My Science School

The digital revolution has penetrated extensively across the country, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The biggest beneficiaries of the use of technology have been students.

From Wordle to Google classroom, to reels and YouTube channels the digital revolution that began in India in the 90s has penetrated extensively across the country, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Every person with a smartphone is now connected globally via the Internet and has some input (whether in the form of text. photos, videos, audios and charts) to share with the public at large.

The biggest beneficiaries of the use of technology have been the student community. Even before the pandemic most academic institutions had shifted their attention to collaborative instruction by introducing audio-visual elements. However, the forms of communication and collaboration that occurred in online teaching is something that was previously unheard of.

Easy access to information

For years, the teacher was considered the primary source of information and the learners passively received it. This model is still very much in evidence today. However, because of the access to information and educational opportunities that technology offers, the teacher now plays the role of a guide and mentor. Students these days take more responsibility for their own learning, using technology to gather relevant information. They collaborate on group projects using technology-based tools such as wikis and Google docs.

Some of the strongest technology buzzwords in recent years are distance learning, big data, machine learning and Internet of Things (IoT). Eventually, it all boils down to integrating technology into our lives, making learning easier.

Educators bring valuable knowledge to learners, both in theory and in real life. But smart educators are those who can create lessons, enabled by technology, and based on what students want to learn. For instance, eLearning is education or training delivered electronically. It can be in the form of slide-based online activities or an online course that helps a business train employees in necessary skills. This content is delivered to learners through computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones. The decision-making factor, in this scenario, encourages learners to make their own choices on what they want to study next.

New-age scenario

Video-assisted learning is another interesting trend. In this case, animated videos are used to teach lessons, making content easier to understand. Such videos reduce a teacher's workload and are believed to improve the performance of students.

Then there is blockchain technology which is used in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and ePortfolios to verify skills and knowledge. The Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) in blockchain is beneficial when it comes to data storage. Every time new data is added, it adds another "block" to the system, so the storage is technically limitless.

From hospitals to newsrooms, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is now a ubiquitous presence. Al can automate basic activities in education, like grading. It is now possible for teachers to automate grading when it comes to multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions. Next comes immersive learning with VR and AR. The classroom experience has undergone a tremendous change since the introduction of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) in education. The rise in demand for experiential learning has led to a push in the development of learning with VR and AR. The former provides a constructed reality, while AR gives an enhanced view of a real image. Thus, they help explain complex concepts that plain images or even a lab's hands-on experiments cannot do.

Learning with creativity

STEM  programmes are now STEAM, with the inclusion of Art. This new trend offers meaningful science, technology, engineering, art and math content to solve real-world problems through hands-on learning activities and creative design. It also creates a safe environment for learners to express and experience their ideas while thinking outside the box.

*STEM  programmes are designed to develop a learners skills in science, technology, engineering and maths.

Did you know

Many educational institutes have started using social media as a communication tool in which students can share study materials, discuss with others in a group, or easily comment on someone else's post.

Picture Credit : Google 

Joshua Martinangeli, 7, cannot attend classes due to a severe lung disease. The German student interacts with his teacher and classmates through an avatar robot that sits in his place in class and gives a blinking signal when he has something to say. "The children talk to him, laugh with him and sometimes even chitchat with him during the lesson," says the school headmistress. The project is an initiative by the local council in the Berlin district Marzahn-Hellersdorf. "It does happen from time to time, for various reasons, that a child cannot go to class in person. Then the avatar can give that child a chance to remain part of the school community," says a local district education councillor.

Picture Credit : Google 

If you're looking for a game with lightning fast rounds that you can play anywhere, Four Letters is for you. Your challenge is to make as many words as you can using just four letters. The letters keep changing as you create words, and the more words you make, the faster your remaining time decreases. When the clock runs out, check out the dictionary to see the words you missed. Four Letters offers stats including seconds spent spelling, word spelled the fastest, number of unique words spelled, and how many words spelled out of all possible four letter combinations. Free for iOS and Android.

Picture Credit : Google 

 

What one person wants from their Instagram experience is different from the next, and people’s needs are changing. To hide likes on your post, tap on the three-dot menu button next to an image and select 'hide like count. To pre-emptively hide likes on your posts when you create them, go to Advanced Settings and turn on 'Hide like and view counts on this post. To avoid seeing the total number of likes and views on posts from other accounts on your feed, go to Settings > Privacy> Posts and turn on Hide like and view counts'.

Picture Credit : Google 

The Plantone Smart Mini Indoor Garden provides planting, lighting and watering in a single system that allows you to grow five different species of plants at a single time. You never have to worry about forgetting to water, overwatering, or moving your plants to get more light. Every plant requires a different amount of water, so Plantone waters each plant according to its requirements. The water tank below the pots can be filled to the top for upto 60 days of water. Using pressurized technology, the pots siphon water from the tank automatically. The retractable tower's LEDs produce a balance of cool and warm light and turn off when natural light is detected. Control the intensity of the light and switch between different light cycles with the press of a button. The tower's sensor package monitors temperature, humidity, light level and air quality. It has WiFi and Bluetooth as well as an internal real time clock to keep time for your custom light schedules. Plantone's app lets you control watering and lighting remotely using your smartphone. The device is recyclable and uses repurposed materials.

Picture Credit : Google 

With a simple query on Google Search, you can get answers to any question. However, the convenience of getting answers in an instant and on-demand, may be making us over-confident of our own abilities, causing us to lose sight of where our memory ends and where the internet's begins, according to a University of Texas study. The process of searching on Google is much like searching our own memory that can lead us to confuse information. found online with information in our own heads. It could prove harmful while making medical or financial decisions, and could sway some in scientific and political views. The feeling could also affect students who may devote less time and energy to gaining knowledge. "When we're constantly connected to knowledge, the boundaries between internal and external knowledge begin to blur and fade," says Asst. Prof Adrian Ward "We mistake the internet's knowledge for our own."

Picture Credit : Google 

WhatsApp voice messages are great when you’re in a hurry, or want to make sure the intonation of your message is delivered correctly and isn’t open to interpretation as it sometimes can be in a text message. But until just recently, you couldn’t listen to your message before sending it. The feature was updated so you could stop recording and add more to your message, but it’s only now that you can preview it. When you're ready to record, tap and hold the mic button, then drag up to enter 'hands-free mode' (you'll see a lock as you drag up). WhatsApp will start recording. You can then delete the clip immediately by tapping the trash can icon, or tap the stop button. Once stopped, you'll see a play button that lets you preview your message. You can also delete the message after recording it.

Picture Credit : Google 

 

Mazes & More puts a spin on a classic puzzle game with some tricky twists. Find a way out in six modes: Classic, Enemies, Ice Floor, Darkness, Traps and Time Trial. In Darkness mode, you see the maze at the start, but then everything goes dark except for a small spotlight on you, and you have to make your way to the exit. Ice floor will see you sliding ahead of where you want to go. Customize your player avatar and tap or swipe your way through the mazes. Puzzles range from easy mazes to harder and advanced labyrinths; escape each and share your score with friends. Complete all 450 levels and become king/queen of the maze. Mazes & More is available in over 57 languages, including Hindi. Free for iOS and Android, the game does not require an internet connection.

Maze apps can boost your child’s motor, cognitive, and social-emotional skills. Playing Maze is a great way to improve the fine motor skills needed to perform specific movements such as writing, tying shoelaces, etc.  Maze requires a child to control their hand movements through the Maze without hitting the borders, improving their fine motor and hand-eye coordination, but also enhancing perseverance, patience, and focus.

The game often requires a child to come up with various strategies and consider different solutions. Therefore, maze apps for kids can foster problem-solving skills and spatial orientation. They also encourage children to practice their working memory and scan various solutions.

Picture Credit : Google 

The Van der Waals speaker aims to create an audio-visual experience by combining sound with an engaging visual display. The Bluetooth 5.1, USB-C speaker, named after Dutch physicist and Nobel laureate Johannes Diderik van der Waals, displays a 9-inch ferromagnetic visualizer. Ferromagnetic fluid or ferrofluid was a magnetic fluid developed by NASA for rocket ships to control fuel in zero gravity. As the song plays, the vibrations agitate the inky ferrofluid, causing it to change shape accordingly and create a mesmerizing audio display. Paired with 2x15W mid bass speakers and 2x15W tweeters, the speaker can also be paired with another in a stereo configuration. Housed in a tempered glass globe with anodized aluminium, the speaker's LED lights create a contrasting backdrop for the ferrofluid to dance to your favourite songs.

The speaker produces crisp, clear sound thanks to a quality build that incorporates the latest in audio technology. Four speakers that comprise two tweeters and two mid-bass speakers ensure great sound quality. Furthermore, the team used components from two wireless and audio tech leaders: Qualcomm and Texas Instruments. Van der Waals connects via Bluetooth 5.1 and supports SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD, and aptX Adaptive. It comes with a USB-C cable and works well on either its own or in a system of multiple speakers. Launched through Kickstarter, the Van der Waals speaker had surpassed the initial goal about 13 times over at the time of writing. 

Credit : Gessato

Picture Credit : Google 

China announced its plan in 2018 to launch an artificial moon to light up the night sky. If the plan clicks, China's "illumination satellite" would orbit above the city of Chengdu and glow along with the actual Moon, but eight times brighter. The idea of a fake moon is to replace street lamps and lower electricity charges.

The facility, slated for official launch this year, will use powerful magnetic fields inside a 2-foot-diameter (60 centimeters) vacuum chamber to make gravity "disappear." The scientists were inspired by an earlier experiment that used magnets to levitate a frog.  Scientists plan to use the facility to test technology in prolonged low-gravity environments before it is sent to the moon, where gravity is just one-sixth of its strength on Earth. This will allow them to iron out any costly technical kinks, as well as test whether certain structures will survive on the moon's surface and assess the viability of a human settlement there.

According to the researchers, the inspiration for the chamber came from Andre Geim, a physicist at the University of Manchester in the U.K. who won the satirical Ig Nobel Prize in 2000 for devising an experiment that made a frog float with a magnet.

The levitation trick used by Geim and now in the artificial-moon chamber comes from an effect called diamagnetic levitation. Atoms are made up of atomic nuclei and tiny electrons that orbit them in little loops of current; these moving currents, in turn, induce tiny magnetic fields. Usually, the randomly oriented magnetic fields of all the atoms in an object, whether they belong to a drop of water or a frog, cancel out, and no material-wide magnetism manifests.

Apply an external magnetic field to those atoms, however, and everything changes: The electrons will modify their motion, producing their own magnetic field to oppose the applied field. If the external magnet is strong enough, the magnetic force of repulsion between it and the field of the atoms will grow powerful enough to overcome gravity and levitate the object — whether it's an advanced piece of lunar tech or a confused amphibian — into the air.

The tests completed in the chamber will be used to inform China's lunar exploration program Chang'e, which takes its name from the Chinese goddess of the moon. This initiative includes Chang'e 4, which landed a rover on the far side of the moon in 2019, and Chang'e 5, which retrieved rock samples from the moon's surface in 2020. China has also declared that it will establish a lunar research station on the moon's south pole by 2029.

Credit : Live scince 

Picture Credit : Google