Archana Shekar’s experience in STEM land

Archana Shekar who conducts ten days residential Vipassana retreats, children’s meditation courses and is in charge of it for Karnataka state. After completing her Masters at IITKGB and MBA at XLRI she worked with Price Waterhouse, Synovate and also wrote for Hong Kong based “Asian Business”. She prefers to work on inner development, Yoga and therapies,  Spirituality and Integral yoga.

She volunteered with STEM land and supported children in Isai Ambalam school on their English. Here is a short video of her experience in STEM land with Sanjeev Ranganathan.

 

SSD session with Arulvazhi school children

~Hari,Murali,Sarath

With the visit of Arulvazhi school students me and sharat have also joined them in learning SSD (seven segment display). Initially we just learnt about SSD and its primary uses. Arun and Murali explained elaborately about SSD and they showed a demo. With that reference children tried to work with it. me and Sharat just tried my name getting displayed with the use of SSD and finally got it perfectly.

 

Paper Glider

Murali, Arun, Madhavan

We made paper gliders with Ravi Aluganti on 29th Feb. It was easy to make and fun making them. In the end, we made a bigger one along with the children and made it fly.  Here’s a video of it.

The video also has wing model of an airplane with paper. We did this to understand the physics between the wind and the shape of the wings.

 

Electronics Session – LDR + Arduino – Street Light Concept

~Vimal , Jenifa & Abilash

As a part of the “People Counter Project”, the children were given hands on learning about the LDR(light dependent resistor) and the interfacing of the same wit the arduino platform. children built the circuit, wrote the program with support and understood the concept LDR , differentiation of analog and digital values, serial communication between arduino and pc. They visualized the value of the ldr on the serial monitor tool. Further a task was given to them to build the concept of automatic street light, with little help from us they understood and wrote the code and demonstrated it. Also threshold concept was explained to them and asked to write a code for switching on two leds based on the threshold limit of the sensed value of the LDR connected to the arduino. They did that also.

Hands On Training session with Mr.Ravi Aluganti

~ Kalai & Siva

In this session we learn about project plan that covers project definition, scope, schedule, resources, quality and budget . We gain practical experience and learn how to complete successful projects. We worked together as a team to complete a task of creating A TLM for Algebra formula in the most effective and efficient way. Hands-on tools make math a lot easier for young children to understand.

Equation:

a2-b2=(a + b)* (a + b)

ais the area of a square whose side is equal to a . 

a square with side “a” & a square with side “b”

Now we have to subtract (remove) a square whose one side is equal to b from the above square.

We cut the figure from here,And join this over here before joining turn it by 900

This means a rectangle whose length is equal to (a + b) and breath is equal to (a-b)

Then the area of rectangle is l*b which means (a + b)* (a + b)

So here we get ,

a2-b2=(a + b)* (a + b)

two squares with side “a” & side “b”
a2-b2
a2-b2 ready to remove
after removing b2 from a2

a2-b2=(a + b)* (a + b)

hence proved !!

Interview with Prathul

A volunteer named prathul visited STEMLAND about 5 months ago.

He was supporting the English content team in improving children’s english skills. He also handled Geography classes for 8th graders at Isai Ambalam.

Who is Prathul ?

A young energetic man who once was a fashion designer living a luxurious life and then all of a sudden left this ordinary life to explore the world. He always believed that there is more to life than just making money, having high social status, and high paying career. There was a part of him that wanted the adrenaline rush, adventure and curiosity. The man who has explored  all the continents and many countries with just his backpack.

For more info visit:  https://backpackwithprat.com/

Prathul’s  message :
Some places leave an inedible mark on our lives. Auroville was and will always be that place that I would keep coming back to… It resonates my love for learning and living…
Though I’ve come to Auroville few times in the past, this time it has been the start of a new chapter in my life. I couldn’t have asked for a more gratifying, loving, resourceful and humbling 5 months. 5 months!!! The longest I have ever been in a place… And I owe it all to the wonderful people I met here, the initiatives I have been a part of, the people I worked with, the immense knowledge that I have gained, the laughs we shared…. And so much more. I hope I will come back soon to learn, contribute and grow more together.
Thank you. My heart is full and overwhelmed with all that I have received. Thank you. Thank you.

 

Session with Ravi Aluganthi

~ Abilash

During the Ravi Aluganthi session we worked on mathematical projects which shows off the concept of transverse angles.

Through this we learned some mathematical concepts, how to use the tools efficiently and helped me impove my hands-on skills. It helped me to revisit and understand the interior and exterior angles of a parallelogram.

I was able to connect with the concepts when seeing the model visually, which also increased my confidence on hands-on skills. I express my gratitude to Ravi Aluganthi for creating the opportunity and space with us.

Hands on Session on Math Concepts

~ Vimal & Praba

An interactive and engaging session was held for the STEM Land  mathematics teacher for showing Off Math concepts with Mr.Ravi Aluganthi. We as a team of Two worked on building a model to demonstrate the Pythagoras Theorem. We learnt the tools of trade of model building. Also learnt about the techniques for building the model. Through this session, we understand the mathematical concepts in a better manner than through the textbooks. We shall work on building the same kind of models to demonstrate the difficult to show math topics to enable the kids learn easier. We are very grateful to Mr.Ravi for his valuable support and help in our learning path.

 

 

Powers of Three

-Pratap & Logeshwari

Children from 8th  in Udavi were learning about the powers and exponents.  In order to demonstrate powers of three. I was thinking about how to make the cubes and I had a question of with what materials do I need to make.

Image result for dienes blocks

Finally, I thought of making the cube using Dienes blocks. I took all the 10 cm rods and started. making making the cubes. I wanted to show  31  to  35.

I took a 10 cm rod and cut them into 3 pieces of  3 cm. I stuck them together to get 3^2. when I add three of the 3^2 I get 3^3.

This the visual representation of 3^1

 

 

 

 

 

This the visual representation of 3^2
 This the visual representation of 3^3

This the visual representation of 3^4

This the visual representation of 3^5

Here are some simple rules to use with exponents.

  1. a1 = a
    Any number raised to the power of one equals the number itself.
  2. For any number a, except 0, a0 = 1
    Any number raised to the power of zero, except zero, equals one.
  3. For any numbers a, b, and c,
    ab x ac = ab+c

    This multiplication rule tells us that we can simply add the exponents when multiplying two powers with the same base.

The above is a visualizing 3 power n in three dimensions. We did the same for two-dimension also.

We had a session with Ravi Alungati with all the teachers who work on Mathematics. Everyone chose their own topic that they are working on. Pratap and I chose powers since the eighth graders are working on it. We built these two dimensions of representation using the cardboard. We marked the cardboard cut them and painted them in alternate colors.

Two-dimension model for 3^2
Two_dimenstion model for 3^3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

STEMland Activity

~Saranya and Poovizhi

I and 7th grade children worked on Aravind Gupta toys. I and  Pranauv watched video on how to make puppet toy and we worked on it together  and we able to complete it. Here are the some snapshot of puppet.