STEM Works for St. Kabir Public School
STEM Works for Schools is a dynamic and impactful talk show hosted by Dr Sarvjeet Herald, the director at India STEM Foundation. The talk show aims to promote STEM education in schools and highlight the importance of integrating STEM concepts into the curriculum, hands-on STEM learning, and participation in STEM and robotics competitions like the World Robot Olympiad and the First Lego League.
In the latest episode of STEM Works for Schools , Dr Herald interviews Mr Aditya Bhatnagar, who is a STEM mentor at St. Kabir Public School, Chandigarh and engages in an insightful conversation with him about the initiatives that the school and teachers are taking to provide STEM education to students, the importance of hands-on learning at an early age, and its role in shaping the students into a future-ready workforce.
About Mr Aditya Bhatnagar
Mr Aditya Bhatnagar is an engineer by profession and a passionate STEM enthusiast. With a degree in engineering from IIT Delhi, he brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the field. Having spent 30 years in the electronics manufacturing industry, he has dedicated the past 13 years to advancing STEM education. As a STEM mentor, he has actively shaped students’ minds, particularly in schools, for 6-7 years. His commitment to fostering STEM learning and inspiring young minds is truly commendable.
The Interview
Q1 – What initiatives the school and teachers are taking to expose students to STEM education?
Mr Bhatnagar emphasises that the most important discipline in STEM is developing a habit of thought. They run curriculum-linked STEM programs from grade 3rd to 8th with integrated lesson plans and assessments revolving around the chapters being taught from the syllabus to develop a connection between the students and the program. This results in a maximum level of understanding and productivity.
Q2 – How STEM education can strengthen the implementation of NEP 2020?
NEP 2020 talks about scientific temperament, curriculum framework, logical reasoning, problem solving etc, all of which are essential components of STEM education and hands-on learning. For example: Making students design a paper plane to perform a specific task is a playful way to boost creative thinking and problem solving through experimentation and competitive spirit.
Q3 – Why is hands-on learning important for students?
Hands-on education focuses on giving students the practical learning of different STEM concepts and skills to make them future-ready. Mr Bhatnagar emphasises that making students overcome a challenge through STEM programs at an early age not only teaches them the discipline to learn from failures but will turn out to be really important in industry and day to day life.
Q4 – Which is your favourite formula/law/quote and why?
His answer to this question was Newton’s law of universal gravitation. To support his answer Mr Bhatanagar mentions that the law of gravitation seems fascinating because the equation itself is incomplete. The equation can only be used to calculate the force of gravitation between two objects but not multiple objects acting together at the same time. The equation itself creates a world of limitless outcomes and possibilities as Einstein’s law of relativity explains gravity as distortion of space caused by presence of matter or energy.
Q5 – How you personally deal with failure?
Mr Bhatnagar shares his experience of dealing with failure as a student and how he now deals with it as a teacher and mentor. He mentions that, when faced with failure as a student during an experiment, rather than blaming himself, he used to perform an analysis and look for the exact cause which led the experiment to fail. On the other hand, when he faces failure as a teacher or mentor, he analyses the reason or the point where students lose their interest and re-create a new teaching method, even if it takes him repeating the same lesson more than twice.
CRUX Of The Interview
We thank Mr Aditya Bhatnagar for sharing his invaluable insights and experiences on our STEM Works for Schools talk show. His wise words shed light on the commendable initiatives undertaken by St. Kabir Public School and how STEM education is beneficial not only for industry but also for life endeavours.
We invite you to stay tuned and subscribe to STEM Works for Schools as we continue to bring genius minds and STEM enthusiasts like Mr Bhatnagar on board. Together, let us nurture a generation of young minds with the skills and knowledge needed to thrive in the ever-evolving world.
Thank you, Mr Aditya Bhatnagar, for your invaluable contribution and for being a driving force in promoting STEM education.
