Discovering little scientist (Class X-XII)
This is a two-month summer vacation research program for class X-XII students. The program has been a huge success attracting more and more students every year. The aim of this program was to provide research opportunities to students at a very young age (15–18 years).
In the first batch (2009) there were only 10 students. So far till date a total 247 (Female 135) students were admitted from different parts of Maharashtra. Almost 80% students were from rural sector in which 18.6% were from tribal sector, special efforts are made to enroll students from remote region of Maharashtra.
Students work on assigned short term laboratory and community oriented research projects, analyze collected data and present them as posters at the valedictory function. In addition the participants give seminar on current topics such as nanotechnology, GM crops, global warming, gene cloning, Higgs-boson particle etc.
Features of the Program
Students work on assigned short term laboratory and community oriented research projects, analyze collected data and present them as posters at the valedictory function. In addition the participants give seminar on current topics such as nanotechnology, GM crops, global warming, gene cloning, Higgs-boson particle etc.
There are interactive sessions with globally acclaimed scientists/physicians. Previously, Dr. Jayant Narlikar and Dr. Raghunath Mashelkar both had interactive sessions with participants
Commonly used research topics for the program held from 2009 to till date were
- 1. Community based health survey for prevalence of non-communicable diseases
- Chronic kidney disease
- Hypertension
- Anemia
- Diabetes
- 2. Molecular basis of alpha thalassemia in tribal population of Western Maharashtra
- 3. Prevalence of alpha thalassemia and its molecular basis in Pune residents
- 4. Analysis of village & tribal region soil
- 5. Analysis of drinking water in villages and tribal sectors
- 6. Use of animal tissue culture to study anti-proliferative activity of some ayurveda preparations.
- 7. In vitro culture of malaria parasite
247 students
Before starting research projects participants received training in recording information in a specially designed clinical proforma, routine urine and blood tests and some special laboratory tests relevant to the projects. Students were also given lessons in use of computers and computer software, which they used to record and analyze their results. Participants were also given training in preparation of posters using Microsoft Power Point.
Discovering Adivasi little scientist
Since last 2012 a similar program is being conducted for adivasi students. The program is conducted in collaboration with Vanvashi Asharam Shala, Mangaon, and currently it was extended to 40 government Ashram school of Palghar and Nashik district of Maharashtra.
Documentaries:
Academy has made the following 2 documentaries of 10 min each in three different languages. Following are the YouTube links of each
Discovering Little Scientist
Discovering Adivasi Little Scientist
From 2009 we are continuously following our little scientist to find out impact of our highly successful program. Following graph shows the first three year’s little scientist who chose their respective interest field for future career.
There were some 192 students (77.7%) who selected for science stream for further education, out of which 14.0% & 18.2 % were admitted for Medical & Engineering respectively.
Discovering little scientist (Class X-XII)
