Lab visit as an avenue to motivating students towards science: Students and teachers’ opinions and expectations

Abstract

Nowadays scientific community is employing different traditional as well as innovative approaches to motivate students towards science with the end objective of promoting a scientific career and instilling a scientific attitude. Organising exhibitions, quiz competitions, research labs/ industries/ science rails/ science museum/planetarium visits, etc, and taking Mobile Science Vans to schools for exposure are some ways to develop interest among the students. In line with this, CSIR-National Institute of Science Communication And Information Resources, a public-funded premier institute of India in the field of science communication (having the mission of disseminating Science at scholarly and popular level) regularly organises visit-to-lab, open days, science expos for students, in particular, the school students. The institute organized an exhibition-cum-open day with the theme “Indian Raw Materials & Products Expo” to promote interest in science and science communication, which was visited by more than 650 school students along with their teachers from about 17 schools. They were asked to rate their experiences and suggestions through a feedback questionnaire. The students were intrigued by the display of live and preserved specimens of the plants. Teachers recommended organising these visits on a regular basis for the benefit of the students. Such visits expose the young minds to the happenings in science, leading to enthusiastic dialogue among the students, students and teachers, students/teachers and researchers/scientists, etc.