Smt. Indrani Balan Science Activity Centre, IISER Pune

About:

Experiential learning is considered to be a very effective way of learning and understanding science. To encourage its incorporation in classroom practice, Smt. Indrani Balan Science Activity Centre has been established as part of CoESME at IISER Pune. A generous donation by Balan Group, Pune has also contributed to the setting up of the centre. 

 

The Science Activity Centre (SAC) is engaged in developing low-cost interactive science toys that can be used to teach science in an engaging and hands-on way. The objective is to strengthen teaching and learning of science & mathematics by use of these simple toys and hands-on activities. SAC also generates resource material for students and teachers, aimed at improving conceptual understanding of topics from the curriculum.

Since its inception on August 2017, SAC has organised workshops, demonstrations, hands-on sessions and other outreach activities for students, teachers and general public.

 

Special Online Activities During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Next-Gen Science Camps: Exploring Science At Your Doorstep Series of Science Activity Demonstrations every Sunday Aimed at students and teachers from middle school and above. We will demonsrate exciting science experiemnts and toys that you can easily make using simple household or trash material, from the safety and comfort of their homes. Each episode will have experiments from all branches of science, followed by a Q&A session with a scientist. Every Sunday, 11:00 am	Fun with Science and Math! (मैत्री करुया विज्ञान – गणिताशी!) Marathi Workshop Series for School Science & Math Teachers In collaboration with MSCERT Pune, this 10-part series is for teachers in Maharashtra. These Marathi workshops will focus on hands-on activities which can be performed with readily available material. They will allow teachers to explore curricular science concepts in a manner that is exciting to students. Every Saturday, 11:00 am (from Oct. to Dec. 2020)
Webinar Series for 21st Century Teachers In collaboration with Royal Society of Chemistry The 12-webinar series for middle- and high-school teachers will focus on digital pedagogies & their applications, covering topics such as learners' psychology, student engagement, assessment methods. Bringing together experts in the field of education, this webinar series will bridge the gap between theory and practice of digital education. Every Saturday, 4:00 pm (Sept. to Nov. 2020)	30-30 STEM Workshop Series In collaboration with CCL, IIT Gandhinagar These workshops will be delivered as YouTube LIVE sessions and are meant for Teachers, Parents, and Students of all disciplines and ages.The workshops unlock the hidden mysteries of science and mathematics in a fun and interactive way, to encourage deeper exploration of the concepts. Every Sunday, 2:30 pm
All programmes are broadcast live on IISER Pune Science Activity Centre's YouTube Channel

 

 

Workshops for Teachers: 

To motivate teachers to teach science in fun and interactive ways is the primary focus of SAC. This will in turn improve the teaching-learning process in classrooms to benefit students. We conduct workshops ranging from one to three days for teachers at IISER Pune and other locations. A large number of experiments covering a range of scientific principles from school curricula are demonstrated with detailed explanation of scientific principles behind each. 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. Experiments based on electricity and magnetism, light, pressure, Newton’s laws, mechanics, forces, and those based on Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics are conducted. 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 six to eight hands-on activities on their own, such as simple motor, DC motor, centrifugal sprinkler using straw, propeller based on Newton’s third law, experiments based on magnetism and making geometric patterns using old newspapers 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.

IISER Pune also gets many visits by groups of students from schools, colleges and organisations 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/students. These are typically for large numbers of participants and are on similar lines as the sessions on 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 has initiated this ambitious programme for teachers with generous funding support from Tata Technologies to enhance school education. Science and mathematics teachers are exposed to various teaching aids and techniques in science, technology, engineering and mathematics which they can implement in their classroom, in workshop mode. As an extension of Padma Shri Mr. Arvind Gupta’s efforts of using low-cost material to convey scientifc concepts, the workshops systematically train teachers to use activity-based tools as per the school curriculum. About 200 teachers (in four batches) from Pune region, nominated by their respective schools, will attend a total of ten workshops over a year. Each teacher is provided with raw material to design and make their activity kits. These kits 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 will be selected for second phase of the projec, to be trained rigorously to facilitate resource generation for wider reach. Apart from teachers, about 1000 students will also attend workshops at the SAC and will get to explore scientific concepts through various activities and models. 

 

Public Outreach: 

The SAC is engaged in outreach and science popularisation activities in various ways.

Eminent visitors: Many eminent scientists, renowned teachers, educationists, government and media officials, etc. visit SAC and are fascinated with the science toys 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.

Crowds at Public Exhibition	Children's Day
National Science Day	Teachers' Day