Nutrition Box Activity

 

A nutrition box activity, often used in schools, educates children on healthy eating by having them sort, create, or pack balanced meals. Activities include building a "food rainbow," packing lunches with fruits, veggies, and proteins, and using cut-out activities to teach about nutritional food groups.

Students pack a healthy lunch and spoke briefly about the nutrients, it helped boosting confidence and promoting healthy choices.

Class VII measuring lung volume activity

 

Measuring lung volume (specifically vital capacity) can be done using a DIY water displacement experiment. By exhaling into a submerged, water-filled jug, the air displaces water, allowing you to measure your maximum breath volume in a container. 

Water Displacement Method (DIY)

1. Prepare the Setup: Fill a large plastic container with roughly 4 inches of water.
2. Fill the Jug: Fill a clear, large (e.g., 1-gallon) plastic jug completely with water.
3. Submerge the Jug: Place your hand over the opening of the jug and carefully turn it upside down, submerging the opening into the container's water without letting air in.
4. Insert Tube: Work a plastic tube or straw under the mouth of the jug.
5. Exhale: Take a deep breath and exhale as much air as possible through the tube, causing air to replace the water in the jug.
6. Measure: Mark the water level with a permanent marker. Re-fill the container to that line with a measuring cup to determine your total lung capacity in milliliters.

The activity was interesting and students understand lung volume measurement in a good way.

Class VII Respiratory system model activity

 

Learners cut the bottom off a plastic bottle, insert balloons attached to a Y- shaped straw through the cap, and seal with tape. Stretch a large balloon over the bottle base to act as the diaphragm. Pulling the diaphragm down inflates the lung balloons, pushing it up deflates them. 

Learners enjoyed the activity and provides a greater understanding of the concept. 

Class VIII Activity- Observation of stomata in lily leaf

 

Learners prepared temporary mount of a lily leaf peel in order to show the stomata of a leaf.

Plants are the primary producers. They carry out physiological processes such as photosynthesis and respiration which requires a gas exchange between the tissues of plants and the atmosphere. This process is carried out through tiny openings located in leaves, known as stomata.

Stomata are small elliptical openings on leaves that contain chloroplasts. They are girdled by two-kidney shaped cells known as guard cells on either side of the stomata. The guard cells possess a thick inner wall and a thin outer covering which control the closing and opening of the pores of stomata.

Turgidity of the guard cells causes the stomata to open while the flaccid nature of the guard cells causes the stomata to close.

Learners used

• Plant leaf
• Needles
• Forceps
• Watch glass
• Dropper
• Glass slides
• A brush
• Coverslips
• Blotting paper
• Safranin
• Compound microscope
• Glycerine

• Learners Picked a healthy leaf from the potted plant

• Fold the leaf to gently pull the peel apart to separate a peeled section from the lower surface of the leaf. Use the forceps to perform this step. Allow the peel to remain in a watch glass holding water for some time.
• In the watch glass, stain the sample by adding some drops of safranin through a dropper.
• Take the peel out after 2-3 minutes. Set it on a clear glass slide
• Add a drop of glycerin on the peel. Put a clear coverslip over it gently using a needle.
• Excess glycerin and stain can be removed using blotting paper
• Examine the slide first under a low-power and then under a high-power magnification of a compound microscope.

Observation

• Visible epidermal cells. The cells in their outline are irregular with no intercellular spaces
• Small openings, stomata are scattered through the epidermal cells
• Guard cells are observed which have chloroplasts and nucleus
• Guard cells are observed having a thin outer covering and a thick inner boundary(concave)
• Guard cells control the closing and opening of the stomata.