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Kalpakghar STEM centre opens at Pimpri Chinchwad Science Park
New community STEM tinkering centre Kalpakghar inaugurated at Pimpri Chinchwad Science Parkaims to promote related education in schools
PUNE A new community STEM tinkering centre ‘Kalpakghar’ was inaugurated in Pimpri Chinchwad Science Park, on Wednesday, which aims to promote Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education in schools.
Kalpakghar is a collaborative initiative by the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, (IISER-Pune) and Pimpri Chinchwad Science Park, funded by Tata Technologies Ltd under their corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative.
Dr Aparna Deshpande, project principal investigator for Kalpakghar and faculty in-charge of the science activity centre at IISER Pune, said, “This is the first active learning centre housed within a museum. The models and activities are based on STEM topics aligned to the school curriculum, for example, gears and their application, types of sensors, Arduino-based projects like height measurement.”
Kalpakghar also conducts theme-based student workshops and teacher workshops. Every Sunday Kalpakghar runs audio-visual shows at the Tarangan Auditorium, open to all visitors of Pimpri Chinchwad Science Park at no additional cost.
“Daily demonstrations of various hands-on activities are conducted by the Kalpakghar team,” added Deshpande.
The centre aims to conduct STEM-tinkering workshops for PCMC school teachers and students, aligning with the National Education Policy 2020.
The centre was inaugurated by Shekhar Singh, commissioner of Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) and chairman of Pimpri Chinchwad Science Park, in the presence of Prof SS Bhagwat, director of IISER Pune; Dr Arvind Natu, board member of Pimpri Chinchwad Science Park and other dignitaries.
During the event, Singh emphasised that such initiatives could add value to the teaching-learning process. “Kalpakghar could serve as a central hub for promoting STEM education across schools in Pimpri Chinchwad, ITI colleges, and engineering colleges, thus promoting the spirit of independent thinking and active learning amongst students, teachers and science enthusiasts,” he said.
