An account of the outreach events conducted by ICTS during February.
BY ANUGRAHA A, ROSHINI GEORGE, DISHA KUZHIVELY, & IKBAL AHMED
ICTS-TIFR facilitated Science Week in February 2024. Students and teachers from various schools were engaged in visits to the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium and ICTS, and it was a week full of activities.
Day 1
It all started with an educational visit to the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium (JNP) on February 20th, when 185 students and 15 teachers from various government schools visited from 10 AM to 2 PM.
The students and teachers viewed the Kannada show ‘The Solar System’ at JNP. This educational presentation provided valuable insights into our solar system, enhancing the student’s understanding of celestial bodies and their interactions.
Day 2
Next, it was the turn of teachers to become students. On the 22nd of February, 19 Higher Secondary Physics teachers from Kerala who have been attending training sessions by H. R. Madhusudanan, JNP, since July 2023, facilitated by ICTS-TIFR, visited both ICTS and JNP.
The day started with a campus tour of the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS), which provided participants with an overview of the facilities and resources available. Faculty members Prof. Bala Iyer and Prof. Samriddhi Ray conducted a short talk and interactive session, allowing participants to engage in discussions and gain insights into contemporary physics research.
Following the informative session, a small laboratory tour was organised, accompanied by demonstrations of various experiments by Ikbal Ahmed, enriching the participants’ practical understanding of theoretical concepts.
In the afternoon, the participants were taken to the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium (JNP), where H. R. Madhusudanan conducted a series of optics experiments, offering participants hands-on experience in optics. Then, a screening of the JNP show titled ‘Gravity’ was arranged for all participants and registered staff from ICTS. This immersive presentation delved into the intriguing phenomenon of gravity, further enhancing the participants’ understanding of fundamental physics principles.
Day 3
Next, on the evening of February 23rd, ICTS hosted 36 children of ICTS staff for a Sky Watch facilitated by its Astro Club members and volunteers. Including their parents and other enthusiasts, the evening brought together a hundred people on the ICTS lawns and roof.
The event began with an introduction presentation on the overview of astronomy, moons, and galaxies.
The kids were divided into two batches: junior (6th to 8th grade) and senior (9th to 12th grade). For the junior batch, followed by a short presentation, a constellation drawing was arranged. The students used crayons and pencils and utilised the stars of the Leo constellation to make their own constellations.
In the meantime, the senior batch engaged in a trigonometry-based activity, measuring the distance from themselves to the top of the windmill tower. The students used the parallax method and grasped the concepts of trigonometry and distance measurement.
Afterwards, all the participants came together for a solar walk and a moon watch at dusk.
Then, two telescopes were set up on the terrace to observe the Moon and Jupiter and its moons.
Participants were given posters of the Orion Nebula image captured by the Astro Club as souvenirs. Then, a take-home activity on the moon phases was assigned.
The event fostered a memorable and educational experience for all attendees.
Day 4
On Monday, February 26th, was the Science Fair open day. Eight teachers and 95 students from government schools attended the ICTS event, which was focused on showcasing intuitive science experiments demonstrated by undergraduate students from universities around Bengaluru and graduate students from ICTS.
Concepts such as creating a magnetic field using windings of copper wires, surface tension on a soap film created with a circular frame and soap water made with household dishwashing liquid, conservation of angular momentum with a rotating bicycle wheel working as a gyroscope, and diamagnetism using grapes attached to two ends of a torsional pendulum and a powerful magnet were presented interactively.
This event also showcased fluid dynamics experiments, such as the Taylor-Couette cell, to demonstrate the effect of low Reynold’s number on the stability of a viscous flow and the formation of intricate patterns on a vibrating water surface due to Faraday instability. The shear thickening of corn starch solution was also demonstrated. The solution gets hardened as one takes the white, muddy solution in hand and presses it — on the other hand, when the pressure is stopped, it becomes very soft.
Another exhibition showcased the chirp of gravitational waves when two black holes merge using an in-house 3D-printed conical cylinder and pouring water into it. The concept of a perpetual machine using a Drinking Bird toy and a Sterling engine was also shown. In addition, interactive displays were used to show the impact of climate catastrophe on human civilisation.
With that came the end of Science Week in February 2024. We hope to continue this endeavour the next year as well.