Thaindian News

New Delhi, March 16 (IANS) Science is not all about ploughing through intimidating data, mugging equations and remembering incomprehensible formulas. It is also fun, and teachers from government schools in Uttar Pradesh are telling students much through the creative use of everyday products and internet tools like Twitter and Facebook.

Over 300 teachers in five districts - Bijnor, Lucknow, Hardoi, Meerut and Allahabad - have participated in the ‘hands on science programme’ being run on a pilot basis by the NGO Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE) and funded by the Council of Science Technology, a government organisation.

The programme attempts to address why fewer students pursue pure sciences and instead go on to engineering, medical, computer science or biotech.

The first such session was held in Bijnor, about 130 km from here, last week with about 60 teachers from various government schools participating. The five-day workshop consisted of presentations, hands-on activities, model making and demonstrations.

A variety of activities were organised such as making hydrorockets and sundials, creating solar systems with daily life objects like fruits and marbles and learning about the night sky through observations.

To communicate science in the simplest form, teachers were introduced to internet tools such as web conferencing and social networking with Facebook and Twitter. As an alternative to the blackboard and routine classroom learning, teachers learnt how to upload projects on the sites to disseminate and share information.

“These activities will demonstrate how science can be better conveyed with teaching aids, which are easily available as part of nature around us. The subject can become simpler by uploading pictures and presentations on social networking sites. Teachers can also react to doubts of students 24X7 on Twitter and Facebook,” said Chandra Bhushan Devgun, president of SPACE.

“It is believed that if teachers introduce hands- on tools and activities into lessons at the middle school level, it will increase the spirit of enquiry and enjoyment in science, as classroom teaching in science is perceived as dull,” Devgun told IANS.

SPACE, a Delhi-based organisation working to make science and astronomy popular among youngsters, hopes that after the training teachers will be able to communicate the joy of science. The tools and methods taught will be utilised to attract talent to this field at an early age, thus building the country’s science and technology base, it is hoped.

Teachers have responded enthusiastically and say the workshop will help them teach complex theories in a simpler way.

“It was really good and I recommend that all schools should have such workshops. I knew how to calculate longitude and latitude but that was a complex method and in the workshop I have learnt a simpler way to calculate it,” said Mohammed Maroof, chemistry teacher at Government Girls Inter College, Bijnor.

Shashi Devi Sharma, district education officer of Bijnor, believes the model can be replicated in other states also.

“It was a good workshop and can help students in understanding science in a better way. I only attended a 30-minute session and it was very interactive and simple,” said Sharma.

SPACE as of now is running the programme only in Uttar Pradesh but will replicate it in other states based on the feedback.

(Richa Sharma can be contacted at richa.s@ians.in)