Science workshop for school students

CHENNAI: An effort to increase interest and enthusiasm in contemporary scientific concepts among students of schools run by the Chennai Corporation was the core of a one-day workshop organised by the Federation of Science Clubs of Tamil Nadu (FSCT) and Science City on Wednesday.The workshop featured sessions on nanotechnology, stem cell therapy and also a session demonstrating the incidence of scientific concepts in daily life. It also involved a visit to the Birla Planetarium, the exhibition at the Tamil Nadu Science and Technology Centre and a virtual tour to the Kalpakkam atomic power station through an audio-visual presentation.Over 150 Class IX students from three Chennai Schools, took part in the workshop.“The idea is to familiarise the students with the concepts that will continue to grow in the future. Students are the future and their comfort, understanding and familiarity with these subjects is the key,” said Daniel Chellapa, president of the Federation of Science Clubs of Tamil Nadu.Interest was palpable among the children as they listened in rapt attention during the session on nanotechnology. They were extremely responsive and demonstrated their quick grasp of the subject by shouting out the answers to questions that were asked during the sessions.The sessions were delivered in a simple and easily understandable manner in vernacular Tamil by the resource persons. The sessions were also an example of the ease in understanding difficult concepts when put in the mother tongue.The nanotechnology session was conducted by Rita John, Associate Professor, Department of Theoretical Physics of the University of Madras, while the session on stem cell therapy was conducted by B Justine Willian, Professor of Veterinary Surgery and Radiology at the Madras Veterinary College.The session for demonstrations in science was conducted by Balaji Sampath.The FSCT has said there would be more of these sessions.