EXTENSION ACTIVITY AND SCIENCE DAY CELEBRATION

Community services have always been an integral part of St. Philomena’s College (Autonomous), Mysuru, and keeping this thought in mind, a programme on Popularizing Science through interesting experiments in Chemistry, together with Blood Group Screening drive was organized as a part of extension activity and observation of “Science Day” on February 22, 2022, for the High school students of Govt. High School, K. R. Mill Colony, Siddalingapura, Srirangapatna Taluk.

This activity was made successful with the unstinted support of the students and faculty of Departments of Chemistry and Bio-Chemistry.

The objective of the visit was not only to inculcate scientific attitude but also to create an interest in science.

The Science Day was celebrated under the following objectives:

1. To convince the High school students about importance of science in present day and develop scientific temper
2. To generate enthusiasm for creative future of Chemistry and Bio-Chemistry
3. To promote active involvement of students and teachers in science related activities
4. To have an Interaction with students by conducting simple experiments
5. To encourage students to ask questions to get their doubts cleared in different areas of science and then by promoting their effective participation.

The High school students were excited to observe and participate in the experiments conducted. The staff explained the concepts behind the experiments and they demonstrated in an impeccable manner and impressed the audience with their exemplary explanations.

It was fun learning for the students. The Headmistress of the school Ms. Aparna appreciated the efforts of the college students and the teachers.

Later, in the second part, students were grouped into two for the Blood screening and for a demonstration session on Food adulteration. A separate session was conducted for the girl students on ‘Menstrual cycle and maintenance of personal hygiene’.

The Final Year B.Sc. students of Bio-Chemistry conducted Blood Group Testing and others did the registration. A total of 107 Blood Grouping Tests were done which comprised of 60 Boys, 43 Girls and 4 teachers, the reports were released simultaneously.

The college students who accompanied the team gave a demonstration session on ‘Adulteration of food’. One of the students explained that ‘’Adulteration is a very serious problem posing serious health risks to many in India. In every product there is adulteration. Starting from our daily groceries, it moves on to our life saving medicines. 

Adulterated food is dangerous because it may be toxic and can affect health and it could deprive nutrients essential for proper growth and development of a human being”. The girl students were also enlightened through a separate session on the awareness on maintaining personal hygiene during menstrual cycle.

The day culminated with the thought that science is a beautiful gift to humanity and hence one should not distort it. It was a day of fun-based learning.

Students felt that it was an amazing experience to gain knowledge on varied topics of science that would improve their knowledge and skills.

(Dr. Ravi J. D. Saldanha is seen demonstrating Chemistry experiments)

(Demonstration of Food Adulteration by Bio-Chemistry students)