Kochi Science Park gets bigger

Updated on: Thursday, December 29, 2011

“There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

– Albert Einstein

This inspirational quote by the greatest scientist greets science enthusiasts who visit the Science Park at the Centre for Science in Society in the CUSAT campus. The park has so far helped over 1.5 lakh children and nearly 6,000 school teachers fathom the secrets behind many scientific miracles.

Budding scientists have reason to cheer about. The park, which had won accolades from greats like space scientist Dr K. Kasturirangan and former ISRO Chairman G. Madhavan Nair, is getting bigger and better. It will soon boast over two dozen new experimental models besides those from the Indian Space Research Organisation and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

“A new science park is being set up in a three-acre land adjacent to the existing one. The entrance fee to visit the current park will go towards building the new one. The University has approved the amount to be used for the new park,” Dr K.G. Nair, Director for C-SiS, told DC.

The ISRO would instal ‘original models’ of space vehicles besides a pavilion. Students can see for themselves the formation of vertex rotation that explains whirl wind and whirl pool, hyperbola tangents and the functioning of dish antenna.

“The new centre will be thrown open to the students from April 2012,” Nair said. The models will be arranged in such a way that advanced students can make use of specific sections instead of visiting the whole park.

The C-SIS, formed in 1991 as an off-shoot of the 77thsession of the Indian Science Congress, held in Kerala, currently offers one day Attachment Programme (ODAP) and midsummer courses for schools across the State. It is open to students from class five to class 12.

“We have also set up an herbal park, a butterfly garden (where particular species of plants attracting butterflies are grown), a rain water harvesting unit and a biogas plant and a hall of scientists; all with the entry fee collected from students.

Even the instructors’ fees (`450 per day) are met from this income. However, in a gesture of appreciation of our functioning, the State government has announced a financial aid from this year onwards,” Nair, who specialises in electronics, said. The future scheme of plans also includes setting up of a separate hall of fame. “It will contain statues of scientists from Kerala and other States.”

Athira Krishnan, a student of Sree Bhuvaneswari HSS, Mannar, was impressed by what she saw. “It was so much fun. We can learn amazing scientific principles, using play models. The ‘See and Believe’ labs were superb where children can do basic experiments.”

According to Nair, the main aim of the centre is to inspire schools in setting up similar models so that students can experiment what they learn.

The C-SiS, which has been approved by the State government as a training centre for high school science teachers, facilitates children to understand the principles of resonance, Archimedes Principle, solar cell arrays and Bernoullie’s Principle.

Kochi Science Park gets bigger

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