Science is learnt by doing experiments and making observations. As a science teacher, taking students to the lab and getting them to try experiments gives me a feeling of immense accomplishment. The moment a lab session is announced, the students sit up straight, faces brighten and their questions keep pouring in. Students have ample opportunity to change variables in the experiment, observe changes and justify concepts. Labs have always been associated with fun, creativity, a safe place to make errors without being judged.
When the school moved to the online mode, there was this one nagging question on my mind – How are the students going to learn without doing experiments? How will I retain their interest without a physical lab? How do we compensate for the lab sessions? My mind at that time could be compared to the busiest crossroad in Bangalore–so Chaotic !!! So I started seeking answers to those questions and finding alternatives. Google gave a lot of options and so did our ELC team. We started to introduce simulations in our lesson plans and many DIY experiments during our science club sessions. I started planning with a lot of apprehensions, practiced clicking on all options possible so that I would be ready with answers when children needed one. To my amazement, most of the students were able to navigate the simulations, interpret results and in fact I learnt a few shortcuts from them.
Ms. Aarthi V.B. – Senior School Faculty, Ekya JP Nagar