Prickly Ugly Delicious PINEAPPLES

This pillow recently made a way to my Home. And you ask how do I feel?. Well, I am not a big fan of Pineapples. A sweet tropical fruit is notorious to slice, requires some sharp tools and a sharp mind.

So if you are one of those people who like to eat Pineapples, it's a great fruit loaded with some proven benefits for the skin. But the problem is, if you are able to make your way past that ugly looking fruit, you are going to end up eating a lot more than intended. The more you eat, the sore and irritated your tongue and throat will get. So what's the deal?

"Be a pineapple: Stand tall, wear a crown, and be

 sweet on the inside."

                                                                                                                    - Katherine Gaskin

Pineapples contain an enzyme called Bromelain which has the ability to damage the cells lining the inside of mouth and that is what leads to stinging tingling irritation inside the mouth. But saliva inside our mouth has healing properties and allows for damaged cells to regeneration within no time. 

A little before the December break, we had an East Science Pineapple Week at School. Just as I thought would be a Pineapple eating challenge, my notions were clarified of this week being a synonym for sharing immense wealth of experience within the Department and sharing the great work that happens anyway, with each other. I actually liked the idea although I wasn't sure how it would feel my colleagues walking in the room expecting to see youtube channel inspired classroom and I am still running low on creativity. Nevertheless I engaged with the Pineapples at a cellular level ( literally) and brainstormed some the possibilities to explore with my students to assist them in preparation towards the mock examinations. One of the strategies I stumbled upon was listening to the Podcasts for recall of content done almost a year ago and it seemed that has actually gained quite popularity in recent years. 

With my Grade 10s, I allowed them to pick different podcast depending upon the level of their knowledge, the complexity of the structural organisation and the content they wanted to review. Each podcast lasted only about 11 minutes and they had the convenience to pause and talk to the partner if they were listening to the same one, or just create a mind map of what they heard or even continue to listen at a stretch if they felt it was interesting and helping them grasp your review the content in mind. The idea behind introducing this strategy in the classroom was the benefit of it being portable and concise.

As they finished listening to the Podcast, I asked for their feedback on small cards with Pros and Cons of the technique and what is that they learnt new during the podcast. Here's glimpse of what they wrote.

Clearly, some of the learners mentioned that Podcast allow for transfer of knowledge in a different way other than taking notes and reading. Not particularly suited for a visual learner though, yet listening to podcasts engage several senses and can help reinforce the information long forgotten or as a refresher to strengthen already learnt concepts.

There isn't any one technique best suited to cater all the learners but exploring new ways other than traditional are definitely what the students need and even if not all best in all ways, podcasts could assist in strengthening the knowledge gained at some point and has a significant potential in enhancing the revision.