At ARCH we have closely worked with promoting and facilitating science in education amongst students. A common misconception is that science is a subject of education. However, with our initiative ‘Science Around us’ we are drawing attention towards the fact that science is a way of life.
One does not have to rote learn science text books but explore and observe the world around us to fall in love with the discipline. Last year we at ARCH took it upon ourselves to hold workshops with students of government aided schools introducing them to a fresh perspective to understand science. This year we took the initiative one step further by creating a unique volunteering intervention where employees of LTTS signed up to devote a full month in holding workshops and training over 600 students of grade 6 from 9 beneficiary schools in Vadodara, all to discover science in a casual and unstructured approach.
The idea was to find philosophy of science in the occurrence of big and small events around us that we often take for granted. The students were encouraged to be curious and focus on the concept of enquiry rather than soaking information from textbooks and classroom lectures. Several non-conventional tools and resources were used to make the sessions engaging and interactive. So profound and exciting was the experience that many volunteers also started to bring their kids and other family members to join the interaction.
Students who found it difficult to cope with the science subject started to actually dissect and understand the principle behind different theories through DIY activities, discussions, first hand experiments, self-initiated research and careful observation.
A remarkable outcome of the program was a drastic surge in the interest levels of students in science where they could easily relate their workshop learning to course curriculum. The class participation increased instantly and students started displaying more assertion and excitement towards learning. Free time was spent in working with different materials, reaffirming scientific theories and participating in discussions. The volunteers also gave excellent feedback about the time spent on the program. Teaching is often a platform to limitless learning and this became one month of remarkable memories.
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