By Farah Shah

Building back better and welcoming children back to school could not have been better done than through the Pakistan Learning Festival (PLF) a three-day COVID-19, SOP compliant safe event (June 1-3, 2021) in Gilgit. Organized by the Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA) a national level organization, PLF was an enormous platform for expression and ideas for the students and teachers of Gilgit Baltistan. The festival included 80 sessions, among which STEM was one of the leading learning strands that helped students to explore and experience the magic of Science through hands-on experience, experimenting with ordinary household items, and developing simple machines. The sessions focused on 21st-century skills, engaging young learners in informal and interactive Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) activities.

The Single National Curriculum 2020 of Pakistan has also highlighted the importance of STEM and developed an interdisciplinary approach to educate learners in these major areas. The curriculum focuses on teaching such disciplines based on real life applications.

2.4.3 SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING AND MATHEMATICS (STEM): Standard – 6:  Students will develop an understanding of the nature of science and technology, the relationship between science and technology, and the social and environmental context of science and technology. (SNC. pg.13)

PLF collaborated with Pakistan’s leading organizations promoting STEM, such as Science Fuse and Oxbridge and Internationally recognized organizations such as Karkhana from Nepal to bring specially curated STEM based sessions for young learners and teachers.

In the Science Fuse sessions for children called “Chemical wonders” where students created a special gas with available materials and learned about chemical reactions. The sessions also helped the students to discuss how scientists conduct experiments and how they can also perform these experiments with basic materials.

Karkhana, Nepal focused on learning STEAM through stories. Students designed simple machines such as Catapult and Loop Gliders by using amazing stories about Sarla Thakral (the first Indian woman to fly an aircraft) who loved watching birds fly and wanted to be a pilot and How Amachi and Sooraj used simple machines pick and grind coconuts to make yummy burfi.

Oxbridge bought the art of making robots and understanding the methods behind it. The team

conducted a Hands-On Workshop for children on Tech Design and the Evolution of Technology.

For teachers the STEM sessions were about pedagogical activism and lively ideas for what are often seen as boring subjects called “Making Science Education engaging on a budget!” and “Talk Like a Scientist”. Mapped to the SNC, the focus was to introduce different teaching strategies through which teachers can create active learning spaces for their students. The aim was to help teachers plan their sessions and bring a conceptual approach to education rather than the conventional rote learning one.

Overall, PLF was a great platform for students and teachers from diverse educational backgrounds to come together and create a collective and lively learning space in STEM subjects. These sessions were packed with activities to support social emotional learning, they helped girls and boys to express, inquire and think out of the box, enhancing their curiosity for learning and especially about robotics, measurement and science as healers during COVID-19.