Students of grade 7 participated in the Vigyan Samagam Workshop on Size Scales in Astronomy organised by National Science Centre on February 24, 2020. The first exercise was knowing the Solar system better , the planet size, interplanetary distance, meteors, comets and Sun. Students then visited the exhibition under ‘Vigyan Samagam’. Some of the displays were on ITER( International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) , TMT (Thirty Meter Telescope), Department of Atomic Energy, CERN, SKA (Square Kilometer Array) etc.
At TMT corner students learnt that it is to be the world’s most advanced and capable ground based optical and IR observatory to know the evolution of Universe. The ITER display presented India’s contribution to the project. There are 9 work packages in ITER-India scope.The SKA corner showed an array of telescopes, spread over hundreds of kilometres in Australia and South Africa. SKA will allow insights into the formation and evolution of the first stars and galaxies after the Big Bang.
The displays were explained to the students as per their level of knowledge and comprehension. This made the topics interesting and very absorbing for them. Students loved the model of the telescope with mirrors trying to observe the images. These were beyond the regular syllabus of our students but revolved around their knowledge and information as gained all these years. This made the exhibition interesting for the students.
Students also had the opportunity to see the National Science Centre and the various interesting facts and theories displayed there like the shape of DNA, human heart, brain, our muscles and joints, carbon content in our body as measured against the body weight, evolution of life on earth, evolution of our Post & Telegraph, role of chemistry in early lives, going back to early civilisation period, few topics from physics like sound, how it is produced, light and reflection, etc
