Report on Hands on Science Activities at NIT Srinagar

Hands-on science refers to interactive science which is fun to watch, perform and learn. Hands-on science movement has now gained momentum in India. It started with ‘Quest’ programme on Doordarshan in early eighties by Mr. Samar K. Bagchi. These days several practitioners of Hands on activities are using their talent to educate and entertain students throughout India. Notable among them are HC Verma, BN Das, Suresh Agarwal and Arvind Gupta. Moreover Septuagenarian SK Bagchi is still active. These educationists travel throughout India and conduct workshops, give stage shows and organize science melas.  Recently Prof. BN Das and Samar K. Bagchi visited Kashmir valley on the Invitation of J&K Students Welfare Society. The conducted stage science shows at NIT Srinagar, Iqbal Islamia Mission high school Kralsangri, Srinagar, JNV Aglar Pulwama and Maryland Public high school, Niwa, Pulwama.

In all workshops experiments on science  were performed/demonstrated. In some workshops teachers also participated. The students and teachers witnessed  how simple but sensitive and precise experiments at low cost materials can be designed to improve the understanding of science at the school level. The teachers also get experience for quantitative measurement with sufficient accuracy to verify certain laws etc from these experiments.

Prof. Das and Mr. Bagchi have designed modules of science topics like – force, gravity, surface tension, Bernoulli’s principle, air pressure, buoyancy & Archimedes principle, heat, light, magnetism, static electricity, current electricity, sound, vibration and waves. At NIT the audience consisted of B.Tech students, faculty and children of faculty members. At NIT the resource persons demonstrated activities on force, gravity, surface tension, Bernoulli’s principle and magnetism. They involved students in various demonstrations and activities.  To have a feel about One Newton force, one student was asked to push another student with One Newton force. If acceleration due to gravity is taken roughly as 10 meter per second square then One Newton force is about 100 gram weight. One can have a feel of this force by pushing the pan of a pan balance so that it shows 100 gram on its scale. Several demonstrations on Bernoulli’s principle were given. The audience enjoyed inflating the Bernoulli’s bag. Kids loved when a balloon filled with water was swallowed by a jar in which a small candle was burned to displace air. Small children enjoyed the activities on surface tension, cohesive and adhesive forces. Magnetic lines of forces were drawn using iron fillings and a bar magnet. Everybody was struck by the beauty of magnetic lines of forces.