05-02-2009, Program at Muni School -1, Jasodanagar, Ahmedabad

Hello!
Here’s a report on the 22nd TAS Municipal School Program.
Today we visited the municipal school no.1 at Jasodanagar, East Ahmedabad.

As usual, we were accorded a warm welcome by the students and the authorities excitedly awaiting the program. The school was situated on a hill top. We had to be little cautious as a new school building was under construction and the construction material was strewn all around.

The poster display was set up for the students to explore the mysteries of the solar system at their own pace. And we watched them peruse the information and discuss the same with their friends.

The program started with the observation of the Lunar gibbous phase thru the telescope. The children all amazed to see a “Bubble Moon”; actually they were calling craters “bubbles”! While the observation was underway, the electricity went out in the entire school complex. The electricity didn’t return even after the observation so, we planned to proceed with our presentation of the “Solar system” in candle light. During the dim light interactive session that followed, they remained quiet and gave their undivided attention to the presentation. Intermingled with the chanting and drums of the nearby temple, the experience was truly ethereal! Instead of being perturbed by the sounds we encouraged a few girls to sing along! Students, teachers and parents all applauded the uniqueness of the program!

Another wonderful thing that gave us tremendous satisfaction is that the principal too got into the spirit of things and participated wholeheartedly in the question – answer session. Questions like ‘who was the first person to go to the moon, who was the first Indian to go to space?’ created some interesting debates. Some exceptionally bright students like Prince Parmar answered my questions with amazing clarity and was awarded first prize at the end of the session. Both, the teachers and students, were especially keen to have us come again to give them a deeper understanding.

We acknowledge the gracious support of the following people in making this program a success: Rajesh Nath for photo documentation, Jigar Darji & Stephen Samuel for set up. We thank them all for their interest.

Summary :

1. Venue : Muni School – 1, Jasodanagar, East Ahmedabad
2. Date : 05-02-2009
3. Time : 6:10 to 8:10 pm
4. Object observed : Moon
5. Participants : 85
6. Volunteers : 0
7. Photo : Rajesh Nath
8. Resource Persons : 3
9. Winners (1st, 2nd, 3rd) : Prince Parmar, Bhavin Makwana, Prakash Rajput

Tanmaye Vyas
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+91 9979861071