Parahitam Foundation focuses on providing a good upbringing and education to the orphan children to make them responsible citizens of the country. As it is often said – “Journey of a thousand miles begins with single step”, we began at a children shelter home of Satya Sai Charitable Trust.
Children are naturally inquisitive, full of questions about the world around them and drive to investigate how things work. Therefore, we should take advantage of this innate curiosity and start channeling their enthusiasm for scientific discovery. This supports the development of other skills and attributes which include communication skills, collaborative skills, team working and perseverance.
“The process is more important than the results“
To start with, we engaged the children by teaching them alphabets. Since the children are at a beginner level, they were finding it hard initially to write them or recognize them. Hence, we made flashcards which helped them for easier identification. A child may not understand that the word “pencil” means pencil, but they recognize what of picture of pencil is. Visuals/Images will be able to better develop their understanding. To achieve this, we prepared images of objects which helped them in easy understanding.
Time to understand English
Teaching English through their native language was also fun as they were more confident while understanding. We displayed a popular video story of “Punyakoti” followed by narrating the story of the same which had their heart.
Science-minded children
Even the simplest activities can introduce children to scientific concepts and stimulate thinking. Science education provides a strong foundation in terms of both what is learned, and how it’s learned. Encouraging them to always experiment and ask questions can foster their investigation skills.
We began by taking up simpler experiments and tried to explain them how they are happening. To name few, Photosynthesis was the easiest which they were familiar with. Along with this we explained few concepts of light -refraction and reflection by taking an example of a rainbow, Static electricity by showing the demo with comb and papers which was fun and kept them active. All of this was explained in Kannada as they were more familiar with the language. Basic General Knowledge was taught, and they actively participated by playing a QUIZ.
