The present study ascertains the effectiveness of the Think-Pair-Share (TPS) Cooperative Learning Model over the lecture-based conventional teaching of Environmental-Science (EVS) on a sample of 78 students at the secondary level. Pre-test-Post-test Intact group design was adopted for this purpose. TPS Cooperative learning Instructions were followed for 4 weeks with the experimental group and data collected through TPS based Lesson-plan and EVS-Achievement test. The Validity of the test was established through experts’ opinions and its reliability was tested by Split-half-method and Spearman’s Brown Prophecy formula obtaining reliability coefficients of 0.886 and 0.940, respectively. Pre-test and Post-test were administered on both groups to determine the difference in achievement levels before and after the intervention. Independent sample t-test, Dependent sample t-test and ANCOVA were performed at 0.05 significant level for testing the tenability of hypothesis. Results from the independent sample t-test revealed the significant difference in Posttest scores of both groups. A dependent sample t-test was run to differentiate the effect of the intervention on scores of the experimental group. The t-value obtained is significant for P= 0.000 (p<0.05), showing a significant difference in Pre-test and Post-test scores before and after the treatment. ANCOVA on the Post-test mean scores of the samples reported a significant effect on the achievement levels with TPS-Cooperative learning mode. The findings reflected that learners who taught EVS using the TPS instructional-strategy gave outstanding performance when compared to the control group. The TPS strategy is thus recommended at different levels in various disciplines for better academic gain towards action-oriented participatory learning.

The world with vast continental landmasses and having diversified topographic structures is bound to face a multiplicity of natural hazards on local to regional scale. Natural events of such adverse effects on human property and life have led us to conceptualize these as disasters. The trend analysis of the last 100 years over the earth reveals the fact that much has been changed by natural disasters with an average occurrence of 7 in 1914 to 341 disasters in 2014 per continent on a global scale. The present study focuses on how frequent disasters have continued to harm our environment and up to what extent threatened the sustainability of humanity in the last ten decades. The available data on past natural calamities have been studied to gauge the intensity and effects of these hazards and realizing a better way to mitigate them by educating all for disasters and disaster management as this will ensure timely disaster preparedness in general. Each disaster occurs at the backdrop of some science in it. This necessitates natural disasters as a probable area of concern which awaits intrinsic study and investigations with enough scientific aptitude and inquiry in science education of our country. The origin of such events of unforeseen calamities is set in one country, but its effects on howsoever mild or severe are widespread trans-nationally. To understand, mitigate, and to manage them finally lies with the scientific community at our disposal.

India is indisputably on the advancing front of progress where its hefty natural resources serve the greatest assets to reckon with. The progress of any country is directly dependent upon the quality and quantum of available natural resources with it. For a country like India having vast continentality, these natural resources are catalysts in programs associated with human development and sustainability. However, with the enormous rise of population and dwindling resource pools, the society suffers from critical disturbances in internal security across the country’s length and breadth. There exists a proven causal relationship of a significant association between shocks to natural resources and the intensity of civil conflicts in a region. The episodes resulting from a disrupted state of internal security pose a massive challenge to government functionaries inkeeping pace with worldwide socio-economic development. The obvious choice of Natural Resource Management (NRM) provides one of the promising keys to handle this menace effectively. Thepresent work explores this meticulous strategy of assuring internal security through an improved pragmatism and judicious use of natural resources in states marred with recurring incidences of chaos and human violence. The planning and monitoring of internal security with peoples’ stake depend evidently upon the technical capability of government in handling resources with a vision for Possibilism. NRM, thus, conceptualize a framework of governance where exploitation of resources and sustenance of internal security in India go hand-in-hand prudently. The paper attempts to resolve a deteriorating internal security situation by strategizing a development-cumsustainability approach to keep a large nation safe and secure.

Alexandra k Transfer quoted, “The best teachers are those who show you where to look, but don’t tell you what to see”. While teaching merely rests on art but it connotes into science wherein imaginative minds are ignited for knowledge. Pedagogy and enriched content are dependable solutions for effective teaching and learning. Real meaningful learning is the focus of modern teaching which follows a constructivist approach. Bygone are the days when the traditional lecture method was sufficient to teach the pupils. Advanced technologies have been the replacement of the monotonous lecture method in Geographic studies. The pupil now constructs their knowledge by engagement, exploration, explanation, elaboration and evaluation methods. Different pedagogical practices are involved, like the enquiry approach, reflective strategy, collaborative learning, etc., among which concept mapping is one of the important strategies applied in Geography teaching. It is a graphical organiser which connects links between the two or more concepts in some logical, sequential flows. Concept Mapping effectively assists in achieving the learning outcomes. Learning outcomes are the assessment standard that indicates the expected level of learning that learners should achieve for that particular class. Many concepts of Geography dealing with exhaustive knowledge about nature and processes in nature are prudently taught with the concept mapping approach. These maps make a vivid picture of illustrated concepts in learners minds assuring thus, a rigorous and long-lasting rationalisation of content knowledge. The paper highlights one of the robust, innovative strategy of modern pedagogy in Geographic studies where the chain linkages in concept mapping provide an enriching experience of learning nature and natural phenomena.