Jubilee Hills Public School was the proud recipient of the Atal Tinkering Lab in the first phase in 2016. The Grant-in-Aid was the impetus for the School Management to also sanction a huge amount to complement the given aid so that the best lab could be set up. The Atal Tinkering Lab built is so interesting that it lures students to ideate and tinker, in keeping with the objectives of the Atal Innovation Mission.

 

This objective has been fulfilled which is proved, as two students Divyateja. P and Nikhil Patnaik from Class X had stood first in the CBSE National Level Science Exhibition held at Noida.
To help the knowledge cascade effectively, the ATL has kept its doors open to all the students of the school from Classes VI to Class X. Students from each section of the 31 sections from Classes VI to X are taken to the Atal Tinkering Lab during their substitution period where they are introduced to the processes and guided through the provisions made by the school to help them tinker and innovate. This process ensures that each and every student from the school knows about the lab and is curious to work with the materials.
The interested students are then initiated into ATL by handholding them through various workshops. Design Thinking has always been at the forefront of ideating. The school collaborates with external agencies to educate the students in Design Thinking. Workshops are also held on Arduino Programming to utilize the technology in day-to-day life. The students are also initiated into Robotics to help them collate their ideas and build prototypes. In all these workshops the students work closely with their mentors to acquire all the basics and gain requisite knowledge. The school’s Alumni also work hand in hand with the school to mentor the students.

 

During this process the students who exhibit aptitude and appetite to learn about programming and circuits are identified. These students are given an extra impetus to learn and work upon the advanced modules with the help of their mentors at school.

The selected students are then slowly initiated into groups to help the other teams thereby ensuring that effective knowledge transfer happens through peer learning. Here again, the facilitator is available on hand to further clarify any doubts which the student might not be able to answer.

The students are also made mentors for the community school children. These student mentors utilize their time not just to teach and help others but also to complete their projects. Additional time is provided to the student mentors such as utilization of substitution classes or free periods or after school classes in case they want to work on their projects. Teaching, handholding and training to all the students is done in the workshops. During these training sessions, the students are ensured a hands-on learning experience. At this stage, the students have certain knowledge about the material, and they know how to use it. However, sometimes the students may not be able to effectively and independently apply the knowledge they have learnt. This is where the student mentors come in and train them. Knowledge transmission is a continuous process and the responsibility of ensuring that this happens lies entirely on the shoulders of the ATL In-charges.

Conducting classes and utilizing the time effectively is planned in such a way that the regular curricular hours are not affected while at the same time, the ATL classes are also streamlined. We have designed our own schedule based on our requirement. We use the after-school hours thereby effectively utilizing the time from 2:30p.m to 4:00p.m. The students by this time would love to work on something other than their regular curricula. Getting a block time of one and a half hours for their projects helps them to tinker and work on them effectively.

 

Motivating the students regularly proves to be a key factor in the success of any ATL. This is being done through interactive sessions by showing them videos of success stories not just from the ATL community, but also from the innovations happening worldwide in Agriculture, Science and Technology and other areas concerning daily activities and also by conducting workshops regularly.

The management of the school encourages the ecosystem of innovation by appreciating the young innovators. The success story of our ATL students, Divya Teja. P and Nikhil Patnaik from Class X when they won the first place in CBSE National Level Science Exhibition in ‘Others Category’ proved to be a further reiteration to the student community that the School Management encourages and looks forward to their innovations. The School Management felicitated them with a cash prize and promised to keep the ATL doors open to them and to every other student even after they have passed out. This shows the level of encouragement given to the students at school.

 

In fact, this year the doors of the lab were kept open for the students to tinker and work even during the summer half-day classes as well as during the vacation. The research fellows from T-Works, Govt. of Telangana had also come in the summer to check how the ATL equipment can be used to build prototypes

ATL Incharge : Udaya Lakshmi. P and Gangadhar. G
School : Jubilee Hills Public School, Hyderabad, Telangana