NEWS : NCERT to make lab experiment simple :

In a bid to generate interest among students towards science as a study-discipline, National Council of Education Research and Training has now come up with a 400-page combined laboratory manual for classes IX and X students. The manual showcases 100 easy-to-perform experiments which aims at attract secondary level students towards science, before they formally take it up in class XI as a major study-subject.
Commenting on the unique initiative, slated to out by the April-end, Dr. Gagan Gupta, coordinator and reader in Physics at NCERT, said "We have designed this manual to motivate science students to get hands-on experience. We want to promote laboratory exercises in classes IX and X so that students do not only read about ammeters or barometers but actually learn to use them". He further informed that, CBSE has agreed to embrace the book in the course in the upcoming academic session. Mr. gupta along with seven other science experts have framed this manual.

As per the latest figures by NCERT, only 19.7 pc students took up science as a higher studies option in the year 2007 as compared to the figures of the years after independence which stood at 32 pc.

Going by the NCERT estimates, only 10 pc schools in the capital have laboratories for secondary classes. The new manual that will be simple to read and student-friendly will also provide schools in setting up an included science lab without much investment, Mr. Gupta hoped.

"The experiments listed in the manual are based on theory but they can be done with low-cost equipment. This will inculcate confidence in teachers to let students use different instruments without the fear of any damage", stated Dr. Gupta. The manual teaches students to make their own prisms and use regular things like a rope to carry out experiments. Here, students can take three sticks, wrap a cellophane paper around them and fill it up with water to make the prism.

Moreover, "They can change their set of experiment every year so that schools can also prevent junior students to copy the work of seniors", Mr. Gupta added.

NCERT has now appealed to all the state boards to choose few of the experiments from the total 100 according to their convenience and resources.

In a first, NCERT has used more illustrations of girls performing experiments, a step seen as an attempt to highlight increased gender sensitization.

Courtesy : indiaedunews.net