School students visit Science on Wheels at Regional Science Centre in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, Sept. 19: Science on Wheels, a mobile exhibition unit of the Regional Science Centre (RSC), was today rolled out to drive away the fear of mathematics from the minds of students. An array of mathematical games and puzzles are there for them to play with.

Aimed to present basic mathematical concepts in a simple and enjoyable manner to rural schoolchildren of the state, the unit comes with 20 interactive models pertaining to their mathematics curriculum.

Students can observe exhibits on angles, triangles and polygons to learn about their properties, calculate the area of a circle and physically trace conics such as ellipse and parabola.

They can observe a straight rod pass obliquely through a curved slot, thereby generating a hyperboloid. Also, they can measure the volumes of familiar objects like a box, cylinder and cone. Students can also check and work out algebraic identities.

Mathematical principles involved in our everyday life such as height and distance, platonic solids, binary to decimal and indecisive ball are also exhibited in this exhibition.

Besides these, the exhibition provides students with a number of interesting mathematical games and puzzles such as tic-tac-toe, plug the hole, Bramha’s disc, I can tell your age and play with dice.

“This is a great way to learn maths, which is otherwise a serious subject. It easily explains how mathematics is behind various phenomena that form a part of our daily life. The exhibits, especially ‘toss a coin’ and ‘height and distance’ explain many complex theories in a fun manner,” said Chitarthee, a student.

Director of Birla Industrial and Technological Museum, Calcutta Sk. E Islam, director of IIT Bhubaneswar M Chakrborty, school and mass education minister Patap Jena were present at the inauguration function.

The exhibition bus will travel to schools across the state, especially those located in rural pockets.

An instructor, who would go along in the bus, would explain the uses of the exhibits to young students. The small size of the van would allow it access into deeper and remote pockets of the state, explained RSC authorities.

“The general perception is that mathematics is very abstract, difficult to connect with and hard to visualise. As a result, there is a growing tendency among students to avoid higher studies in the subject. This exhibition will encourage students to pursue higher studies in pure science with greater confidence,” said Chakraborty.

The mobile science exhibition buses earlier run by the Centre to spread the message of science is already a huge hit among students in rural areas.