Workshop on Science Exhibition Ideas

Science Exhibition was around the corner and the ever-enthusiastic students were looking for ideas to put their brains to work and were requesting their teachers for ideas. The moment was ripe for flushing out ideas through brainstorming. The teachers came together to generate ideas for the Science Exhibition. Aravind Raja of GMS Mudaliarpet and the members of the foundation facilitated the session. He began sharing ideas – some tried and tested by his students, and others which he found exciting and doable. As the discussion progressed, the teachers posed questions and shared their thoughts, too. The article below summarizes some of the ideas shared and discussed during the session.

Low cost Refrigerator

This was one of the interesting concepts. Low cost refrigeration system can be made by placing an earthen pot within another earthen pot. There were doubts on placing a pot within another pot, as the pot has a small mouth. It became clear when it was explained that the system was made as a whole to suit the purpose of refrigeration. This works like the cooling of water inside an earthen pot. Heat is removed from the pot as evaporation occurs through the pores in the pot. This eco-friendly refrigerator can keep vegetables fresh for a week.

Multi-purpose Solar Heater

The multipurpose solar heater has plastic pipes fixed on the rooftop and water is passed through the pipe. This serves the dual purpose of providing 2 to 5 litres of UV disinfected hot water every day, and preventing direct sunlight from hitting the rooftop, thereby minimising the heat flow through the roof.

Sub-irrigated Plant

We find plastic water bottles littered everywhere, be it parks, beaches, roadside, playground or any other place. The objective is to make use of these bottles to grow plants. These bottles are designed in such a way that the roots draw water through wicks or twisted paper towels by capillary action, to conserve water. It looks quite stylish and refreshing when the aesthetically-designed bottles have the greenery inside them. Nevertheless, the waste plastic bottles are also converted to a resource. This brilliant concept of sub-irrigated plant can be used to reduce plastic pollution and will also help in plantation utilizing very minimal resources.

Exploring How Water Travels through Leaves

Plants absorb water, but how does it travel through leaves is not readily observable. The bright green colour of leaves drives away our attention from looking at the vein system that a leaf has. Dipping leaves in coloured water helps to visualise how water is transported through veins in leaves. Another method to remove chlorophyll from leaves is to use hot water and observe the exposed veins.

Solar Cooker

The idea is to harness solar energy for cooking. This project uses a cardboard and aluminium foil to do low energy cooking, like boiling vegetables. When this cooker was used to prepare Mambditantra – a mango dish from Andhra Pradesh – the drying time was reduced to a few hours, which was far lesser compared to the usual two days, it takes to dry under direct sunlight. As the angle of inclination affects the performance of the cooker, we had to fix on the optimum inclination angle for Pondicherry location. The optimum angle for Pondicherry, based on the facilitator’s knowledge was 45 degrees.

Bird Feeder

Converting waste to resource, this time, plastic bottles were used to store bird feed. Aravind Raja said that even the number of sparrows in his home had gone up from two to fifteen after deploying bird feeders. In total, his primary students contributed to conserve around 15,000 sparrows through these bird feeders.

Crystal Making

There were interesting discussions on making crystals using sugar, alum and borax. Cooling Naphthalene after heating it up to 60 degree Celsius, helps in visualising the crystal formation process.

Harmful Effects of Smoking

A simple model can demonstrate the harmful effects of smoking to create awareness. Through this model, the teacher demonstrated how lungs acted as a sponge and absorbed the smoke. This model had a plastic bottle with a hole for placing the cigarette. Cotton was puffed into the bottle. Pressing and releasing of bottle drew in smoke from the cigarette. The cotton turned brown due to the presence of Nicotine in the cigarette smoke. Wet cotton provides better deposition of nicotine.

Bubble Science

Bubbles can be used to explain a number of concepts including but not limited to: surface tension, interference of light, the strength of a beehive, all geometrical shapes etc. This is exciting for students and adults. The solution for making bubbles should be made by mixing 30 to 40 ml of glycerine, 300 ml of Vim dish-wash liquid and 3 litres of water. Care should be taken not to generate foam while dissolving and the solution should be allowed to stay overnight.  The teachers were drawn deep into the idea of bubbles that they began asking questions on the effect of increasing or decreasing ingredients like glycerine and how to increase the popping time. Glycerine makes the solution thick delaying evaporation and hence increases the popping time. Corn syrup can also be used instead of glycerine.

Water-Corn Flour mixture: A Non-Newtonian Fluid

What happens when you mix corn flour and water in a 2:1 proportion? It is interesting to see the peculiar behaviour of the mixture, allowing for a slow insertion of spoon into it, but restricting a swift insertion. The reason is because the mixture is a non-Newtonian fluid and hence behaved the way, under a mechanical stress. A non-Newtonian fluid changes its viscosity under stress.

Low Cost Telescope

We can make a low-cost telescope, at around 200 rupees, to study astronomical events like eclipses and astronomical bodies, like the Sun and the Moon. This telescope can be made from PVC pipe available at local stores. A convex lens is placed at one end of the pipe and a concave lens is placed as an eye-piece. Such a telescope can be used to observe the craters in the moon and the sun-spots; students can even measure the size of sun spots.

Chlorophyll or No Chlorophyll

There are plants whose leaves do not appear green. These leaves are actually masked by other pigments like carotenoids, which usually appear yellow to orange, and anthocyanin, which appear red to purple. By performing chromatography, it can be shown that these plants too contain chlorophyll.

Interesting Facts on Seed Dispersal

The world of living organisms can also be showcased as exhibits as there are important aspects in their structure. Living organisms also have properties that benefit mankind. Calotropis, a commonly seen plant has a parachute like structure to aid seed dispersal. The sweet coating of Cassia acts as a food for seed till it sprouts. Coconut has features that make it salt-resistant, water proof and buoyant, thus making it suitable to be dispersed through sea water. The form and structure of all living organisms serves a certain purpose and can be presented in exhibitions to understand how this helps the organism in its life.

Interdependency of Living Organisms and their Uses

The interdependency of living organisms and their uses to humankind is a significant area of study. Azolla – an aquatic plant - acts as a bio-fertilizer by fixing Nitrogen to soil through its symbiotic relationship with Anabena – Cyanobacteria. The discussion on the extinction of Dodo bird and the importance of the excreta of various birds for sprouting of different seeds exemplify the interdependency between various organisms.  The extract of Duranta plant and Nochi has the mosquito repelling property. This extract can be mixed with candle wax and the candle can be used as a mosquito repellent. All these are not just facts, but exhibiting them during Science exhibitions would generate interest in the students and teachers as well, and underline the importance of the living world around us.

The enthusiasm of teachers was amazing and the children who accompanied them were bubbling with curiosity during demonstrations and activities. The participants enjoyed the collective construction of knowledge on various topics on Science. They left motivated, to guide their students in making exciting science exhibits.