Written by Nethra Singhi Conventionally, education happens within the four walls of a classroom. In the same room, day in and day out, children and teachers tackle multiple essential concepts that would benefit from being observed in real life rather than from a textbook. It becomes a tedious process to go through every day and can suck the joy out of learning. A change in scenery is a good solution to this problem. In fact, taking classes in natural scenery is excellent for multiple reasons. Called outdoor education, this concept is being adopted by many non-conventional educational systems and is a cornerstone of Montessori education. What are the types of outdoor education? Outdoor education can happen in many forms. One way is taking students out during class to study or observe — especially when talking about plants or animals that they can watch outdoors. Another is a field trip or outdoor excursion. Yet another form of outdoor education is taking classes outdoors. It can also take the form of camp or weekend trips. In whatever form outdoor teaching happens, it has many benefits for children, especially those in kindergarten and primary schools. However, according to multiple studies, even adult education has improved with outdoor learning. Here are nine main reasons why: Benefits of outdoor education Supports child development: Studies have shown that students who learn outdoors develop: a sense of self, independence, confidence, creativity, decision-making and problem-solving skills, empathy towards others, motor skills, self-discipline and initiative. Fosters active, hands-on, inquiry-based learning: When children observe a phenomenon in real life, they are automatically curious about why it happens. This curiosity leads to greater interest. Moreover, learning outdoors provides ample opportunities to be hands-on — this way, they take charge of their own learning. Reduces stress levels: Being in a natural environment is good for mental health. It calms the mind and is a good stress-reliever. Thus it provides a beneficial backdrop for learning. Greater motivation and engagement: Physical activity outdoors stimulates children and relaxes them enough to be calm when back indoors. They are happier and more eager to learn once the excess energy is shaken off. This leads to greater engagement in class because they’re focused on the task at hand. Improves performance: Many studies have linked outdoor education to better performance in standardised tests and exams. Because of the above reason, children are more likely to understand the subjects taught and take a more active role in their learning. This leads to retaining concepts, analysing them correctly, and better answering questions in the exam paper. Builds a sense of community: When parents and townspeople are involved in the school’s outdoor activities, maybe in a camp or fair, it fosters the sense of community in children. They see the roles people play in a society and try to emulate the same. Enhances social skills: When working in groups, while playing a game, or doing an outdoor activity, children learn teamwork and cooperation. Their communication skills also improve, and they come to know how to connect with people from different walks of life. Makes children environmentally conscious: Being in nature and seeing how human activities affect the environment make children more motivated to live sustainably. When they know how the ecosystem works, they’ll do their best to preserve it. Makes room for interdisciplinary studies: Learning outdoors gives many segues into different subjects to which the concept is related. For instance, children learn about photosynthesis and plant reproduction while also learning how their practices can potentially harm the process. When star-gazing, they can learn about astronomy and aviation. There are multiple angles from which a world problem needs to be looked at, and this interdisciplinary approach will equip them with the ability to do so. How you can incorporate outdoor education into your curriculum There are multiple ways to incorporate outdoor learning into the syllabus. From taking class outdoors to making children observe plants and insects in the school’s backyard, there is not much investment schools need to make outdoor learning possible. Starting with a game that children can play outdoors is a fun way to introduce a concept and gain their attention and interest. Outdoor excursions or field trips to nearby farms, gardens etc., also help foster hands-on learning. If children learn how to plant a seed or take care of an animal, they’ll intuitively pay attention to how these things work and the science behind them. Organising a star-gazing night is another low-cost way an Agastya centre recently adopted, making children observe stars and constellations in groups. These are just a few of the many opportunities that make outdoor education possible. All that is needed is a little bit of creativity and devising activities that get the children to pay attention. This will help reap the benefits of outdoor learning and make school a memorable time for children.

The Philosophy of Education is a reflection on the nature, aims and problems of education. It is a branch of applied philosophy that borrows from epistemology, metaphysics, language etc. It looks at both the theoretical and practical aspects of education from a philosophical angle. Now, because educational practice is so vast and varied around the world, there are, of course, variations in the philosophy of education as well. In the last nine articles of this series, we’ve covered a handful of history’s most impactful educational philosophers, from Plato to Tagore. What did they have in common? And how do their thoughts on education coincide with the Agastya Way of Learning? This article rounds up the educational philosophy series by pondering upon these questions. We covered Plato, Confucius, al-Kindi, Erasmus, Bacon, Descartes, Locke, Rousseau and Tagore in the previous articles. All these philosophers have something in common regarding their thoughts on education. They all believed education was the founding stone of life, and to achieve specific goals in society, children were to be educated a certain way. The method manifested in different ways, stemming from the branch of philosophy they subscribed to or, in many cases, founded. But the purpose of education was the fundamental belief in the smooth functioning of societies through the personal development of its individuals. Many believed in the child’s capacity to learn and grow, whether inherent or nurtured. Hence, more emphasis was placed on creating an environment to support child development and the teacher’s role in creating and upkeeping this environment. Yet, these ideals are scarcely visible when one looks at the current education system. Instead of a space where children are encouraged to learn independently, there is a culture of spoonfeeding information and not emphasising developing the child’s ability to rationalise and reason. This is where the Agastya Way of Learning comes into play. We believe in the philosophers’ ideas of creating a learning space where children don’t just learn by rote but by doing. They are the central player in their education. The Agastya Way Of Learning The process of “Aah! Aha! Ha-Ha!” is called the Agastya Way of Learning. What does this stand for? The Aah indicates the curiosity one has about phenomena around them. The Aha is for when one conducts experiments and arrives at an explanation for their curiosity. The Ha-Ha stands for the joy gained during this process of learning. This is the tenet Agastya’s learning modules are based on. They are designed to aid the above process, ultimately resulting in the child getting invested in and taking responsibility for their own learning. It aims to spark curiosity, creativity and confidence in children. How? We conduct and promote hands-on learning through activities that engage a child. A good example of this is our Creativity Campus in Kuppam, where there are multiple spaces in the seat of nature (a la Shantiniketan) designed to create a calm, curious learning environment. All labs at the campus are filled with demonstrative models and learning models that a child can interact with, trying to understand why they behave the way they do. The principle of learning by doing is a must-follow at Agastya. Thus, lessons are conducted with an equal amount of reading and playing, incorporating a child’s sensory experiences and memories. This is followed in all learning centres of Agastya across the country. Children are put at the centre of education, as advocated by Rousseau, Locke, Bacon, etc. Teachers are guided to become guides on the child’s learning journey. They are trained to ask leading questions, encourage debate and discussion and nurture a child’s logical and social skills while teaching the fundamentals of the given subject and concept. Why Is Agastya’s Way Of Leaning Beneficial? Multiple studies have shown that active, hands-on, inquiry-based learning is one of the best-employed learning methods. This is Agastya’s core philosophy. This type of learning engages a child’s mind and allows them to understand a topic rather than merely memorise it. Hands-on learning has also been proven to improve test performance, class engagement, critical thinking and social skills in children. Thus, the Aah! Aha! Ha-Ha method is an innovative approach toward such learning, incorporating Indian and Western educational philosophies and providing the best of both worlds.

The Agastya’s Campus Creativity Lab at Kuppam is designed to provide children with the best learning environment and equipment. It strives to truly invoke children’s curiosity and enable them to learn by themselves instead of hand-feeding information that students learn by rote for the sole purpose of school. This series of articles aims to provide a glimpse of the different labs and spaces on the campus and how they aid the process of “Aah! Aha! Ha-Ha!” the Agastya Way of Learning. What does this stand for? The Aah indicates the curiosity one has about phenomena around them. The Aha is for when one conducts experiments and arrives at an explanation for their curiosity. The Ha-Ha stands for the joy and confidence gained during this learning process. The Math Park at the Campus Creativity Lab is dedicated to Srinivasa Ramanujan, the brilliant mathematician of India. It is inspired by Ramji Raghavan’s (the co-founder of Agastya) visit to Ramanujan’s wife, who mourned that nobody remembered her husband’s genius and contributions to the field of mathematics. Hence, through the park, Agastya hopes to keep his memory alive. The entrance to the math lab The Ramanujan Math Park is an outdoor learning space filled with life-size models, games and other interactive activities. Art, Design and Math blend at the Ramanujan Math Park to make learning fun and immersive. The main objective of the Math Park is to promote greater engagement with mathematics and understand the fundamentals of math. We achieve this by using hands-on interactive approaches through exhibits that demonstrate connections between math and other fields. Aerial view of the Ramanujan Math Park We aim to provoke greater engagement not only among students and teachers but also among the parents and the community at large. The idea is to make learning a community practice and use it to increase dialogue and discussion amongst the whole society. Students and teachers can look at it as cooperative learning, where they can discuss, use their hands and play while learning. The lab is designed this way to remove the fear barrier between the learners and the teachers in a conventional classroom. In a traditional classroom, teachers are often put in a place of authority, and the children are discouraged from engaging in dialogue with them or asking too many questions. Teachers fear they would not have time to discuss a topic in too much detail, lest they are unable to cover the whole syllabus. Thus, in the lab, they can use demonstrative and hands-on models to explain subjects more clearly and engage in fruitful discussions with their pupils. The lab helps the students connect what they’ve learned in the classroom with real-life situations. The math park propagates the prototyping of creative math models to improve methods of teaching. Hence, it is not about equations on the blackboard but about seeing math in nature and day-to-day life through interactive learning. In the words of Ramji Raghavan , “the Ramanujan Math Park uses tabletop models and life-size demonstrations that facilitate the Aah! Aha! Ha-Ha! Way of learning.” Inside the indoor lab connected to the Ramanujan Math Park, the models combine math with music, physics, art, architecture, and many other fields. At the end of the day, children see that math is not about hypothetical numbers and problem-solving but that math is everywhere, in everything. A model demonstrating Math in Music The Math Lab also houses imaginary exhibits on touch screens with geometric patterns, 3D models etc., that make a child curious about what’s happening, making them click on the I button to read more information. They invoke the curiosity that is the starting step of learning. One of the exhibits inthe Imaginary Exhibits Room Srinivasa Ramanujan embodies the spirit of curiosity, creativity, inclusion and inspiration. These aspects helped create the genius from the obscure government school that the world today remembers. The Agastya Ramanujan Math Park hopes to invoke the spirit of Ramanujan in visitors who leave with a new perspective that involves all these aspects.

Summer camps are a community where children come together to have fun while learning lifelong lessons. They help children start developing a sense of independence while trying new adventures. Agastya’s summer camps are known for their safe environment and the fun activities for kids that they provide. This month we kicked off summer camps in 103 centres in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka. More are going to start next month in North India, Tamil Nadu etc. So what do Agastya’s summer camps consist of? As established in many previous articles, Agastya’s philosophy of education is centred on active, hands-on experimental learning. Aah! Aha! Ha-Ha! is the journey we take a child on, from curiosity about a subject to a complete understanding of it through a series of activities and games. This philosophy of education continues to be a cornerstone even in Agastya’s summer camps. The duration of the centres ranges from 2 to 6 days, depending on the centres and the age of the children attending them. Children attending one of the many sessions at Agastya’s summer camp Activities in the camp are focused on creative learning of the sciences, keeping the child’s desire to learn alive even during school holidays, for instance, in one of the centres in Gujarat, Stone painting, Craftwork, Leaf painting, Low-cost model making etc. Many camps also celebrated World Earth Day on the 22nd of April this month. In Karnataka, 4th Std Student Neela Basarkod gave an excellent speech on the topic, citing the urgent need for everyone to take care of the environment and planet. In the Bagalkot centre, the festivities kicked off with the chief guest watering the plants at the centre. In Maharashtra, children made low-cost water feeders for birds. A bird feeder model by a child Overall, the activities are designed to make a child curious to learn even out of the classroom. These activities include learning how plants and machines work, have games surrounding many different topics, and provide an overall sense of learning that does not restrict the child or make it feel like a task to them. Joyous smiles at the inauguration of one of the summer camps Needless to say, children love the camp and approach it with a sense of wonder. Many have stated it as a core memory as part of their time with Agastya and thoroughly enjoyed the plethora of fun they had with their friends.

Are you worried that summer vacation means learning will take a backseat with your children? That need not be the case! With these 8 easy activities, you can ensure that your child does some summer learning while also having the summer fun! Art and craft Summer is synonymous with art and craft. It is a sure, easy and inexpensive way to keep children occupied and help their creative spirit grow. The sheer multitude of choices, from contemporary art forms like finger painting and blow painting to out-of-the-box craft ideas like paper quilling and DIY projects, can occupy kids the whole summer. You can look up plenty of such art and craft projects online with cheap materials readily available at home. Cooking Engaging children with cooking also gets you some help around the house while they learn survival skills and natural science. Teach them about the boiling point of water, why certain spices are mixed in first, what vegetable cooks faster, how baking soda works, etc. Voila, they’re also learning chemistry! Local Biodiversity One of the best ways to spend summer is to be in the seat of nature. Take your children to a park/garden near you and ask them to record the plants, animals and birds they see. They can also learn how to identify plants from leaf shapes. Take it a step further by making them in charge of growing a plant/flower at home from scratch, including seeding the plant. Ask them to take care of it and make observations every day — how tall has it grown, how many leaves and flowers, the pattern of leaves, whether it looks healthy etc. This will aid in developing their scientific temperament while teaching them about responsibility. Science experiments Home science experiments are a great way to spend summer. They provide a fun source of learning that invokes curiosity. Many easy science experiments can be conducted at home using everyday materials. Acti-Learn provides 70+ such activities that children can do within the comfort of four walls. Encourage your budding scientist with this tool! Treasure hunt and board games Game learning is one of the best ways to capture a child’s attention and ensure they understand the concept at hand. Thus treasure hunts, board games, and such provide an excellent opportunity for children to learn while playing. You can create word hunt games that aid language and vocabulary development while engaging the competitive spirit of children. There is plenty to be learnt from Monopoly, chess, checkers, palankuzhi , pachis i etc. Board games are also a great way to increase bonding in the family and help everyone have a fun time together. Reading Summer is the best time to awaken your child’s inner bookworm. With enough time on their hands and tasty snacks to eat, they’ll be more amenable to reading a book in the sun. Fiction stories in both English and vernacular languages aid the creative development of children while also improving their linguistic skills and vocabulary. Reading a book also teaches a child to focus and summarise points, helping develop their logical thinking and critical reasoning skills. Stargazing/ Birdwatching Gazing at the stars on nights children are too excited to sleep will help develop their knowledge of astronomy while calming them down and making them sleepy. Ask them to record how many big and small stars they can see, which constellations they can identify, and what all this tells them about space and the distance between them and the earth. Math with playing cards Uno or playing cards are a great way to develop counting and math skills in children. Create equations with cards and handmade plus/minus/multiplication/division signs and ask your child to solve them. Play games that involve mathematical analysis and strategy building. This includes Rummy, Solitaire, Bluff, Chaugadi etc. These are also a great way to increase family bonding and help everyone spend quality time together. Which of these activities will your child be the most interested in?

The Agastya’s Campus Creativity Lab at Kuppam is designed to provide children with the best learning environment and equipment. It strives to truly invoke children’s curiosity and enable them to learn by themselves instead of hand-feeding information that students learn by rote for the sole purpose of school. This series of articles aims to provide a glimpse of the different labs and spaces on the campus and how they aid the process of “Aah! Aha! Ha-Ha!,” the Agastya Way of Learning. What does this stand for? The Aah indicates the curiosity one has about phenomena around them. The Aha is for when one conducts experiments and arrives at an explanation for their curiosity. The Ha-Ha stands for the joy and confidence gained during this process of learning. Exterior view of the Gurugraha astronomy centre The Gurugraha Astronomy Centre brings the vast sky and universe to visiting students and teachers from rural areas. While astronomy may seem far removed from their lives, it provides a solid introduction to many mathematical and scientific concepts in an exciting manner. Moreover, learning about the universe helps us know more about the planet we live on and the story behind where we came from. Shaped like a dome, the Gurugraha Astronomy Centre houses a model of our solar system. The planets orbit the sun as they do in the solar system, and each of their specifications and traits are depicted. The unique thing about this model is that it has been constructed as part of the building structure, with the sun being a bright white light at the centre and the planets’ orbits constructed as rings around it, descending towards the floor. The planets themselves are made so as to be moving along their orbit, showing the distance and time between each planet. Visitors can also walk upstairs to take a closer look at the planets and their motions. To view a 360-degree video of the Astronomy Centre and its solar system model in motion, visit Agastya’s virtual tour Each planet also has a dedicated table that lists all its information — its days, how many moons it has, how many years it takes to complete a round around the sun, and other trivia surrounding it. There is also a planetarium on the domed top of the astronomy centre, invoking the universe’s wonders to awe and interest children. It is a surefire way to get children interested in the mysteries of the universe and learn fundamental maths and physics concepts along the way. Children looking up at the solar system model As the course outline for an astronomy course at Virginia University explains, “By studying the cosmos beyond our own planet, we can understand where we came from, where we are going, and how physics works under conditions which are impossible to recreate on Earth. In astronomy, the Universe is our laboratory!” Agastya’s Gurugraha Astronomy Centre is dedicated to replicating this lab on Earth and helping children physically experiment in it.

Agastya’s mission is to reinvent education and change the way children learn. We hope to create curiosity, invoke creativity and inspire confidence in the future citizens. But to influence students, we would first have to look at their teachers. Teachers are change agents in society and act as a force multiplier. One can impact thousands of students through teachers, the ones we can’t reach ourselves. Hence Agastya started the Acharya Initiative as a dedicated program in addition to other Agastya programs in 2013–14. Initially, it was designed as a very brief workshop that was properly started in 2015. The framework of this program aimed to introduce the constructivist approach to education. This was in accordance with the National Curriculum for Teacher Education, 2005. What does constructivism mean? Constructivism shifts the role of a teacher from a mere instructor imparting information to a guide that helps children build on their own knowledge. The teacher does not see the child as a passive vessel to fill in. but as an active constructor of knowledge. This was a radical shift in approach. It fits in with Agastya’s mission, as stated above. Many teachers already knew the theory of constructivism as part of their BeD (Bachelor of Education) curriculum but did not have the resources to apply it in practice. They were also not sufficiently exposed to the implementation of it. Thus the aim of the program shifted to executing constructivist methods in the classroom rather than merely educating the teachers about it. Currently, the Acharya Initiative is designed as a 4-day workshop. Teachers from now 11 states visit Agastya’s Campus Creativity Lab in Kuppam to attend this workshop. The sessions help teachers experience constructivism in practice and reflect on it. They also learn how to implement it in the classroom. Experience, Reflection, and Implementation are the three cornerstones of the Acharya Initiative experience. They are designed to be interactive and hands-on, involving the teachers to the maximum extent possible. However, the next challenge faced by teachers was procuring resources for the implementation of the constructive method. Constructivism is a resource-oriented approach, and these teachers are often from rural or government schools where it’s hard to get the needed materials. When Agastya received this feedback from teachers, we added another element to the Acharya Initiative. Called Make Your Own Lab (MYOL), the program is another 3–5 days workshop that can be either residential or anywhere all the teachers in the district can attend. MYOL is a purely practical workshop where teachers create the models and manipulatives needed with raw materials bought by Agastya. At the end of MYOL, the teachers have their individual kits with around 30–35 models that they can take back to their school. These kits help the teachers practice constructivist, experiential learning in their classrooms. The idea is that instead of demonstrating with a single model, teachers can provide children with their own models to make and observe, engaging them in the learning process more effectively. It increases interaction and knowledge retention. The students can hence construct knowledge. Moreover, this approach places more emphasis on the process rather than the end product. It thus instils the scientific method of inferring and analysing data (observation, hypothesis, experimentation and inference). Hence children learn how to critically approach and investigate any problems they encounter and have confidence in their knowledge of procuring the required information. It makes the rest of their learning more accessible. Around 3000 teachers from 11 states undergo the Acharya workshop every year at the Creativity Campus in Kuppam. The aim is to spread it to the maximum number of teachers and the maximum number of students through them. After all, as aptly put by Henry B Adams, “A teacher affects eternity; he [or she] can never tell where his influence stops.”

Written by Nethra Singhi , compiled by Gaurav Kumar Agastya’s Sarga Samvad is a series of creative, experiential and imaginative dialogues with innovators from different fields. This takes the form of programs, interviews, panel discussions and more. The Inspirational Indians series holds one-on-one discussions with experts, innovators, and leaders from diverse disciplines. Here are 5 genuinely inspirational pioneers sharing the life mantras they swear by! “ Remember what you don’t want to do, and you’ll be on the right path ” - Dr Manu Prakash, scientist and professor of Bioengineering at Stanford University. You can catch more of his insights below! “ Of course, as a leader, there is always merit in leading from the front. Even if I have a clear notion of how something should be done, I would much rather work with what my colleague wants to do, irrespective of whether my way is right ”- Dr Anil Kakodkar, Padma Vibhushan awardee and nuclear physicist. Click below to hear more from him! “ Learn, learn, learn! Keep learning. It doesn’t matter what you learn, but learn. ” - Prof. V S Rammurthy, Padma Bhushan awardee and nuclear physicist. Learn from his life story below! “ Aspirations are your possibilities. keep them high, for you as well as for our society, our beloved nation ” - Dr. R. A. Mashelkar, Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan awardee, scientist and innovator. Get more inspiration from his conversation below! “ Knowledge creation is not the domain or right of only certain genders or cultures. In the classroom, collect stories of contributions from different civilizations, diverse sets of people. Know that knowledge comes from everywhere. ” - Dr Sujatha Ramdorai, ICTP Ramanujan awardee and professor of mathematics. Learn about why she doesn’t believe in the pursuit of success below! We have some more mantras for you in, stay tuned. And, if you want to stay ahead of the curve, watch more Inspirational Indians motivate you over here !

Agastya’s MediaArts Program aims to enable every child with tools to tell the stories they want to. We provide the skill training and resources to equip children with storytelling skills through storyboarding, storybook making, flipbook making, animation, photography and videography. The result? Beautiful productions, some of which you can see below! Here are five films made by children from Agastya. A peek into the imagination of these tiny humans! The Dangers Of Mobile Phone Addiction: Want to know the effects of long-term mobile phone usage? The group of kids as part of the Dhwani Program are here to tell you. Watch below to learn more. Kuppam Culture: Explore through the lens of Kuppam children an essential part of local culture. See how they prepare the chariot wheel for a rath yatra in the village below. Coconut Leaf Hat: Have you ever worn a coconut leaf hat? It’s a cool, environmentally friendly accessory for summer. Children participating in the Dhwani program teach you how to make one for yourself in this demonstration film! Marching Ahead: Watch this wonderful animation by children as part of the MediaArts Lab! What’s it about? Capturing a line of ants walking in 2D. The Deep End: A cute animation of life in the sea, reminding you of Finding Nemo or Finding Dory for the younger generation. How can you not watch it after that description? You can catch more such films on Agastya’s YouTube channel !

The pandemic has catapulted the need for accessible digital education. Agastya, in response, created We-Learn and MyAgastya.education . MyAgastya.education is a website where children can learn from the comfort of home and activities for which materials are readily available. However, in India, there are more mobile devices with data plans than there are laptops. Hence, the We-Learn app. It is primarily developed to tap into today’s most accessible digital resources, the mobile phone and its data plan. This way, it can reach the maximum number of students, even those for whom the school is too far away. The We-Learn app makes the NCERT syllabus more accessible, fun and easy to learn. It is designed to encourage self-learning and requires little parental or teacher supervision. It aims to enable children to take charge of their learning journey. Accordingly, with material for classes four to ten, it supplements every level of education. Based on the Agastya philosophy of Aah! Aha! Ha-Ha! the material on the app aims to make every child curious, creative and confident. Keep in mind that little teacher supervision does not mean that teachers can’t use the app in their classrooms as an aid to the material. In fact, Gram Panchayats in some parts of Karnataka have successfully incorporated this and other Agastya digital learning resources into their curriculum. Despite being a digital learning platform, the syllabus and curriculum of We-Learn make space for hands-on learning. There are multiple activities that children can engage in, observe and experiment with. This is also based on Agastya’s philosophy to promote innovative hands-on learning and focus on children actually understanding the material rather than merely memorising it. So, how does one go about using this resource? It’s actually quite straightforward. Follow these five easy steps to make full use of the We-Learn app. Download the app on an android device. The app is currently only available on Playstore but will soon be available on Appstore as well. Select the language to learn in. Agastya firmly believes that education needs to be accessible in all parts of the world. Hence, starting with India, the modules are available in many vernacular languages apart from Hindi and English. These include Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Oriya, Marathi, and Gujarati. More modules are being developed in other languages. This will make it easier for children from all parts of the country to learn in the language they’re most comfortable in. Select a grade from class four to class ten to view the available subjects and modules for the particular standard. Click on the desired subject. The subjects currently available are Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Integrated Sciences, Mathematics, General Education, Healthcare and Covid19. Select a lesson, and voila! Start your or your child’s journey to explore, experiment, and experience! As you can see, the application is pretty easy to navigate. We are in the process of developing more learning modules for other subjects like English and Media education. They will soon be available on the app, making these subjects more accessible and fun to learn!

Lightning can strike twice in the same place! Here’s the science behind why. What is lightning? Lightning is essentially electricity moving from one place to another. It is simple chemistry. When storms occur, clouds develop a negative charge or have more electrons than protons. This is because water and ice molecules keep rubbing against each other. The negative charge wants to equalise itself to arrive at a neutral charge. The neutral ground helps it do so. Because when the number of electrons gets really high in the clouds, they are attracted to the positive charge in the ground. Hence, they make the jump in the form of lightning. Why it can strike in the same place twice There is an old saying that lightning can never strike in the same place twice, used as a metaphor for bad things only happening once to anybody. But scientifically speaking, lightning does occur at the same spot multiple times and can strike twice. Firstly, during a lightning strike, there are multiple bolts of electricity. So, there are already numerous lightning strokes in the same place at one event. This does not guarantee that another such event won’t reoccur. Research indicates that negative charges in the clouds are not dispensed in one go. They break from one main channel into needle-like structures. These structures can keep delivering electricity till they contain a negative charge. This means the same channel can be used to send more lightning to the ground. The probability of this cannot be calculated; it can be one day, a year, or a decade before the same place receives another event of lightning. For instance, the Empire State Building in the USA was hit by lightning around fifty times between 2015 and 2020. How to create lightning at home The chemistry behind lightning can be recreated safely at home. All one needs is a balloon. Rub the balloon against your hair. This creates a negative charge in the balloon, like in the clouds. Now rub the balloon against something metal. The spark created is lightning on a really small scale. You can even use sweaters to rub against the balloon. There are many more such ways of creating static electricity, which is the cause of lightning. You or your child can find more such interesting do-at-home experiments on Agastya’s self-learning website MyAgastya.education or our digital learning mobile app, We-Learn. These are Agastya initiatives that inculcate curiosity, creativity and confidence in children through simple explanations and experiments that support their school learning.

Dropping out of school is a widespread occurrence in rural and economically backward areas. And Agastya’s mission is to educate every child in India. So, how do we fill this gap? Through Operation Vasantha. Operation Vasantha (OV) is an afterschool program that works as a night learning centre in villages across the country. It benefits the community and its children. Dropouts and students both are welcome in this initiative. How does this work? At OV centres, children learn, play and experiment. Multiple learning activities are designed with the syllabus from NCERT books. There is a lot of emphasis on learning through play. This is the basis of the Agastya Way of Learning. To aid the process, children are provided with kits and other learning materials free of charge. Activities at OV Centres include singing, theatre, science experiments, art and craft projects, designing and building prototypes, language studies, environment studies, health guidance and more. Children are at the centre of this project. They are encouraged to learn, play, and be the children that they are. Through the program, many school dropouts are also reengaged. They and their families see the benefits of schooling and often reenroll. Even if they are not absorbed back into the system, they learn through other means and gain practical knowledge. The goal is to get all children back in school. This is often not the case in households where children contribute to the running. They work alongside their parents to earn and survive. OV centres run after school to also not interfere with this. Through the process, the volunteers and instructors of the program engage the parents as well. They try to show the long-term benefits of a proper school education. When the children start enjoying the activities, they become curious about schooling, also encouraging their parents to send them back. This is not a hundred per cent successful initiative, but it has helped a majority of school dropouts get back on track. Ultimately, all children that attend become curious, confident and creative. This is the goal of Agastya. OV centres also work in partnership with the communities they operate in, building a space for a more aware and conscious community. During the Covid19 lockdown, they became dispensers of medical aid and spread awareness about the importance of maintaining hygiene habits and social distancing. As of 2022, there are two hundred and fifty-six Operation Vasantha centres that reached more than seven thousand children in the last year alone. Running across the country, they aid in creating a literate public and an educated future.