Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Micro Ideas: Rack your brains, a flash of brilliance might just slip by

A great idea is but a flash of brilliance. But often that flash of brilliance does not just occur out-of-the-blue. What it needs is excavation. Consider this - an archaeologist never knows what he's going to find - but that doesn't mean that he digs holes at random places waiting to hit upon something. Based on careful analysis and scientific research, he decides on places to dig hoping to find something.

You cannot find an ExtraTerrestial until you search for one. So is a great idea. It's time to tune the brain to constantly be in search for this flash of brilliance. And what better way can be it than starting off this section - Micro Ideas. May it be that one of the Micro Ideas is 'The One'.

Educational Activity Kits
'The best way to learn is to experience it'. When I was a kid - what used to amaze me the most were the tiny activity kits. I used to harp upon these difficult-to-get science activity kits - they are fun. Finally I could see and experience what these boring science books mean to drive in. This is so much easier - and this is the right way to learn. How many of us have actually taken the effort to see white light split into the multple colours of vibgyor on passing through a prism? How many of us have actually tried to carry out some of the tons and tons of chemical reactions that we read in our childhood. Why do we need to merely accept things without experiencing it. This is where the Educational Activity Kits come in - as I started playing with them, not only did I find understanding the profound concepts so much simpler but I also started exploring beyond the horizons of the Kits - I went on to have a mini Chemical laboratory to run though the reactions I learn in textbooks.

Today, all these look a distant past - but even today when I walk past through the 'toys and games' section in one of these US supermarkets/toystores, I am amazed that there still exists no commercial Education Activity Kit. The target market is quite open and the feasibility of implementation is not too bad. One can bring out an exclusive line of Education Activity Kits (a new brand like Lego). These boxed kits should contain scientific concepts and related experiments. In addition, they should contain all materials required to carry out these simple experiments. For eg: the activity kits can be organized under three categories - Physics, Chemistry & Biology. Under the Physics category will be a kit on 'Light' where concepts like diffraction, diffusion, etc can be explained. This kit will contain a Prism to explain the components of white light, a set of color filters to explain colors & filters, etc. Similarly one can have a Biology kit on observing plants and animals which will include experiments with microscopes and growing mustard plants.

Slowly it would be possible to explore into other areas outside core science like geography, arts & crafts, etc.

The world of EAK (Educational Activity Kits) waits, with doors wide open.

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