Ballygunge: A bunch of students used plastic containers, ice cream sticks, nails and other scraps to make prototypes of daily usable objects like pencil stands and air coolers at a workshop at the Birla Industrial and Technological Museum on Friday.

The workshop, titled "Build from Scrap", was organised at the Innovation Hub of the BITM to celebrate the International Science Centre and Science Museum Day on November 10.

Mayank Pradhan, a Class IV student of Birla Bharati School, made a prototype of an air cooler. He used a plastic jar with a small motor propeller fitted to the lid. A small hole was made in the body of the jar and some crushed ice put into it. Mayank connected the motor to a power source and the propeller started moving. Within a few seconds, cool air started coming out of the hole in the jar.

"The method can be replicated to make a larger cooler. Unlike air conditioners, it won't be harmful to the environment," said Parijat Chakraborty, a mentor at the hub.

The students were asked to make items that would help in sustainable development, said Chakraborty.

Tanisha Podder and Rai Paul, Class IX students at GD Birla Centre for Education, and Agnik Senroy, a Class IX student of Don Bosco, Park Circus, made a pencil stand with an inbuilt sharpener.

They used a plastic jar and inserted a small round slice of cardboard above the container's base. A sharpener was attached to the base of the jar. When a pencil was sharpened, the scrap fell inside the jar below the cardboard slice.

Rai's favourite subject is chemistry and Tanisha loves doing math. But studies are not every thing they are interested in. A tennis lover, Rai plays the sport at the South Club regularly. Tanisha loves reading Agatha Christie and Agnik is mad about Arsenal.

The Innovation Hub is a 2,000sq ft research laboratory for students. "They come here with ideas. We help them execute the ideas," said Sudipta Saha, the lab in-charge.