Talks by researchers and practitioners on various topics in science, technology and mathematics for school children in Pune region

The Exciting Science Group comprises of scientists from two of Pune’s best research institutions, NCL (http://www.ncl-india.org/)and IISER‐Pune (http://www.iiserpune.ac.in/). This initiative is aimed at conveying the excitement of science and technology to school students. We create an interface between practicing scientists and school students to demystify the scientific method. We hope that our programmes will attract the brightest talent from the next generation towards careers in science and technology, since it will be these students who will drive tomorrow's science and innovation based economy.
The current flagship programmes of the ESG include:

Popular talks for School students: The Popular Talks series of once‐a‐month talks aims to connect school students to practising scientists. Thus, school students get to hear a firsthand account of what it means to do research, and to get a feel for the thrill of discovery. .
Talks at Schools: ESG conducts talks by leading researchers from NCL or IISER-P at three PMC magnet schools, K.C.Thackeray Vidyaniketan, near Daruwala Pul; Hutatma Balvir Shirishkumar Vidyalaya, opposite Police lines and at the Dr Vasantdada Patil PMC Vidya Niketan. These talks happen during the science club and as a part of these talks we enable school students from these PMC schools to directly interact with NCL scientists and IISER-P faculty.
Science clubs: ESG volunteers conduct weekly science club sessions at three PMC Vidya Niketan schools that are structured to take the student participants through a journey that starts with discovering the excitement of science; then transitions to learning the scientific method of making observations, framing hypotheses and arriving at conclusions; and winds up learning how to ask and frame research questions and develop an approach to answering this question.
Workshops: ESG also conducts workshops for children during summer/winter that typically include a hands-on component.
Summer internships for the school students Exciting Science Group has initiated summer internship programme to get a few students from Pune Municipal Corporation schools to spend a summer in NCL/IISER labs.
Research Idea Competition: ESG conducts a Research Idea Competition known as Innovative Ideas Competition to get school students introduced to research and to the scientific method.
Science Quiz Competition: Exciting Science Group conducts an Inter-School Science Quiz Competition for students of grade 8 and 9. The purpose of the competition is to improve the learning of science concepts among students, broaden their knowledge, and enhance their strategic thinking ability.

ESG activities featured in "Yuvavani programme" (All India Radio).

Coordination team:

Dr K Guruswamy (NCL)
Dr Leelavati Narlikar (NCL)
Prof. Sutirth Dey (IISER-P)
Prof Bhas Bapat (IISER-P)
Prof Gayathri Pananghat (IISER-P)
Yogeshree Phadke

Annual Reports:

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