Today the kids came closer to nature, one wee bit.  They saw earthworms up close, touched them and saw various stages of the worms growth.  They discussed the differences between earthworms and caterpillars.  They did a simple experiment to see if the worms are blind and were awed by the ability of the worm to continue non chalantly when cut into two pieces.  They heard stories about Charles Darwin's work with worms and the value of vermi-composting.

We had a special session to summarize the workshop.  We had a round of science-dumb charades, where the children enacted a story about a scientist or imitated one and the others guessed who that was.  We also picked out elements from the periodic table that matched the personalities of the students and they loved to wear personalized T-shirts with these "elementary" puzzles!

Holding their certificates high, armed with a fascination for science, and blessed with new friends who enjoy similar interests, the explorers stepped out...

Today the children handled the microscope and observed the different objects that are available around us, under the microscope. Blood cells, blood groups and general science was discussed and the children spent some time to fill in  their recap sheet.

While day one's primary focus was Acid and Bases and pH factor, the children also set up an experiment to be observed after two days i.e today. The children had immersed eggs in four types of solutions: water(being the control), soap solution, cola and vinegar to understand their effect on the eggs. Today they realised that vinegar completely dissolved the outer shell and cola completely stained the egg and also induced major cracks in the shell. The soap solution left the egg with a soapy feel and the control of course was to show the relative effects of other solutions.
Day two's observatory experiment was set up to show how different types of bacteria multiply. So the children coughed, spat, made their thumb impressions and also gave their hair sample to understand the property of bacteria to rapidly multiply and also  how different types of bacteria form different colonies. The multiplied bacteria and different colonies were observed today. The children also learnt the super absorbent gel present in baby diapers and how that type of gel can be used to make aquaponics.
The focus objective of time was what the children mainly worked upon. they made a sand clock and a water clock and all on their own. 

The day unfolded with measurement and calibration as the focus. While the younger ones focused on measuring the gel salt and calibrating the saturation levels, the older ones got busy making the hour glass and understanding  the  principal behind the hour glass. 

Dr. Beena Pillai, senior scientist, CSIR, started the science workshop with the children today. The week long workshop will have children performing experiments and understand the science behind the experiments.
The enthusiastic children got down to test the various substance found in homes to discover if they were acidic or basic or if they were indicators or buffers. The little hands grated, boiled, sieved and selected and tested the materials.
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