on environmental and chemical awareness. This questionnaire was aimed at uncovering the knowledge and conceptions of prospective teachers i.e. B.Ed. students about the environment and other issues relating to the environment. This tool will help to find out environmental literacy and environmental awareness index of Prospective Teachers.

The scientific and technological progress of man has invested him with immense power over nature;... more The scientific and technological progress of man has invested him with immense power over nature; rather it has resulted in the reckless use of the power, and endless encroachment of nature which is resulting into a number of buzzwords like acid rain, ozone layer depletion, contamination, environmental pollution, climate change, global warming, rising sea water levels, knowledge explosion and information & communication technology revolution, etc. As man influences his environment, he in turn is influenced by his environment. Today, unfortunately, we are dealing with many of the environmental tragedies predicted decades ago. While there is consensus about the severity of environmental degradation taking place worldwide, there is little consensus about what can, and should be done to avert future environmental catastrophe. Industrial development is at an all-time high, and as a result, more pollution is being pumped into the earth‘s atmosphere. The aim of environmental awareness is to make people from all walks of life aware of specific issues related to their surroundings, including living and non-living elements, e.g. land, soil, plants, animals, air, water and other humans, as well as awareness of their built, social and economic surroundings, and the impacts of our actions on these. Over two decades, global problems relating to degradation of natural resources and pollution have increased dramatically. Degradation of environment results in many problems. Humans threaten ecosystems by producing waste, damaging habitats and removing too many species without giving the ecosystem time to naturally regenerate. Over-exploitation often results in ecosystem species imbalance and environmental stress. To prevent harm to people and to the environment, chemical products are subject to detailed regulation by the Chemicals Act and its Regulations. If we as educators want to help children obtain extensive knowledge of the environment and problems, our prospective teachers must know more than the students. In the case of this study, the researcher was particularly interested to gain an understanding of what the prospective teachers have been doing in terms of raising awareness of chemicals and their hazardous nature in the Haryana State.

Before the Industrial Revolution, people and animals had to do all of the work whether it was far... more Before the Industrial Revolution, people and animals had to do all of the work whether it was farming or factory. The societies started using machines to provide the energy and efficiency to do most of the work. Industrialization and globalization has created both interrelated and interlinked world generating opportunities and also throwing up challenges because despite their obvious benefits, each wave of technology creates a set of waste previously unknown by humans: toxic waste, radioactive waste, electronic waste, etc. Waste consists of recyclable materials like paper, glass, plastic and metals; toxic substances like pesticide, paints, used medicines and batteries; compostable organic matter like fruits, vegetable and food waste and soiled waste such as disposable syringes, sanitary napkins and blood stained cottons. While there is consensus about the severity of environmental degradation taking place worldwide, there is little consensus about what can, and should be done to avert future environmental catastrophe. Understanding global environmental issues and taking action to confront them are challenges that need to be addressed not only by educators but also by planners, economists, policy makers, natural and social scientists, and the general public. The managing of environmental crisis will depend upon changes in environmental values and lifestyle choices. Individuals may not be aware of common pollutants in their surrounding environment. The problem exists in the fact that individuals may not realize the long-term negative health effects from environmental pollution, nor understand the link between pollutants, nutrition, and disease state. Education should seek to persuade people to adopt a prevention oriented lifestyle by providing them with information and understanding of prevention issues so that they can make their own well-informed decisions, and act on them, assuming responsibility for their own health. After collection of the data, the responses have been scored on a scale of 1 to 5 based on the weight, merit and significance of the answers. The sum of scores from all the questions for each prospective teacher gave the environmental awareness score of the respective respondent. If we as educators want to help children obtain extensive knowledge of the environment and problems, our prospective teachers must know more than the students. In the case of this study, the researcher was particularly interested to gain an understanding of what the prospective teachers have been doing in terms of raising awareness of chemicals and their hazardous nature in the Haryana State. Study was done to measure the effects of age, education and location on environmental awareness of prospective teachers i.e. B.Ed. students.