Eager to play, learn, imagine, explore and discover the wonders of science, thousands of children from across Thar gathered at the Dawood Foundation's 'TDF MagnifiScience Thar Exhibition' that is being organized in collaboration with the Thar Foundation, Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC), Engro Corporation and Engro Powergen Thar (Pvt) Ltd.
The TDF MagnifiScience Exhibition is an initiative by the Dawood Foundation that rallies Pakistan's leading corporations and public sector organisations along with academia, entrepreneurs and specialists in various science fields at a single platform to promote the culture of science, technology and critical thinking in the country. The exhibition was held in Karachi in 2016 and 2017. It was the biggest science exhibition in the country in terms of attendance, reach and impact. The exhibitions were able to attract over 50,000 visitors each year.
The MagnifiScience Exhibition by the Dawood Foundation aims to make quality education accessible for all and encourage the quest for science in a remote area such as Thar where literacy rate is quite low. The idea of bringing TDF MagnifiScience to Thar stemmed from Thar Foundation's philosophy to create avenues for children and students of Thar to interact with functional school experience.
The TDF MagnifiScience Thar Exhibition is a two-day event which is free of charge for public to experience science through various interactive activities made by professionals. Enthusiastic children explored interesting themes such as Optical Illusions, Forces and Motion, Sound, Mind Games and Health. Each theme has exhibits designed by professionals to explain the basic principles of science and their practical demonstration.
In Optical Illusion theme, children were amazed when they saw the 'Talking Head Illusion' where one sees the head without the body and Infinity Box which creates endless duplicates of your faces. Exhibits in Health theme gave children an enlightening learning experience about human body, showing how veins and arteries work and how different human body functions.
Young scientists formed groups to make structures with dowels and rubber bands in Forces and Motion theme while some engineered pathways with PVC pipes. Children were thrilled observing forces such as magnetic fields and sound waves demonstrations.
Sharing her views on hosting the exhibition in Thar, the Dawood Foundation's general manager Syed Fasihuddin Biyabani said "TDF MagnifiScience is nationally recognized as an innovative method to promote science literacy in society through informal learning." He said it is encouraging to see that students and teachers of Thar were showing enthusiasm to learn science. He said the organisers believe that it is important to give students from Thar a chance to experience science like their counterparts have in the metropolis.
A large number of attendees belonging to all walks of life, including politicians, educationists, specialists, entrepreneurs, science clubs, environmentalists and many others attended the exhibition. It was also open for the public and private schools in Thar, coalescing on a single platform to talk and explore the wonders of science.
Commenting on the collaboration with The Dawood Foundation for the event, Sabeen Shah - Manager Education for Thar Foundation said her Foundation aims to provide access to quality education to all students and children of Islamkot (Thar) as part of its adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals accelerated model. "Although Thar ranks low in Human Development Index, we believe that it has great potential and talent in terms of its students. The TDF MagnifiScience Thar Exhibition will help hone the interest of these children towards science and learning and will eventually prove to be a game changer in the region."
Sharing his experience, Mohammad Khan from TDF said: "This time we went ahead and learnt the different scientific reasoning in the ingenious lifestyle of Thar, such as its architecture, earthenware, water reservoirs, etc. It was fascinating for us to learn and analogize it to modern techniques. I think MagnifiScience has become a two-way process for us, with self-learning as well as a public education."
The TDF MagnifiScience is open for public at TCF School, Engro Campus, Islamkot in Tharparkar. It began on Friday October 26 and will continue on Saturday October 27 from 9am to 4pm.