Category: Uncategorized

A group of homeschoolers along with their parents visited stemland on Thursday – 28th december 2023 to explore new ways of learning. The Mathegramming team welcomed them wholeheartedly. We started the session with Stand and Fear, through stand they get to know who they are and what they deeply care about. And while doing fear they get to know about their socialized fears. 

They did all sorts of exciting things like:

Scratch programming, Electronics, Solving cast puzzles, Exploring Math materials, Games, Kirigami art, Mindstorms.

SCRATCH

          Through Scratch, kids get to be really creative and have a lot of fun. They learn how to think in a different way and solve problems by making their own stories, games, and animations. Scratch helps them understand simple coding ideas like loops and sequences while having a great time.

Reflection from Ilakyaarasi

          My name is Ilakyaarasi. I stand for patience and courage for myself and others. I learnt that I need to think of a more creative way for children to have an interest in working with scratch. I worked with two children from scratch, I gave an introduction of how it works then gave a task to them. Then, they were able to think and complete it on their own. I saw the feeling of accomplishment when they completed the task. I also learned different ways to solve the given task by myself.

ELECTRONICS

          Parents and childrens from homeschoolers explored electronics. They learnt Concept of Body resistance using conducting gel. Simple circuit using LED, Resistor,

switch and battery. How to find the Breadboard connection using a connectivity test in the multimeter. With a Multimeter how to measure the battery voltage, To check the working of LED, How the 7 segment display works and given tasks which alphabet can’t be displayed in the 7 segment.

Reflection from Dinesh

          My name is Dinesh,I stand for peace and Perseverance for myself and for others. While starting to explain the concepts to the group I was little bit nervous and when they started to ask questions about concepts I gave my answers with an analogy that made them understood the concepts and I felt confident on myself and started to answer for their questions confidently .While introduced the concept of body resistance ,everyone in my group was excited (especially children)to know their body resistance that gave an idea how can I change my way of explaining concepts to the children I am working with.

SOLVING CAST PUZZLES

          When kids and parents solve a cast puzzle, it seems challenging to them. First off, it helps them figure out problems and think really hard. They were patient and did not give up, even if the puzzle is tricky and they start noticing how shapes fit together. It’s like a fun game that makes them focus and pay attention, and when they finally solve it, they feel really proud of themselves.

Reflection from Premkumar:

          My name is Premkumar. I stand for self-confidence and happiness for myself and others. I supported the Mathegramming team in this workshop. I got to engage with a lot of new people and I had a wonderful experience. When I show the Cast Puzzle to others, I notice each person thinks in different ways and possibilities to solve puzzles. I also learnt how different people solve problems. I enjoyed it a lot throughout this session.

EXPLORING MATH MATERIALS

          When we explore math materials, the parents and kids find it more interesting that they are able to learn math with things they can touch and move around. It makes learning more fun and helps them understand the concept even better. When kids use objects like blocks to learn math, they get to remember the ideas more easily.

Reflection from Soundhariya

          My name is Soundhariya. I stand for care and perseverance for myself and others. Showing STEMland concept materials like Fraction, Integers, and Dines blocks to children and their parents they can see how these concepts are related to everyday life. Teaching with students makes a big positive impact and it helps them to think critically and problem-solving skills. This approach not only benefits the children’s educational development but also makes collaborative learning with others. When parents actively participate in all the STEM concepts, they become more aware of their child’s improvement.

GAMES

          The children and parents explored a few games in stemland like Azul, Dimension, sputnik and kabaleo. When they explore these games, they pick up skills like logical thinking and problem-solving and also they learn about patterns and strategies. These games teach them to work together and have fun as a team. So, while enjoying the game they end up picking up skills like strategy, creativity, and teamwork.

Reflection from Sharmila

My name is Sharmila, and I deeply care about courage and patience, both for myself and others. I introduced some selective games to the students and their parents. Initially, I felt anxious and nervous about interacting with them, but when I focused on my stand, I was able to overcome the fear and engage with them. While playing the games, I noticed that almost everyone enjoyed themselves, and some parents even took note of the game names due to their cognitive engagement. I also observed that some students enjoyed playing a particular game multiple times, while others were keen on exploring all the games I had prepared for them. The enthusiasm and energy shown by them during the exploring the games, left me astonished. I am delighted to be a part of this experience.

KIRIGAMI

 As they start to fold and cut, they also learn about shapes, symmetry, pattern and coordination. Kirigami helps them understand how different folds and cuts can turn a simple piece of paper into amazing 3D creations. It’s like learning a special kind of art that combines creativity and a bit of paperwork.

Reflection from preethi

          My name is Preethi. I stand for courage, kindness and perseverance for myself and others. I taught kids and parents how to make Kirigami balls. Before we started making kirigami balls the parents were more excited about how we are going to make a ball with a few pieces of paper. First we started with coloring the paper, some colored the paper some drew the patterns in there paper. It’s kind of like playing with colors and shapes to make their own special designs. And also they were more focused and patient in what they are doing and when we completed I saw the satisfaction and joy in their faces. I personally enjoyed the session and got to engage with new people.

MINDSTORM

          Through constructing and programming their robots, children develop essential skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). It helps children with logical thinking, teamwork, and perseverance. Mindstorms provides an engaging and interactive platform that makes learning enjoyable and effective for young minds.

Reflection from Sivashankar

          My name is Sivashankar. I stand for courage and equality for myself and others. Playing with things like Mindstorms, which involves building robots and programming them, is really good for kids. It helps them understand science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) in a fun way. It also teaches them how to solve problems and not give up when things get tough. When they make mistakes, they learn from them and keep trying. Overall, playing with Mindstorms doesn’t just teach technical stuff; it helps kids become well-rounded and ready for a world that relies a lot on technology.

We work on beautifying our campus at Udavi. Do you all remember that old conical cement slab lying left outside the office by the last residents? I had a vision of turning it into a small pond, and with the help of a few friends in an organization, we dug the soil and found some granite stones. We utilized them and placed them around the plants to make them visually amazing. We washed the slab and placed it in the hole we dug, filling it with water.

The next day, I brought a lotus plant and soil from my village pond, poured the soil in, and planted the lotus. To enhance its appearance, we also added four fish we caught from the kitchen pond. Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months.

About three months later, I got a lily from Uthamaraj Anna and planted it in the pond. Now, the lily started to bloom with a beautiful white and purple colour. The population of fish inside the pond drastically increased, and now more than 40 fish are swimming around. With the sunlight, the little pond we made looks so appetizing to the eyes.

Every four or five days, I added more water to the pond. It was not just for the fish but also for birds, dogs, and cows to drink from it. Sometimes, the water would go down a lot when the big cows drank a bunch, but I always made sure to fill it up again. This way, it helped all the animals around by giving them water to drink.

Our old cement bowl, once lonely and forgotten, is now a mini-pond wonderland. It serves as a reminder that even the dullest things can transform into something magical with a little love, care, and sunshine. So, the next time you encounter a neglected old thing or a dusty pot, remember: a bit of imagination and some friendly plants can turn it into a joyful oasis!

The Mathegramming team at Vasavi International School taught new ways of decimal multiplication using graph sheets. Before we started the session, we introduced what is decimal multiplication and students said it’s regular multiplication but with numbers that have dots (decimal)in them. We just have to multiply the numbers like normal and then figure out where to put the dot in our answer. We believe that learning should be fun and interactive.

Graph sheets provide visual ideas that make an understanding of decimal multiplication and the grid lines help to understand the placement of whole number and decimal values. The graph sheet has horizontal and vertical lines, creating boxes for each digit. Use different colors to mark them as 1,1/10, and 1/100 on the graph sheet.

Draw the first whole number with a decimal value on the horizontal side and another with a decimal value on the vertical side. Now extend both decimal values and make it as an area.

 Add the total number of decimal places in both numbers. This will determine the placement of the decimal point in your final answer.

1/10 – 1 means the whole part is divided into ten equal parts on the graph sheet. It means 1/10 moves the dot one place to the left.

1/100 – Now combine all ten pieces and each piece as one part. (i.e.) 1/100 moves the dot two places to the left.

In the normal way of teaching decimal multiplication, students feel like overwhelmed and disconnected. Our Mathegramming team filled the gap by combining the principles of mathematics with the creativity and logic of programming. Through the collaborative efforts of the Mathegramming team, the process of teaching decimal multiplication to Vasavi students using graph sheets has more to be highly effective.

Introduction:

                        A child from the 7th grade from Study international school has come to STEM Land for making a vacuum cleaner robot as part of her school project and she wanted to make it by her own with some guidance from STEM land. At the beginning her parents were told to buy the required components for the project then SHIVASHANKAR a member of Mathegramming Academy has volunteered to help that student in the project and the student started working on the project. At first, We started to create the basic structure of the robot with 4 wheels and a gear motor for each wheel and we fixed an Arduino Uno board for the programming of the robot and they have also fixed Arduino motor shield for controlling the motors and then they have fixed the wires correctly to make it work and they have also used Ultrasonic sensor to identify the objects or barriers in front of the robot along with Ultrasonic sensor we have used Servo motor to rotate the Ultrasonic sensor left and right. We have used Rechargeable lithium-ion battery for the power. We have used a 6V DC motor for the vacuum cleaner to suck the waste from the floor using a water bottle and some PVC pipes to make some shape so that could suck the waste. The design of the vacuum cleaner is very simple and easily arrangeable by anyone and also the circuit is also easy to fix so anyone with required materials can make this vacuum cleaner robot. The Robot design was taken from YouTube and we have got the information of required components from the same. We have changed something according to our needs and we have made it in our own style.

Coding:

               The Arduino board has been programmed with some code to make the robot work. We are using the Arduino IDE for programming the Arduino board so that it could do the things we code in it.

The shift in the education system:

                                                                Normally most of the schools don’t really emphasize on the practical education of the children they only focus on theory and the marks, STEM Land a place of Unending Learning and a place of co-creation we are making so many efforts to bring a change in students life as we are more concerned about what they like instead of what the school likes to do so we have a place where students come and learn by themselves we do have many games over here in STEM Land to increase the critical thinking of the children and we also do some electronics with children to make them apply what they have leant. The shift from theoretical to practical way of learning makes STEM Land a Unique place in Auroville for people who want to learn new things. Stem land also emphasize on Equality so that everyone gets a chance to learn what they want and its open for everyone who truly wants to learn something. Nowadays, the technology is getting too much updated so the students should be skilled enough to abide with the technology so we have the sophisticated environment here in stem land to help children to get in line with the modern technology.

Emphasis on skills:

                                     Stem Land emphasizing on mastering skills rather than marks-based learning like most of the schools doing we ensure creativity, critical thinking, Communication and adaptability in students who is coming to stem land and we also give flexibility on fields so that children can choose to learn what they want to learn. Stem Land stands as a place of openness so that the children can learn many things and they also teach other people. To master the skills the children, need to thrive in an increasingly complex and interconnected world.

Conclusion:                        The vacuum cleaner robot project clearly shows that learning can be fun and creative and also interactive. The girl and her family were also happy after completing the project it also created a space for co-creation and we hope her project will also inspire other children to make one on their own and we hope it will make a great impact on Mathegramming and also in children lives by adding values to learning and application of that learning in life

On November 8, 2023, For the first year BVOC students we (Second year’s and C3streamland) conducted Fresher’s Day and the second-year students spoke to Dr. Sanjeev Ranganathan and he suggested them the system game (String game) which they learned from the Integral Education workshop and the game involves better understanding of themself and their fellow mates  it results in teamwork and creativity.

At first Sanjeev joined them online to explain the rules and give some introduction to the game and the game organizers were Durai, Ajay, Sandhiya, Premkumar and Sanjeev. The game had three rounds at the beginning of the game they were confused and stuck with some common shapes like circle, square, like that.  at the end of the first round, they were asked to see the score and shapes they were disappointed and got low score and in the second round they started with the same but ended with some shapes like trees, mountains and at the end they were able to see the difference between the first and second game and some of them were able to identify why they got these differences and they discussed. At the third round they were able to see the creativity and team coordination and communication among themself was improved much more than the beginning of the game.

Once they completed the string games and they were asked to share their reflections about the game with Sanjeev and how they can relate it to the real world.

Overall reflections and learnings from students:

• The importance of deep listening.
• Importance of adaptability.
• Value of collaboration and coordination.
• Acting over my background conversation.
• They felt the essence of teamwork and the fun it gives when they work together.
• Full potential
• Observation and focus.
• Problem solving.
• Valuing others’ ideas.

We attended a 3-month course on grammatically correct English conducted from July 28 to October 27, 2023 conducted by Ms. Vatsla Sharma at SAIIER and Coordinated by Sanjeev. Around 15 teachers from Auroville attended.

We learned topics like Apostrophes, Use of Articles, 12 Tenses and Rules, Modals, Prepositions and Conditional clauses.

• Tenses help convey the timing of an action or event in a sentence.
• While practicing the exercise of storytelling with the team we learned to choose the right tense to express ourselves.
• When we practiced, we got more confidence.  Madam gave homework and drill practice exercises.

• It was awesome to see the new way of learning and expressing our ideas. As a team, we shared conditional clauses one by one, and we noticed everyone was learning new things

Conclusion:

In this three-month journey of English class, we have not only improved our written and spoken communication, but also gained confidence in expressing ourselves effectively.

This course is beneficial and wonderful opportunity for us. Thanks to C3STREAM Land and SAIIER.

The core values of Mathegramming Academy are responsibility, equality, and courage to create. The team wanted to bring a change in the systematic thinking of the children who were introduced to visual mathematics using scratch by the Mathegramming Academy. The team wanted to have the following shifts:

• Mediocracy to excellence
• From rote learning of concepts to looking at visualization of the concepts and encouraging critical thinking.
• From Disempowering isms like classism, groupism, and genderism to a creative space.

The Mathegramming Hackathon was organized with each step designed to foster creativity and learning.

94 students from 6^th to 9^th grade enrolled in this tournament from different schools in and around Auroville. On the day of the event, 87 students came. The children who had registered had been organized with groups that cut across grades and schools so when the children came in they received their group number.  In addition, many youth and children who had been exposed to STEM land in the past including our B.Voc students volunteered as mentors to each support a team. It was enriching to see that we had reached out to so many children/youth in the past who were enthusiastic to support others learn. There was an equal mix of boys and girls at the hackathon and they all worked with each other harmoniously.

We started the day with an introduction to sourcing our inner capacities which they also used to introduce themselves to the other members of their team. This was followed by a session on to power of modular design and providing the children and mentors with general modules created by Mathegramming Academy which could make their coding faster. Breaks were placed to ensure the children remained energized and focused.

We had invited judges from various organizations- Lopa from Ashram, Sanjay, Pratap, Vasanthraj, and Duraiswamy from C3StreamLand Designs, ShankarDevi from Thalam, Julian from Vaasavi International School, Arun from Aura semiconductor, Bridget from Thamarai, Bharani from AIAT and Chitralekha from Pondicherry University.

The themes were prepared from the 7th-grade textbook by the Mathegramming team which are Pythagoras theorem, Pascal’s triangle, Fibonacci series, Integers, Mean Median Mode, Congruence of triangles, Algebraic identities, Decimal number on a number line, and Fraction division.

The tournament showcased the values of equality, responsibility, and the courage to create. It demonstrated the transition from individual to group learning, with strong communication between mentors and mentees. The exchange of ideas between different age groups was a testament to the Academy’s commitment to holistic learning. It was heartening to see the breaking of barriers and the shift from silos thinking to interdependence. The rule for the mentors was that they were not allowed to

Some reflections: My name is Durai.I deeply care about dignity, wisdom, and freedom for myself and others. I was invited to assess the Scratch programs with children based on the following criteria: concept understanding, teamwork, interaction, presentation, and project completion. I found that all the children had the courage to speak in front of a larger audience group and were able to explain their projects more precisely, often using real-world examples, which was impressive. The children could also respond to queries raised by the audience and judges, and the overall assessment session went well. I am delighted to be a part of the assessment team. They were able to connect real-time examples with the concepts.

My name is Pratap. I care about equality and responsibility the program gave me a chance to contribute to the larger picture beyond my work. This program broke the casteism, groupism, and genderism by working with their team on the theme that was given to them. Moving from silos to dependent to independent to interdependent. From the theory what they learn in school to apply to it by making a project and showing their mastery in the theme that they got.  To be a judge I learned all the theme concepts and revisited them. I was in my stand to give scores to them and avoided being biased even though I knew all the children. I interacted with the mentors and also explained the criteria for scoring. I also got an opportunity to choose the two best charts in 33 charts and I see my sincerity and happiness. As a senior, I see my presence was very important and I was valued I held integrity in all I did for that tournament. Even though I encountered so many background conversations and I was able to silence all the background conversations and deeply listen to the children. The gifts were super and the participant certificate was encouraging.

My name is Rajesh. I deeply care about Integrity for myself and others. I volunteered to be a mentor.  I was able to see the Team had diversity, they broke disempowering isms of classism, groupism, and genderism to form a co-creative space. I employed conversation for action by speaking to children.

My name is Vasanth.I am able to see the values of STEM Land throughout the tournament: Equality responsibility and courage to create. I am able to see individual learning to group learning. There is good communication between mentors and mentees. During the workshop mentees also gave some thoughts about the projects and mentors also without any hesitation, incorporated that in the projects. There is learning across different ages. Mentors also learned something from mentees. I was able to witness Students shifting Theoretical learning — visual proof maths learning (both chart work and animation in Scratch).

I am able to see the equality in the group, different children from different schools work together, and this form of new interaction works with other people to make friends. I was able to see the quality of perseverance, determination, and confidence while they worked on the project. I have learnt that when I am on the judging panel I should overcome my background conversation and deeply listen to the children who presenting the project. I also noticed the joy of learning while the children worked on scratch projects.

My name is Poonguzhali. I deeply care about Love and happiness for myself and others. When I participated in the tournament, I experienced a sense of anxiety. However, the “Stand and Fear” session helped me consciously identify my values and felt a strong desire to align my actions with them. I was determined to respond in accordance with my values. I operated at my highest capacity, giving my utmost effort. In my role as a mentor, I actively enhanced my leadership skills and qualities.

The Mathegramming tournament set an example of how education can inspire excellence, equality, and courage in the hearts and minds of our future leaders.

We had a three-day workshop on integral education conducted from October 4^th to 6^th at Bharat Nivas campus, unity pavilion and amphitheatre in Matrimandir. Around 140 teachers from schools in and around Auroville and others working on education participated in this workshop. It was a residential gathering where people were engaged in different activities from 6AM to 7 PM.

We had a three-day yoga sessions at 6AM, which gave us a different and energizing experience. It helped us develop qualities like unity, responsibility, integrity, joy, happiness, balance, care, and peace.

We want to make positive changes in ourselves. This means moving from being scattered to unified, from an unhealthy to a healthy life, from a wandering mind to a focused one, from laziness to being proactive, and from restlessness to peace.

We also want to share what we’ve learned with others. This way, we can all grow together, promoting unity and peace.

The activities in our yoga sessions include music therapy for concentration, pranayama to refresh our blood, Surya Namaskar for energy, and various asanas (sitting and standing poses) for flexibility.

Yoga has been a transformative journey for us, both mentally and physically. We aim to continue these sessions and expand our circle to spread the benefits of yoga to more individuals.

Integral Education Book reading session:

In our interactive reading sessions, we had the privilege to explore “On Education” by Mother and “Three Principles of Education” by Sri Aurobindo. These sessions were much more than reading; they were discussions where we shared our thoughts, challenges, transformations, and solutions in the realm of education, especially in supporting children.

Here’s a summary of what we’ve learned and discussed:

A Holistic Perspective: Mother emphasized that education is not just about academics. It should encompass four essential aspects: the physical, mental, vital, and psychic dimensions. For education to be truly effective, these elements must align harmoniously.

Teaching vs. Supporting: We’ve realized that teaching isn’t about imposing our ideas on children. It’s about guiding and supporting them in pursuing their interests and passions, making their learning experience beautiful.

Beyond Knowledge: Education isn’t limited to imparting knowledge alone. It’s about nurturing individuals with good qualities, helping them become strong, responsible, and disciplined, and encouraging them to live with a sense of purpose.

Empowering Choices: As educators, our role is not to dictate but to empower. We should give children choices and make them aware of the consequences, allowing them to choose the path that genuinely interests them.

The Art of Connection: Connecting with children is an art we must master. By linking new knowledge to what they already know, we can make learning feel familiar rather than foreign.

Love and Care: Showing love and care is crucial in creating a comfortable and joyful learning environment. When children feel cared for, they embrace learning more beautifully.

System(String) Game in IE workshop:

This was a fun activity where we could see how I engage with my activity, with my team and with systems in general when we deal with complexity

The qualities that we saw throughout the activity were equality, care, full potential, unity, leadership, and creativity. Though we were from different backgrounds, we were all given equal importance throughout the entire workshop. We learned to care for ourselves and others around us. The activity unleashed our full potential by communicating with others, creating new patterns, and working unitedly to bring out innovative ideas.

This activity helped us to address the isms related to gender, age, and nationality. The different ideas shared by each person in the group were very effective in achieving the goal. We were able to realize the importance of independence to interdependence. It was clearly seen that each and every individual took part as a learner and leader. There was no hierarchy. It created space to move from rigid to flexible mindsets and break the silos and work as a whole group rather than smaller units alone.

The three principles of the teaching of Sri Aurobindo were clearly brought out through this activity.

Nothing can be taught – no one told us what the game was about we needed to discover it ourselves.

The mind must be consulted in its own growth – we learned to create our own patterns and we created our own self-assessment criteria for the game.

Near to far – started with what we had and extended it to new ideas

We were able to bring out what we expected through non-verbal communication. It allowed us to accept that there can be multiple solutions for any aspect.

Video Links:
 
Day 02
https://youtu.be/hmUmsKmp7P4

Day 03
https://youtu.be/I2zA6Yq3DGA

Pictures of the gathering:
2023-10-04 to 06 Integral Education Workshop

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1KuI3uFQqZkKgVnDLwnMExHt9MV4diH1F?usp=sharing

2023-10-05 INTEGRAL EDUCATION workshop – day one

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1wyqn4HDlwU6FnrTpagnMr0c3tdjDJfrH?usp=sharing

2023-10-04 INTEGRAL EDUCATION workshop – day one afternoon – photos

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/17_w17db36OLTL1561gq-pmutO96kWo4u?usp=sharing

2023-10-05 INTEGRAL EDUCATION workshop – day two morning – photos

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1A-3p1tqzS4biT6IR-Rv_wST6OfmDuGr-?usp=sharing

2023-10-05 INTEGRAL EDUCATION workshop – day two afternoon – photos

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1MoqQNP4-AZKLOZbAtPpWHhSLCZnMNcsO?usp=sharing

2023-10-06 INTEGRAL EDUCATION workshop – day three morning – photos

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1NGd_AD96-p7J0Eflxa3sVBzFWcU9W_MN?usp=sharing

2023-10-06 INTEGRAL EDUCATION workshop – day three afternoon – photos

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1FfM0WgAvAGO49eNrIA6J-jQcz3_aW7Fv?usp=sharing

Pictures of the gathering:
2023-10-04 to 06 Integral Education Workshop

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1KuI3uFQqZkKgVnDLwnMExHt9MV4diH1F?usp=sharing

2023-10-05 INTEGRAL EDUCATION workshop – day one

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1wyqn4HDlwU6FnrTpagnMr0c3tdjDJfrH?usp=sharing

We have a team building session where everyone comes together to look at their leadership ability – leadership means “my ability to create new future grounded on universal values”. These RTL sessions helps to look at oneself within deeper and reflect on it. We see RTL program as  both personal transformation and a team building program. Initially we were very small team in numbers now we have become a larger team that is working on more and more diverse and high end tech areas. We started working in more and more silos, but this RTL session help to break silos.

The onsite session we are having are easier to engage with other participants as compared to online, but the hybrid model allowed us to learn from the insights and experiences from people around the country.

Saranya: During these sessions I was able to reflect on my actions and noticed where all I need to retain or improve as a person. I learnt that there are multiple ways of saying no and when I decline the requests from others it moves things forward helps them find other ways to get things done.

Elam: I was able to notice that when I am grounded I am being more and more calm inside and I am not stuck. I am able to move forward with the work I do.

Poonguzhali: During the RTL sessions I gained more confidence about my project. When I filled out the SOS (Synergistic Operational strategic) template I saw what I needed to put in place to make it successful. I reflected on my own integrity, this awareness helped me to check alignment with my universal values. I also learned to move from overwhelm into courageous action based on my universal values.

Arunkumar: Reflecting on my past events helped me learn how I could have handled a difficult situation differently in the past from my universal values. I was able to notice the granularity I missed in my project. In SOS I was able to notice that I need to foster an enabling environment for the change I wish to see. In discernment and judgement, I was able to notice that I had reacted in situations and, judged people when I stilled myself and aligned with my universal values I was able to discerned and see things as they are.

Dancing thought breaks were unique and it helped me to overcome my fear of dancing in-front of others and it was a fulfilled activity. The students of the B.Voc program who also participated and also shared their reflections on stage (I noticed courage, not the absence of fear but the ability to act in spite of it).

Rajesh, Sri Bhavani, Narmadha

A few of us stem teachers had a session with Arulvazhi school students coming for the first time to STEM Land.

A few reflections from the session

Rajesh: What I learned from that was that not all get an opportunity to learn in a new and different way that is actually very much more efficient than the system that is generally practiced in school. Getting an opportunity to teach in that new system that STEM Land has is life-enhancing for me as well as the students. I also feel grateful to the organization I am part of.

Sri Bhavani: From the session with Arulvazhi school children, I noticed that children were very excited for learning new things. I see the rigor in children to learn new puzzles. It helps them to think and widen their knowledge. They got an exposure to know, there are many tools that are available to visualize math concepts. The session went well with electronics, big shot camera, solving cubes, learning new games, etc

Narmadha: My name is Narmadha. I stand for equality and happiness for myself and others. When the children visited Stemland, we began with ground rules: “Respect myself, respect others, and respect materials”. The session went well, and the children were enthusiastic to learn new things as they explored STEM Land. What I learned from them is I should stretch myself to learn new things and be curious about learning, and I will apply these in my life.

Students’ insights:

          In the beginning, we felt that we were in a place that had technical materials that would be difficult to handle and learn. But we felt connected to the teachers here and they explained in such a way that it was so clear and easy.

               When I was doing robotics on my own and made it work, it was so encouraging for me. I am becoming more confident in myself.