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S.No Content Page No
1 China Commits Agri Import 4
2 Monthly Net Asset Value 4
3 Science & Technology 4
4 Sports 7
5 Awards & Honours 8
6 Economics Statistics 10
7 Uk Experiences Growth &Decline 11
8 Asian Marker Share 14
9 Digital Tools For Modelling In The Science Classroom
17
10 Students Creativity 18
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Editorial board Editor’s Email ID
Dr.M.selvam [email protected]
Nashiha Niloffer A [email protected]
Abirami S [email protected]
Daniel Francis J [email protected]
Arunkumar S [email protected]
Dhanabalan T [email protected]
Mathan Kumar K [email protected]
Devi Priya S [email protected]
Sindhuja M [email protected]
4
CHINA COMMITS $1 B AGRI IMPORTS FROM PHL
Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said
China’s plan for the $1-billion purchase
agreement of agriculture products was
relayed by China’s Minister of
Commerce Zhong Shan during their
meeting Tuesday in Manila for the 28th
Philippines-China Joint Commission on
Economic and Trade Cooperation. AP
Photo/Eugene Hoshiko
MANILA, Philippines - China has
committed to significantly boost its
imports from the Philippines as it seeks
to buy $1 billion worth of local
agriculture products following a recent
meeting between the trade ministers of
the two countries.
Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said
China’s plan for the $1-billion purchase
agreement of agriculture products was
relayed by China’s Minister of
Commerce Hong Shan during their
meeting Tuesday in Manila for the 28th
Philippines-China Joint Commission on
Economic and Trade Cooperation.
Lopez said the purchase agreement is
expected to be signed later this month
during the visit of a high-level
delegation from China led by its vice
premier.
He said the agreement would include a
wide range of agriculture products such
as durian, avocado, banana, pineapple,
dragon fruit, mangos teen, marang, rice,
coffee, cacao, fish, chicken and duck
meat, among others.
In November last year, the Philippines
also secured a purchase agreement from
Russia wherein the latter agreed to
import $2.5 billion worth of the
country’s agricultural products.
China and Russia are seen as the
country’s new partners and allies under
the current administration’s new foreign
policy.
Business ( Article MRc ), page match:
1, section match: 1
OCTOBER 2016 MONTHLY
NET Asset Value
THE INFORMATION CONTAINED
HEREIN IS NOT FOR RELEASE,
PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION
IN OR INTO AUSTRALIA,
CANADA, ITALY, DENMARK,
JAPAN, THE UNITED STATES, OR
TO ANY NATIONAL OF SUCH
JURISDICTIONS
10 November 2016
NB Private Equity Partners Limited
("NBPE" or the "Company"), a closed-
end private equity investment company,
today announced an updated Net Asset
Value ("NAV") for the month ended 31
October 2016.
Monthly, year to date and LTM NAV
development:
5
Month
31
Oct
16
YTD
31
Oct
16
LTM
Total return
NAV
development
per Share[1]
2.0% 8.6% 8.2%
NAV
development
per Share
2.0% 4.8% 4.5%
31 October 2016 NAV per Share of
$15.04, $0.29 increase from $14.75
NAV per Share at 30 September 2016
Nape’s NAV increase of $14.6 million
during the month included:
$19.5 million increase in NAV
attributable to changes in the value of
the investment portfolio
$16.9 million of unrealised gains
attributable to the receipt of new
valuation information, or $0.35 per
share
$2.1 million of other unrealised and
realised gains on investments, or $0.04
per share
$1.6 million of accrued cash and
payment in kind ("PIK") interest from
the income investment portfolio, or
$0.03per share
$0.5 million of unrealised gains on
public securities, or $0.01 per share
($1.6) million of foreign exchange
adjustments at the portfolio company
level, or ($0.03) per share
$5.0 million decrease in NAV
attributable to expenses and other
liabilities during the month
Portfolio Valuation
The value of Nape’s private equity
portfolio as of 31 October 2016
was based on the following
information[2]:
38% of the private equity fair value
was valued as of 31 October 2016
o 23% in private direct
investments
o 13% in public securities
o 2% in credit-related fund
investments
56% of the private equity fair value
was valued as of 30 September
2016
o 44% in private direct
investments
o 12% in fund investments
6% of the private equity fair value
was valued as of 30 June 2016
o 6% in fund investments
Portfolio Commentary
During October, NBPE received $50.3
million of proceeds from income
investments, driven by $45.9 million
from the exits of second lien debt
investments in Converge One, K&N
Engineering and Evoqua and an
additional $4.4
Make history Wednesday (Thursday in
Manila). Three, to be precise.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
India completes its nuclear triad by
inducting the first indigenously
built strategic nuclear submarine
INS Arihant into service. With this,
India becomes the fourth country,
after Russia, United States and
China to have a nuclear triad i.e.
capable of delivering nuclear
weapons by aircraft, ballistic
6
missiles and submarine launched
missiles.
India’s communication satellite
GSAT-18 is successfully launched
from Koura, French Guiana using
an Arianespace launch vehicle
Ariane-5 VA-231.
The Indian Coast Guard Ships
(ICGSs) ‘Aryaman’ and ‘Atulya’
designed and built by Cochin
Shipyard Limited are
commissioned into Indian Coast
Guard in Kochi, Kerala.
The Indian Immunological Limited
(IIL) launches CYSVAX, the
world’s first vaccine to fight
against Taenia sodium Tapeworms
in pigs. The vaccine has significant
potential benefit to reduce the
incidence of epilepsy in humans.
Mergers, acquisitions and deals
Russia’s state-controlled oil giant
Rosneft and its partner’s takes over
India’s second biggest private oil firm
Essar Oil in an all-cash deal valued at
about USD 13 billion.
Anil Ambani led Reliance
Group and French aerospace
giant Dassault Aviation sign a
deal to set up a joint venture
called Desault Reliance
Aerospace.
India’s oldest travel website
operator, Make My Trip Ltd,
announces that it would buy
rival Ibibio Group to create the
biggest player in the fast-
growing flight, hotel and bus
bookings market in the country.
Intas buys Teva’s UK & Ireland
assets for $764 million to break
into global top 20 generic
players club
Suzlon Group enters into a JV
with Ostro Energy for
development and construction
of a 50-mw solar project in
Telangana.
Anil Ambani-led Reliance
Infrastructure (R-Infra) agrees
to sell its transmission assets in
the states of Maharashtra,
Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and
Karnataka and its 74 per cent
stake in transmission lines in
the state of Himachal Pradesh
and Punjab to Gautam Adani-
led Adani Transmission
Limited (ATL) for an
undisclosed sum
BANKS & DEALINGS
India signs a defence deal
worth nearly Rs 39,000 crore
with Russia to purchase five
state of art S-400 ‘Triumf’ air
defence systems, one of the
most advanced long-range
defence systems in the world.
The Union Government
proposes a four-slab rate
structure for the new indirect
tax regime i.e. Goods
&Services Tax (GST) ranging
from 0 to 26 per cent.
The Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) permits start ups to raise
external commercial
borrowings (ECBs) of up to
$3million in a financial year for
three year tenure.
The Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) cuts its key policy rate,
the repo rate, by 25 basis points
to 6.25 per cent. The
unanimous decision to reduce
rates is taken by the new six-
member Monetary Policy
Committee (MPC).
7
The Union Government signs a
$650 million loan agreement
with the World Bank for
construction of the Eastern
Dedicated Freight Corridor
(EDFC)-III project.
The Central Board of Direct
Taxes (CBDT) receives a total
disclosure of Rs. 65,250 crore
black money in the form of
cash and other assets under the
Income Disclosure Scheme,
2016, launched in June 2016 as
a one-time opportunity to those
who had not paid full taxes in
the past.
Dhiraj Raja ram becomes the
first unicorn founder to own a
majority stake in Mu Sigma as
the CEO of the company after
he acquires a controlling stake
of 51.6% in the company.
The International Monetary
Fund (IMF) and the World
Bank predicts a robust 7.6 per
cent growth for India in 2016,
saying India would remain the
world’s fastest-growing large
economy as it raises its growth
forecast for the country by 0.2
percentage points from its
earlier projections.
India’s largest lender State
Bank of India (SBI) announces
the opening of its foreign
branch in Yangon, the capital
city of Myanmar and is the first
domestic bank of India to do so.
India is ranked 130 out of 190
countries in 2017 World Bank’s
Doing Business Report, and 87
out of 144 countries on the
World Economic Forum’s
(WEF) Global Gender Gap
Report 2016. New Zealand,
Singapore, Denmark, Hong
Kong and South Korea are the
top five countries on the 2016
Global Gender Gap Index.
The Union Government signs a
$650 million loan agreement
with the World Bank for
construction of the Eastern
Dedicated Freight Corridor
(EDFC)-III project.
Kishore Biyani-led Future
Group launches a digital wallet
Future Pay.
Renault India Pvt. Ltd, the
Indian unit of the French car
maker, is likely to recall at least
50,000 units of the Kwid model
to rectify a faulty fuel hose clip.
Nissan is calling back 932 units
of Datsun redi-Go which was
launched in June this year.
Khadi & Village Industries
Commission (KVIC) is set to
take the franchisee route
besides entering into at least
three marketing arrangements
with garment manufacturers as
it looks to expand its footprint
and meet the growing demand
for the traditional hand-spun
and hand-woven product.
Conglomerate Hinduja Group’s
flagship company Ashok
Leyland unveils country’s first
100 per cent indigenously made
electric bus which is non-
polluting and has zero-
emissions.
The Union Government decides
to utilise the vast network of
post offices across the country
to sell subsidised pulses.
The National Payment
Corporation of India (NPCI), an
umbrella organization for all
retail payments system in India,
announces that as many as 19
banks reported the fraudulent
withdrawal from debit cards as
customer’s cards were used
falsely mainly in China and US
while customers were based in
India.
8
India’s first Medipark (Medical
Park) is to be set up in Tamil
Nadu at Chengalpet near
Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It will
boast of the first medical
devices manufacturing park in
the country.
SPORTS
India beats Pakistan to win the 2016
Asian Champions Trophy title.
India clinches four medals including a
gold medal, at the sixth edition of the
TAFISA World Games in Jakarta,
Indonesia. The winners are Dalmiya
(gold in 60kg category), Luv Singh
(silver medal in the 80 kg category),
Naveen Kumar (bronze medal in 90 Kg
category) and Josil ( bronze medal in
the in the super heavyweight section).
All the medals are in wrestling.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal is
appointed as a member of the
International Olympic Committee’s
(IOC) Athletes’ Commission.
Ace Indian Shooter Jitu Rai wins the
2016 Champion of Champions pistol
Award of the International Shooting
Sport Federation (ISSF) for pistol
shooting.
Bengaluru’s Ishan Pandita becomes the
first Indian footballer to sign a
professional contract with newly-
promoted CD Leganes, a club in La
Liga, the top tier of Spanish football.
Pandita will first turn out for the club’s
U-19 side.
India is to take on South Korea in the
semi-finals of the fourth Asian
Champions
9
AWARDS AND HONOURS
Eminent writer C Radhakrishnan is
selected for the prestigious
Mathrubhumi Literary Award for the
year 2016.
Nayanjot Lahiri, Professor of History at
the Ashoka University, is awarded the
2016 John F. Richards Prize for her
critically acclaimed book Ashoka in
Ancient India. The prize is awarded
annually by the American Historical
Association (AHA) to the best book in
South Asian history.
Film-maker and elephant researcher
Prajna Chowta is appointed Chevalier
de l’Ordre National du Mérite (Knight
in the National Order of Merit) by the
French government.
Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Chamling
was honoured with prestigious
Sustainable Development Leadership
Award of the The Energy and
Resources Institute (TERI). He was
presented with the award by President
Pranab Mukherjee during “World
Sustainable Development Summit” in
New Delhi.
Noted music director and violinist
Uttam Singh has been named for 2016
Lata Mangeshkar Award for Lifetime
Achievement by the Maharashtra
government
2016 NOBEL PRIZES
Throughout the first two weeks of
October, the 2016 winners of theNobel
Prize are awarded in Oslo, Norway and
in Stockholm, Sweden. The winners
are: Yoshinori Ohsumi for Physiology
or Medicine; Oliver Hart and Bengt
Holm strum for Economic Sciences;
John Kosterlitz, Duncan Haldane and
10
David Thouless for Physics; James
Fraser Stoddert, Jean-Pierre Savage and
Ben Fringe for Chemistry; Juan Manuel
Santos, the president of Colombia, for
the Nobel Peace Prize;
and lastly, the Nobel Prize for Literature
goes to Bob Dylan "for having created
new poetic expressions within the great
American song tradition."
Photo source: HeikoJunge /NTB
Scanpix via A
A.NASHIHA NILOFFER MBA
International business
OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS –
Japanese Encephalitis claims 48 lives
in the past over one month in
Malkangiri district of Odisha.
Jharkhand becomes the first state in the
country to implement Direct Benefit
Transfer (DBT) in Kerosene Scheme.
India is ranked 97th of 118 in the
Global Hunger Index rankings.
The Union Ministry of Road Transport
& Highways makes it mandatory for
all automobile manufacturers to
provide emission and noise pollution
details for every vehicle they produce
by April 2017.
The fourth edition of the India-Sri
Lanka Joint Military Exercise ‘MITRA
SHAKTI 2016’ begins at Sinha
Regimental Centre in Ambepussa, Sri
Lanka to enhance inter-operability
while carrying out Counter Terrorism
(CT) and Counter Insurgency (CI)
operations under the UN Mandate.
The Tamil Nadu government
announces that it would implement
National Food Security Act (NFSA),
effective November 1, 2016.
11
OCTOBER 2016 ECONOMIC
STATISTICS: ALL THE
FIGURES SMES NEED TO
KNOW
From Living Wage stats to national
business numbers, our October 2016
economic statistics roundup has
everything in place for enterprise leaders.
Businesses are growing at twice the rate of those shrinking in the UK
The Zurich SME Risk Index is part of our
October 2016 economic statistics
roundup, and shows that business risk is
at its lowest level in four years, despite 53
per cent of Britain’s small businesses
voicing concerns over the current
economic climate.
This was according to survey results from
over 1,000 SME owners and decision
makers – with only seven per cent
remotely considering closing down shop.
General reduction in business risk, the
index found, had resulted in a positive
knock-on effect on business operations.
Only 15 per cent of SMEs have had to
reduce prices in the last financial quarter,
while nine per cent made staff cuts.
So there appears to be light at the end of
the tunnel for small businesses, Anne
Griffiths, head of SME proposition at
Zurich said. “Businesses are growing at
twice the rate of those shrinking in the
UK. The SME community has long been
the economic heartbeat of Britain, and
while fixing the economy remains the
highest priority, the wider picture is one
of success, prosperity, and most
importantly, optimism.”
It comes hand-in-hand with news that
the number of private sector businesses in
the UK has hit a record 5.5m. SMEs
account for at least 99 per cent of
businesses in every industry sector,
business and energy secretary Greg Clark
hailed. The total number of companies in
London has also reached one million for
the first time and the number of
businesses employing people across the
country has risen for the third year
running.
Have a look at our SME statistics round-
up hub with month-by-month accounts
As a whole, there was a 23 per cent
increase in businesses at the start of 2016
compared to 2010, with the government’s
Department for Business, Energy and
12
International Strategy revealing it
had given entrepreneurs £250m from its
Start Up Loans scheme. And with the
need for finance often correlating with a
firm seeking to expand its reaches,
exporting figures also had to be put up for
display and feature in our October 2016
economic statistics feature.
The results aren’t as good, with the
Centre for Economics and Business
Research, alongside World First,
suggesting that if SMEs matched the
levels of exports made by larger
counterparts, UK exports would rise by
£141.3bn. It would be an increase of 25
per cent, which would certainly go some
way to helping alleviate our economic
headaches. It was even the subject of
World First’s Think Global event, where
the over-arching message was: there
hasn’t been an environment this
favourable for exporters in decades.
The Brexit vote led to a sharp decline in
the value of the pound, at one
stage falling to a 31-year low. Let’s also
not forget the strange contradiction that is
the UK’s M&A activity. In Europe,
M&A deal value has us back to 2013
levels – firms have postponed deals,
cautious of exchange rates. But despite
the sluggish first half of the year,
the aggregate value of those deals
resulted in our highest Q3 result since
2008. This may largely be due
to Softbank’s bid for ARM Holdings in July
PWC BUSINESS ANALYSIS AS
UK PLC EXPERIENCES
COMBINATION OF GROWTH
AND DECLINE
As Prime Minister Theresa May moves
forward with Brexit plans, Paul Lansbury
British enterprise has experienced a
combination of growth and decline across
sectors uses PwC business figures to
explain why As British business, the firm
found 15 stores are closing each day
As Britisbusiness, the firm found 15
stores are closing each day
In September we had American Express
review the condition of UK plc amidst the
arrival of a new £5 note and more, but
this time around for October, we’ve got
some highly insightful PwC business
analysis – to give British SMEs a good
idea of what’s going on.
It’s part of our monthly SME Economic
Corner feature, in which Real Business
hears from an executive at a professional
services firm to get their thoughts on the
latest business developments and what
the economic condition of the UK
marketplace is.
But before some PwC business
investigations, let’s recap. The
13
government’s Business Population
Estimates report for 2016 was released
halfway through October, at which time it
was revealed there are now 5.5m
companies in operation nationwide – a
new high and an increase of 97,000 year-
on-year.
Business and energy secretary Greg Clark
said: “Britain’s businesses are the heroes
of our economic revival and it is great to
see the number of businesses rise by over
a million since 2010.”
We had to highlight the firm’s own study
as PwC business research found stores
are closing at an alarming rate of 15 per
day.
Here’s what Paul Lansbury, senior
finance partner at PwC, had to say about
the UK marketplace.
(1) The government revealed this
month that, at 5.5m, there are more
British businesses than ever before.
What do you believe the main driver of
this growth has been?
This is potentially due to a number of
factors. The traditional employment
system has changed. The concept of
having a job for life is rare these days and
hence the lack (or perceived lack) of job
security has resulted in more people
deciding to set up on their own
.
The advent of the internet has made it
possible to buy anything from anywhere
and sell to anyone anywhere, requiring a
fraction of the overheads of traditional
retailers and enabling businesses to reach
almost any customer niche, wherever
they physically happen to be.
Further technological advances such as
cloud-based applications have given
small businesses the same powerful tools
that were previously only available to
large firms, i.e. from website creation and
payment processing to marketing and
customer service.
The wider availability of consumer credit
plus the accessibility to non-traditional
forms of finance, such as crowd funding,
have made it easier to fund a start-up
business.
(2) Do you feel that the Brexit will
prevent this figure from continuing to
grow?
Not necessarily, based on PwC
business research around Brexit.
Dependent on the type of new business,
some will be more directly affected than
others by Brexit, such as:
Businesses which import either materials
or finished goods are likely to find their
costs will increase in the short term
(dependent on the currency in which they
14
are paying), although in the longer term
exchange rates are likely to settle down
Businesses which export goods into both
into the EU and elsewhere will benefit
from
the devalued pound because their goods
will be cheaper for their customers
Businesses in the UK tourism industry
will benefit from the likely boom in
visitors for the same reason
Many types of business which rely on a
local customer base are likely to be
highly insulated from the short term
effects of Bruit and hence the number of
these businesses is likely to grow
It is important not to forget that
uncertainty also creates opportunity, and
that many entrepreneurs will view Bruit
as an opportunity to develop new
products and services and new ways to
service the UK and international markets
profitability
(3) What advice would you have for
business leaders that have pumped the
brakes on plans to take the company
forward as Britain moves forward with
plans to leave the EU?
Bruit has resulted in some risks but has
also resulted in opportunities which the
best-run SMEs will be able to capitalise
on. Whilst all businesses should proceed
with caution, those that do nothing for the
next two years – the time it will take to
formally exit the EU – will be left
standing by those innovative businesses
which continue to adapt and take
advantage of the changing political and
economic landscape.
(4) PwC business research found, this
month, that despite the volatile state of
sterling, Brits are keen to book a
holiday as a spending priority. Given
that travel businesses look set to
benefit from this trend, how can they
stand out from rivals?
By helping customers to lock in the price
now by encouraging them to pay upfront,
and eliminating currency fluctuations in
foreign supplier payments through
forward contracts or keeping funds in a
Euro/USD bank account.
(5) Which other sectors look to benefit
from consumer spending?
UK tourism, as a result of the expected
increase in overseas visitors due to the
devaluation of the pound and the rise of
staycation by Britons impacted by the
volatility of sterling.
And as UK consumer spending remains
relatively buoyant, UK retailers should
also be boosted by overseas visitors.
Additionally, those which trade
particularly strongly overseas will benefit.
Elsewhere, the home improvement sector is
likely to benefit by those opting not to sell
their home due to the current uncertainty,
instead focusing on
Improving their current home.
15
BRAZILIAN CRUDE
THREATENS OCEANIA,
MIDDLE EAST SUPPLIERS’
ASIAN MARKET SHARE
China’s strong appetite for Brazilian
crude has set off alarm bells among
various producers in Oceania and the
Middle East, prompting Australian and
key Persian Gulf crude suppliers to slash
their selling prices in an effort to remain
competitive and protect their market
share in Asia, market participants said
Wednesday.
Since late 2016, China saw a dramatic
increase in Brazilian crude imports and
the trend remained firmly intact with two
Chinese state-run oil companies
purchasing 5 million barrels or more of
heavy sweet crude from the South
American state for loading in March,
according to a source with direct
knowledge of the deals.
March shipping fixtures seen by S&P
Global Plats also showed that Petro China
has fixed the San Jacinto to move
130,000 mt of crude oil for March
loading from Brazil to China, while
trading company Vitol also booked Suez
Hans and Fraternity to move a combined
260,000 mt of crude for loading in the
same month for the similar journey.
In addition, Shell and Repsol fixed Maran
Artemis and Aquarius Voyager
respectively, to move a combined total of
560,000 mt of crude for March loading
from Uruguay to China, according to the
latest fixtures.
Uruguay’s Montevideo is a common
loading destination for Brazilian offshore
producers because of its proximity to
several prolific oil fields like those in the
nearby Santos Basin.
The source indicated that the Brazilian
crude grades that the state-run Chinese
companies had purchased for loading in
March consisted mainly of Roncador,
Marlim and Lula.
AUSTRALIAN CRUDE PREMIUMS
UNDER PRESSURE
Taking the biggest brunt of the continued
arbitrage flows from South America to
North Asia, many of the Australian heavy
sweet crude grades that are heavily
dependent on Chinese demand saw their
price differentials tumble to multi-month
lows.
Latest market talk indicated that Mitsui
could have sold a 550,000-barrel cargo of
Australian Vincent crude for loading over
April 24-28 to a European trading
company at a premium of around $1.50/b
to Plats Dated Brent crude assessments
on a FOB basis, sharply lower than the
premium of around $2.80-$3.10/b heard
paid for a March-loading cargo in the
previous trading cycle.
16
Plats assessed Vincent crude at a
premium of $1.75/b to Dated Brent
Tuesday, the lowest differential since
October 19, 2016 when it commanded a
$1.55/b premium.
In comparison, Brazil’s heavy sweet
Roncador crude was last assessed at a
discount of $4.95/b to Platts Latin
American Brent Strip (PLABS), while the
country’s heavy sour Marlim was
assessed at PLABS minus $5.25/b on
Tuesday.
“Far East [and Oceania crude grades]
were too expensive,” said the source.
MIDDLE EASTERN PRODUCERS
FEEL COMPETITION
Middle Eastern producers were also
taking a cautious stance in recent weeks
as they stepped up efforts to curb Asia’s
appetite for arbitrage barrels and remain
competitive amid Dubai’s strength
against other global benchmarks Brent
and WTI.
Last week, Saudi Aramco announced
surprise cuts to the OSP differentials for
its Asia-bound Arab Light and Arab
Medium crude for loading in April, while
Abu Dhabi’s Upper Zakum crude also
saw its OSP differential for February
lowered by 7 cents/b from the previous
month.
The Brent/Dubai Exchange of Futures for
Swaps spread — a key indicator of ICE
Brent’s premium to benchmark cash
Dubai — has been narrowing sharply this
year, making Dubai-linked Middle
Eastern and Far East Russian grades less
competitive against various grades linked
to the European benchmark, traders said.
“Yes, it is still economical [to buy
Brazilian grades],” the source said when
asked about the general cost comparison
between purchasing South American and
Asia-Middle East crude grades including
freight rates.
The source added that the narrow
Brent/Dubai spread would likely keep the
Brazil-Asia arbitrage window wide open
as Roncador and Marlim are priced
against Brent.
The second-month EFS averaged $1.51/b
in February, the lowest since August
2015 when it averaged 79 cents/b, Plats
data
17
COUNTRY LIFE OCTOBER 19 2016
Country Life October 19 2016 celebrates
Winnie-the-Pooh; reveals how to be a
much better shot; how to be an expert off-
road; and how to sleep like a lamb. Find out more here:
ARCHITECTURE: John Good all visits
Lambda Castle in Co Dublin, one of
Lustiness’s most accomplished and
magical yet little-known architectural projects
GARDENS: David Wheeler explores the
tranquil and inventive gardens of Son
Muda, which will be part of a
COUNTRY LIFE tour in Mallorca next spring
WINNIE-THE-POOH: As the nation’s
favourite bear of very little brain turns 90,
Julia Eccles hare celebrates the enduring
appeal of A. A. Milne’s most treasured creation
FONTS: The drop-down font menu has
made typographers of us all. However,
Antony Woodward argues that how we
write words can have a long-lasting impact on our lives
SHOOTING: Rupert Uloth discovers
why closing one eye as you take aim on
the shooting field this season is simply
madness and meets the man on a crusade to change the habit of thousands
SPODE: Spode’s iconic Blue Italian
china pattern turns 200 this year.
Annunciata Walton looks back at the
company’s history and welcomes its recent rebirth
sMOTORING: Through the off-road
mud, Charles Rangeley-Wilson gets a
glimpse of the new Land Rover
Discovery
COOKING: Simon Hopkinson conjures up two satisfying pasta dishes
18
EASY DIGITAL TOOLS FOR
MODELING IN THE SCIENCE
CLASSROOM
The technique of modeling is one of the
focal points of the Next Generation
Science Standards, so I’ve been looking
for more opportunities for my 10th and
11th grade chemistry students to create
their own models. I’ve found two
programs that are great for engaging
students and allowing me to record their
models digitally.
For a recent activity about bonds, I begin
using Pear Deck. Pear Deck is slide
presentation software that allows students
to join and respond in real time with text
responses, drawings, and other interactive
strategies that I can see immediately –
making checking for understanding easy
and powerful. I first ask students to draw
what they think a sodium and a chlorine
atom would look like. (We’d covered the
periodic table already and they should
have some idea of how to get start
From my teacher station, I can see every
student’s drawing in real time. I can set a
specific time frame within which students’
can enter responses or I can change their
screens to the next slide, if it is time to
move to the next task. After scanning
through students’ drawings from my
computer, I decide to throw in a request
that will prompt students to respond on
their tablets. “Describe your model in a
few sentences,” I ask after opening up a
new page for them to answer on. While I
hadn’t planned on asking them to do this
when I created the Pear Deck presentation
the night before, I really appreciate having
the ability to add impromptu questions.
After collecting their responses, I share
some of them, and several drawings (all
anonymously) with the whole class and
ask students to share their observations.
Seeing their drawings allows me to glean
information about prior knowledge and to
look for possible misconceptions. And the
sharing display lets students to see into
each other’s thinking.
After a short discussion, I then ask them to
draw the sodium atom forming a bond
with the chlorine atom. I set the
presentation on self-paced mode to allow
students to use more than one page
(screen) if needed to complete their
drawing(s). Self-paced mode allows
students to go to any slide in the
presentation you’ve created and complete
any of the tasks you’ve embedded.
After the Pear Deck session is over, I have
the option of saving all of the data
collected, which allows me to resume the
session another day and gives me the
ability to analyze the data collected at a
later date.
In the second part of the activity, students
use Gizmos, which has hundreds of math
and science interactive simulations that
allow students to graph, measure, compare
and make predictions.
After students have logged into their
Gizmos accounts, I instruct them to launch
the ionic bonds simulation that I selected
19
for them. In the screen cast above, I
demonstrate a simulation in which students
are able to explore how five different
periodic table metals can form bonds with
one of six non-metals. Students can select
the two atoms to bond, add more atoms to
the bond, and transfer valence electrons
from one atom to the other. Since a bond
can’t occur unless certain rules are met,
students are able to explore how ionic
bonds can occur by manipulating the
atoms and their valence electrons on the
screen, and test the rules for themselves.
Harness Student Creativity with
Minecraft Movies
What an amazing time it is to be a
teacher! School is changing more now than
it has in the last 50 years.
Even more amazing, the most popular
video game on the market, Mine craft, just
so happens to be one of the most powerful
learning tools of all time.
Using Mine craft in the classroom can
make learning more meaningful, student
cantered and fun.
Last year, my fifth-grade students decided
they wanted to film a movie in Mine craft
and post it on You Tube.
What a wonderful way to explore digital
literacy, collaboration, creative writing,
and learn how to use editing and animation
tools. The only problem was that I didn’t
have much experience in editing and
animation, or movie making in general.
S.ABIRAMI MBA
International Business
20
Student’s creativity:
Abirami S
