It has been a long, quite long break since I have jotted anything.. I had been busy shooting, editing, sub-titling the Edition 11 of the faites de la science or Make Science Competitions science projects for 2017 edition. To give a short introduction, faites de la science is an International Science programme being conducted by the University of Paris, South 11, Orsay in collaboration with the Pondicherry Science Forum exclusively for students of government schools in the Puducherry district of the Union Territory of Puducherry. And it happens to the 11th year this time since this programme was launched.
And here are the 12 project videos of this year. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLZUYFpO-Bqvzkmx5vnC-Mw.
As you can see they are attempts by small children to do science and they are going to be evaluated by an Expert jury of researchers constituted by the Faculty of Sciences, Paris 11 University and they take the extra effort to give their valuable feedback as to what mistakes they did in formulating their projects, what processes they should have additionally done to make it more scientific, how controls should have been there, how not to be biased while jumping to results etc. which is a very rare thing. Somewhere we do not have a link between the school education system and of the higher education system - and very little interaction and feedback to the school teachers who shape our future children. No programme is a perfect one, but somewhere there should be a starting point. And this is exactly this that keeps us all engaging with science.
Now 11 years is quite a long one. And it has been quite a wonderful experience to interact with small children in the rural and urban government schools, who with a passion, present their scientific works. Sometimes, some projects are not very good, sometimes they struggle for words and sentences while explaining scientific principles. Sometimes, they find the time limit (about 8 minutes) inadequate to present their findings. Sometimes, they are forced to present their findings half way through their research. But the process - that is what more important in dong science. The end result may be fascinating sometimes, sometimes not so interesting. But the process of doing science - that is what interests and shape the thought process of children. And that is what programmes like faites de la science stands out. This is also true for programmes like the National Children's Science Congress with which also I am associated with at the national level.
There are several programme on promoting science education. There are several prizes, incentives, workshops, seminars, activity based learning programmes - too many are there. But still, there is very little impact those programmes have on the actual thought process of understanding, conceptualising, internalisation of scientific concepts and on the method of searching for scientific solutions to problems around us. We are in a world of "instant" solutions, too much focus on technology and little stress on the steps ...Another programme that I like very much is the one initiated by the Homi Babha Centre for Science Education (Mumbai) where they run whatsapp based groups doing actual science where groups of science students engage in a healthy, experiment based approach to understanding and learning science. This is something no school curriculum is offering now. This is something which is way beyond what teachers are trained to transact in the schools, what is way too far for Indian science education should have done. There are very few such approaches and they are not given the focus they actually deserve - some of which are the Eklavya, the Vigyan Ashram, the Gram Mangal, the Peoples's Science Movements's approach to science education and several standalone science education experiments of famous institutions. But their outreach to the common, rural,poor children need to get a big push. That is where programmes like the Make Science Competitions and the National Children's Science Congress stand out.
For me, personally, this has been a long journey of about 25 years with the National Children's Science Congress - partly in Puducherry and partly at the national level. About 11 years in an international programme like the Faites de la science. And I hope I will have the time and most important - the energy - to continue this for the years to come.. !!!
Congratulations to all the children, guide teachers to take that extra pain to venture out and explore science - especially in an age where rational thinking and scientific temper is taking a back seat...
And here are the 12 project videos of this year. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLZUYFpO-Bqvzkmx5vnC-Mw.
As you can see they are attempts by small children to do science and they are going to be evaluated by an Expert jury of researchers constituted by the Faculty of Sciences, Paris 11 University and they take the extra effort to give their valuable feedback as to what mistakes they did in formulating their projects, what processes they should have additionally done to make it more scientific, how controls should have been there, how not to be biased while jumping to results etc. which is a very rare thing. Somewhere we do not have a link between the school education system and of the higher education system - and very little interaction and feedback to the school teachers who shape our future children. No programme is a perfect one, but somewhere there should be a starting point. And this is exactly this that keeps us all engaging with science.
Now 11 years is quite a long one. And it has been quite a wonderful experience to interact with small children in the rural and urban government schools, who with a passion, present their scientific works. Sometimes, some projects are not very good, sometimes they struggle for words and sentences while explaining scientific principles. Sometimes, they find the time limit (about 8 minutes) inadequate to present their findings. Sometimes, they are forced to present their findings half way through their research. But the process - that is what more important in dong science. The end result may be fascinating sometimes, sometimes not so interesting. But the process of doing science - that is what interests and shape the thought process of children. And that is what programmes like faites de la science stands out. This is also true for programmes like the National Children's Science Congress with which also I am associated with at the national level.
There are several programme on promoting science education. There are several prizes, incentives, workshops, seminars, activity based learning programmes - too many are there. But still, there is very little impact those programmes have on the actual thought process of understanding, conceptualising, internalisation of scientific concepts and on the method of searching for scientific solutions to problems around us. We are in a world of "instant" solutions, too much focus on technology and little stress on the steps ...Another programme that I like very much is the one initiated by the Homi Babha Centre for Science Education (Mumbai) where they run whatsapp based groups doing actual science where groups of science students engage in a healthy, experiment based approach to understanding and learning science. This is something no school curriculum is offering now. This is something which is way beyond what teachers are trained to transact in the schools, what is way too far for Indian science education should have done. There are very few such approaches and they are not given the focus they actually deserve - some of which are the Eklavya, the Vigyan Ashram, the Gram Mangal, the Peoples's Science Movements's approach to science education and several standalone science education experiments of famous institutions. But their outreach to the common, rural,poor children need to get a big push. That is where programmes like the Make Science Competitions and the National Children's Science Congress stand out.
For me, personally, this has been a long journey of about 25 years with the National Children's Science Congress - partly in Puducherry and partly at the national level. About 11 years in an international programme like the Faites de la science. And I hope I will have the time and most important - the energy - to continue this for the years to come.. !!!
Congratulations to all the children, guide teachers to take that extra pain to venture out and explore science - especially in an age where rational thinking and scientific temper is taking a back seat...
