Anubhava Science Centre

testing

2009-12-25T10:57:00.000-08:00

Learning environment

2008-08-23T10:15:00.000-07:00

Observation:
Age : 8.5 yrs

This child looked as if she comes with lot of fear or scared of someone types. She took quite sometime to get to the concept of choosing an experiment, following the instructions and performing experiments. Off late she started opening up and found little comfortable in doing things and otherwise also. Today her mother said, the child goes for many classes like singing, dance, etc. But this is one class she loves to come from heart not that she likes science, may be because she likes this environment.

Views: Child starts learning after she/he is comfortable with the environment. Each child takes his/her own time to feel comfortable in an environment. Giving them the required space and time to feel comfortable is the first step towards helping them to learn.

Pace of learning

2008-08-23T10:12:00.000-07:00

Observation:
Age : 8 yrs

It is almost impossible to find out what the child has learnt and how much he has learnt when he/she is offered to learn through experiences. But it is possible at least to find out what we intend the child to learn minimum from what we offer. So there are different check points to find out whether we are really helping them to learn what we intend.

This Child comes for 5-7 age group sessions. First few classes there were no clue whether she was understanding anything at all or not. All our check points failed. It was almost like calling the parent and saying look there is some problem... we don't know how to handle. It was difficult to take that call as this method intended to help children learn in their own pace and in their own style. It was kind of a challenge to observe some more time patiently and see why this method does not work. 3 months passed the child definitely showed progress but still there was an element of doubt. Today it was clarified.

The child was offered to perform any number of experiments from the set she had covered so far. Child went on taking one after the other and had the explanation ready for the observations with each experiment. She did 5 experiments on her own remembering the steps for all in 1 hr. That was incredible compared to what we assessed the child in the first few sessions.

Views: It is very important to give the required space and time for a child to learn in her/his own pace especially till the child is settled. Also, our immediate assessment of a child need not be actual.

Freedom within boundaries

2008-08-12T06:20:00.000-07:00

Anubhava believes in giving children freedom to choose experiments. But this freedom comes with a boundary. Children are allowed to choose experiments in a set which is defined based on the level of concepts in any topic. Initially these sets are identified based on the fundamental concepts in number of topics. Gradually children are exposed to sets specific to each topic.
Sometimes based on the child's development need, facilitator helps the child to choose experiments.

Children are encouraged to do beyond what is mentioned in the instruction sheet. This is encouraged further by having a section in their observation report to mention the steps tried other than what is mentioned in the chart and to explain their observation in such a scenario.

Children have the freedom to repeat an experiment as many times as they want in the process of their exploration.

Experiences I cherish at Anubhava

2008-08-12T05:06:00.000-07:00

Anubhava Science Centre is an experiential learning environment not just for children but for facilitators too..

The most enjoyable sight for me in each session is children engrossed working on different experiments. Each child will be working on a different experiment without getting distracted by the nearby child performing some other interesting experiment. There is definitely a positive influence on children to choose those that seems interesting in other child's hand.

There is never a need to remind children to keep back the materials of an experiment they choose after completion. Not just keeping it back, children take lot of interest to clean their chowki's/desk and run to choose an other experiment.

When children are puzzled by their observations, they start applying all those concepts they have learnt in the relevant topic and check whether it fits into the logic of their observation. This is a great opportunity for children to reinforce and apply what they learn. And if they get it right or almost right it is a great pleasure to watch their sense of achievement.

Freedom to Repeat

2008-07-26T09:18:00.000-07:00

Observation:
Age: 9 yrs

Child is repeating the experiment number of times trying to think of the reason behind his observation. He is not bored of trying it more and more to understand the reason. Each time he is trying he is learning to think himself step by step. He reached a stage when he just wanted to understand and he was completely ready to absorb the explanantion. When explained, a big smile on his face manifested his sense of satisfaction in learning.

Views: Freedom to repeat provides an opportunity for a child to explore himself at his own pace. Providing help at the right time makes a difference in their absorption level.

Children's Feelings

2008-07-26T09:09:00.000-07:00

Observation:
Age: 6.5 yrs

First day the child had to be little forced to bring him to the class... After the class, child didn't want to go home. He wanted to stay some more time doing more experiments. In the next session mother comes and tells that he has been asking mother "when are we going to class ?" After the class, he says he wants to do some more experiments.

Views: Children enjoy learning science if they are offered in a right method

Freedom to choose

2008-07-26T06:10:00.000-07:00

Observation:
Age: 10.5 yrs

The child enters the centre saying "I got the reason why it happens..."
Takes the observation report sheet from his file and fills the section "why"
He chooses another experiment and says "last time I saw one girl was getting confused while doing this experiment. So today I wanted to take this experiment and try".

Views: Giving the freedom to choose an experiment motivates children to do and learn from within