Mr. Kishor Joshi (Head of Science Department)
SCIENCE SYMPOSIUM (3-10-2011)
SCIENCE SYMPOSIUM (3-10-2011)
In the days leading up to the 11th of November 2011, students across all classes were all excited about the upcoming Science symposium, which was aptly titled ‘Drishti’, Vision of the Future of Science. “Drishti” was a mega event which had in its fold an array of scientific activities. It was meant to be a platform for students to delve into nascent technologies and try and look at what the future may hold for us as technology develops. The activities were all in line with a bigger goal of igniting young minds to infinite possibilities in a techno-driven world. It had an amalgamation of scientific theory and practical applications.
Also it was an event that was aimed to introduce the students to what a symposium looks like. The learning that happens outdoors and a symposium like this normally leaves us with exciting learning experiences. What is not evident is the amount of research that went into the same to choose right projects and the learning that happened with the projects that did not work was something equally prominent. A young mind is filled with so much energy and as teachers it is our constant endeavour to challenge them, motivate them beyond their natural ability to do something exceptional. The science teachers were as excited as the students in putting up the projects and giving a new and different twist to scientific temper and scientific experimentation. The day was planned on a scale to encompass far more than merely science projects of the type normally seen at various science fairs. It had something in it to appease all aspects of scientific enquiry and involve the students to be able to think out of the box and communicate their vision of the facts in a lucid and balanced manner.
The day started off with a collage of sci-fi film clips from over the years. This was done keeping in mind being able to look at what eminent directors have thought future technologies may look like. This also gave the viewers the chance to reflect on whether our dreams shape the future technology or whether it is it the other way around.
After viewing the films, the projects were opened for viewing and evaluation. The students had presented between 80 to 100 projects in total, ranging from General Science to Environment Systems and this included students from class 4 all the way to class 12.
The working of the projects and the science behind them was explained by the students in a manner which kept the judges enthralled and filled the hearts of the science teachers with pride. The judges were so taken up by the quality of the projects and the enthusiasm of our children that they took a long time in judging the same. One of the judge, Mrs. Nair, a parent of the school said, “It was very beautiful to see the effort and the creativity behind the experiments, models and the explanation by the students. I loved the science fair and am honoured to be a part of it. A great learning experience”, summing up the whole experience of judging the projects.
After lunch there was a programme in the school auditorium where students had a chance to display their knowledge, information and scientific temper on a variety of platforms, ranging from ‘Extempore Speech’ to power point presentations with a skit by the Upper Primary Division included in all this. This event in the school auditorium started with the traditional lighting of the lamp, which was done using technology, keeping in mind the theme of the event, ‘Vision of the Future’. This was our way of conveying the message that we do not have to give up tradition to embrace technology- that the two can complement each other and we can evolve into even better people in the future.
The programme ended with a quiz based on Science and from the reaction of the students and parents in the audience, it had questions of a nature, whose answers people thought they knew and if only there was a bit more time, they could have figured it out.
All in all it was a showcase event which brought out the best of our students and made all of us proud of the dedication and enthusiasm shown by the students, not to mention the excellent teamwork they showed along with the innovativeness in ideas and their implementation.
A small whisper in the wind tells us that plans are already afoot to make it an even bigger and better event next year, where in it will be spread over two days and be Inter-School in nature. All we will say is watch this space and remember you read it here, first.