A Great Day with Students

Today's visit to the school in Bangalore was excellent. I met with students and had them ask me some science questions, which I answered to the best of my ability. There was a question about banana reproduction that kind of stumped me, so fortunately the facilitator helped out, both with that and with other questions that related to everyday life in India.

We then showed them some applets and had them come up one at a time to work with them. The circuit applet was a big hit, and we applauded the kids every time they connected a particular circuit and made the lightbulbs light up. We also had them use the projectile motion and heat applets, and got a chance to see what their level of readiness was for those.

A real highlight was the confidence game. We had them work on determining whether hypotheses for various animations were correct and incorrect, and they really got into it. Watching them interact in groups was amazing. They were some of the most focused kids we had seen. They also got into the team score and weren't too discouraged when they lost points (which was rare.) Before we could finish the game, it started pouring, and our room wasn't totally enclosed, so we quickly tallied and announced the final scores for each team, and closed up shop. While we waited for rides, we took pictures, gave high-fives, and said goodbyes.

It was thrilling to work with such a great group of kids. I was astounded by how good they were and thrilled at the feedback they were able to give us about the various games we are trying out for the CD.