Continued learning and breaking silos

~Sandhiya, Durai

At C3STREAM land we have sessions of continued practice of Radical Transformational Leadership sessions every Thursday within our group as well as being open to people from outside. For this session, Sanjeev and Sri Bhavani were the resource people. We worked on what I stand and my socialized fear.

These sessions help us break our silo work in the groups and projects we work on and give us an opportunity to have deeper conversations with others.

Though we had done the exercise many times each time it gives us an opportunity to reflect and learn about ourselves. We thought of the qualities of a person we deeply admire. Based on that values we create a new narrative of introducing of ourselves to everyone. I noticed that a few people had changed their stand.

This week we also had few friends of Sanjay who had joined us from New York. They also engaged with us and explored what they care about and what limits their choices in life. They then visited STEM land and learned about what we do with children. We felt this was an appropriate way to introduce who we are and then what we do.

The processing of stands and fears was interesting. One of us reflected on how we have a fear of not meeting others and my own expectations and of needing to maintain an image in the mind of others. We had fears of not being good enough and of judgment of others.

This fear is default and then acts from the universal values the fear will automatically get down and the stand will move up.

Some reflections from the group:

  1. When something changes I see that fear is my default. I see that sourcing my values I can transcend fear.
  2. I noticed that my role model was a reflection of my universal value and what I wish to become.
  3. I noticed that I rationalize my fear, but this just makes the fear drive my actions and takes me away from being in integrity.

Radical Transformational Leadership (RTL)

Once a year we have a team building session when we come together to look at leadership the ability to create a new future together. This is both a personal transformation program and a team building program. As we become a larger team that is working on more and more diverse and specialized areas we tend to work more an more in silos and this offers an opportunity to break these silos. This year I attended RTL session along with my team members over 9 days (spread across 3 months). It was organized as a hybrid session with 50 odd people who joined online from different parts of the country and a few from the world and we attended in the session physically in
Auroville. I noticed this helps break the monotony of only working with the people we always know and get new perspectives and insights. It also helped us connect with Dr. Monica who participated from the US.

In the first session I joined online as a PC to support the online participants. This gave me an opportunity to interact with many people as the workshop is based on peer learning.

Session 2 and 3 I attended onsite
with my team members and other groups from Auroville (Tamarai, Isai ambalam school, Aikiyam School, Last school, Auroville consulting, etc).

The onsite interactions are easier to engage with for some participants staring at a screen the entire day even on a projector was too intense. We attempted different interactions online and onsite e.g. we were together in the mornings to share insights and then did our exercises independently and came together at the end of the day. Having participated both online and Onsight I felt that the richness that had come with sharing insights after each session was missing. I brought this up at our debriefing session and the resource people took this into consideration and found a way to do the exercises independently and yet come together for insights and also process them together.

During these sessions I was able to reflect on my
actions and come up with my own examples of my practice and noticed
where all I need to retain or improve as a person. I learnt that there a
multiple ways of saying no and I need to use the appropriate words when
I decline requests and the other learning is when I was able to relate the
isms with me I was able to find intersectionality and when multiple
isms are interconnected, discrimination and sufferings are high.

 

Cycle Safety light

For quite a long time (year and a half), kids in the electronics lab have been working on breadboard circuits which they build and then dismantle. They built quite a few circuits this way working with LEDs, Opamps, comparators, 555, microphones, speakers etc. We found that generally one in 20 kids to whom the circuits were introduced become interested to come regularly to the lab in the evenings at the expense of their free time which they usually use to play. A visitor from Austria expressed surprise that any kids at all turned up at the lab at the expense of play time.

Sanjeev and Siva both suggested that this number (1 in 20) would go up if we focussed on some practical circuits which the children could use in their daily lives (and also show their parents, friends and relatives) instead of just making toy circuits on the breadboard which they would proceed to dismantle to build the next circuit. Obviously this is a bit harder and a bit more time consuming for some of us, and that’s why we stayed in the comfort zone (among other reasons) for all this time. Well, staying in comfort is not a universal value and it was clear that changes will have to be made.

So we have now (finally!) started on practical applications. Two of these are

  1. An outdoor light that turns on automatically when the sun sets and turns off automatically when the sun rises (Blog post to come).
  2. An indoor light that turns on when there are people in a room and turns off when people have left the room or staying still (Blog post made by Manogar and Sundaresan)

The third was an idea that came from kids themselves. Their mothers are understandably worried when they use their cycles at night. Cycles owned by the kids have no back lights to warn motorists who approach the cyclist from behind. So it was decided that a light at the back of a cycle that flashed red light once a second was a fine practical circuit. Humans (indeed all predators) are sensitive to movement rather than stillness and to flashing lights rather than still lights. They are also more sensitive to Red and White flashing lights than to any other color.

So an astable multivibrator was built based on the 555 chip which the children first tested on the breadboard and then soldered it on the PCB with help from C3StreamLand youth. An 8th standard student from Udavi school called Ajay took up the challenge to design the structure to house the circuit and to also mount it on his cycle. The student you see with the cycle and the flasher in the attached photos and videos is Ajay.

Ajay’s next target(s)

  1. Make it waterproof
  2. Make it robust to rough riding
  3. Power it off a Dynamo instead of a 9V battery as is being done now

Shifu students visit to Sadhana Forest

Becoming and Being a Shifu (Master) program provides opportunities for the students to explore and integrate in Auroville. As part of this exploration we visited Sadhana Forest community last Friday. Every Friday the community offers a tour, screens a documentary and serves a vegan organic dinner (this offering is free of charge and reservations are not required).

Here are some things we saw, discussed and experienced.

  • We have discussion about the environment and people particularly about compassion and share our thoughts and heard others thoughts about the world.
  • Compassion towards humans, animals and towards children
  • We learned about Deforestation and Reforestation
  • We noticed they used ash to wash vessels
  • Three buckets to subsequently wash the vessels and prevent waste
  • Less amount of water is used to wash hands
  • Human excreta in dry composting toilets is eventually used as compost. These are stored in a barrels with saw dust for a year to make compost
  • Human pee is a Nitrogen rich element when it is mixed with charcoal is good for the soil.
  • Efficient use of redesigned stoves
  • Speed breakers like soil structures were built to reduce soil erosion
  • Vegan dinner!
  • Rescued animals were sheltered and taken good care of by the volunteers
  • High compressed plastic sheets are used as roofs of dorms
  • New species of animals and birds are coming to the forest because of rich natural environment
  • Seeds were thrown in surface and volcano like structures made up of leaves maintain the humidity. Water bottles with holes at the bottle with threads as root of bottle ensure the moisture is well maintained in the soil.

Here are some insights from the Shifuians.

Arun Kumar:

I learned that the initiative can turn into a movement when everyone realises the importance of the initiative. I learned about the soil structures to prevent the soil erosion when the heavy rainfall happens. I learned that everyone likes the nature and wants to prevent and want to make it prosperous but it all requires standard procedures.  I learned that the efficient use of water is an impact which they want to achieve from everyone. I learned the importance of working together to create a enriched forest for all living beings

Rajesh:

The experience of visiting sadhana forest was a really a tremendous one. What I have learned is one of the precious learnings in my life.
To live a life, there are many ways, choosing the way to live my life is in my hands.
I noticed my passion towards people, the passion towards children, the passion that i have towards nature and animals.

Soundhariya:

My reflection about Sadhana Forest they focusing reforestation, water conservation, recycling and reduce wastage and how to grow plants and how to pour water in it. They put one movie about roots. It say that how roots are important in our life because roots only save the world. so trees and forest are most important in our life and also the world.

Poonguzhali:

I did learn about Sadhana Forest; they are focused on water conservation and reforestation, natural materials, and organic foods.  They are using construction methods, like composting toilets, and recycling the waste, and they are also using drip irrigation to grow the plants and trees.

Ajay:

I learnt about the importance of forest and saving rain water and get a chance to interact with strangers and also about reusage of everything, and to live simple life with more compassion towards nature.

Dinesh:

After visited sadhana forest l learned about how to use the water in efficient way. The reason for using the charcoal powder as dish wash powder because of rich in carbon and nitrogen. The reuse of waste products such as plastics into useful ones. How they conserve the water in order to prevent soil erosion. The importance of roots and how the plants transfer the food to roots make it healthier and thicker. How they human and animal waste into manure by natural process. The concept of drip irrigation (The process of pouring water into roots).

Sundar:

I learnt to interact with strangers. From the strangers, I learnt to live with unity. I learnt to save water easily. I will apply that method to my home. I learnt the importance of trees and growing roots. I learnt to use the waste materials from them. I learnt to live with animals. I learnt to convert my waste food to my pet’s food.

Sivaguru Prasath:

Learnt about effects we have made in the nature and environment. Also learnt about water and soil conservation and food wastage management.

Radical Transformational Leadership workshop for 7th and 8th grade children in Udavi

In Udavi school we have organised RTL session for children in 7th and 8th grade. Once in a week we have a session with them. Sanjeev, Nirmala, Dhavaselvy, Muthukumaran, Helena, Honor, Kavitha and Nina are the resource people. The workshop has 7 sessions and 11 tools. Each session is 2 hours.

Week 1: 19/11/2022 Stand and fears

1. I learned stand and fear. I thought I don’t have fear. I learned to be courageous. I learnt my fear and next time I will think of fear as a cartoon character.

2. Still I didn’t find my fear. I learnt my friends’ stand and fear and what they care about which usually we don’t talk about.

3. I learnt what equity is and my fear. I learnt courage and to work from it.

4. I learnt different qualities and fears. I learnt to use courage.

5. I have fear and it is there. I should know how to transcend it. Fear is normal. Second time I did the exercise I noticed that my fear had reduced. 

 

Week 2: 26/11/2022 4 profile and Background Conversation 

Stand and fear:

  1.     How to control fear.
  2.     How to control fear and give name for my fear and act from my universal values.
  3. How to name my fear and put down my fear being in my values and learnt what are my universal values.

4 profiles

  1.     Ignore the issue in society, be yourself (in values).
  2.     Treat everyone equal
  3.     From my universal values I see everyone is my friend.
  4.     Treat everyone equally by being in my universal values and do not ask caste.
  5.     Do not judge others based on their dress or their profession.
  6.     See everyone as equal and do not judge them.
  7.     Do not see cast and treat them equally by being in my universal values.

Background Conversations and deep listening:

  1.     Deep listening to each other and should not allow my background conversation.
  2.     Do not hurt others by not listening to them.
  3.     I should listen to others while having conversations.
  4.     I should listen to them with wholeness (deep listen).
  5.     I should not have background conversation and listen to others instead of finding the flaw (background conversation)
  6.     It is my choice to listen to others.

Week 3 :  03/12/2022 Story of stuff and introduction to Conscious full spectrum Response model

Following are the system principles children came up with. 

Insights:

1. Cause and effect of the problem and to identify the solution.

2. If something has happened, some we can change some we can’t. (Eg: if a scale is broken I can’t do anything for it)

3. Not to pollute and a system is working together. 

4. I learnt not to cut the trees. I learn about systems.

5. I learnt about a system and it’s cause and effect. 

6. Design using all three circles. Only one or two circles does not give a sustainable solution.

7. I am also part of the system and I need to change if I wish to see change. 

 

D-Flip Flops from Electronics Comp store don’t work

~ Sanjay Tumati

We have an electronics lab as part of STEM land and students who are interested including the old students who have studied in STEM land either at Isai ambalam school or Udavi come to the lab to learn and build things using electronics.  This blog is to share one of their experiments at the lab.

The students were excited as they were going to do an interesting experiment in the lab. One wave of the hand over a sensor would turn on an LED and another wave would turn it off. However, the entire experiment was ruined by faulty D Flip Flops (from now on referred to as DFFs). It was not a complete loss. The students learnt how to test a DFF (Reliability via connectivity and functionality via understanding a DFF

  1. Connect the power supply and ground and observe the current display on the power supply. Some devices heated up immediately drawing hundreds of mA from the supply
  2. Some devices started heating up on connecting Set and reset pins to ground
  3. Some started heating up on connecting other connections
  4. Students did connectivity checks between Set/reset/Clock/Data pins to supply and ground and found that in the faulty ones, the resistances were in the order of 100s of Ohms and not open circuit as was expected.
  5. Just a couple of DFFs out of a dozen worked and those also went bad in a few minutes

This is the site from where we ordered the DFFs, Buy Electronics Components Online in India – Electronic Components Store

Surprising, because this site is usually very reliable and they send us quality components. We also ordered the CD4013 which is from the venerable CD40xx series. What did we do wrong with the DFFs? It can’t be that DFFs are uniquely susceptible to ESD handling. CD4017 and CD4033 which use several of these were just fine.

How to Install WSL and Ubuntu (LTS) on the Windows platform

~Sandhiya.B and Ajay

This post consolidates the information needed to set up the Ubuntu terminal on a Win 11 Machine. The Ubuntu terminal is useful to programmers to access unix power tools, write shell scripts, etc.

Step: 1   Turn Windows Features On or Off

  • Go to the search bar and type “Turn Windows features on or off” and open it.

  • The check box is seen and find “Windows Subsystem for Linux” (if the check box is off, turn it on ) and also find “Virtual machine platform” (if the check box is off, turn it on ), And click the ok button.

  • It requires restarting your system to click on the “Restart now” button.

Step: 2 Wsl Installations:

Install Wsl [Windows Subsystem for Linux],

  • After installation click the “Finish” button.

Step: 3 Ubuntu Installations:

  • Open the Microsoft Store (search for “store” from the start menu)
  • Search the store for “Ubuntu” many versions are shown just install Ubuntu(recommended) or any versions that are needed for you.

  • Click the “Get” or “Install” option.
  • Once the download is completed click on the “Launch” or “Open” option.

  • Once the ubuntu app is opened its interface is seen which is shown in the below image

  • After installing enter the username and password for the ubuntu machine.
  • NOTE:

(Username should be in lowercase and the Password need not be matched with windows)

  • Once the username and password are set then ubuntu is ready to use,

Step: 4 (if needed) to run on Windows terminal

  • To run ubuntu on a windows terminal, First install the windows terminal in the Microsoft store,
  • Ignore if already installed.

  • Click the “Get” or “Install” option
  • Once the download is completed click on the “Launch” or “Open” option.

  • Once the Windows terminal app is opened its interface is like the below image,

  • And choose the ubuntu terminal and its interface looks like the below image,

  • There you go! Now it’s ready for use.

In some exceptional cases there occurs some errors:

  • The Error looks like this, the image given below

                

  • To solve this error, open file manager and go to local disk c.

Go to the user and user profile and go to App data (if not found, it is in hidden files) and go to the local folder and click on Microsoft file and go to windows apps and copy the path, which is shown below.

  • Go to the search bar and type “edit environment variables for your account” and open it, click on environment variable and double click on the path and Click on the new button paste the copied path and click ok,

  • Now the error is fixed and the windows terminal can run the ubuntu machine.

Visualizing trigonometric ratios using scratch program

~ Soundhariya, Sandhiya.B

Trigonometric ratios are the ratios of the length of sides of a triangle. These ratios in trigonometry relate the ratio of sides of a right triangle to the respective angle. The basic trigonometric ratios are sin, cos, and tan, namely sine, cosine, and tangent ratios. The other important trig ratios, cosec, sec, and cot, can be derived using the sin, cos, and tan respectively. Using scratch, the visualization of trigonometric ratios is comprehendible.

Let us have a look at the right-angled triangle drawn using the scratch shown below. Trigonometric ratios can be used to determine the ratios of any two sides out of a total of three sides of a right-angled triangle in terms of the respective angles.

The values of these trigonometric ratios can be calculated using the measure of an acute angle, θ in the right-angled triangle given below. This implies that the value of the ratio of any two sides of the triangle here depends on the angle. We can alternatively find the values of these trig ratios. Also, only the base and perpendicular will interchange for the given right triangle in that case.

Concerning θ, the ratios of trigonometry are given:

Sine: Sine of an angle is defined as the ratio of the side opposite (perpendicular side) to that angle to the hypotenuse.

cosine: The cosine angle is defined as the ratio of the side adjacent to that angle to the hypotenuse.

Tangent: The tangent angle is defined as the ratio of the side opposite to that angle to the side adjacent to that angle.

Cosecant: Cosecant is a multiplicative inverse of sine.

Secant: Secant is a multiplicative inverse of cosine.

Cotangent: Cotangent is the multiplicative inverse of the tangent.

The above ratios are abbreviated as sin, cos, tan, cosec, sec, and tan respectively in the order they are described. So, for Δ ABC, the ratios are defined as:

sin θ = (Side opposite to θ)/(Hypotenuse) = AB/AC

cos θ = (Side adjacent to θ)/(Hypotenuse) = BC/AC

tan θ = (Side opposite to θ)/(Side adjacent to θ) = AB/BC = sin ∠C/cos ∠C

cosec θ = 1/sin θ = (Hypotenuse)/ (Side Opposite to θ) = AC/AB

sec θ = 1/cos θ = (Hypotenuse)/ (Side Opposite to θ) = AC/BC

cot θ = 1/tan θ = (Side adjacent to θ)/(Side opposite to θ)= BC/AB

Unit Circle and Trigonometric Values:

Unit circles can be used to calculate the values of basic trigonometric functions- sine, cosine, and tangent. The following diagram shows how trigonometric ratios can be represented in a unit circle.

Degrees to radians:

In geometry, both degree and radian represent the measure of an angle. One complete anticlockwise revolution can be represented by 2π (in radians) or 360° (in degrees). Therefore, degree and radian can be equated as:

2π = 360° And π = 180°

Hence, from the above equation, we can say, 180 degrees is equal to π radian.

Usually, in general geometry, we consider the measure of the angle in degrees (°). Radian is commonly considered while measuring the angles of trigonometric functions or periodic functions. Radians are always represented in terms of pi, where the value of pi is equal to 22/7 or 3.14.

Trigonometric ratios of some special angles:

In the trigonometric ratios table, we use the values of trigonometric ratios for standard angles 0°, 30°, 45°, 60°, and 90º. It is easy to predict the values of the table and to use the table as a reference to calculate values of trigonometric ratios for various other angles, using the trigonometric ratio formulas for existing patterns within trigonometric ratios and even between angles. The trigonometric ratios of 45° using scratch are shown below.

In right Δ PQR, if ∠P and ∠Q are assumed as 30° and 60°, then there can be infinite right triangles with those specifications but all the ratios written above for ∠P in all of those triangles will be the same. So, all the ratios for any of the acute angles (either ∠P or ∠Q) will be the same for every right triangle. This means that the ratios are independent of the lengths of the sides of the triangle.

The trigonometric ratios of 30° and 60°simulated using the scratch program are shown below.

The trigonometric ratios of 90° and 0° using scratch programming are shown below.

Trigonometrical Ratios of 0 degrees are commonly called standard angles and the trigonometrical ratios of these angles are frequently used to solve particular angles. In ∆ABC is a right-angled triangle. If the length of the side BC is continuously decreased, then the value of ∠A will keep on decreasing. Similarly, the value of ∠C is increasing as the length of BC is decreasing. When BC = 0, ∠A = 0 , ∠C = 90° and AB = AC.

Trigonometric Ratios Table:

Attached the scratch link: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/754205615

The summarization of the value of trigonometric ratios for specific angles is in the table below:

Some of the applications of trigonometric ratios are:

  • Measuring the heights of towers or big mountains
  • Determining the distance of the shore from the sea
  • Finding the distance between two celestial bodies
  • Determining the power output of solar cell panels at different inclinations
  • Representing different physical quantities such as mechanical waves, electromagnetic waves, etc.

 

Updated Features in Udavi and IsaiAmbalam  School Software

~ Sandhiya.B

In STEM land we give freedom to children to choose their plans on their own. Using the software children choose their plan for a week and work accordingly. Teachers conduct an assessment in line with the plan.

For the past two years, the school software was not much in use because of Corona Lockdown.  Children started using the software again this year.

Udavi School children encountered the challenge of putting the plans as they faced difficulty while choosing advanced topics without knowing the basic concepts for the goal because the goals are in sorted order. The school software was updated to comfort children’s activity in choosing the goals by adding space for extra goals and options for selecting/choosing a few basic goals.

For Isai Ambalam children of creche and kindergarten, the school software has been used for the assessment and progress card. The essential content, learning program, and learning completion columns were bilingual and some of the parents found it difficult. So, the software is updated with the feature of the native language Tamil for more accessibility for parents, teachers, and students.

The newly added features work well and the performance has paved a progress curve in the activities. It gives more access to the users which enhances efficiency

Shifu students visiting Savitri Bhavan

Being and Becoming Shifu program provides opportunities for students to explore and integrate in Auroville. As part of it we visited Savitri Bhavan last Friday and Dhanalakshmi shared about Sri Aurobindo and Mother and also about Savitri Bhavan and the art gallery.

Following are our reflections  after the visit.

Saranya
It was a wonderful visit and I really came to know about Sri Aurobindo’s and Mother.
I specifically came to know about Sri Aurobindo’s 3 madness.
First madness, it is my firm faith that all the virtue, talent, the higher education and knowledge and the wealth God has given me, belong to Him. I have the right to spend only so much as is necessary for the maintenance of the family and on what is absolutely needed…

The second madness has recently taken hold of me; it is this: by any means, I must have the direct experience of God.

The third madness is this: whereas others regard the country as an inert piece of matter and know it as the plains, the fields, the forests, the mountains and the rivers, I know my country as the Mother, I worship her and adore her accordingly.

Mano
We went to Savitri Bhavan and learned about Sri Aurobindo’s life journey and mother’s life journey and learned how mother’s participation in paintings and how she thaught it to others. By looking at the paintings I have recaptured the stories of “Savitri”. Then learned about Savitri Bhavan’s architectural importance and how much people are interested on architecture design.

Sandhiya

My name is Sandhiya I stand for progress as happiness and love for myself and others. Visit to Savithri Bhavan was new to me . I have heard of it but I learnt about the history of Savithri Bhavan, mother, Sri Aurobindo and the interconnections between them only after the visit. Some of the incidence in that story was hard to believe but was inspiring. I felt grateful to be a part in Auroville. I learnt that art of keeping mind calm is a step to reach my goal and meditation is important to calm myself. In addition I also learnt that everyone is having their own perspective of looking at things and I should respect them.

Kathir
I learned Sri Aurobindo life journey and how he and Mother joined together and build Auroville. I get inspired from sri Aurobindo transformation of his spiritual journey and the involvement, dedication he had on that, also the different aspects of life he has been through
I have read Sri Aurobindo’s quote in savitri bavan
“The first principle of true teaching is nothing can be taught” it inspired me.

Sundar
I was excited to the structure and construction of the Savitri Bhavan and learned about Savitri and Sri Aurobindo’s history. The major part of the visit is the painting of the Savitri. On watching the photos inside of my mind was creating a movie about the Savitri related to the order of pictures.

Sri Bhavani

My name is Sri Bhavani. I stand for love and equality for myself and others. From this visit, I have learned about the life journey of Sri Aurobindo and Mother. How much Savitri is important to Sri Aurobindo and Mother. The way Mother portrayed Savitri in the form of paintings made me think of art can communicate effectively.
What did I learn about myself is that I should always compete with the person who is highly skilled than me so that I can learn from them.

Poovizhi

I learnt that it is not always necessary to think a lot to complete a task or solve  problem. Instead calm my mind and concentrate. Earlier I did not know that mother gave the sketches of the paintings and directed the person who painted Savitri. I found Savitri Bhavan as a place for creativity and inspiring.