The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Exhibition that kindles students’ scientific temper

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Tuesday, Dec 09, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Exhibition that kindles students’ scientific temper

Staff Reporter

District-level science exhibition held

— Photo: R. Ravindran

LEARNING TOGETHER: Students explain their projects to their peers at the district-level science exhibition organised by the School Education Department in Chennai on Monday.

CHENNAI: They were raising very critical questions and were also trying to find answers for them.

Students explored topics such as agriculture and food security, protecting the environment, combating climate change, and disaster management, in the district-level science exhibition organised by the School Education Department at Saint Ebba’s Girls Higher Secondary School here on Monday.

H.P. Hemanathan and A. Michael David of Dr. Ambedkar Government Higher Secondary School, Egmore, had made a board with formulae written on one side and concepts such as the radius of a circle, on the other. “We need to match the concepts with the right equation and then the light burns,” explained Hemanathan.

M. Venkatesh and S. Vijaykumar of the Government Higher Secondary School, Velachery, explained the Pythagoras theorem with the help of an interesting model showing the sides of a right-angled triangle. The team from Lady Willingdon Higher Secondary School looked at the causes for climate change and discussed possible ways to conserve energy. B. Bhavani, R. Kalaiyarasi and A. Gousiya Begum, all in Class VII, said that they were also asking their parents to avoid using plastic bags and use energy-efficient bulbs at home.

The team from St. Thomas Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Broadway, too, looked at climate change and disaster management.

The science exhibition is aimed at kindling the scientific temperament in students, Director of School Education P. Perumalsamy, said. “It encourages students to ask questions like ‘why?’ and ‘how?’ when they come across something new and different,” he said.

The Department was keen on making students to understand and learn. The Activity Based Learning methodology and the Active Learning Methodology introduced in schools were steps in that direction, he added.

Chief Educational Officer M. Palanichamy said that students who participated on Monday were chosen from qualifying rounds held earlier. Winners of this round would make it to the State-level competition. District Educational Officers and Correspondent of Saint Ebba’s Girls Higher Secondary School R. Stella Albert, were among others who spoke.

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