Gesture no. |
Context or Concept + (Accompanying tools) |
Gestures and actions |
Part I: Round Rotating Earth |
1 |
Night sky observation |
Tracing star patterns by fingers/ hands. |
2 |
Determining position (direction + degrees above horizon) of a star |
|
3 |
Showing round earth by hand
(Photographs of the earth, Globe)
|
Moving hands with palms open to show sphere. |
4 |
Showing round part of spherical earth on circular earth on the blackboard
(fig.3) |
Moving arm with open curved palm to show half sphere of the earth coming
out of the blackboard, imagining circle as circumference of the earth and
other half sphere inside the black board. |
5 |
Understanding flatness of the earth (Balls of different sizes) |
Holding or imagine to be holding a very small to a very large ball and
observe the change in curvature on palm and then arm. |
6 |
Axis of rotation (notebook, pencil box, other objects) |
Rotating objects and body parts and identifying axis of rotation. |
7 |
Axis coming out of, or going inside the plane of diagram (fig.3b) |
Index finger pointing inside or outside, perpendicular to the diagram. |
8 |
Gestures in Play .Galileo. to mimic the earth's rotation and
perspective changes (rotating chair) |
Sitting on a rotating chair to see occurrence of day-night. |
9 |
Gestures in Play .Galileo. to mimic the earth's rotation,
perspective changes and up-down (apple, toothpick) |
Assuming apple to be the earth, and radially attached tooth-pick as a human. Rotating the apple around the axis passing through its stem to see day-night.(Image)
|
10 |
Showing motion of the earth for the axis in the given diagram (Axis either in the plane of diagram (fig.3a) or perpendicular to it (fig.3b)) |
a. Showing a vertical index finger in horizontal circle in front of blackboard (or in half circle, with axis as center)
b. Moving a horizontal index finger in a vertical circle around a point on the blackboard.
|
11 |
Determining directions (Down, Up, North, South) of a person on the globe
or in diagram of the earth (fig.3a) |
|
12 |
Determining directions (East, West) of a person on the globe or in diagram
of the earth (fig.3b) |
East: Orienting orienting one's self parallel to the North-facing person
in the diagram so that the right hand indicates East in the diagram, OR
find the direction of motion of the earth (west to East) with right hand
thumb rule. East is indicated by the direction of curl of the fingers (Gesture
no. 13).
West: Opposite to East |
13 |
Right hand thumb rule for determining direction of motion of the earth |
Gesture of thumbs-up. In (fig.3) align thumb in the direction of axis
and pointing towards the north pole, then curl the fingers to show the direction
of earth's rotation (or revolution)(West to East). |
14 |
Shadows and beams
(cardboard cutouts, sunlight. torch, gnomon)
|
shadow created by fingers to shadow of the body |
15 |
Tracing ray diagrams |
Tracing path of light-beam/ ray by open palm (representing wave front) / finger on board |
16 Pair |
Day night (globe/ geosynchron) |
One student becomes the earth, another student (or object) becomes the sun. Mark the objects around in egocentric frame (front/ back/ left/ right).
Observe how the field of vision and positions of objects changes due to
rotation from right to left. |
17 |
Tracing path of the sun by extended arm. Simulating motion on different
latitudes |
Move the stretched hand in vertical or inclined half circle from East
to West. Inclination towards north or south depending upon whether one imagines
herself in the southern or northern hemisphere. |
18 |
Position of the pole-star remains the same |
Fix a point vertically overhead on the ceiling and check whether its position changes while rotating around the vertical body-axis. |
Part II: Sun-Earth System |
19 |
Measurement
(6-inch scale, foot-scale, meter-scale)
|
Measuring 1mm to few meters by using body parts. |
20 |
Angle
(protractor)
|
Rotating hand from 0° to 180° |
21 |
1, 2 & 3 dimensions
(model of 3 axes, other daily examples, locating an address)
|
Length: walking, Area: flat palm, Volume: Filling up |
22 Pair |
Rotation + Revolution gives motion of the earth |
Only rotation (facing changes); only revolution (facing does not changes);
1 rev + 1 rot; 1 rev+ 2 rot; 1 rev + 4 rot; imagine 1 rev + 365 rot. |
23 |
Shape of orbit of the earth (nails, thread, thermocol sheet) |
Drawing ellipses using 2 nails: A series of diagrams which give kinesthetic feedback. |
24 |
Understanding ellipse with circle and line as extreme cases |
Making circle, ellipse and line by joining palm. |
25 |
Perspective view of circle (bangle, bucket, other circular objects) |
Observing loop made by thumb and index finger (or other objects) from top, side and oblique view. |
26 |
Angle made by the earth's axis with the ecliptic plane |
Show axis tilt by forearm bent at elbow. |
27 |
Plotting the sun-earth distance on the ground (marbles, measuring tape,
thread for measurement, chalk) |
Find out ratios of distances considering an earth of diameter 1cm and plot them on the ground. |
28 Group of 10 |
Solar system (picture of solar system, Chart of distances and speeds) |
Each student becomes one planet and revolves around the student who is the sun, taking account of the relative speeds. |
29 Group |
Changes in the night sky over the year (Calendar) |
One student becomes the sun, another becomes the earth and revolves around the sun. All other students become different nakshatras representing a star background. Students predict which Marathi month and which solar nakshatra is on, depending upon the position of the earth. |
30 |
Intensity changes as a function of angle of incidence |
Put your hand above hot lamp (or in rain) in different orientation, to sense that collection of heat (or water) depends on angle of incidence. |
31 |
Trace path of the sun in different seasons |
Trace a semicircle with a stretched arm making different angles with horizon depending upon the season. |
Part III: The Sun-Earth-Moon System |
32 |
Angle |
Pointing and tracing acute, right and obtuse angles in room, finding out parallel lines. |
33 Pair |
We see only one face of the moon |
Only rotation, Only revolution, Both rotation and revolution together. |
34 |
Phases of moon and eclipses |
Rotating the ball around one's head in tilted orbit, with a strong light source on one side. |
35 Pair |
Phases of moon |
Replace the ball by friend and watch friend's face (this sequence is explained in Subramaniam and Padalkar, 2009). |
36 |
Tilt in the moons orbit explains why there are no eclipses on all full
and new moon nights |
Showing tilt of moon's orbit by moving extended arm around (with or without ball in the hand). |
37 Pair |
Phases of moon and eclipses |
Moving around the friend considering one's head as the moon and the friend's head as the earth |
38 Triad |
Sun-Earth-Moon system |
Moon moving around the earth while earth moving around the sun. |
39 Pair |
Moon takes 2 extra days to complete the orbit with respect to the sun
than with respect to the background sky |
Moon moves around the earth while the earth forwards (considering the earth's orbit to be almost straight and the sun to be very far away). |
40 Group |
Connection between apparent motion of the moon and indigenous months and
nakshatras
(Calendars)
|
Moon moving around the earth against the background of stars behind (Arrangement similar to gesture no. 29). |