Chhote Scientists & NCF 2023

 Chhote Scientists: An educational initiative to Enrich Science Learning

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National Curriculum Framework for School Education 2023

Science education at Jnana Prabodhini aims to build students' motivation, attitude, skill development, and content enrichment in science. It seeks to instil  scientific temper and curiosity in students, inspiring them to explore science and apply it in their lives. Along with the acquisition of scientific content and its methods, science education at Jnana Prabodhini aims to nurture scientific attitude and scientific temper in learners. Educational exposures and activities at Jnana Prabodhini emphasize the development of scientific temper, logical thinking, innovation, and creativity.

The purpose and objectives of science education as stated in the New Education Policy 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education 2023 align with the purpose of science education stated at Jnana Prabodhini. The New Education Policy emphasizes the need to develop a scientific temper, logical thinking, and innovation. The policy recognizes the importance of integrating science education with other subjects and practical applications and providing hands-on learning opportunities. The policy also aims to foster curiosity and creativity in students, preparing them for future challenges and opportunities.

Project Chhote Scientists is an initiative started a decade ago by Jnana Prabodhini and KPIT Technologies to promote scientific attitude and skill development in students from different regions of India. Through the program, students from different regions of India have had the opportunity to participate in hands-on experiments and activities, which help them better understand scientific concepts and apply them to everyday life.

Need of Chhote Scientists:

The Chhote Scientists program is a complementary educational initiative designed to address the limitations of science education in schools. 

School activities and curricular designs often prioritize the memorization of facts and information, leaving little time for the process of inquiry, which should be central to learning science. The Chhote Scientists program allows for exploration and discussion, providing space and time for students to engage in the process of inquiry.

Science education also requires access to apparatus, equipment, and laboratories, which are often not available in schools due to their expense. The Chhote Scientists program is designed with low-cost and easily available materials, making it accessible to a wider range of students.

The limited opportunity for students to engage with the nature and processes of science within schools further emphasizes the need for the Chhote Scientists program. It provides a platform for students to explore science beyond the boundaries of the classroom, encouraging them to acquire skills required for science learning and develop a deeper understanding of scientific concepts and principles. Considering the need and challenges in science education, the Chhote Scientists initiative is a necessity that can complement and enhance the science education experience for students.

Science education has been a key area of experimentation and research in Prabodhini for the last three decades. Many attempts have been made to develop scientific attitude in high-school students, and the Chhote Scientists program is one of the initiatives started a decade ago with the support of KPIT Technologies. 

Its objectives are as follows:

Objectives of Chhote scientists:

1.    To provide every student with an opportunity to perform hands-on experiments and improve their understanding of science concepts through inquiry-based learning using simple, cheap, and readily available materials, thus making science education more accessible for students from remote areas.

2.    To enrich the skills required for learning science and acquire scientific competencies, which will help develop a deeper understanding of scientific concepts and principles, and engage with the nature and processes of science beyond the classroom.

3.    To provide a space for students to engage in the process of inquiry, which is central to learning science, by allowing them to explore and discuss scientific concepts beyond the constraints of traditional curricula.

4.    To provide participants with a fun and engaging learning experiences that complements the school syllabus, inspiring them to explore the world around them and apply knowledge from science books to their day-to-day lives.

5.    To provide a platform for participants to apply scientific knowledge and skills learned during Chhote Scientists to scientific inquiry and problem-solving by challenging them to design and build models that address real-world problems.

            Chhote Scientist is a complementary program that enhances the science education experience for students by providing a platform for them to explore science in a more interactive and engaging way while addressing the limitations of traditional curricula and infrastructure.

Design of Chhote scientists:

1.    Chhote Scientists for Upper Primary/ Middle school Students:

The Chhote Scientists modules designed for students from 5th to 7th standard focus on helping them acquire various skills required for performing experiments. The program aims to develop skills such as observation, questioning, classification, information and data processing, and experiment design. The emphasis is on providing students with a space to explore science beyond traditional curricula, allowing them to engage in the process of inquiry through discussion and exploration.

2.    Chhote Scientists for Secondary Students:

For concept enrichment in science, inquiry-based hands-on activities are essential.  Chhote Scientists for secondary classes aims at inquiry-based hands-on activities. The program designed for 8th-10th standard students focuses on developing the foundation of key ideas and concepts in science that have a wider application. Based on some basic concepts in physics, chemistry, and biology, the program encourages students to explore different attributes of concepts. The program also connects scientific concepts to the world around them and day-to-day life events.

3.    V Solve Competition:

V Solve Competition is a platform for Chhote Scientists participants to develop and apply their scientific knowledge and skills learned during the program in scientific inquiry and problem-solving. The competition challenges students to design and build models that address real-world problems. This provides students with an opportunity to apply the scientific concepts they have learned in a practical context, and to develop their problem-solving skills. This competition serves as an incentive for students to excel in science and encourages them to pursue science-related careers.

Pedagogical approach in Chhote scientist sessions:

1.    Inquiry-based learning in science education involves asking questions, exploring, collecting data, analyzing, and drawing conclusions to develop scientific understanding. Chhote scientists’ activity plans involve helping students explore the world around them by asking questions, hypothesizing, observing, testing, finding evidence, collecting data, analyzing, modifying conclusions, communicating, and re-questioning. By engaging in this process, students develop a deeper understanding of scientific concepts and principles.

2.    In the Deductive Method, facts are deduced by the application of established formulas or experimentation. In this method, one proceeds from general to particular principles, from unknown to known and from abstract to concrete facts. Chhote scientists take a didactic approach in lesson planning, involving designing activities that involve students in observing, questioning, experimenting, recording, and finding conclusions.

3.    The guided inquiry process emphasizes on the Scientists in the "Chhote-scientists program." The primary objective of guided inquiry is to promote student learning towards and through investigation. This approach in lesson designing assists teachers to target science process skills and higher-order thinking skills. Guided inquiry and exploration are important aspects of the pedagogical approach in Chhote Scientists sessions. This involves helping students identify and explore components of experiments and scientific toys, as well as identify and test variables to find out causal relationships which are at the core of any scientific inquiry. By providing guided inquiry, students can explore systems as projects, taking them from experimentation to a project-based exploration approach.

4.    Problem-solving is a key pedagogical approach in Chhote Scientists. As an instructional tool, problem-solving attempts to situate the learning of scientific ideas and practices in an applicative context, thus providing an opportunity to transform science learning into an active, relevant, and motivating experience. The Problem-solving Competition in Chhote Scientists helps participants to develop and apply their scientific knowledge and skills learned during the program in scientific inquiry and problem-solving. It challenges students to design and build models that address real-world problems. This provides students with an opportunity to apply the scientific concepts they have learned in a practical context and to develop their problem-solving skills.

5.    To promote collaborative learning, Chhote Scientists activities are promoted using demonstrations, paired tasks, and group tasks to facilitate hands-on science learning with an inquiry-based approach.

 

Jnana Prabodhini and KPIT have jointly conducted these sessions for more than 150,000 students from middle schools and secondary schools in urban, rural, and tribal areas in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, etc. 

The Chhote Scientists project is important because it provides students with the opportunity to engage with the nature and processes of science in a hands-on way. The program helps to develop students' scientific attitude, inquiry skills, and scientific knowledge, and it also enriches the skills required for learning science and acquiring scientific competencies.

 

Features of science education as stated in National Curriculum Framework for School Education 2023

Aims:

a.     Developing understanding of scientific knowledge: Students develop an understanding of the concepts, principles, laws, and theories, and process capacities of science in keeping with their developmental stage. They use this understanding to explore and make sense of the world independently and in collaboration with peers.

b.    Developing the ability to use the scientific method: Students develop the ability to put forth arguments, predict, analyse, draw logical conclusions, take decisions and evaluate situations using the scientific method.

c.     Developing an understanding of how scientific knowledge evolves: Students develop a historical and developmental perspective of science. They understand that scientific knowledge developed as a result of the efforts of many individuals across many years. They also understand how the methods of science evolved over time.

d.    Developing an understanding of the connection between science and other curricular areas: Students view science as part of a larger canvas of disciplines. They become aware of interlinkages across disciplines. They understand that concepts, principles, laws and theories cannot be viewed as isolated parts, but together contribute to a holistic understanding of the world.

e.     Developing an understanding of the relationship between science, technology, and society: Students appreciate the contribution of science to society, and how different societal needs led to the generation of scientific knowledge. They develop an understanding of issues related to connections between science, technology, and society, including the ethical aspects and implications.

f.      Developing a scientific temper: Students develop critical and evidence-based thinking, and freedom from fear and prejudice. They develop curiosity, a sense of aesthetics, and creativity in science. They imbibe scientific values and dispositions – honesty, integrity, scepticism, objectivity, tenacity, perseverance, collaboration and cooperation, concern for life, preservation of the environment.

Rationale for Selection of Essential Concepts

Middle Stage

Essential concepts that are part of the Learning Standards for this Stage are chosen based on the following rationale.

a.     Relate to the students’ observations of their immediate environment, from a small scale to a large scale.

b.    Help students find scientific explanations for a variety of commonly observed and experienced phenomena

c.     Help students see differences and relationships between different parts of their environment

d.    Help students engage with common experiences, and ‘see’ them through the lens of science

e.     Help students engage with aspects of their daily life that are of immediate interest and concern

f.      Help students engage with the nature and processes of science

g.    Help students develop values and dispositions

Secondary Stage

 Essential concepts that are part of the Learning Standards for the Secondary Stage are chosen based on the following rationale.

a.     Help students to develop foundations of key ideas in science that have wider application

b.    Help students to explain processes and materials around them in scientific terms

c.     Help students to engage with what they cannot ‘see’ to provide explanations for what they can observe

d.    Help students to see patterns in the world and to organise them to form generalisations

e.     Help students to identify and manipulate variables to develop causal relationships

f.      Help students to represent the world in scientific terms, draw inferences, and make predictions

g.    Help students formalise their observations and understanding in the form of generalisation and mathematisation

h.    Help students to understand the contribution of India to the world’s scientific knowledge

i.      Help students to develop a multidisciplinary understanding of science, and its linkages with other curricular areas.

j.      understanding of the nature and processes of science.

Principles of Content Selection

a.     Content should be connected to the students’ lives and surroundings to the maximum possible extent.

b.    Content should enable the progression of concepts and build complexity across stages.

c.     Content should provide opportunities to actively engage in the process of scientific inquiry as relevant for the stage.

d.    Content should allow a comprehensive assessment of process capacities at each stage.

e.     Content should enable an adequate sense of achievement at each stage – while concepts become complex across stages, milestones can be defined for subsidiary concepts that are complete and whole.

f.      Content should provide opportunities for students to engage in extended durations of inquiry.

g.    Content should cater to the diverse needs of students.

h.    Content must develop the ability to use the language of science.

i.      Content should prepare students to engage with life as a responsible member of the community, as well as a career in scientific professions.

j.      Content should enable students to examine and practice scientific values and other values in the NEP 2020.

k.    Content must enable integration across and within curricular areas.

Pedagogic Principles:

Science pedagogy across stages must be informed by the following principles:

a.     Learning science requires the active engagement of students with the world around them to understand it. Science pedagogy achieves this through:

i. Simulating the processes of science such as asking questions, hypothesising, observing, testing, finding evidence, collecting data, analysing, modifying conclusions, communicating, and re-questioning.

ii. Exposing students to a variety of aspects of learning science in varied settings – the laboratory, classroom, and field – through approaches such as inquiry, discovery, didactic, and hands-on science.

iii. Encouraging and sustaining curiosity by providing varied experiences that may challenge students’ existing notions and ideas.

b.    Learning science requires communication and sharing of ideas and observations.

c.     Learning science requires a gradual increase in the capacity to engage with complex and abstract ideas, aligned with the cognitive and procedural capacities of students.

d.    Learning science requires making linkages of knowledge for the holistic and multidisciplinary learning emphasized in the NEP 2020. Science pedagogy achieves this through:

i. Connecting scientific knowledge inside and outside the classroom.

ii. Horizontal connections with other curricular areas.

e.     Learning science enables the development of certain values, such as collaboration, sensitivity, empathy, equality of opportunities, respect for diversity and other values mentioned in NEP 2020.

f.      Learning science must be done in a variety of settings – classroom, field and laboratory. An appropriate combination of approaches and settings can be used to teach a concept. The approach and setting chosen should not affect the attainment of learning outcomes and competencies.

Recommended Pedagogical Approaches:

a.               Hands-on science

b.              Discovery approach

c.               Inquiry approach

d.              Project-centred approach

e.               Didactic approach

f.                Demonstration

The Chhote Scientists project aligns well with the new educational policy 2020 and the national curriculum framework 2023 for school education in India. The aims of science education in the NCF 2023 are to develop an understanding of scientific knowledge, develop scientific skills and attitudes, and enable students to apply their scientific knowledge and skills to daily life. 

The Chhote Scientists project aims to achieve these goals and has been successful in promoting scientific inquiry. In the coming years, we aim to reach unreachable students across India to nourish their scientific temper through Chhote Scientists sessions as complementary brain meals.

Prashant Divekar

Jnana Prabodhini, Pune