Science Poems and Humour+ #69
+Upcoming Events
“Serious-minded people have few ideas. People with ideas are never serious.” -Paul Valery, French Poet
Hi, this is the GenWise team– we bring out this newsletter to help parents and educators to complement the work of formal schools and associated systems. We can help our children thrive in these complex times only by exchanging ideas and insights and working together.
We are also a founder-member of the Gifted India Network– if you are interested in issues related to gifted education and talent development, an easy way to keep updated about talks, programs and resources is to join the Gifted India Network telegram channel (https://t.me/GiftedIndia).
This week we feature some science poems and cartoons- most of them from scientists, and a couple from school students. Enjoy them- and remember to have fun while learning things yourself or working with your children/ students! While it’s important to be serious, becoming too serious comes in the way of joyful and deeper learning.
Science Poems and Humour
Chemistry Poem by Mala Radhakrishnan
Mala Radhakrishnan is a computational biophysical chemist, with a PhD from MIT and writes chemistry poems. GenWise mentor, Radha Gopalan, discovered her work some time ago and has been very excited about it- we share one of her poems below.
If you would like to know more about Mala and her work, you can read her interview in this issue of Azim Premji University’s science magazine for school teachers.
‘Poetry Adda’ Session at the GenWise Summer Program, June 2022
Inspired by Mala’s work, Radha conducted a session for students in the GenWise Summer Program at Shiv Nadar University in June 2022. Students came up with many interesting pieces- we share one below.
“Quantum Physics is the study of everything small Leptons, Bosons, Quarks and all Everything is in a particle and wave form Nothing is definite; that is the norm” -Grade 7 Student, Shiv Nadar School
Limericks from the Physics Department, Harvard University
This page of the Physics department at Harvard, has several delightful (and educational( limericks. Here’s a sample-
Galileo’s experiment worked because the air is sufficiently thin. Who knows what he would have concluded if we lived in a thicker medium… What would you have thought, Galileo, If instead you dropped cows and did say, “Oh! To lessen the sound Of the moos from the ground, They should fall not through air but through mayo!”
‘The Cartoon Guide to’ Series
This series of books provides a highly engaging but deep qualitative appreciation on a variety of topics and is a must in the arsenal of every teacher/ parent.
Do share your favourite engaging science material or write to us for book/ video/ website suggestions.
Upcoming Events
How Food Makes You? This week’s edition of ‘Talk to a Scientist’ features Dr. Aditya Parekh from NCBS. On Sat, Nov 12, 2022 at 5 PM IST for children from ages 6-16. Register here.
Gifted Winter Program (Gr. 6-10)- Dec 18-30
The Gifted Winter Program is GenWise’s third residential program in calendar year 2022 and is in collaboration with Ei-ASSET Talent Search (Ei- ATS) .
The program is from Dec 18-30, 2022 and is jointly hosted by Vidyashilp University and the Padukone-Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence in Bengaluru for children currently in Grades 6-10. Students will reside at India’s most modern sportsplex, the Padukone-Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence (CSE). Classes will be held at the brand new facilities of Vidyashilp University.
The program is exclusively for gifted students who are Gold/ Silver/ Bronze Scholars on Ei-ASSET Talent Search (Ei- ATS). If you do not have an ATS score, but are interested in the program, please contact us with your ASSET scores. If you haven’t taken ASSET recently, you can take it here.
Details of the upcoming programs are shared below. You can also reach the GenWise team by sending a Whatsapp message or calling the below numbers.
Eklavya- 7046466866
Sapna- 9821112090
All students in the senior track will go through 2 academic enrichment modules-
Introduction to Bio-Inspired Soft Robotics
Being a Digital Native in the 21st Century
All students in the junior track will go through 3 academic enrichment modules-
Think like a Scientist
Heroes and Villains
Viewing Current Society through a Literary Lens
Detailed module descriptions, mentor profiles and more available here.