UPMSP Intermediate Human Science cheat sheet

Home Science is an interdisciplinary applied field integrating food and nutrition, textiles, resource management, child development and community health to improve family living standards.

Human development domains: physical (body and motor skills), cognitive (thinking, memory, language), social (relationships) and emotional (feelings, self-regulation); development is lifelong, multidimensional and plastic.

Developmental stages: infancy (0-2 years), early childhood (2-6), middle childhood (6-12), adolescence (12-19), adulthood (19-60) and old age (60+).

Principles of development: proceeds cephalocaudally (head to tail), proximodistally (centre outward), from general to specific, and is continuous yet stage-linked.

Heredity sets the potential range; environment (nutrition, stimulation, care, culture) determines where within that range a child actually develops.

Growth is measurable increase in body size; development is qualitative change in function and skill. Growth and development proceed together but at different rates.

Adolescence is marked by puberty, a growth spurt, secondary sexual characteristics and identity formation; nutritional and emotional needs rise sharply.

Home Science work areas overlap: a family's diet, clothing, income use, health and child care decisions are interdependent, so interventions target several at once.

Six nutrient classes: carbohydrates (4 kcal/g), proteins (4 kcal/g), fats (9 kcal/g), vitamins, minerals and water; energy needs are estimated from BMR plus physical activity plus thermic effect of food.

Balanced diet = energy plus all nutrients in correct proportion; ICMR balanced diet plans use cereal, pulse, milk, vegetable, fruit, fat and sugar groups in defined servings.

Protein quality: animal proteins and soy are complete (all essential amino acids); most cereals lack lysine and pulses lack methionine, so cereal-pulse combinations improve quality (mutual supplementation).

Deficiency diseases: protein-energy malnutrition (marasmus, kwashiorkor), vitamin A (night blindness, xerophthalmia), vitamin D (rickets, osteomalacia), iron (anaemia), iodine (goitre, cretinism), vitamin C (scurvy), thiamine (beriberi).

Food groups by function: energy-giving (cereals, fats, sugars), body-building (pulses, milk, meat, eggs), protective (fruits and vegetables rich in vitamins and minerals).

Dietary modification in disease: low-salt for hypertension, low-fibre then high-fibre progression in some gut disorders, high-protein high-calorie for recovery, small frequent meals in diabetes and gastritis.

Food safety: bacteria grow fastest between 5 and 60 degrees Celsius; reheating, refrigeration, covered storage and safe water prevent food-borne illness.

Methods of cooking affect nutrients: boiling leaches water-soluble vitamins, steaming and pressure cooking retain more, prolonged high heat destroys vitamin C and thiamine.

Fibre classification: natural (cotton, linen, silk, wool) and man-made (regenerated such as rayon; synthetic such as polyester, nylon, acrylic).

Cotton: cellulose fibre, absorbent, strong when wet, shrinks, wrinkles, damaged by strong acid and mildew; washes well with soap and hot water.

Wool: protein (keratin) fibre, scaly surface causes felting and shrinkage; damaged by alkali and bleach, attacked by moths; wash in cool water with mild neutral detergent.

Silk: protein fibre, lustrous and strong, degrades with perspiration and sunlight; use mild detergent and avoid wringing.

Polyester and nylon: synthetic, hydrophobic, quick-drying, thermoplastic (heat-sensitive, so iron at low temperature); polyester blends with cotton resist wrinkling.

Yarn and fabric construction: staple fibres are spun into yarn; fabrics are woven (warp and weft, plain, twill, satin weaves), knitted (loops, stretchy) or non-woven (bonded).

Fabric finishes: mercerisation improves cotton lustre and strength; sanforisation reduces shrinkage; calendering smooths surface; water-repellent and flame-retardant finishes add function.

Fashion cycle stages: introduction, rise (peak acceptance), decline and obsolescence; fashion is influenced by culture, climate, income, media and peer group.

Resources are classified as human (time, energy, knowledge, skills, attitudes) and non-human (money, goods, land, equipment); management is the efficient use of both to reach goals.

Management process: planning, organising, implementing and evaluating; decision-making runs through all stages.

Time management tools: peak-load planning, work simplification, standardisation, and the Pareto principle (about 80 percent of results come from 20 percent of effort).

Work simplification techniques: eliminate unnecessary steps, combine tasks, rearrange sequence, simplify motions; ergonomics matches the task to the worker.

Budget types: balanced (income equals expenditure), surplus and deficit; a family budget records income sources and fixed, flexible and discretionary expenditure.

Consumer rights include safety, information, choice, being heard, redress and consumer education; the Consumer Protection Act provides for redressal forums.

Consumer responsibilities: check labels, date of manufacture and expiry, MRP, quality marks (ISI, Agmark, FSSAI, Hallmark) and demand a bill.

Advertising techniques (bandwagon, testimonial, glittering generalities, bait offers) aim to influence buying; critical reading of advertisements protects the consumer.

Family functions: reproduction, economic support, emotional security, socialisation, protection and transmission of culture; family types include nuclear, joint and extended.

Parenting styles: authoritative (high warmth and control, best outcomes), authoritarian (high control, low warmth), permissive (high warmth, low control) and uninvolved.

Attachment: secure attachment develops when caregivers respond consistently; separation anxiety peaks in infancy and declines through early childhood.

Milestones: social smile around 2 months, sitting with support around 6 months, walking around 12-15 months, two-word phrases around 18-24 months, cooperative play in preschool years.

Play stages: solitary, parallel, associative and cooperative; play develops motor, language, social and problem-solving skills.

Theories: Piaget (sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational stages), Erikson (psychosocial stages, e.g. trust versus mistrust in infancy), Kohlberg (moral development levels).

Early childhood care and education: anganwadi and ICDS services provide supplementary nutrition, immunisation, health check-ups, referral and preschool education.

Discipline should be consistent and positive; physical punishment and shaming harm self-esteem and model aggression.

Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease (WHO definition).

Levels of prevention: primary (immunisation, sanitation, health education), secondary (early diagnosis, screening, treatment) and tertiary (rehabilitation, disability limitation).

Communicable disease transmission routes: direct contact, droplet/airborne, food and water (faecal-oral), vector-borne (mosquito, fly) and blood-borne.

Immunisation schedule basics: BCG and hepatitis B at birth; OPV, pentavalent and rotavirus in infancy; measles-rubella and DPT boosters in early childhood.

Sanitation and hygiene: safe drinking water, handwashing with soap at critical times, safe disposal of excreta, vector control and safe food handling prevent most communicable disease.

Environmental health: improper waste disposal, stagnant water and indoor smoke increase respiratory and vector-borne disease; ventilation and safe fuel reduce risk.

Community health programmes: ICDS, National Health Mission, mid-day meal scheme, pulse polio and vector-control campaigns work through community participation.

Maternal and child health: antenatal care, institutional delivery, exclusive breastfeeding for six months and growth monitoring reduce maternal and infant mortality.

Digestive system: digestion begins in the mouth (salivary amylase on starch); protein digestion starts in the stomach (pepsin with HCl); most absorption occurs in the small intestine (villi).

Circulatory system: the heart has four chambers; arteries carry blood away from the heart, veins toward it; normal adult resting heart rate is about 60-100 beats per minute.

Respiratory system: gas exchange occurs in the alveoli; breathing rate in adults is about 12-20 per minute; haemoglobin carries oxygen in red blood cells.

Nervous system: neuron parts are dendrite, cell body and axon; the brain, spinal cord and nerves coordinate sensation, movement and homeostasis.

Endocrine system: hormones act on target organs; insulin lowers blood glucose and glucagon raises it; thyroid hormones regulate metabolism.

Excretory system: kidneys filter blood, forming urine; nephron is the functional unit; kidney failure leads to accumulation of urea and other wastes.

Nutrition-related physiology: iron and vitamin B12 are needed for red blood cell formation; calcium and vitamin D for bone mineralisation; iodine for thyroid hormone synthesis.

Reproductive and growth biology: puberty is driven by sex hormones; growth spurt and secondary sexual characteristics appear in adolescence.

Psychology studies behaviour and mental processes; methods include observation, interview, questionnaire and experiment.

Learning theories: classical conditioning (Pavlov, stimulus association), operant conditioning (Skinner, reinforcement and punishment) and social learning (Bandura, modelling).

Memory processes: encoding, storage and retrieval; attention and repetition improve retention, while interference and lack of rehearsal cause forgetting.

Sociology studies society, social groups, institutions and social change; socialisation transmits norms and values through family, school, peers and media.

Social stratification by class, caste, gender and education affects access to food, health care and schooling.

Economics basics: scarcity forces choice; demand and supply determine price; opportunity cost is the value of the next best alternative forgone.

Family income and expenditure: fixed, flexible and discretionary spending; savings and insurance protect against risk and shocks.

Poverty and development: indicators include income, literacy, life expectancy and infant mortality; development means improvement in living standards, not just income growth.

Practical record should state aim, materials, method, observation, result and conclusion; each experiment is documented reproducibly.

Nutrition practicals: food weighing, portion-size estimation, calculation of nutrient and energy content using food composition tables, and balanced diet planning.

Diet survey methods: 24-hour recall, food frequency questionnaire, weighed food record and household consumption survey; each has different accuracy and cost.

Textile practicals: fibre identification by burning test (cotton burns like paper, wool smells of burnt hair, polyester melts into a bead), stain removal and basic stitching.

Consumer and resource practicals: preparing a family budget, comparing product labels, cost comparison of menus and time-management plans.

Child development practicals: observation of children's play and development milestones, preparation of low-cost play materials and growth charting.

Health and hygiene practicals: handwashing demonstration, water purification methods, first aid basics and preparation of health education aids.

Project work should have a clear problem, objectives, methodology, data collection, analysis and conclusion, presented with tables or charts; plagiarism is avoided.