Online Activities

Next-Gen Science Camps: Exploring Science At Your Doorstep

This is a series of Science Activity demonstrations, talks and discussions broadcast every other Sunday. It is aimed at students and teachers from middle school and above and willll demonsrate exciting science experiemnts and toys that you can easily make using simple household or trash material, from the safety and comfort of your home. Each episode will be based on a theme.

Every Alternate Sunday, 11:00 am

Let's make friends with Science & Mathematics!
(मैत्री करुया विज्ञान – गणिताशी!)

This was a 10-part series of online workshops in for school Science & Mathematics teachers, conducted in collaboration with MSCERT Pune. These Marathi workshops  focused on hands-on activities which can be performed with readily available material. They provided teachers with ideas and resources to explore curricular science concepts in a manner that is exciting to students.

Webinar Series for 21st Century Teachers

In collaboration with Royal Society of Chemistry, this 12-webinar series for middle- and high-school teachers highlighted digital pedagogies & their applications, covering topics such as learners' psychology, student engagement, assessment methods and more. Bringing together experts in the field of education, this webinar series attempted to bridge the gap between theory and practice of digital education.

Workshops

Workshops for Teachers

To motivate teachers to teach science in fun and interactive ways is the primary focus of SAC. We believe that this is the key to improving teaching-learning in classrooms to the benefit of students. To this end, we conduct workshops for school teachers at IISER Pune and other locations. A large number of experiments covering a range of topics from school curricula are demonstrated with detailed explanation of scientific principles behind each. For example, experiments on electricity, magnetism, light, acids and bases, chemical reactions, neighbourhood ecology, human body, number system, geometry etc. are included. The demos as designed such that teachers can directly implement them in schools. Participating teachers also get the opportunity to design toys and conduct some activities themselves. Some material related to the experiments is distributed to teachers for use in their classroom. We also invite scientists from various disciplines for interactions with teachers, to widen their exposure to latest discoveries and current progress in scientific fields.

Demos and Workshops for Students & Visiting Groups

We regularly conduct half-day workshops at SAC for students of various age-groups. This involves demonstration of 20-25 simple experiments which explain some basic scientific principles from their text books. Students also get to make some hands-on activities on their own, such as simple motor, centrifugal sprinkler, making geometric patterns etc. The idea of these workshops is to give students an exposure to learning science in hands-on manner and to develop a better understanding of concepts.

Many groups of students from schools, colleges and organisations also visit IISER Pune to understand functioning of a research institute. Many of these visits include a session at the SAC. Visitors are always fascinated by the simple experiments & toys, and enjoy learning science through activities.

Demonstrations in Schools, Colleges and other organisations

On invitation from schools, colleges and institutes from various parts of India, we conduct demonstrations and workshops at their campus for teachers and students. These are typically for large numbers of participants and are on similar lines as the sessions at the IISER Pune campus. Several such sessions are conducted in DST-INSPIRE internship camps, which are held for bright and promising students of class XI to provide exposure and motivation about science. The sessions are meant to get students excited about learning science and fuel their curiosity.

STEP for STEM through Hands-on Activities

The SAC conducted this project for teachers with generous funding support from Tata Technologies Pvt. Ltd. to strengthen school education at the garssroots level. In workshop mode, science and mathematics teachers were exposed to various teaching aids and techniques in STEM, which they can implement in their classroom. As an extension of Padma Shri Mr. Arvind Gupta’s efforts of using low-cost material to convey scientifc concepts, the workshops systematically trained teachers to use activity-based tools for teaching topics from the regular school curriculum. About 200 teachers (in four batches) from Pune region, attended a total of ten workshops over a year. Each teacher was provided raw material to design and make their activity kits, which will be used by the teachers and their colleagues in their regular classroom. The workshops aim to inculcate innovative teaching techniques among teachers. Forty of these 200 teachers were selected for second phase of the project, to be trained rigorously to facilitate resource generation for wider reach. Apart from teachers, about 1000 students also attended workshops at the SAC to explore scientific concepts through activities and models.

Outreach

The SAC is engaged in outreach and science popularisation activities in various ways. In addition to holding activities for students and teachers, the Centre reaches out to the general public as well as eminent personalities in the society. SAC has received several eminent visitors including scientists, renowned teachers, educationists, government and media officials, etc. All our visitors are fascinated with the models & toys, and the role that they can play in promoting science.

Celebration of Special Days

The SAC holds open days and public exhibitions to mark significant days such as Science Day, Teachers’ Day, Children’s Day. Hundreds of students, teachers and members of general public visit the Centre on such occasions. Many demonstrations, exhibits and other hands-on activities are organised, along with popular talks and lectures. We often involve students from city schools in these exhibitions, where they handle the stalls and explain exhibits to visitors. Visitors generally like the practical approach for understanding science and want to implement it in their schools. Such activities go a long way in generating curiosity about science and promoting scientific temper in society.