CREATIVITY THROUGH OUT-OF SCHOOL
 SCIENCE PROGRAMMES & ACTIVITIES.
 

Science is a process as well as a product involving all aspects of Creativity. Science as a process inculcates in an individual, values such as openmindness, rational thinking, reasoning, systematic working, team work and respect for opinions of others. Science education concerns with attitude formation - that is to say develop in a person the quality of scientific temper and scientific attitude rather than loading him with scientific information and knowledge only. It provides opportunities to a person for creating something new, whether for an individual or for the whole civilization. Although, Creativity is not restricted to any particular subject area but there is no doubt that science education has much wider scope of nurturing and encouraging divergent thinking and Creativity.

In a school, specially when the enrollment is high and the same premises is used for running double shifted schools, very little time is available at the disposal of the teacher and his students to adopt interactive strategies. And interactions between the teacher and taught are essential to foster Creativity amongst the children. Learning shall never remain confined within the four walls of the class room nor can it be time-bound within the forty minutes of a period. Children have basic instinct of curiosity to know more about the things around, whether inside or outside the class room. Infact the useful time spent by a student outside the school boundary is comparable with that spent inside the school.

The study group on Science Curriculum and Instructional Material Development, Unesco, Bangkok, 1981 has recommended utilization of out of school facilities to foster the elements of open competencies. Out- of-school programmes and activities are the best media for utilising the time at the disposal of a child outside the school and facilities available elsewhere. The facilities may be available at places like home, farms, garden, museums, factories or natural environments such as forests, river side, ponds or parks.

Some of the out-of-school programmes and activities related to science education for fostering, developing and encouraging Creativity are listed below :

i) Survey : As for example, survey of local parks, gardens whether inside or outside the school, near by ponds, nallah or river to find out the type of flora, fauna or organisms. adaptations and relationship amongst organisms, effect of seasons etc.

ii) Field Trips and Educational Excursions : To observatory, well known laboratories and research institutes, different types of museums. national parks and sanctuaries, poultry and cattle farms, factories etc.

Surveys and field trips provide first hand experiences and stimulate curiosity and skills to deal with problems encountered on the spot. However, it is always desirable to have the objective of the field trip and the excursion clear and well defined in the mind of the teacher as well as the students. It should be always well-planned and after the trip, there should be a follow-up programme otherwise the thing is halfdone. For better understanding, it is advisable to prepare a 'work-sheet' before conducting a survey or field trip. One may refer to the work sheets included as individual/group activities else where in this brochure (Chapter 9.8), developed by the participating teachers when they visited National Science Centre, New Delhi.

iii) Home Assignments : These assignments, if carefully selected and given to students, help in a great way in fostering creativity and divergent thinking. The different categories of such assignments are :

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a) Simple but creative activities which can be conducted at home such as :

- What happens to ink when placed in refrigerator?

- What are the relationships among the size, shape and mass of an arrow and a bow?

- How does the design of an arrow influence the target?

- Which one is more sweet-common sugar, gur, desi sugar (khand), misree, or honey?.

(b) Activities based on observations and reporting such as :-

- Do one type of butterfly visits only one species of flower?

- Finding the location of various constellation in the night sky.

- Observe the behavior pattern of a wall lizard and find out the relationship of its activities and its survival.

(c) Writing of uses of common articles such as :-

- Write as many uses of a pencil in explaining scientific principles, laws or theories as you can.

- Writing of definition of common objects such as table fan, electric bulb etc.

- Writing of end of incomplete fables - the students is asked to suggest three different endings to an incomplete short fable : a moralistic one, a humorous and a such one. (Please refer to the activities done by the participating teachers on this topic in Chapter 9.3).

- Writings science fictions/plays.

(d) Construction of 'working models' such as windmill or solar cooker. Students; should make simple working Models at home and should themselves find out the solutions to the problems which they encounter during construction of the model.

- Preparation of science teaching aids, educational toys and simple science equipments from wastes. (Please refer Chapter 8 in this brochure).

(a) Collection of materials, information, data etc. pertaining to a particular study or investigation. For example, a student may be asked to collect data related to weather from news papers, TV/radio news and interpret his data for study of weather or forecasting it. Similarly, one may investigate the factors responsible for a type of pollution at a particular place.

iv) Participations In Science Seminars, Science Fair :

Participations in seminars, debate, exhibition or quiz compititions related to science should be encouraged. An enterprising, enthusiastic and energetic student may also take part in such out-of- school activities as science 'Jathe' or science based 'street play'.

Stated above are some of the out-of-school activities. A teacher with some imagination can enlist some more activities. However, how far one is successful in achieving the quality for creating something novel depends on so many other factors as also on proper selection of the activity, the role of the teacher and the child himself. There is no doubt, the teacher, especially the science teacher, can do a lot in building up an environment both in school and out-of-school for fostering, developing and encouraging divergent thinking and creativity.

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Assignment :

1. List five out-of-school programmes/activities Which can encourage creativity amongst students.

2. What out-of-school programmes and activities can you use to foster creativity amongst your students.

or

Write, 10 home assignments which you would like to give your students to stimulate creativity in them.

3. What difficulties, you imagine, would you face in organising a field trip? What plausible suggestions you propose to over come these difficulties?

(For responses of the participants, please see under INDIVIDUAL & GROUP ACTIVITIES, Chapter 9.5, 9.6 and 9.7)

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