Thiruvananthapuram: Former ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair on Friday said classrooms should be a place to ignite excitement in science among students.
He was speaking at the seminar on “Science Education in the Digital Age” here. The seminar was organised by Talentspire, a collective of professionals from educational and IT industry which works with the objective of inspiring talents in science learning.
Over 200 people including principals, management members and teachers from schools across the state attended the one-day seminar.
Mr Nair said children today sought to seek education outside classrooms. This should change. It is vital for the schools and educational institutions to ensure that students attained knowledge from their respective institutions.
Scientific advisor to chief minister, M. Chandradathan said no method in the digital system could replace the presence and relation of a teacher. “Teachers need to be well aware of the package. After going through the stage of techniques students will ask more questions and clarifications and teachers should be prepared to answer them,” he said.
He said the actual learning takes place when one makes a mistake. The reason why innovations don’t happen is because one remains stuck to his domain of knowledge. “To create innovations you have to get out and take risk in something you don’t know. You need to take help of others. Online teacher should be more knowledgeable. As the technology develops the teacher should have the ability to grasp new things. Technical skills and critically thinking skills are equally important. Modern teacher has to be a mentor who besides teaching should be able to address the social and emotional issues of students,” he said.
Dr S. K. Satheesh of Centre for Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru and Director, Divecha Centre for Climate Change was given the Talentspire Innovation Award for his contribution in the areas of research and spreading awareness on climate change and environment.
