With an aim to foster the culture of curiosity along with the scientific temper amongst the school students, ISCC visited a local school, Ram Ratna Vidya Mandir, here in Mumbai on March 5, 2022. The team, Prof. Santosh Gharpure (IIT Bombay), Prof. Anant Kapdi (ICT Mumbai) and Dr. Piyushi Nautiyal (India UK ISCC), engaged in a two-hour long after-school program with the students which provided an opportunity to the young audience to get to meet real-life scientists and learn about their experience and journey. The key objective of the program was to ignite inquisitiveness in these young and curious minds, by connecting with them through real science, help them develop interest and better appreciate the role of science in our daily lives.

As the ISCC team entered the school auditorium, the students welcomed us with great excitement and anticipation. It turned out to be a highly interactive session as the students impressed our team with several interesting and thought-provoking questions – ranging from basic to emerging sciences. It was heartening to see the level of awareness and curiosity at such young age. At the same time, it reiterated the importance of such outreach events, which have the ability to positively impact aspiring young minds. To make the session more effective and interesting, our team engaged in storytelling and hands-on learning and was able to connect well with the students. Through this program, we aim to foster positive interactions with bright young students, provide the right direction in shaping their future choices and make them realise that career opportunities in science are rewarding, interesting, diverse, and achievable.

It was an amazing and very satisfying experience for us and gives us immense pride to be a part of this initiative to promote scientific curiosity in these young minds. We are sure that some of these promising young students will make future scientists and researchers whose work will help science make giant strides of advancement.