'Students are yet to learn to love science'

'Students are yet to learn to love science'

The feeling among teachers is that students need more time to understand the subject

The National Children's Science Congress (NCSC) has been trying for over a decade to get students to love and take an interest in science, but it really hasn't been that successful, some teachers feel. That there is a huge scope for improvement was sensed strongly at the recently-held district-level science competition organised by NCSC at Podar International School. More than 305 students and 21 teachers from seven schools spoke on topics on the theme 'Land Resources- Use for Prosperity, Save for Posterity'. "Students and teachers worked hard to present the topic. But I felt there was a need to do more research and understand the topics in depth as this will help students analyse the topic better," said P Ganesh, the principal of Podar International. The registration of judges and participants began at 8.30 am. After the formal inauguration, the event commenced with students giving scientific analyses on various topics related to the theme. A total of 91 projects were presented from 10 am onwards. Most of the students spoke on the harm pollution is causing land resources. "In schools there is no time to experiment in science because of the pressure to complete portions. Science calls for experiencing concepts and it cannot be imbibed within a few months. It has to be a part of the educational system and this competition by NCSC competition is a positive initiative in this regard," said Dr AM Bhagwat, president, Navi Mumbai Science Foundation. When students were presenting their projects, their teachers were given insights into the developments made by teaching aid sectors. This is in tradition to NCSC's practice of keeping escort teachers engaged during the course of the competition that lasts for more than three hours. "Every year, a special activity is conducted for escort teachers when their students when the latter are presenting their projects. This year, they were given information about the various educational aids available for a better learning experience. The guest speaker, Manjeet Singh from Educational Initiatives in Ahmedabad, spoke about the Assessment of Scholastic Skills Through Educational Testing (ASSET) and the benefits of Mindspark, an online supplement for teaching maths," the principal, N Ganesh, said.