Report for Chhote Scientist Competition
Date: 18 th February 2025
Venue: Jnana Prabodhini Sadashiv Peth Pune
Science is not just about learning facts and laws and concepts. Hands-on science education promotes problem-solving and critical thinking. Working through experiments and activities requires students to make observations, hypothesize, and draw conclusions based on evidence. The practical approach fosters essential critical thinking skills that students carry into adulthood. To promote critical thinking and problem solving, a competition on Problem Solving was organised by Jnana Prabodhini, Pune. Four students, Akshara Kharwandikar, Gandhar Karmarkar, Niyati Desai, and Arth Saklecha participated in the competition. They were mentored by Ms Shirish Sant.
Unlike traditional competitions where only the final answer matters, this one focused on the approach to solve the problem, reasoning used for it, and the steps taken to reach a conclusion. This unique format made it an exciting challenge. The competition had two levels, each testing different aspects of scientific thinking and problem-solving.
Level 1 was Science Crossword & Experimentation in which the teams were given a crossword to solve and were asked to construct a straw sprinkler. In Level 2 the team was asked to design and build a bridge. The challenge was to create a structure that was at least 40 cm long and could withstand a weight of 1 kg. At first, this seemed like a simple task, but as the team started working, they quickly realized that ensuring both stability and durability was quite complex.
Another unique aspect of the event was, the mentors were not allowed to stay in the same hall as the students. An enriching session on Science Teaching Methodologies was conducted for them by Ms Mukulika Thatte. In this session ma’am emphasised on developing competencies of science such as Logical reasoning, Quantitative reasoning, Systemic Thinking in students.
Over all it was an enriching session for the students. They thoroughly enjoyed it and wished they could participate in more such competitions as it is not always about the destination but about the journey. And they enjoyed this journey of finding a solution to a practical problem.
