A curious family: An experience worth sharing

Feb 20, 2024 • 4:10 PM UTC

Bastar, Chhattisgarh, India

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Rafikh Shaikh

I'm a science educator interested in everything science.

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While travelling from Bastar to Raipur in Chhattisgarh, we stopped for tea and snacks at a roadside tea shop. It was run by a family of four: a woman, her daughter (in grade 9), her son (in grade 5), and a cute dog. The tea shop had bhajia, local sweets, and other things. As I didn't drink tea, I asked for Bhajia while others sipped tea. While eating, we tried starting a conversation with the boy and his mother and learned that the woman was trying to convince her son to go to school today as he had not gone to school in the last few days. The boy was very playful and did poetry while reciting multiplication tables. "Chhe duni bara, the tiya athra.. Maine kutte ko mara", after hitting the dog playfully.

I thought I should show him something through the microscope to get his attention. As I took out Foldscope, he immediately got interested and started talking. I asked if you knew what a microscope was, and he said yes, and we can see small things. I wondered what we should observe, and he said an ant. His mother asked him to go and find an ant. He found it, and we put it in the microscope and observed. The woman immediately called her daughter to show it to her as she was more studious than the boy. All of them took turns to see the ant through the Foldscope. What struck me was the enthusiasm and curiosity of the woman; she fought with the son to get the Foldscope again and again and kept looking. She said I can only see the part of any and not the whole, but if I pan it, it will be visible. She also said the ant is not stuck to the tape correctly, so we are not seeing all its parts. She kept observing and talking simultaneously. The daughter, who was busy washing utensils at first, was reluctant to leave her task and see what was happening, but after the mother's narration came out and took active participation.

We asked them to which school they go, and my colleague who works in this area said he would contact the teacher and request him to help them use Foldscope in the classroom as well. He gave his number to the woman and said if the teacher didn't recognise or were not aware of this microscope, you would call, and he would help.

We left one microscope with the family and left