Signs of science: This teacher makes learning of science easy and fun

MYSURU: “Children, are you ready?” He asks the students who visit the science park he has set up. There is a chorus of ‘yes’, ‘yes’. The wide-eyed middle school students then give all their attention to their teacher.

Prof G S Jayadeva, son of Rashtrakavi G S Shivarudrappa and founder of Deenabandhu Charitable Turst, has set up a Teachers Resource Center in the school premises of Deenabandhu, and a science park. He makes learning of science fun and easy.

“What happens when light passes through a lens or a shining surface,” he asks the students and demonstrates with the aid of a box through which a laser beam is passed and which hits the lens. “Normally light travels in a straight line. But when light passes through an object like a lens, it bends because it travels at a different speed. When light travels from one medium to another, the speed changes,” he explains.

The children carry their curiosity and the gyaan to their school. There too they learn science lessons through easy, everyday experiments. Like how seasons occur by a simple experiment. First, they choose an area in the schoolyard or playground that gets a lot of sunlight. They select an object  that has a clear area to the north so they can easily measure shadows. Then every day, over a period of a year, they observe how shadows become longer or shorter.  For instance, in winter, the shadows are long and in summer they are short. These observations are a building block for understanding the reasons for seasons.

Though he has not studied physics, Jayadeva has inspired thousands of teachers and students to learn science in the last 12 years in Chamarajanagar district. His Trust has tied up with 142 government primary schools in and around Chamarajanagar, and has built 800 teaching learning materials related to basics of science subjects. In addition, workshops, seminars, training programmes are being conducted for teachers of both higher primary and high schools.

The government schools teachers are being imparted training at the centre. They get hands-on experience on subjects taught to students of 5th to 8th standard. The teaching learning materials (models) related to science subjects help the science teachers and students to understand the subjects better. The volunteers of the Trust and resource persons have interaction with teachers and even models are developed as per the requirements of the teaching faculty.

Says Jayadeva, “I was a zoology lecturer at a private college in the district. I worked at a hamlet Boodipadaga for the welfare of tribals during 1988-95. It was then I realised my strength was with children and decided to start a trust for orphans. My wish is to adopt ‘Pete School’, a century-old government school in Chamarajanagar, and develop it further.”

Sujatha V, a government school teacher, says, “As we get hands-on experience at the training centre, we are able to improve the teaching methods and make students understand the lessons better. Interested teachers are sent to science institutes in Pune for training, which helps us to hone our skills.”

The students too are happy with their experiments with science. “We are explained with scientific reasons about the channels of energy, gravity, etc. Earlier, we were not interested in science subjects, but now I keep thinking about scientific reason behind every move. This has helped me score good marks. The learning models are very helpful for us to develop the activities based on Maths and Science,” says student Rakshitha.

Pragna, an M Tech graduate from IIT, and a native of Davangere, who is looking after the Trust for the past six years, says, “I have plans to open a resouce centre in Davangere with focus on teachers.”

The models exhibited at the science park such as Doppler effect, air pressure and propagation of sound; musical tubes, periscope etc help the students and teachers to understand the subject better
Jayadeva also brings out  a monthly magazine Anubhava, which gives an insight into Maths and Science. Nearly 3,000 teachers have subscribed for this magazine.

On an average, five learning video series on Science are released every year, which helps the teachers and children to understand the basics of science through simple experiments.

All the materials areuploaded on www.deenabandhutrc.org, and all can have access to the information.

About the Trust

The Trust works towards education and rehabilitation of orphan, destitute and estranged children. The Trust was started with six boys in 1992, and today, there are 80 students (36 girls) in the NGO.  The girls hostel   named ‘Green House’, an eco-friendly building was opened in 2005. The home has been built using fly ash bricks, and an average 8,000 litres of water is recycled every day. Grey water is recycled, solar electricity, solar water heater, rain water harvesting have been adopted. Highly qualified volunteers from M.Tech graduates to IIT Mt. Tech graduate are working in the Trust.

Mobile van to carry learning materials

Plans are on the anvil to launch a mobile van which carries teaching learning materials related to Science subjecst. The van will go to schools located in remote places and the children will be given the models. Once in a week the models will be collected back and new models will be given to children. The models will be circulated among schools in the district. This helps children to study applying their minds, and understand the subject better, instead of mugging up the subjects.