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In this perspective article we start from the theories of constructivism and conceptual change within the field of education to develop and present hypotheses about how understandings of biodiversity and diversity more generally are formed. We argue that extrinsic and circumstantial elements from everyday experiences are relevant in shaping understandings of biodiversity.We discuss how children’s games and food-related experiences may influence how children form conceptions of biodiversity. We focus on ‘misconceptions,’ areas where conceptions differ from established ideas in ecology. These include: underestimating the importance of diversity for “complementarity” and over-simplifications of how nature works. Firstly, we examine a type of children’s game that often concerns biodiversity and consists of a puzzle where the forming of categories is encouraged. Secondly, we discuss people’s relation to nature through food in their diets. We believe that targeted intervention is needed to move towards an inclusive and multi-faceted representation of biodiversity, one that emphasises fundamental properties that make a whole and interacting parts. We argue that experiences of games and food can be pivotal in developing a deeper understanding of these fundamental properties of biodiversity. These would be important experiences to consider when attempting transformative change of relationships between people and nature.

The pandemic Covid-19 came as havoc for developing countries like India. It has significantly disrupted the education sector which is a critical determinant of a country’s economic future. It has compelled the human society to maintain social distancing. It has made people mandatory to sit indoor and sitting idle indoor may lead to mental stress. Hence, it has created more challenges to keep people engaged and free from mental stress. Open and Distance Learning (ODL) system is the best solution to meet the challenges of education during this pandemic situation of COVID-19. Every challenge is an opportunity. These challenges have also created opportunities for the educational institutes to strengthen their technological knowledge and infrastructure to tackle the Covid-19 like situation. Indian education system is more acquainted with face to face or physical teaching learning process. Most of educators and learners are not equipped with use of technology in education and there is also lack of practice and motivation towards use of technology in education which creates more challenges during pandemics. This article highlights different challenges and opportunities created by Covid-19 for ODL system of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). The steps taken by IGNOU to meet the challenges by exploring various opportunities are pointed. Some tools and techniques for distance learning which can ensure the continuity of learning during the current pandemic are described. Some suggestions for handling the challenges created by Covid-19 by exploring various opportunities for ODL system are also pointed in the article.

The objective of this study was to deal with the training problem of orienteering in the areas that suitable for orienteering but lack orienteering map since current training methods do not quantify the level of orienteering athletes. This study proposes to use the decomposition method to divide the problem of foot-orienteering into sub-parts and use the special quantitative methods to solve specific sub-problems. Experiments results show that the proficiency of the participants’ sub-skills is increasing. All participants took part in the Orienteering Competition of the National Student, and the team performance increased by nearly 13% and the proportion of the normal athletes who gain the ranking was increased from 0% to 60%. The results of this study demonstrate that applying the decomposition method and the above training methods are effective and reasonable, it also offers a useful solution for coaches to operate training and quantify easily.

Academic counselling is an important activity of learner support services offered by Open and Distance Learning (ODL) system. It is the key to the learners\' success in ODL system. The geographical separation of the teachers and learners along with socio-psychological constraints i.e. language, culture, motivation, inadequate skill, anxiety etc., affects the distance learners in completing the courses successfully. The counselling sessions also offer the students an opportunity to interact with their peers. The counsellors perform various roles, such as facilitating learners about the subject matter content, assessing assignments, providing motivation and encouragement and supervising research papers/project works. Since counselling is an important component of distance education, it is necessary to understand the concept. The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) provides highly integrated learner support services through the network of study centers, regional centers and the headquarters. One of the major objectives of IGNOU has been to provide opportunities of higher education to a large segment of population and to develop new programme for adult learners for whom formal education system was quite difficult or impossible.