SAIIER 2018:Auroville Tinkering School
 Auroville Film Festival 2017 |
 |
 Awareness Through the Body |
| Auroville Tinkering School | ||
The Tinkering School at Udavi School has the aim to enhance learning in maths, science and logical thinking. With minimum guidance, children choose to make things according to their interest. The Tinkering Studio has grown into a dedicated space where children can conceptualize projects and carry out science experiments, using the model kits and materials that we provide.
It is remarkable to see the children's interest, attention and power of concentration develop during these projects. The activities at the Tinkering Studio are mostly chosen by the students, although sometimes teachers guide individuals and work in small groups. Many students prefer to work alone and this has been encouraged too.
Description of project:
Students from Udavi and Deepanam schools experienced another successful year at the Tinkering School making various science projects and games. This year volunteers were also present with the children to provide minimum guidance during their tinkering activities. This proved helpful for the students when handling tools and unfamiliar materials. The space in which the students are engaged in tinkering creates an atmosphere of joy for learning and doing.
Over the past two years, with the financial assistance of SAIIER, the Tinkering School has improved and expanded in many areas including:
- The purchase of materials essential to the success of the program. The physical space of the studio is now more organised, with mini tools and science equipment enabling a rich variety of experimental work.
- An outdoor space has been built to accommodate more students into the future.
Students from Grades 7, 8 and 9 used the lab twice a week as their chosen optional activity. Various resources, materials and equipment are made available for them to work with. Some resources come with instructions that the students need to read first: science kits, soldering irons, connecting switches. Wood in a variety of sizes and shapes is available to inspire a variety of responses (animals, boats). One student happily explored the inner workings of a DVD player for two days. He harvested a few motors from it and used them in the construction of a toy car.
During the year, two Grade 7 students who wanted to create animal shapes using available materials, finally made a horse. A Grade 6 student was inspired by seeing this work and wished to create something similar. Finally he decided to make other animals using similar materials. It was heartening to see how learning took place in an inspirational and sharing environment.
Two more students from Grade 7 wanted to make an “air cooler”. After watching a video of the project they made a list of required gadgets and devices (table fan, 12v water pump, copper tube, 12v adopter, water tank, switches, socket pin, wire, etc). When everything was in place, both of them started to assemble the cooler as they wanted to, adapting ideas from the video to suit their own purpose. After 2 days of improvisation, replacement and substitution they had successfully built their own air cooler.
Some 6th standard students took on a 3-week project working with simple circuits as part of their science program. They began by studying the functions of some circuit kits which had been purchased for the purpose. After gaining this understanding, this study led on to each student making a model of a different object using the same principle of simple circuits: lamp, buzzer, decorative light and bell. All the projects were displayed during the Open House at Udavi School.
Sundar of STEM Land has been using the Tinkering Studio to carry out his lessons with 5th and 6th graders in the primary section of Udavi. A short report from him continues as follows.
- 1. Building an Infinity Cube with the 6th graders. Along with the 6th graders from Udavi school, the children wanted to build something as a model for their Open House. Then I remembered a lesson of paper folding introduced by Ravi in Isai Ambalam school a few weeks before, and one thing that really amazed me was an infinity cube he had built. This idea came to me and along with the children it was decided to convert their cubes to an infinity cube. The children started folding and cutting to get the job done. After a few sessions the infinity cubes were ready as they wanted to exhibit them during the Open House. It was a very good experience altogether.
- 2. Building of name board with SSDs (seven segment display). The idea of a name board for the class came to the mind of a few children in grade 6. In order to get this project completed, interested students were guided on the workings of a multi-meter, to check for the connections in the bread board and to test the SSD’s. Once the multi-meters were functional, we started to hack and learn the connections in the bread board by testing for connectivity. Then each child was given a CA (common anode) SSD and asked to bias them to find out the corresponding light settings for each segment. With the available information they gathered they begun to build the name boards.
Reflections:
The one thing that always stands out during the tinkering activities is the focused and fully engaged energy of the children, each absorbed to their highest capacity. The children were always ready to come to the studio at any time of the day, ready to engage with ideas. Perhaps the most important educational outcome that has been learned from working in the Tinkering Studio is how beneficial this hands-on approach is to the development of the whole child and how the inclusion of such a program into the whole school curriculum would be highly effective.
The students were engaged through many levels of learning: the development of gross and fine motor skills, the development of imaginative and inquiring minds, solution-seeking and creative thinking, investigative and problem-based learning, the development of questioning minds, being able to collect and collate data, being able to clarify and refine problems and to work independently and collaboratively. This approach to learning serves every child well, for each child has the capacity to work at their own level and to drive their own learning and development to the best of their capability. There are no rights and wrongs but rather a rich journey of learning.
Last year it was quite challenging to find someone with the teaching qualities prepared to commit to the rigors of the program. It was learnt that a person not only has to be committed, but also, like the students, open minded.
Conclusion:
We would like to see Tinkering Schools established in such a way so that each and every child has a chance to experience the beauty of diverse and open learning and realise its benefits for the future.
We would like to see within three years every school in and around Auroville establish a tinkering studio offering activities which will enable students to develop the life-long learning skills as promoted through this hands-on approach. We are already in touch with Deepanam and Aikiyam Schools with a proposal for tinkering projects starting from July 2018.
Finally, we would like to thank you very much for supporting the project and we look forward to many more successful years.