Pure sciences the way to go
IISc holds inspiring ‘Open Day’ for school, college students
The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) on Friday threw its doors open to the public by holding an ‘Open Day’ to encourage school and college students to take up pure sciences.
Organised for the third consecutive year, the IISc will hold the ‘Open Day’ for two days instead of a single day.
Like in previous years, hordes of schoolchildren milled around demonstrations at the Department of Physics, Division of Chemical Sciences, Department of Electrical Engineering, Combustion and Gasification and Propulsion Laboratory.
Doctorate and master’s degree students from each of the 26 departments explained their functioning through models and experiments. Several helpdesks have been also set up on the vast campus to help students locate the departments.
Fun with chemistry
The Division of Chemical Sciences has converted the parking area outside its department building into an experiment laboratory and named the pavilion ‘Fun with Chemistry’.
The students of the department showed experiments on indicators changing colours when dipped into a solution and stirred; another student showed green fire from alcohol.
The shear-thickening experiment was an instant hit. It demonstrated how a liquid material can thicken under stress. This was shown with a corn flour mixture, which after intense pressure, thickened so much that one could not penetrate it even by punching it.
The Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology displayed posters and made presentations on various viruses that affect humans, besides demonstrating diagnostic methods like Elisa and PCR that were used in many hospitals during the dengue and H1N1 influenza outbreaks, respectively.
Another popular display was the hybrid rocket launcher at the Combustion and Gasification and Propulsion Laboratory. Besides explaining the working of a rocket launcher, the students also demonstrated a mini rocket launch.
The exhibition area near Choksi Hall also saw a huge crowd, where school students explained science theories via models.
Lightening experiment
Uma Devi, a high school science teacher at Akshara Montessori, Yelahanka, said the lightning experiment at the High Voltage laboratory had enthralled the 22 students from Class 5 to Class 9.
“I came with the students last year, too. However, this year it is better managed. The Open Day definitely inspires the students to take up science,” she said.
Even Suma V of BGS International Residential School could not agree more. “The demonstrations in each department are so well presented that the students get to see the applications they learn in the classroom. In fact, the number of departments in science is an eye opener for many students,” she said. The school had brought 98 students to the institute.
Nitin Gowda, a third year BE student of Bangalore Institute of Technology, said he got to see the super computer and some old computers, too.
According to Prof B N Raghunandan, chairman, Division of Earth and Environmental Sciences, the open house creates a platform for students to interact and also witness the activities of the various departments.
