I was a judge for a school science fair yesterday. The children had some really good projects. I was impressed by some of them, as I have never been in my college science fairs. Couple of years back, an MSc Microbiology student had put up a microbial elecrtochemical cell..so had an 9th class child yesterday. There was not much difference between the two displays except in size. In fact this was not the best exhibit...there were many better ones. Some of these children really knew what they were talking about. Of course, most of them are not their own ideas.
The INSPIRE scheme of the DST/ CBSE, under which this fair was organised, expects the children to come up with their own innovative ideas. I don't think any of them can do so.
I think this scheme is too grandiose an unrealistic.
What a child can do is find small innovations in his daily activities and that is what we need to recognise and encourage. But who will recognise this and encourage it? Many school teachers are not open to new ideas and that too from their own pupils!
1 comment:
True. I studied in a KV. In order to encourage students to appreciate science and possibly drive them to take up a career in research , KVS wanted students to do an innovative project and submit it every year. Every year, there used to be cluster level, regional level, national level science exhibition where in the best project in a school will be selected for exhibiting in the higher level competitions. As you rightly pointed out, it is impossible for anyone to come up with path breaking innovations every year. Even, genius like Albert Einstein could come up with only 2. Instead of bothering too much about these, the board could focus making science exiting by obviating the prevailing system of rote learning and memory evaluations. I met a 12th standard recently. He was able to solve a 2-d projectile motion problem correctly. But when I asked him "what is force? or What is velocity? ", the infuriated child replied "These questions will only appear for 9th standard. I forgot what I had studied then.". This student goes for IIT coaching and is the topper of his class. I wonder, he is probably right as even in JEE, they won't ask the ones that I quizzed.
Post a Comment