Aspiring scientists from 35 ICSE schools --young students from Std 6 to Std 9- and trained by expert scientists will present the best Educational Game Board Designs, at the Lady Vissanji Academy School in Andheri East on December 5, 2024.

The initiative – EXPISCOR 2024-- is a joint initiative of L.R and S.M Vissanji Academy, with Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) and the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education and is now in its 12th year, having been launched in 2012.

Expiscor--which derives its meaning from Latin, and implying Discover/Search/Curiosity is a free inter school exhibition cum competition inspiring talent among budding scientists and is conducted across two phases. In the first phase, school teachers are trained by the resource people from HBCSE/TIFR on the yearly based theme followed by an exciting theme based competition where the teachers train the students of their respective school and present their best project for the inter school competition.

This year, the theme has been Playful Pedagogy: Exploring and Designing Educational Games on School Curriculum.

"In the ever-evolving landscape of education, it is crucial that educators adapt and innovate their teaching methodologies so as to meaningfully engage their students better. One such method to engage students could be the use of educational games to conduct curriculum topics of interest. Educational games have the potential of making learning fun and serve as great introductory or explanatory tools to engage with a topic. This was the idea behind this entire effort, said Alice Baretto, Principal, Vissanji Academy.

Our training helps children across various grades foster 21st century skills like decision making, strategic thinking, communication and collaboration, said one of the organising members from TIFR.

Every participating student gets an opportunity to interact with the scientists as well as a certificate from TIFR and HBCSE, he added.