Bhubaneswar, June 5: Wheelchair-bound Durga Shankar Das had a memorable time attending a science workshop here.
The science enthusiast got the chance to make a model based on a scientific theory.
Like Durga, 14 other differently-abled children from various government schools in the city took part in the same workshop that was held in the city recently.
"I have always wanted to involve in experimentation and making such models but I never got the chance to do it. So, this exercise was really enriching for me," said Durga.
The three-day workshop was organised by Regional Science Centre, Bhubaneswar, in collaboration with Swabhiman, an organisation that works for the empowerment of people with disabilities. The participating children prepared six different science models based on various scientific principles such as how metals expand with heat, and the principles used in building a vacuum cleaner by how air pressure works.
Another participant, Santosh Kumar Sahu, who has low vision, said: "Initially, I did not think that I would be able to build it. But, seeing the others around me, I got inspired and now I am really happy that I could complete the model in the end."
The participants also learned about the science behind the running of a film out of thousands of still photographs and prepared different shapes made through Tangram, a Chinese geometrical puzzle consisting of a square cut into seven pieces which could be arranged to make various other shapes.
Amit Mandal, senior officer of the Regional Science Centre, said: "Each of these children have a scientific temper and are very enthusiastic. They are good learners and completely on par with children who don't have disabilities."
Children with orthopaedically handicaps, hearing impairment, multiple disabilities and dwarfism also part in the workshop.
"The workshop aimed to create interest and develop scientific temperament among these children. We wanted to make different science topics of their own textbooks useful for them," said Mihir Mohanty from Swabhiman.
