BENGALURU: To encourage creative thinking in Science and Mathematics for both students and teachers, the Academy Trust, under the Indian Academy of Sciences (IASc), has collaborated with edtech startup Seed2Sapling Education (S2S) to host ‘Science Week’.
In celebration of National Science Day on February 28, Science Week will feature a host of panel discussions with professors from Indian Institute of Science, IAS and S2S, including Padma Shri awardees Dipankar Chatterji and Pradeep Thalappil, and physicist and ‘Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology’ awardee Umesh Waghmare. The discussions will be held from February 26 to March 6.
Also notable is the Quest Fest, where students and teachers can get involved in the first step of the scientific process, observation. “Most competitions revolve around producing an end product or finished project, but here we encourage participants to focus on the observation aspect of the scientific process, the key aim of the question fest is to encourage teachers and students to keenly observe the world around them and celebrate this activity,” said Dr Mrinal Shah, a microbiologist working for S2S.
In addition, organisers have decided to host a 12-week certificate course for high school teachers to shed light on novel aspects of scientific and mathematical explorations, so this can be reflected in their own classrooms. “Schools are often geared towards examinations, however, we need to grab at least a little portion of the students’ time to give opportunities to be curious and ask questions and wonder.
The key theme of Science Week is the process of introducing skills of science and math so that the enjoyment, curiosity and wonder increase,” said Prof Tirthankar Bhattacharya, chairperson, outreach committee, Academy Trust and a professor at IISc.