Elementary science material on the internet soon

Updated on: Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Chennai: Teachers and students of elementary school can access an interactive, science learning programme developed in association with IIT-Madras, freely available on the internet before the end of this year.

Set up in memory of former headmaster of the Madras Christian College High School, the Kuruvila Jacob Initiative for promoting excellence in school education was has been working on a programme to develop multimedia-enhanced science learning materials for Classes VI to IX, in collaboration with IIT-Madras since 2007.

M.S Ananth, the director of IIT-M launched the latest DVDs of Physics and Chemistry material and announced that the whole project would be ready on the web before the end of 2009, at the sixth annual function of the Initiative, on Kuruvila Jacobs birth centenary.

Explaining how the modules were developed using the same equipment and team that are putting IITs engineering courses on YouTube, Dr. Ananth said 'From the very beginning, it was decided to make it available in the public domain'.
The Internet version of these science modules would allow students to study from the comfort of their own homes, he said.

Nearly, 80 teachers from 22 city schools were involved in development of the material. 'An experiment showing how the electron moves is worth three lectures in quantum mechanics,' said Dr. Ananth. He believes that distance education can help fill the gaps in the Indian school education system, just as it is starting to do in higher education as well.

Earlier, historian and writer Ramachandra Guha delivered the keynote at the function, on the topic 'Why India is the most interesting country in the world.'
He explained that the country was undergoing simultaneous revolutions in at least five areas industrial, urban, national, democratic and social in a way that was unprecedented in international history.

Elementary science material on the internet soon

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