ARJAVA MEDIA:
Thirty school students of class IX each from 33 CSIR labs across the country isolated DNA from their own saliva using the DNA isolation kits under the guidance of Dr Beena Pillai, Chief Scientist and Dr Arya Sidharthan, Science Communicator from CSIR-IGIB.
The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), one of the largest science and technology organisations in India, carried out scientific activity in its laboratories across the country. Its Delhi-based constituent laboratory, the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) coordinated the activity by connecting online simultaneously to all the other laboratories of CSIR.
Thirty school students of class IX at each of the participating CSIR laboratories isolated DNA from their own saliva using the DNA isolation kits under the guidance of Dr Beena Pillai, Chief Scientist and Dr Arya Sidharthan, Science Communicator from CSIR-IGIB.
Through this exercise, the students learned about the scientific principles of cell structure and the chemical nature of DNA. Finally, the students were given a short questionnaire designed to evaluate their understanding of scientific principles and assess their scientific aptitude. The outcome of the pilot study of scientific aptitude assessment followed by a larger study will not only help the students make STEM career choices as per their aptitude but also policymakers in designing curriculum and aligning with New Education Policy 2020.
In the event, 830 students joined the live interaction from 33 CSIR labs. This scientific aptitude assessment was carried out under the CSIR-Jigyasa platform, which is a flagship outreach program that connects school students to scientists at CSIR labs. Since 2017, about a million students have participated in the program.
Dr Souvik Maiti, Director, CSIR-IGIB and Dr Geetha Vani Rayasam, Head of CSIR-HRDG inaugurated the event. Senior scientists from various CSIR labs, teachers and school students were also present.
