Their realisation during college that there was more to learning than marks brought this team of seven youngsters to start ‘Infinite Engineers’ to impart science concepts through hands-on experience. Now, this Chennai-based social enterprise is making headway in education institutions in Singapore too.

Started in 2014 during their final year in college, the ‘Infinite Engineers’ conducted workshops for schools to make science learning an enjoyable experience in Chennai. To equip teachers with simple tools to impart science lessons, they designed ‘Dexter Box,’ a kit with prototype science experiments aligned with the school curriculum of classes VI to IX.

S. Harish, co-founder of Infinite Engineers, said, “Children get to learn about concepts from their lessons. For instance, we provide an experiment module to help students conduct nutrient test, learn about sprinkler and drip irrigation and human anatomy through simple activities. We have reached about 10,000 children in 300 government schools and 20 private schools so far in five districts.” Each ‘Dexter Box’ has 12 types of experiments, games and activity based on the syllabus. “The challenge is to design the experiments to demonstrate within the class hours. We are now focussing on designing Dexter Boxes for primary school children,” he said.

At an interactive session organised by Singapore International Foundation at St. Luke’s Eldercare, Singapore, Sruthi Sadanand, one of the team members pursuing masters degree in the country, said she had identified the potential for their enterprise there and reached out to schools. “There is a robust environment for social enterprise to flourish in Singapore. If we prove we can add value to society, the start-ups could get financial aid too,” she said. “We have joined hands with Air Amber, another social enterprise in Singapore, for an inter-generation project wherein children and aged persons are involved in trying out experiments together. We are also launching a study on how the tools help the elderly and children with autism,” she said. The enterprise plans to launch online stores soon.

(This correspondent was in Singapore at the invitation of Singapore International Foundation, which encourages social entrepreneurs)

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by K. Lakshmi / Chennai – November 22nd, 2017