Scientist Partha Ghose with the Star Trekkers participants at the science workshop at Starmark Picture by Pabitra Das

Having fun with science, doing your own experiments and learning a little more about everyday events and phenomena was the idea behind Riddles in your Teacup, an interesting science workshop held at Starmark on Sunday evening for children aged between eight and 14 years. The kids were part of the Star Trekkers Magical Voyage, a year-long project organised by Daleep and Mira Kakkar to encourage self learning in children.

The event, featuring scientist Partha Ghose, author of the bestseller Riddles In Your Teacup, was all about making children learn through non-conventional means and generate an interest in a subject much abused by rote learning.

“The idea is to explain the science behind the workings of everyday life and putting things across simply through these basic but interesting experiments that will appeal to the curiosity of these children,” said Ghose. The experiments at the session demonstrated by the scientist were taken up by the children, who discovered these marvellous and apparently strange quirks for themselves thereby understanding and learning the scientific rationale behind them. These included a simple paper tube experiment, which makes you see a hole in your palm and is based on simple psychology as well as physics. Similarly, the “riddle in the teacup” — why tea leaves accumulate in the middle of the cup, based on a complex theory partially explained by Einstein himself — was made lucid and easy for the kids, who had as much fun learning as they did sharing the discovery with their friends around.

It is this kind of a healthy engagement with science, literature, math and other subjects that the Kakkars want to create through their programme. “The idea is to make little explorers out of all these children and take them on a magical voyage of learning through the whole universe,” concluded Mira Kakkar with a smile. Their monthly programmes include performance-based storytelling sessions, impromptu poetry performances as well as interactive discussions with guests like Ghose.