Training for KVS Teachers

Date: 31st March 2015

Time: 09:00 AM 01:00 PM
Venue: Kendriya Vidyalaya, RK Puram Sector 8
No of participants: Teachers: 38 TGTs Students: 40 studnts of class XII
Chief Resource Person: Mr Samar Bagchi
Assistance from Anveshika: Vinita Sharat, Renu Mittal
Mr Bagchi dealt with Archimedes Principle, Air Pressure, Surface tension
and Newtons Laws of Motion through his low cost apparatus and offered
insight into seemingly difficult concepts with very simple explanations.
Mrs Indu Kaushik, Assistant Commissioner, KVS was also present during
the program.
The program was organised by Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan through
special efforts by BVN-IAPT Anveshika.

Training for Teachers of NDMC Schools

Date: 30th March 2015
Time: 10:30 AM 01:00 PM
Venue: NDMC Conference Hall, Sansad marg
No of participants: Teachers: 32 TGTs, Students: 10 students of class
XII
Chief Resource Person: Mr Samar Bagchi

Assisting Resource Persons from Anveshika: Sutapa LahaDe, Pragya

Nopany
Touching everyones heart with his humour and simple, easy to grasp
explanations, Mr Bagchi was an instant hit with the audience. He dealt
with Newtons laws of motions & Fluid mechanics using very low cost
demonstrations. Mrs Sutapa Laha De & Pragya Nopany also showed one
experiment each. Mrs Vidushi Chaturvedi, Director NDMC was also present
at the occasion.
The program was organised by NDMC through special efforts by Sutapa
Laha De, a resource person of BVN-IAPT Anveshika.

From Conventional to Empirical@ The Heritage School, Gurgaon

Date: 14th March 2015
Time: 08:30 AM 02:30 PM
Venue: The Heritage School, Gurgaon
Name of the workshop: From Conventional to Empirical
No of participating teachers: 51 TGTs & PGTs
Chief Resource Person: Dr H.C.Verma
Anveshika Resource Persons: Mrs Pragya Nopany, Sutapa LahaDe,
M.K.Uma, Smita Fangaria

With full support from BVN-IAPT Anveshika, The Heritage School Gurgaon
hosted an interactive physics workshop conducted by Prof. H.C.Verma to a
packed auditorium of physics teachers from schools all over NCR.

Inspiring teachers, in his motivational lecture Dr Verma said in my 30

years as an IIT professor, I don't need to know more that 25 formulae.
Then why do we force kids to remember 500 formulae?! More than
succeeding in exams, it is important to feel science...

Praising the demonstration experiments developed by BVN-IAPT

Anveshika, he said he does not need to bring any experiments with him to
Delhi and invited Anveshika resource persons to demonstrate on stage.

He led the discussion on each experiment through his probing, mind

tickling questions, highlighting how our observation of different aspects of
same experiment can bring excitement and joy. He showed us practically
how to get the students to fall in love with the subject by moving beyond
definitions and equations.

From Fear to Fascination - Physics through activities

Date: 27th Sept 2014
Time: 08:30 AM 04:30 PM
Venue: Birla Vidya Niketan
Title of workshop: From Fear to Fascination - Physics through
activities
No of Participating Schools: 50
No of Participants: 300
Level of Participants: Class XI & XII students & PGTs
Chief Resource Person: Dr H.C.Verma, Professor of Physics IIT,
Kanpur
Guests of Honour: 1. Mrs. Renu Sharma, Deputy Director of
Education, Directorate of
Education, South Delhi
2. Mr. Mani, Deputy Commisioner, Kendriya
Vidyalaya Sanghatan,
Gurgaon Region
Resource Persons from BVN-IAPT Anveshika: 1. Mrs Vinita Sharat
Mrs P. Uma

2.

The event commenced with the welcome address by the Principal Ms.
Meenakshi Kushwaha who urged the students to take up research
endeavors in science and not go for conventional career options. The chief
guest Mrs Renu Sharma welcomed the efforts of BVN-IAPT Anveshika to
make learning of physics easier through interesting activities especially
because students find physics very stressful.
Interacting with students at length Dr. H.C.Verma explained his joy of
learning physics through experimentation and asked the students to delve
into the road not taken. In a stimulating session next, Dr Verma
demonstrated numerous activities designed by him for the senior
secondary students. We sat with awestruck faces, as he drew our
attention like a magnet commented Nikita , a student of Amity
International School.
With the objective of showing the effectiveness of teaching through
activities BVN-IAPT Anveshika resource persons Ms. Vineeta Sharat and
Ms. M. K. Uma took up two model classes for teachers on Refraction of
Light and Electromagnetism respectively.
For teaching the complex concepts of Thermodynamics, an exclusive
teachers session was conducted by Dr Verma in which through a series of
experiments he debunked several myths of physics that we blindly follow.
The session ended with a vote of thanks by Mrs Pragya Nopany, coordinator, BVN-IAPT Anveshika.
The event was a huge success because it not only helped the students in
appreciating the beauty of physics but also channeling their natural
curiosity into quest for finding this beauty in everything around them.

The event was covered by NDTV India and shown on their Hindi
channel on 29-09-2014

2013-14
Towards Leadership in Activity Based Teaching of Physics @ BVN
Date: 13th Sept 2013 15th Sept 2013
Venue: Birla Vidya Niketan
Title of workshop: Towards Leadership in Activity Based Teaching of
Physics
No of Participating Schools: 33
No of Participants: 35 selected teachers
Level of Participants: TGTs & PGTs
Chief Resource Persons: Dr B.N.Das & Dr H.C.Verma
Programme Details:
13th Sept 2013:
11:30 am 12:15 pm
Demo class for students of class XI on
Mechanical Properties of Fluids by Dr B.N.Das
12:15 pm -12:55pm
Hand on experiments
1:00 pm 1:30 pm
Lunch Break.

1:30 pm 3:15 pm
3:15 pm 4:30 pm
4:30pm

Demo & Discussion by Dr B.N.Das

Demonstrations by Participating Teachers
Tea/Dispersal

14th Sept 2013:

09:30 am 11:00am
11:00 am -11:15 am
11:15 am -01.30 pm
01:30pm - 02:00 pm
02:00 pm - 03:15 pm
03.15 pm - 04:30 pm
4:30pm

Lecture Demonstration by Dr B.N.Das

Tea Break
Hands on experiments
Lunch
Lecture- Demonstration by Dr B.N.Das on
Demonstrations by Participating Teachers
Tea/Dispersal

15th Sept 2013:

08:30 am 11:15 am
Demo Class on Rotational Dynamics for
class XI by Dr H.C.Verma
11:00 am - 11:15am
Tea Break
11:15 am -01.30 pm
Demo Class on Interference for class XII by
Dr H.C.Verma
01:30pm - 02:00 pm
Lunch
02:00 pm - 03:30 pm
Demonstrations by participating teachers
03.30 pm - 04:30 pm
planning for future activities with Dr H.C.
Verma & Participants over tea
Extensive demonstration sessions were taken by Dr. B.N. Das on the 13th
and 14th Sept. Phenomenon in optics, electricity and magnetism ,
properties of liquids and heat were interestingly demonstrated which were
thoroughly enjoyed by the teachers. The sessions focused on activity
based understanding of various concepts of physics, which not only
gave a new dimension to teaching but was fun to learn also. The
participants were given a chance to do hands on activities in which
everyone participated with great zeal. The participants were also given a
chance to show the activities of their choice in one hour sessions on both
days.
On the 15th Dr. H.C. Verma conducted demonstration lessons on rotational
mechanics and interference for about 50 students and the teachers
coming from various schools of Delhi. He imbibed simple demonstrations
on axis of rotation, torque and angular momentum to make the lesson on
rotational mechanics very interesting. Demonstrations on interference and
diffraction and an altogether different perspective on interference made
the lesson on interference simply mesmerizing. He taught both the topics
extensively for four hours. He interacted with the students and took up
their queries. In the post lunch session he saw the demonstrations given
by the participating teachers and gave explanations of many
demonstrations. It was a very enriching experience.
Discussing the plans for future, the participating teachers suggested once
a month meetings exclusively for teachers where similar discussions on
exhibits could be held for professional growth. To keep everyone informed
about activities of BVN-IAPT Anveshika, formation of a face book page of
Anveshika was also suggested.

A valedictory session was held in the end in which Dr. Verma gave away
the certificates of participation to all the teachers.
Three days of workshop were entertaining and educating where teachers
from different schools got a chance to meet each other, exchange ideas
and thoughts and learn many things. This workshop educated every mind
to teach the way the children want to learn and not by the age old way of
dictating the theory.

Dekho-Karo-Sikho @ BVN
Date: 7th September 2013
Time: 08:15 AM 1:00PM
Venue: Birla Vidya Niketan
Title of workshop: Dekho-Karo-Sikho
No of Participating Schools: 25
No of Participants: 62
Level of Participants: PRTs and TGTs
Chief Resource Person: Mr Samar Bagchi, Ex-Director, Birla Industrial
& Technological Museum, Kolkata
Other resource persons: Ms. Shabnam Sharma, Ms. Jyotika Tayal, Ms.
Rinila Devan, Ms. Disha Bansal and Ms. Geetika Kukreja from junior wing
of Birla Vidya Niketan
Programme Details:
08:15am-09:00 Demonstration Class
09:00am 09:15am - Inauguration
09:15am 10:30am - Demonstration/Discussion by Mr.
Samar Bagchi
10:30am 10:45am - Tea Break
10:45am 12:30noon - Demonstration/Discussion by Mr.
Samar Bagchi
12:30pm - 01:00pm - Distribution of participation
certificates

The day began with a wonderful session with the students of Class 5.
Through this session Mr. Samar Bagchi demonstrated to the teachers how
to conduct the activity based teaching in the regular classroom. He
demonstrated the scientific interaction by creating the inquisitiveness
among the students about the themes he picked up leading the children
to create their own hypothesis, analyze and derive conclusions. Children
seemed absolutely engrossed and enjoyed every moment of the session
thereby learning and participating actively in the process.
The workshop titled Dekho Karo Seekho for the science teachers of
teaching science to classes I VII, began sharp at 9:00 a.m. with
Saraswati Vandana and the symbolic lighting of the knowledge lamp by
the chief guest Dr V.Vijaylakshmi and Mr Samar Bagchi. The Principal, Mrs.
Minakshi Kushwaha, welcomed the guest of honour, The vice Principal,
Mrs. Ranjana Joshi then introduced the chief resource person, Mr.Bagchi to
the audience. Ms. Pragya Nopany, HOD Physics at the school and the
coordinator of BVN-IAPT Anveshika, introduced BVN-IAPT Anveshika and its
programmes.
Delivering his motivational lecture on the need of the activity based
science teaching in schools, Mr. Samar Bagchi emphasized the use of
easily accessible low cost no cost equipment . His emphasized on first
developing observation skills to bring in inquisitiveness among the
learners and then to develop analytical skills gradually. He also laid
emphasis on multi modal teaching to develop multiple intelligences in the
young learners with a special reference to the Gardners Theory of
Multiple Intelligence.
He went on to mesmerize everybody with his way of explaining the
concept of rotation and revolution of heavenly bodies in the solar system.
Using himself as Earth and the participating teachers as the sun, the
moon and the stars, he explained beautifully why dont we have solar
eclipse on every new moon day and lunar eclipse on every full moon day,
the stars we see in the sky are the same always or do they change, how to
predict the position of a particular star in the sky, etc.
At 10:45a.m, a short working tea break of 15 minutes was given, during
which short science experiments were demonstrated by the Science
faculty of Junior School, Birla Vidya Niketan - Ms. Shabnam Sharma, Ms.
Jyotika Tayal, Ms. Rinila Devan, Ms. Disha Bansal and Ms. Geetika Kukreja .
The audience was invited to identify the principles behind each
demonstration. The interactive tea kept the guests involved with their
thinking caps on and they participated whole heartedly. Followed by this
were the presentations by the motivated teachers of other schools who
shared their activities with the rest. .
Post tea Mr. Bagchi presented various experiments based on the air
pressure like, rotating tennis ball at the edge of the funnel, sticking of the
card on the inverted glass filled with water, physics through human body.

He delivered difficult concepts in such a simple manner that every

participant could relate to it. His enthusiasm, energy, command over the
concepts, his sense of humour were a great source of inspiration. At
12:30, the house was thrown open for the questions which were answered
by Mr. Bagchi at length.
Delivering her speech after sitting through the whole session, the guest of
honour Dr. V. Vijay Lakshmi thanked Birla Vidya Niketan for such an
enlightening experience. This was followed by the vote of thanks given by
Ms. Shabnam Sharma, the organisational in-charge of the workshop.
Certificates of participation were given to all the participants.

Khel aur Jigyasa se Gyan tak @ BVN

Date: 24th January 2013
Time: 09:00 AM 1:30PM
Venue: Birla Vidya Niketan
Title of workshop: Khel aur Jigyasa se Gyan tak
No of Participating Schools: 24
No of Participants: 71
Level of Participants: PRTs and TGTs
Chief Resource Person: 1. Mrs Champa Banerjee, Ex-Principal, Springdales,
Jaipur & currently on panel of Oxford University Press
Other resource persons from BVN-IAPT Anveshika: Ms Shweta Sharma &
Ms Kirti Bharadwaj from Birla Vidya Niketan
Programme Details:
8:45 - 9:00 : Registration
9.00 9:20 : Lamp Lighting/ welcome by BVN Principal
Mrs Minakshi Kushwaha/ introduction of
BVN-IAPT Anveshika & its
programmes by the coordinator Mrs Pragya
Nopany
9:20 -10.40 : Demonstration/Discussion by Mrs Champa
Banerjee
10:40 -10:55
: Tea break
10:55 -11:10
: Demonstrations/Discussion by Ms
Kirti Bhardwaj &

Ms Shweta Sharma
11:10 1:15
: Demonstration/Group
Activity/Discussion by Mrs
Champa Banerjee
1:15 1:30 : Open house/ Vote of Thanks/Distribution of
Certificates
Concepts Explored:
The programme began at 9:00 AM with symbolic lighting of Knowledge
Lamp. The Principal, Ms Minakshi Kushwaha, welcomed the gathering
and initiated the proceedings. Ms Pragya Nopany, HOD Physics at the
school and coordinator of Anveshika spoke about BVN-IAPT Anveshika and
its programmes.
Mrs Champa Banerjee started the workshop with paintings of Van Gogh
and music which captured the attention of one and all conveying the
power of vivid visuals and music for introducing a topic to the young
learners. Sudoku and word scramble were next used to underline the need
and the method to develop language and simple maths amongst young
students. She went on to show how scientific concepts can be developed
in a playful manner using easily accessible materials. She took an
example of floating and sinking activity using vegetables and fruits to
show how this activity can be used in class 1 for fun as well as in class 8
to explain Archimedes principle, buoyancy, refraction, surface tension,
centre of gravity etc. She made a densitometer with plastic straws which
was very eye catching. She also conducted a group activity in which
teachers were divided into different groups, each group was assigned a
different section of a house like bedroom ,kitchen, washroom etc and were
asked to draw and write about various scientific activities going on in that
part of house.
Another highlight of the workshop was demonstration of activities by BVN
teachers Shweta Sharma and Kirti Bharadwaj at their own initiative,
the activities were liked by all.
The vote of thanks was given by Mrs Pragya Nopany. The members of
the organizing team were - Sutapa Laha De from another school and Ms
Anju Chhillar, Mrs Tripti Saxena, Ms Shweta Sharma, Ms Kirti
Bharadwaj, Ms Bharti Puri, Ms Bharti Arora, Ms Bhavna Suman,
Ms Deepika Pareek, Ms Kaveri Raj, Ms Nupur Kharbanda, Ms
Yashoda, & Mr Rajeev Jakhmola.
All the participant teachers were given participation certificates.

Pehle Dikhao Phir Sikhao @ BVN

Date: 24th November 2012
Time: 08:30 AM 4:30PM
Venue: Birla Vidya Niketan
Title of workshop: Pehle Dikhao Phir Sikhao
No of Participating Schools: 50
No of Participants: 84
Level of Participants: PGT and TGT
Chief Guest: Dr Subodh Mohanti, , Scientist G and Ex-Director ,
Vigyan Prasar, Govt of India
Resource Persons: 1. Mr Samar Bagchi, Ex-Director, Birla Industrial &
Technological Museum, Kolkata
2. Dr B.N.Das, Visiting Professor , Presidency
College, Kolkata
Sponsors: IAPT
Programme Details:
8:00 - 8:30 : Registration
8.30 9:00 : Lamp Lighting/ welcome by BVN Principal
Mrs Minakshi Kushwaha/ introduction of
BVN-IAPT Anveshika & its
programmes by the coordinator Mrs Pragya
Nopany/Inaugural address by Dr Subodh
Mohanti
9:00 -10.30 : Demonstration/Discussion by Mr Samar
Bagchi
10:30 -10:45
: Tea break
10:45 -12:30
: Demonstration/Discussion on
Experiments
12.30 -1.00 : Lunch
1:00 4:00 : Demonstration/Discussion on Experiments
4:00 - 4:15 : Tea/Open house/ Vote of Thanks/Distribution of
Certificates
Concepts Explored:
Mr Samar Bagchi, in his inimitable style, packed with humour, literary
quotes and anecdotes, demonstrated numerous activities on centre of
mass, torque, Galileos Experiment with freely falling objects,
weightlessness, air pressure, buoyancy and Archimedess principle, rising
and setting of sun, moon &stars, upward motion of a cone on an incline,
Newtons First Law of Motion. He took a class of 50 minutes with class IX
students to show how the demonstrations make learning more effective
and time efficient.
Post lunch session from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM was conducted by Dr
B.N.Das, who showed amazing demonstrations on magnetism,
electromagnetism and light especially suitable for senior classes. He also

took a demonstration class for students of class XI to show how time is

saved by teaching through activities and learning is better.
The whole program was video graphed by NCERT team for the their
educational training programs
All the participating schools were given a kit useful for preparing demo
activities in their schools.

From Hands on to Minds ON @ BVN

Date: 7th September 2012
Time: 08:00 AM 2:30PM
Venue: Birla Vidya Niketan
Title of workshop: From Hands on to Minds ON
No of Participating Schools: 84
No of Participants: 140
Level of Participants: PGT and TGT
Chief Guest & Chief Resource Person: Dr H.C.Verma, Professor of
Physics IIT, Kanpur
Guests of Honour: Members, RC 1, IAPT
Resource Persons from BVN-IAPT Anveshika:
1. Mrs Sutapa LahaDe
2. Mrs Pragya Nopany
3. Mrs Ranjna Bharadwaj
4. Mrs Vandana Pandey
5. Mrs Smita Fangaria
Programme Details:
8:00 - 8:30 : Registration
8.30 9:00 : Inauguration/ welcome by BVN Principal
Mrs Minakshi Kushwaha/ introduction of
BVN-IAPT Anveshika & its
programmes by the coordinator Mrs Pragya
Nopany/short talk by Dr Sher Singh, RC 1 ,
IAPT about IAPT
programmes.
9:00 -10.00 : Introductory Lecture

10:00 -11:00
: Demonstration/Discussion on
Experiments
11:00 -11:30
: Tea break
11.30 -1.30 : Demonstration/Discussion on Experiments
1.30 - 2:15 : Open house/Address by Mr Anil Kumar,
President RC 1, IAPT/Vote of Thanks by BVN Vice
Principal Mr Desmond
DMonte/Distribution of Certificates
2.15 - 2.45 : Lunch
Concepts explored:
Interacting with teachers on experiment based teaching of Mechanics Dr
Verma created magic in a hall packed with 136 teachers from 84 schools.
Using humour, simple devices, hard logic and interactive approach, Dr
Verma unfolded the beauty of physics with each word and action, keeping
the audience enthralled by bringing up apparent contradictions and then
offering fascinating explanations, inspiring one and all by his obvious love
of physics, his commitment to transmit this joy and his methodology .

Interacting with teachers on the concept of Centre of mass he cautioned

how the beauty of extended body motion can get lost in trying to replace
an extended body by a single point object. Taking up the concept of
torque, he showed with a simple scale and a heavy bag, how for a body in
equilibrium, net force and net torque is zero. He brought to the notice of
the teachers that in absence of any net force, the net torque about any
two axes will be same. Discussing the properties of the COM, he showed
that an object can be balanced at the centre of mass because the torque
due to gravity about the COM is zero. He also demonstrated through many
interesting exhibits, how objects can be balanced at interesting points by
shifting the centre of mass and the difference between the motion of
centre of mass and other points on a body undergoing complex motion.

The post tea break session started at 11:30 am with five short
demonstrations by BVN-IAPT Anveshika team members Ms Vandana
Pandey, Ms Ranjana Bharadwaj, Ms Sutapa Laha De, Ms Smita Fangaria
and Ms Pragya Nopany on centre of mass, angular momentum,
weightlessness, friction and rolling motion respectively. Prof Verma
discussed the beautiful physics behind each of these demos. After
exhibiting a rotating toy, a lively discussion on centrifugal forces ensued,
with Dr Verma explaining how to deal with circular motion without
bringing in centrifugal forces. With a mixie and also a marble on a rotating
plate, he showed how angular speed tends to increase the radius. At the
end Dr Verma walked around the audience with a milk vessel in his hand,
stunning everyone with resonant oscillations of the vessel. The sheer
beauty of the simplicity of his devices left everyone overwhelmed.