IIT Gandhinagar centre starts programme to encourage girl students pursue STEM
The Centre for Creative Learning (CCL) at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Gandhinagar has collaborated with Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Uttar Pradesh government, to encourage Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) school students to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education.
The specially designed programme -- ‘Curiosity' will enable 746 KGBV school girls. It has already reached around 74,600 girl students across the state.
The programme seeks to improve science education by widening the horizon for students as well as teachers, beyond the textbooks and curriculum. Although the programme is built around STEM education, experiential learning is expected to percolate in the pedagogy of other subjects as well in the long run, an official statement said.
As a part of the ‘Curiosity' programme, CCL is also developing 100 modules on teaching middle school science in an experiential manner with help of interesting toys and activities. These 100 modules are planned to be implemented in three stages.
First by conducting online workshops with all 746 KGBV schools, second by providing a ‘Curiosity Box' to all these schools, containing all materials to enable teachers to conduct various immersive activities with students.
Thirdly, by conducting offline face-to-face workshops with all these KGBV schools in UP. These modules, which are specially designed in Hindi for enhanced understanding and learning of students, will be delivered all through the year.
Gaurav Kumar, who is leading this project, added, “The goal of these sessions is not just to cover the science curriculum but nudge them towards seeing science in their daily lives. On Women's Day, we are doing a special session and sharing the stories of prominent women scientists with the students to inspire them to pursue STEM careers.” The sessions are conducted by Sarita, Adithi and Jay from CCL.
Sharing his feedback, Shetrunjay Sharma, one of the district coordinators said, “The biggest success of this program is that a curiosity towards Science is developing among the girls.”
CCL-IITGN is also running ‘Sparkle Series' for about 10,000 Vigyan Jyoti girl students in 200 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas of 34 states and union territories across the country.
