A total of 139 students from 32 schools across the southern part of the country participated in the qualifying round leading up to the finals; from the host city Bangalore 49 students from 11 schools participated. In its third year, the contest has generated great response from schools and students across the country. The winners of the qualifier round will present their experiments at the finals, which will be held in Mumbai on January 18, 2014.
The contest was judged by an esteemed panel of educational professionals including Dr. Sarada Chandrasekaran – Director of Whitefield Global School, Dr. Sudhashree Chandrashekar – Director of Capitol Institutions Bangalore, Prof. Rajeev B Agarwal – Director, Management Academy and Research Centre (MARC), Dr. Sushil Kumar Sinha & Mr. P N Shanmugam – Retired Scientists from Indian Space Research Organisation, and Mr. K V Raghavendran – Indian Public School.
Schools participating in the contest were Mother Teresa Public School, Iqra International School, Sree Saraswathi Vidyalaya, Infant Indian School, Goodwill School, Padmavathi Montessori School and Mount Litera Zee School among others.
BrainCafé Budding Scientist Contest is a hunt to discover the future scientist from across the country. The themes for experiments this year include Environment, Force & Energy, Food and Body systems, Magnet, Electricity and Circuits, Friction and Pressure, Heredity and Evolution, Electromagnetism, etc.
Being one of India’s largest annual science competitions, the BrainCafé Budding Scientist Contest provides students a unique platform to showcase their ability to apply scientific principles for creating working models. Looking at the popularity and the eagerness among young students, from this year onwards the contest was made open for all schools across the country to participate. The winners from the final round will receive a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh.
Sharing his thoughts on the BrainCafé Budding Scientist Contest, Mr. Anuj Katiyar, Marketing Head, Zee Learn Limited, said, “The BrainCafé Budding Scientist Contest is one of India’s largest science competitions that provide students with the unique platform to showcase their ability to apply scientific principles for creating working models. The objective of this competition is to unleash the creativity in a child to invent or innovate based on their understanding of science and how it can help bring about a change to humankind in small unique ways. Held across different levels, from School to the National level, the contest attempts to develop High Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) among students through the route of science. In BrainCafé we are on a mission to ‘Unlock the learning potential of the child’ through activity based, hands-on programmes that go with our belief of “Learning by Doing.”
“Till last year the contest was open only to schools using BrainCafe model, but this year we have allowed all schools to participate. The overwhelming response we have received from students and schools from various regions further motivates us to extend this platform across different cities.” He added,
About BrainCafé
BrainCafé is Zee Learn’s endeavor to reach out to schools across India and enable them with innovative & interactive learning environment. In BrainCafé our mission is to “Unlock the learning potential of the child” through activity based, hands-on programmes that go with our belief of “Learning by Doing”.
To bring out the best in science education we have tied up with Gakken Education Co. a company based out of Tokyo, Japan. Gakken Education Co. are a global name in the education industry with existence over 65 yrs of experience spreading across 13 countries. The programme is an integrated eight level concept builder program for students of class I to VIII that brings better understanding and appreciation to the world of Science.
BrainCafé has created a unique experiential learning programme with its trademark pedagogy QUARC™ for schools in India with the aim to bring the best of science education to schools in India. The program is designed to develop Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) among students through the route of Science. The program intends to improve conceptual understanding of complex science concepts with relative ease and develops scientific temper amongst students in the formative years by providing hands-on experiment.
About Zee Learn
Zee Learn Limited is the educational arm of Essel Group. Listed on National Stock Exchange (NSE) & Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), it is one of the leading education companies in India. As a significant player in Core Education, Zee Learn is set to ride on an increasing demand for quality education and development with the fastest growing chain of preschools & K-12 schools.
