As part of the Mathegramming team, we initially planned a summer camp for students at STEM land. However, there is a buzz of STEAM and we decided to collaborate with other school teachers, including those from Auroville and the bioregion in a collective STEAM event. We formed a core group with Aikiyam, Deepanam, Transition, and STEM land, along with SAIIER for this collective event. We planned, created posters, and invited children to register for the event. There were two different posters: one for team captains (> 12 years) and another for children aged 8 to 12 years old.
We selected five topics: Forces, Magnetism, Electronics, STEM Land (Makey Makey), and Biology, and named the event Auroville Schools STEAM Adventure! It took place from May 27th to May 31st. The goal was to foster collaboration between Auroville school children and those from the bioregion, break ageism, and create an environment where children of all ages could support and learn from each other. We reached around 140 children. Forces, Magnetism, Electronics, and Biology sessions were conducted in Bharatnivas, while Makey Makey was done in STEM land. The children were divided into five groups, named after colors: RED, YELLOW, ORANGE, PURPLE, and GREEN.
A special session was given to the captains before the event began. Each group had four captains (from different schools) and two facilitators from STEM land. An orientation program for team captains, volunteers, and facilitators was held on Saturday at STEM Land to prepare for the upcoming week.
Being a core group member of this program was a great experience for me, though it was a bit challenging to coordinate plans for facilitators from STEM land, especially with Tamil PC training and Tamil RTL sessions happening the same week. As a team, we supported each other and succeeded.
I supported the Mathegramming team in STEM land and conducted sessions where children explored who they are and what they deeply cared about, connecting these insights to their learning and how they wanted to apply their knowledge. During the session I viewed in that technology is value-neutral, and it is our choice to add values to it by knowing who we are and what we deeply care about.
I conducted the sessions in both English and Tamil, and it was interesting to see that even small children were able to articulate what they deeply care about and shared their insight on how to transcend their fears by reminding themselves of their universal values.
At the end of the STEAM fest children were so happy and they remembered each one us (even those who were not available for the closing) and thanked us by giving a small gift which made me feel more connected with them.
Saranya:
This event was well-organized, and the instructions were clear. The planning and execution went very smoothly. There were five stations, each focusing on one topic from STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics). I was part of the Orange Team. The first station we went to was Biology.
Biology:
We were further divided into four groups. In the Biology station, there were three sub-stations: 1) Biology/Cells, 2) Leaf, and 3) Nest. We learned what an animal cell looks like and made an animal cell using crafts. At the Leaf sub-station, we imprinted leaves, identified the leaves around us, learned their names, and which family they belong to. Then, we moved on to making nests with natural materials found around us.
On the first day, we felt really happy about learning about the environment, and by the end of the session, we were able to make something to take home with us.
STEMLand:
Technology is value neutral and we talked about the values we will add in technology to make it a force of good. The session started with an activity called “What Do I Deeply Care About?” Children from different societal backgrounds and schools participated. They explored questions like “Who am I?” and “What is my socialized fear?” The children were able to identify what they truly care about and what their socialized fears are.
Then, the STEM Land facilitators conducted a session on Makey Makey, which was really interesting for both the children and the captains. The roles of the facilitators and captains were very clear, and we were able to guide the children effectively. The children understood how Makey Makey works.
The children also found the caste puzzles intriguing and played various games in STEMLand. Most of the kids were fully engaged throughout the session.
Forces:
They started by asking what we understand by the word “forces” and where we have seen or experienced it. It was a basic question with a simple answer: push or pull. The children found it interesting, and we fully enjoyed and engaged with the session. There were both theoretical lessons and activities. The children found the activities very interesting, felt they learned something new, and made something from the activities to take home.
Magnetism:
There were four stations, and the children went to all the stations and participated in the activities. They learned how generators produce electricity, how iron can act like a magnet, and how magnetic energy can be transferred to iron through exercises. They also learned that sand contains magnet and how to identify a magnet. The story about Magnes was particularly interesting.
Electronics:
We learned how to use a multimeter. With the help of the multimeter, the children measured their body resistance and discussed why it is different for everyone. We explored the question: When an LED is connected through our body, will the LED glow?
The children performed experiments with a given circuit, drew the circuit diagrams, and tested them. For some children, the LED light glowed, while for others, it did not due to differences in body resistance. The children concluded that when body resistance is low, the LED glows brighter, and when body resistance is high, the LED glows dimly or not at all.
We repeated the same experiment with a potentiometer to adjust the resistance (R) value and control the brightness of the LED light.
Sanjay:
My name is Sanjay and I stand for freedom and wisdom for myself and for others. As regards the STEAMFEST, I had the opportunity to volunteer only for one session, on Friday morning (May 31) in Bharat Nivas at Bhumika Hall for FORCES. I was in the purple group and was substituting for Poonguzhali who had to attend an all-day RTL PC training session on that day. The main topics covered were center of gravity and centrifugal force. I and the children found the center of gravity demonstrations to be the most fun
The most fascinating thing for me with regard to forces was a demo with regards to center of gravity that was similar to what was shown in this video, Balancing Toy 01 (CG below pivot) (youtube.com)
Another demo on center of gravity was similar to this though this was easier to understand than the previous one, This Weird Shape Rolls Uphill Instead of Down – YouTube
So this was quite a big learning experience from me even from a technical standpoint. The teacher was very friendly and passionate about her subject matter and freely engaged in a discussion with me as to why the object would not topple over.
The children had a great time at the fest. There were some children who were truly wonderstruck by what was happening and seemed sceptical that some of the demonstrations were on the level. They really suspected some hanky panky and inspected the apparatus to verify that it was not rigged in some way. To me, this showed that the students were really engrossed and were not dozing off as happens in a formal instruction setting. It also showed a willingness to challenge and question the teacher, which is a pre-requisite for any one wanting to get to the bottom of things. I was very happy to see both these occurrences.
I hope that this experience goes some distance towards triggering a lifelong love for learning about natural phenomena. If that is the case for even one of the students who attended, then this FEST was a success
Sohela:
Through my interactions with children and undertaking stand and fear exercise with them, I was moved by hearing how reflective children are. Children picked characters like Spiderman and while we adults are quick to dispose the comic characters and movie characters, children seem to connect with them through their universal values. It was even more inspiring to see how children were scaffolded to use their universal values and think about innovative technology that helps others, especially in today’s times when technology is becoming synonymous with danger. Children came up with ideas like making a box that can sense touch and ring the alarm. However, there were elements of playfulness and joy in everything children did which allowed me to slow down and observe how children learn, mostly by making and tinkering which is a process they adopted while playing games and while learning art + STEM.
The gradual change from children walking-in clueless to leaving with knowledge about makey-makey, and scratch allowed me to think of the impact that meaningfully engaging with children can unfold. I observed that even when children were not asked to be inclusive, they attempted to collaborate and make everyone feel included. This helped me to shift my perspective from believing that kids from diverse groups won’t comfortably mingle.
Apart from that, engaging with children was full of joy.
The camp also gave me opportunities to interact with and help my team members. Doing simple things like checking the LEDs that are working and the ones that aren’t was fun because it wasn’t just sorting LEDs but it was also preparing for the next day so that when children come and learn, the process is seamless.
Poonguzhali
I volunteered to support the STEAM fest. It gave me an opportunity to engage with children. I took part in many activities and I observed the quality of deep listening within myself. This camp helped me to learn a lot of new things and to exchange my thoughts with the kids I worked with. I feel grateful for being a part of the STEAM camp and thoroughly enjoyed the time spent supporting it.
Premkumar
My name is premkumar I deeply care about courage and equality for myself and others from the STEAM fest what I have learnt about myself is giving challenge to myself will make me grow more and give challenges to children will also help them to grow and I learnt that making an enabling environment for children to learn is must so that they can enjoy learning and they feel that the time they invest is not wasted. The best part of the programme is children come up with their own creative ideas which is appreciative and they enjoyed it the most. Children were at their at full potential which is the aim of the programme I am so glad to be part of this programme and I have enjoyed it throughout the whole process.
Tamilarasan
My name is Tamil, and I stand for courage and compassion for myself and others. Being the Team Leader of the yellowTeam at the five-day STEAM Fest in Auroville was an amazing experience. The event took place at Bharath Nivas and STEMLAND, featuring different activities each day such as Electronics, Biology, STEM Land, Forces, and Magnetism. This variety kept the children excited to learn something new every day.
In my role, I learned a lot about leadership. I made sure everyone was involved, helped resolve any issues, and kept things running smoothly so the children could learn without distractions.
On the last day, the children wore matching outfits to show our group’s unity. Organizing this camp taught me how much effort it takes to bring together many schools and facilitators to teach children.
Overall, the STEAM Fest was a rewarding experience that helped me grow as a leader
Choudery
My Name is Choudery, I stand for Justice and Equality for Myself and others.
In STEM FEST, I got an opportunity to support children with Electronics. A day strat with creating a team and then starts to explain the basics of electronics and components.
Topics chosen to teach children are
1. Find the Human body resistance
2. Identify the conducting and non – conducting material.
3.Glow LED using the body resistance.
4. Create a number using the 7 segment display.
When I start to work with children, they are very curious to learn electronics, they experience a taste of the small electric shock of a 9V battery. And then we ask them to find the body resistance, with the help of multimeter children set the multimeter to 2000 ohms and find their body resistance.This experiment was done in two ways with and without gel. In absence of gel the resistance value is high. Then children applied the gel in their hand tips and again checked the body resistance now the body resistance got reduced. This experiment gives the result that conductivity increases in the wet and decreases in dry surface. Then children start to find the conducting and non-conducting material inside the room using the multimeter in buzzer mode.This experiment helps the children to identify the conducting and nonconducting material in the room. Then children start to do the experiment using the LED. The children like to find the polarity of LED terminals. Children find the difference in the LED and Identify the polarity of the terminal like longer is +ve and shooter is -ve. After that children start to make numbers in a 7 segment display.
My reflection about STEM FEST is I Learn new things from the questions raised from children.
Ajay.I
I had a wonderful experience as the Team Leader of the Green Team in the STEAM Fest event, which was held at Bharath Nivas and STEMLAND for about five days in Auroville. Each day, we had different activities such as Electronics, Biology, STEM Land, Forces, and Magnetism. Since each day featured new activities, the children in our group were excited to learn something new every day.
This was a new experience for me, where I could see my leadership qualities as a Team Leader by involving everyone, resolving any issues the children had, and ensuring there were no misunderstandings among them so they could learn effectively and not disturb the facilitators conducting the sessions.
On the final day, the children were asked to wear the outfits given to them the day before to symbolize unity among the group. From this summer camp, I learned about the effort and involvement required to organize an event that involves many schools and their facilitators to provide children with knowledge on specific topics.
Sivaguruprasath
My name is Sivaguruprasath and I stand for courage, full potential and equanimity for myself and for others. I recollected the concepts that were learnt during my school days, especially the explanation of concept using materials were very much understanding for children as well. The children were enjoyed a lot and had fun also learnt the concepts. The coordinators and facilitators have done their job at their best. Volunteering the children at STEAM fest was a wonderful opportunity to understand the children better. I felt it is better to have activity sessions for children at their classes to make better understanding of the concepts.
SandhiyaBala
My name is SandhiyaBala. I stand for courage, care and happiness for myself and others. I noticed that I have learnt many things in different topics like force, electronics, biology , magnetism and stem land. Mainly I learnt how to interact and engage children while teaching and doing activities.
Arunkumar
My name is Arunkumar I stand for peace and equity for myself and others. The STEAM camp helped me to realise my leadership skills and care towards others.The children explored topics like Magnetism, Electronics, Biology,Force and Makey Makey. While leading them I also had a chance to learn every activities through real life practices which is completely different from what I learned during my schooldays. Overall children enjoyed the camp and they were enthusiastic to explore new things.