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On 19th July 2024, the Stem Club at The Bishop’s Co-Ed School, Kalyani Nagar embarked on a journey towards educating their peers on the dangers of drug abuse. The Stem Club, in collaboration with the school Drama Club staged an impressive performance highlighting the issue.  The event commenced with a speech by Adit Singh Rawat. He introduced the club to all the students present. The short but captivating introduction was followed by the skit, led by Kyle Irani, who narrated the story of the protagonist Aayush and his friend Sameer. Kyra Irani joined him at the podium answering queries regarding Aayush’s behavior and the toll drugs were taking on him. Aayush, remarkably played by Vihaan Shortriya, was a young boy who got peer pressured into substance abuse by his closest friend Sameer, played by Akshaj Verma.  The story not only centered around how Aayush got drawn into his addictions but also how he got out after the tragic death of Sameer. Aayush’s rehabilitation was depicted by means of a beautiful dance choreographed by Shikhar Chaube who truly captured the essence of Aayush’s struggles. After the skit the school counselor, Dr. Yajyoti Singh, spoke at length about the psychological factors contributing to Aayush and Sameer’s addictions and the associated side effects. Principal, Mr. Ashley Eates also took the stage, sharing insightful remarks and offering invaluable counsel to the students. The event came to a close with the Vote of Thanks delivered by Mihir Vaidya. He thanked each and every member of the cast as they came on stage for a final bow. The event was an incredible success with countless hours of practice behind it. The story was a passion project of Mihir Vaidya whose enthusiasm spread to Kyle Irani, Dheya Bachkar, Adit Singh Rawat, and Preeti Humnabadkar who wrote the script. The success of the event was largely attributed to the mentorship of teachers Mrs. Sandra D'Souza Jose and Ms. Jovia Dsouza, as well as the leadership of student director, Kyle Irani. Encouraged by the outcome, Mr. Eates decided to organize a subsequent performance at the Bishop's School, Camp, in the following week.

We're delighted to report the success of our recent workshop with Akshar Paaul, an NGO dedicated to improve the lives of contruction workers' children through education. The session was a resounding success, with attendees fully engaged and actively participating in every activity. On 28th April, 2024, the STEM Club visited Akshar Paaul for a 2-hour workshop. In this, we taught them the basics of science, technology, engineering and mathematics(STEM) From crafting paper planes to exploring the effects of global warming, the workshop provided a rich learning experience for all involved. The hands-on demonstration of a homemade projector using a cup was particularly captivating, sparking curiosity and igniting imagination. The highlight of the event was undoubtedly the DIY cotton ball launcher kit. Assembling their own launchers, students showcased their creativity and problem-solving skills, while also learning about concepts in physics in a fun and interactive way. Throughout the workshop, attendees eagerly answered questions earning KitKats as a reward, demonstrating a genuine interest in STEM topics. Their enthusiasm was contagious, creating a vibrant and dynamic learning environment. As organizers, we were thrilled to see the workshop's impact and are grateful for the opportunity to contribute to STEM education. We look forward to future collaborations with Akshar Paaul and other NGOs, as we continue to inspire and empower through hands-on learning experiences.

Quantum Mechanics- A topic that no one really understands TBSK STEM Club organized a demo symposium on the fascinating and complex concepts of quantum mechanics, focusing on quantum tunneling and entanglement. The event's purpose was to engage students from grades 9 to 12 and generate interest in the STEM Club by showcasing its commitment to making the fields of STEM accessible and exciting. The symposium took place on August 7th during the activity period, in the auditorium of The Bishop's School, Kalyaninagar. The event commenced with an introductory speech by Tia Upadhyaya, the president of the TBSK STEM Club. She emphasized the club's mission to create a supportive community, highlighted the club's student-run nature, its focus on understanding students' academic challenges, and its role in bridging the gap between STEM and commerce education. Tia assured the audience that club meetings would be concise and accommodating of students' schedules. Adit Rawat and Suhana Chintareddy, joint heads of the Tech department, took the stage to introduce the symposium topics, setting down the foundation for the rest of the talk. They covered a range of fundamental quantum mechanics concepts. Following this introduction, the two of them answered questions from the audience, fostering interaction and clarifying any uncertainties. Krishna Jha, the head of content, and Suhana then started with quantum tunneling. They covered the definition of the phenomenon and explained the basic concept with an example. Adit incorporated visual aids in the form of graphs to enhance the understanding of quantum tunneling concepts. These graphical representations added an extra dimension to the presentation and facilitated a more intuitive comprehension for the students. This proved instrumental in elucidating complex concepts and helped bridge the gap between theory and intuition, fostering a deeper comprehension of quantum tunneling among the audience. Krishna then briefly introduced the Scanning Tunneling Microscope as a practical application of quantum tunneling before concluding her segment. Tia presented the concept of quantum entanglement. She did an excellent job breaking down a seemingly complex topic by consistently using examples and analogies to simplify definitions filled with technical terms. Tia elaborated on the phenomenon of quantum entanglement and emphasized that though this phenomenon defies classical intuition, it has been validated through rigorous scientific experimentation. She introduced the EPR paradox, which laid the groundwork for the exploration of entanglement. At this point Suhana took over and explained that experimental tests have consistently shown results that support the predictions of quantum mechanics over classical physics. The audience had some very interesting questions which were cleverly answered by Suhana. By combining theoretical explanations with practical experimentation examples, the symposium provided an insightful glimpse into the fascinating world of quantum mechanics. The event successfully generated interest among students, encouraging active participation and fostering a deeper understanding of intricate scientific theories. The club achieved its goal by displaying its commitment to nurturing curiosity, demystifying intricate scientific theories, and creating a dynamic community for students interested in exploring STEM disciplines beyond their regular curriculum.

“Science may set limits to knowledge, but should not set limits to imagination.” - Bertrand Russell Coming back to school after 2 long years seemed like an overwhelming task, a daunting piece of work to get back into the hectic routine of studying, exams, co – curricular activities and much more. However, nobody told us about the immense fun we were going to have on this journey. Many new clubs, teams and associations were formed this year, and one of them was The Bishop’s School Kalyani Nagar’s first STEM Club. What started on a piece of paper as a proposal drafted by President Dev Gala and Vice President Shagnik Dasgupta, it soon turned into a Club most loved by our juniors. An extensive process of selecting members for the Club was carried out, which included both Science and Commerce students, because as STEM Club believes, “Science and Business go hand in hand.” The Club comprises of departments including Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics and Technology. The Club aims to make students see Science as something more than just an academic subject and expose them to the various branches of science which might interest them. The first session of the Club was on the topic of Gravity which was enjoyed by one and all, even those who do not put physics on their list of favourite subjects or Einstein on their list of favourite people! One of the Club’s major achievements this year was their outreach program, aimed at helping underprivileged sections of the society, mostly children. The team conducted a donation drive to donate items like a wheelchair, diapers, and baby formula to an orphanage named Arun Aashray, which houses young orphaned babies and children. The team also made visits to the orphanage to interact with the children, and enjoyed every second of it. The donation drive was a huge success as we collected a large amount to use for a good cause. The second and third sessions of the STEM Club were about Machine Learning and Neuroscience respectively. Both these topics, which have become quite popular in the science world in the past few years really struck a chord with our students, who are passionate about subjects involving Artificial Intelligence and Mental Health. The greatest learning experience that students received was that Science is more than just a textbook, more than just an exam and more than just grades. Science exists in your room, your food and your body. You are Science! As Isaac Newton puts it, “What we know is a drop, what we do not know is an Ocean.” Not only were the students shown multiple career path options, they were also taught that you can love science irrespective of wanting to choose it as a profession. We would like to sincerely thank our Principal, Mr Shayne McPherson, for spearheading all projects of the STEM Club. Mr. McPherson says, “I am very happy that our students are leaving this institution and going out into the world after having attained such deep knowledge about the science subjects. It makes me proud to know that our students will continue pursuing such productive ventures as they move forward in life. I hope the mentors of the Club will come back to mentor, support their juniors to help the Club reach greater heights. STEM Education is instrumental and is now a part of the National Education Policy of India and must be introduced and encouraged all over the country. I am happy that the STEM Club members have promoted this in our school and I am sure the Club will continue to be successful. I wish you all the best.” We would like to appreciate Mr. Shayne McPherson for all the advice and assistance we received from him throughout the year. All STEM Club affairs would remain incomplete without the support of our Headmaster, Mr. Ashley Eates. Mr. Eates says,” Our students were in a pioneer year where they started off with a lot of innovative schemes, while balancing their studies and other co- curricular activities. STEM Club was a brilliant idea because it gives the future a lot to look forward to. It is very important that young minds get the opportunities to participate and explore the whole science and technology sector, and this club was one such amazing opportunity. The outreach program was especially a very compassionate act. Any outreach program, no matter how small or big, will always be fulfilling. The key thing to remember during any charitable programme is to know who the beneficiary is. I am proud of our children and I hope to witness the STEM Club’s continued success over the coming years. This school will always be a home to our students and we hope they never forget where they belong.” STEM Club would not have been possible without our teachers and mentors, Mr. Ganesh Pawar and Mrs. Doris Noronha, who understood our love for science and encouraged us to pursue it like a mission, without any fears or doubts. They instilled in us in the confidence we needed to make this Club a success. Mrs Noronha describes her experience of guiding us as, “a one- of-a kind experience and a milestone. The organizational skills of each member were spectacularly good. Each student was given due chance to voice their opinion. The club has branched out and evolved to be very beautiful and has maintained its individuality throughout the year. All activities undertaken by the club were truly profound and fulfilling, for both students and teachers alike." We express our deep gratitude to them. We would like to thank the Laboratory Staff, who work behind the scenes and ensure that the machinery of the Science Labs function flawlessly. We would like to always thank our families for their unconditional support. Finally, we would like to thank the Almighty for showering us with innumerable blessings. We thank our Lord and Savior for all the benevolence He bestows on us, as a School, and as a family! The work of our hands is dedicated to His glory! “Science is not only compatible with spirituality, It is a profound source of spirituality.” - Carl Sagan

“Neuroscience is by far the most exciting branch of science because the brain is the most fascinating object in the universe.” So let's discuss this in more depth. Another interesting morning on the 30th of November, 2022 was spent in the Bio Lab discussing our very first topic on Biology, Neuroscience – Brain, Mind and Behaviour, long awaited by all the students. Dev Gala began by informing the club as to how multidisciplinary and complex the field of neuroscience is. The understanding of the biological fundamentals that form the basis of learning, memory, behaviour, perception, and consciousness has been described by Eric Kandel, a Nobel Prize winning doctor as the “epic challenge” of the biological sciences. Dev then highlighted how beautifully the brain works, sighting cognitive abilities as one of man’s most unique features, he went on to explain how everyone in the room could understand him right now only because of the mind’s cognitive abilities. The Club then spoke about a very new and less researched branch of neuroscience called Computational Neuroscience which uses mathematical models, computer simulations and abstractions to understand the nervous system. Looks like escaping the wrath of mathematics is next to impossible! The conversation proceeded with the students discussing very relevant topics like depression, anxiety and other mental health diseases like Parkinson’s Disease and Epilepsy. The students realised through many informational videos that anxiety is our body’s “threat detection system” and is not a sign of weakness at all. There are multiple ways to tackle severe anxiety, and the foremost way is to go natural and change your interaction with your environment. Another very important subject that was implored was that of something all students desperately need but never seem to get enough of – Sleep. The children were educated as to how sleep is actually, according to scientists, “the most productive thing you do all day.” The more amusing parts of this were topics of Lucid dreams – a phenomenon that allows one to control their dreams, and Sleep Paralysis – where the mind regains awareness but the body does not. The session ended with our core members giving the students tips on how to sleep better every night, which involves factors like the ideal temperature, the right timing and accurate lighting, but left them with a stern warning – to not make use of these tips during class!

“Machine Intelligence is the last invention that humanity will ever need to make.” Let us dig deeper into this vast topic of machine learning. On the 7th of November, 2022, the STEM CLUB of The Bishop’s Co – Ed School gathered in the biology lab to discuss a topic that will greatly excite all physics and techno geeks – Machine Learning. The presentation, which was delivered by our Head of Technology Akshaj Kashyap, explained Machine Learning as a type of artificial intelligence (AI) that allows software applications to become more accurate at predicting outcomes without being explicitly programmed to do so. This concept works on the basis of ETP which is simply explained as: A computer program is said to learn from experience E with respect to some class of tasks T and performance measure P. Several exciting recent developments like self-driving cars and virtual gaming bots have kindled the curiosity in this area even more, while several applications and implementations of machine learning like, recommendation systems used by Netflix and Amazon, Google Translate, Voice-Assistants like Siri, Alexa and The Google Assistant are already making our day-to-day lives way more convenient than they used to be a few years back. Akshaj then went on to talk about how artificial intelligence is changing lives, business and nations across the world. Scientists all around the world are trying to make computers which will work like a machine, but think like a human. The students were then educated on how machine learning has become a part of human anatomy as well where three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction and modelling of the human body and garments from images is a challenge, but possible. A unique concept of supervised learning was learnt by the students. Supervised learning refers to a category of methods in which we teach or train a machine learning algorithm using data, while guiding the algorithm model with labels associated with the data. One practical example of supervised learning problems is predicting house prices. How is this achieved? We need data about the houses: square footage, number of rooms, features, whether a house has a garden or not, and so on. The children discussed the use of machine learning in image recognition, speech recognition, banking and personal finance and much more. The session wrapped up with Akshaj asking all aspiring programmers to research into this topic deeply, with everyone secretly praying we have a machine to do our homework some day! “Predicting the future isn’t magic, it’s artificial intelligence.” - Dave Waters

A home to nurture with loving care, those children who have no family of their own The core committee members of the STEM CLUB of The Bishop’s Co Ed School, Pune recently visited the Arun Aashray Orphanage in Pune as a part of the club’s outreach program to donate to under privileged children of the society. As Gia Sangtani, Secretary of the STEM Club describes it, the experience was very new and emotional for them all. The orphanage is run by Ms. Radhika Dalvie, a renowned educationist and Social Worker, who operates the orphanage in a small bungalow and houses 15 children at a time. Gia describes the children as very friendly, loving and affectionate who thoroughly enjoyed the company of our team, playing with them, sharing stories and clicking many fun pictures. The children are schooled in the orphanage itself, and are looked after by voluntary helpers who give their time and energy into making life a little comfortable for these young ones. The children who range from the ages 4-5 years, have been subjected to cruelty in the past and are still learning to trust their surroundings. Many of them, namely Anay, Nakul, Snehal, Kartik bonded very well with the new visitors. “The language barrier was evident, as many of them majorly speak only Marathi,” says Gia. However, the teachers at the orphanage are taking utmost efforts in making the children comfortable and confident in all languages. The orphanage provides a very happy and positive environment for the children, with books and games for them to engage in and sisters who help them pray on a daily basis. It also has all safety provisions in place and is kept very clean and hygienic. It is currently running low on funds, and the STEM Club wants to do as much as it can to help. The STEM Club is looking for donations to buy items like a wheelchair, milk powder and diapers to provide to the orphanage. What our team realised is that the children out of everything need love, attention and a model figure to look up to. The greatest learning for us was that we should we grateful for what we have – especially the love of a parent, and cherish those we love. “Life for us has always been a bed of roses, we haven’t seen half the hardships these young children have. It makes us realise how truly privileged we are. Here at the STEM Club, we are taking a small but important step, we encourage everyone to do their bit in making someone’s life better,” says the team, who cannot wait to go back and visit these little munchkins again.

"There was a long history of speculation that in quantum gravity, unlike Einstein's classical theory, it might be possible for the topology of spacetime to change." and here's what we discussed: The first session of the S.T.E.M Club was conducted in the Biology Lab of the Bishop’s Co-Ed School Kalyani Nagar on the 23rd September 2022. The session began with President of the Club Dev Gala introducing the topic of Gravity to the students. A discussion ensued on the topic of Ripples in Space and Time, Gravity Lensing and the perplexity of having to choose between Newton’s theory of gravity and Einstein’s. The Head of the Physics department Adit Rawat further elucidated on how Gravity is not actually a force but a consequence and explained it with the help of an example of the slowing down of a feather due to air resistance. The students then indulged in healthy debate on the topic of distant galaxies and why time stops in a black hole. This was illustrated with the help of many interesting videos. The students kept their grey cells ticking on a question – “What would happen if we were to drill a hole through the core of the Earth and drop an object through it?” The matter of warped space and time and time dilation was explored by Harshini Jaykumar, Adit Bose, Tia Upadhyay with our Vice-President Shagnik Dasgupta which also led to the children examining themes of the Twin Paradox, Hafele-Keating experiment and the astounding science behind Atomic Clocks. The group then further discussed the intricacies of The Big Bang Theory and the Equivalence Principle which Albert Einstein described as his “happiest thought”. An engaging conversation on the topic of effect of zero gravity on Cosmonaut’s body kept the students enthralled and helped them see Gravity as more than just an academic concept and allowed them to delve into it as more than just a subject of Physics. It was truly a productive morning with students engaging in deep discussions of science which got them intrigued to know more and look forward to more such engrossing sessions. “Because there is a law such as Gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing.” - Stephen Hawking