Kolkata :
It’s a rare lecture that makes teachers feel like the taught and forces guardians to pull out chits of paper from their wallets to take down notes in a hurry. When renowned French scientist and author Nicole Ostrowsky speaks, the laws of magnetism take on a whole new meaning.
The acclaimed physicist was in Kolkata last week as the star attraction of the third edition of Apprentice Scientist competition at The Future Foundation School (TFFS). The contest, held in collaboration with its partner school Lycee Francais de Pondicherry, encourages some of the best young brains in the city to get out of their textbooks and test their scientific aptitude in creative ways.
The participating school teams get the same equipment — and questions that force them to think out of the box. This time, for instance, each team got two plastic glasses, a football, three bottles and other items that look like odds and ends. One of the questions was: can you transfer air using two cups and a container full of water?
The teams of Class VII students had to complete four experiments, at the end of which they came to realize, hands-on, that all sciences — physics, chemistry, biology — are linked.
The correlation between sciences was a key feature of Ostrowsky’s lecture. She added psychology to the group and pointed out how it would dominate research in the days to come.
Ostrowsky, author of ‘The Agenda of the Apprentice Scientist’, is on a worldwide mission to make science fun for children. A professor emeritus at University of Nice in France, she has taught at Harvard and founded the ‘Exploratoire’ in Paris, a hugely popular collection of interactive scientific experiments. This is her first visit to Kolkata. “I am fascinated by the colours here,” she said.
The packed hall at TFFS was completely under her spell as Ostrowsky put up one scientific riddle after another: If you put a pea and a banana in a bowl of water, which will sink? If all the icebergs in the world melted, would the sea level rise? She showed how the answer to these questions can be found in simple experiments at home. “Be curious. Ask questions. That is what a scientist does,” she advised students. Handing over her pointer stick to students, she asked if anyone could find its centre of gravity. One boy did, drawing applause.
The same spirit was seen in the contest where Cedric Le-Bescont, head of science teachers at Lycee Francais, was urging the competitors to “forget your books and write your own science”. “Forget what you learnt. Analyze what you see,” he kept telling students.
He wanted them to stop etting confined to any one branch of science and to allow them to look for down-the-lane answers. The winners were Heritage School, followed by South City International and Modern High for Girls.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kolkata / TNN / November 25th, 2014