We might wonder what is the purpose of dedicating an entire week to Science. What is it all about? “Science is the systematic study of the world through observation, questioning and experiments for the ultimate purpose of prediction,” say the organisers of National Science Day.
The Academy Trust and Indian Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with Seed2Sapling Education, aiming to provide students and teachers an engaging experience of scientific and mathematical thinking process, is organising a series of talks and exploratory sessions for teachers, students and anyone interested in sciences.
The science week will be held from February 26 to March 6 instead of a single day event on February 28. Distinguished scientists of India will deliver public talks. The sessions for students will have science and math explorations using simple, easily available materials. Teachers’ sessions will provide educators to explore concepts using the scientific processes and experience the joy of discovery firsthand. This will be followed by a dialogue on how to make our science and math classrooms joyful, said a release.
Science uses qualitative and quantitative methods to understand and explain the observable phenomena. Science in our school textbooks is often presented in a way which is geared towards doing well in examinations. This then becomes a summary of facts or a set of instruction activities that needs to be performed or a set of formulae. The emphasis is on remembering rather than analysing, the release stated.
“Schools are often geared towards examinations, which is important. However, we need to grab at least a little portion of the students’ time to give opportunities to be curious and ask questions and ponder upon. The key theme of this science week is this process of introducing skills of science and math so that the enjoyment and curiosity increase,” said Prof. Tirthankar Bhattacharya, Indian Institute of Science and Chairperson of the Outreach Committee, The Academy Trust.
The organisers said science week celebration will be followed by other long-term engagements with teachers and students. A 12-week long certificate programme will be conducted for a selected group of science and math teachers. “To let children enjoy the process of science, the key is to have a and non-threatening environment where everyone is free to explore. Through our workshops for school teachers and students, we would like everyone to experience and enjoy this whole journey of science and math processes.” said Pankaj Jain, co-founder of Seed2Sapling Education and one of the organisers.
Another highlight of the event, they say, is the ‘Quest-Fest’ contest to celebrate simple, unique observations and questions from both students and teachers. “The key aim of the question fest is to encourage teachers and students to keenly observe the world around them and celebrate this activity. A framework guiding the interested participants to come up with unique observations and questions will be shared,” said Mrinal Shah, one of the organisers of the event.
Students, teachers and all other science enthusiasts can register through ias.ac.in or s2seducation.com
