NCERT EVS Class 4 Chapter 12 – Changing Times
CBSE Class 4 EVS Chapter 12 Changing Times describes the materials used during the construction of houses and buildings, toilets and their importance, and gives a brief idea of how construction works have changed over the years. The chapter Changing Times Class 4 EVS also provides an opportunity for the students to know about construction workers and their responsibilities.
Download the NCERT Solutions for Changing Times in PDF
Find out and Write
Talk to any one of your grandparents or any other elderly person. Find out, when she or he was eight-nine years old –
From what material was her or his house made?
My grandfather’s house was made with bricks and cement.
[Students should mention their experience based on the above lines.]
Where did she or he live? Name that place.
My grandparents lived in a small village near Chittagong, a coastal town in Bangladesh.
[Students should mention their experience based on the above lines.]
A lot of mud was used when Chetandas' house was made. Why?
Chetandas’ house was built with a lot of mud because mud works like an insulator. It protects the people residing in the house from extreme hot and cold weather.
In which part of the house was food cooked?
There was a big open kitchen at one side of the verandah for cooking and washing utensils.
[Students should mention their experience based on the above lines.]
Did they have a toilet in their house? If no, where was it?
No, they had no toilet in their house. The toilet was separately made, which was a bit far away from the house.
[Students should mention their experience based on the above lines.]
A Changing House
Chetandas tells that people from the basti used to come to clean the toilets and take away the waste. They were not allowed to enter the house.
The people who used the toilets did not clean them. Discuss.
People who used the toilets did not clean them because they thought it to be a dirty job, so people from the basti came and cleaned it.
Is there a toilet in your house? Who cleans it?
Yes, there are two toilets in my house. Both my parents clean it.
[Students should mention their experience based on the above lines.]
Seeing New Things
Where would you like to live when you grow up? What kind of house would you like?
When I grow up, I would like to live in a multi-storeyed building that will have elevators, a community hall, gym, swimming pool, shopping mall, and restaurant inside the building complex.
[Students should mention their experience based on the above lines.]
What kind of house do you think Chetandas' grandchildren will live in?
Chetandas’ grandchildren will live in concrete high-rise buildings inside gated communities.
Find out the material from which your friend's house is made? Is there any difference? Write about it.
I have a friend who has a house in the village. That house is made with unbaked bricks and wood.
Yes, there is a difference in the materials used. They did not use baked bricks, iron rods, or cement.
[Students should mention their experience based on the above lines.]
What materials have been used in making your house?
My house is made with iron rods, baked bricks, cement, sand, concrete, and wood.
[Students should mention their experience based on the above lines.]
You had written about the things that your grandparent’s house was made of. Has some of those material been used in your house? Name them.
Both my house and my grandparents’ house were made of bricks. However, my grandparents’ house was made of unbaked bricks, while ours used baked bricks.
[Students should mention their experience based on the above lines.]
People are given names according to the work they do. For example, a person who works with wood is called a carpenter.
In your place, what do you call a person who works with wood?
In my place, a person who works with wood is called ‘Chootor’.
[Students should mention their experience based on the above lines.]
Now, look at the picture and fill in the table.
What tools are they shown using in the picture? Write them in the given table.
| Work | Tool | What is the person called |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | ||
| 2. | ||
| 3. | ||
| 4. |
| Work | Tool | What is the person called |
|---|---|---|
| 1.Mixing of sand and cement | Spade | Labourer |
| 2. Fitting of electric wires | Screwdriver, drill machine | Electrician |
| 3. Fitting of pipes | Pipe cutter, pliers | Plumber |
| 4. Roof top construction | Trowel | Mason |
What kind of work is being done by different people here?
In the given picture, many construction workers are working together at a construction site. They are making a house. Here every worker is assigned a particular task.
Do you know people who do this type of work? Talk to them and find out about their work. Discuss it with your friends.
Yes, I know some people who work as electricians, plumbers, and masons. They live in temporary tents beside my music school. They are constructing a big shopping complex there.
[Students should mention their experience based on the above lines.]
Talk to the people
With your teacher or someone from home, go to a place where a building is being constructed. Talk to the people working there and find out answers to these questions.
Over the sixty years, different materials were used at different times in Chetandas’ house. List these in the correct order.
The list of different materials used at different times in Chetandas’ house are—
1. Soil and husk Cow dung Mud Wood
2. Gunny bags Iron Cement Unbaked bricks
3. Slacked lime and water Mud chulha Baked brick Lintel
4. Stone chips Cement Pipe Coloured tiles
Try and guess how many trucks of bricks and bags of cement will be used for making the building.
I think thirty trucks of bricks and eighty trucks of cement will be required for making the building.
[Students should mention their experience based on the above lines.]
How do the materials reach the building site? (By truck, handcart, any other vehicle) List them.
Cement, sand, and bricks reach the building site by trucks. After these materials are unloaded at a particular place, sand and cement are moved to the construction site by handcarts, whereas labourers carry the bricks over their heads.
Find out the price of
(a) One bag of cement
(b) One brick, (c) One truck of sand
The price of—
(a) One bag of cement is Rs. 500/-.
(b) One brick is Rs. 40/-.
(c) One truck of sand is Rs. 20,000/-.
[Students should mention their experience based on the above lines.]
Ask a few other questions and write their answers.
I asked them whether they got free food or not, and they said yes. In case of accidents or injuries at the construction site, I also asked if they get free treatments and other medical benefits. They answered that all of them got medical insurance benefits from their company.
[Students should mention their experience based on the above lines.]
What is being built there?
A multi-storeyed residential building is being constructed there.
[Students should mention their experience based on the above lines.]
How many people are working there?
The construction worker said 50 labourers and 10 engineers and architects were working there.
[Students should mention their experience based on the above lines.]
What kind of work are they doing?
Different people are doing various tasks. Masons are constructing walls, plumbers are fitting pipes, engineers are checking if everybody is working according to the architecture plan.
How many men and women are there?
Thirty men and twenty women are working there. The rest of them are architects and engineers.
[Students should mention their experience based on the above lines.]
Are any children working there? What are they doing?
Yes, I have seen four children working at the construction site. They are working as helpers.
[Students should mention their experience based on the above lines.]
How much money do these people get paid daily? Ask from any three different people.
A labourer gets Rs. 200/-, a mason gets Rs. 350/- and a plumber gets Rs. 300/- daily.
[Students should mention their experience based on the above lines.]
Where do these people live?
These people live in makeshift tents near the construction site.
[Students should mention their experience based on the above lines.]
What are the materials being used for making the building?
Bricks, cement, sand, concrete, wood, and iron rods are being used for making the building.
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