Kanya Maha Vidyalaya (KMV), Jalandhar, an autonomous and heritage institution, has always been dedicated to fostering innovations in science education to empower students with inclusive growth. The institution is committed to contributing to women’s empowerment and building a better society, which remains an ongoing effort at KMV, The Heritage Institution.

Recently, KMV Physics faculty members, Dr. Neetu Verma and Dr. Sangeeta Prasher, were honored to be invited by Padma Shri Prof. H. C. Verma, a distinguished physicist, conducted a training program for Physics teachers from Navodaya Vidyalayas in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu Kashmir. The four-day workshop, titled “Learning Physics through Life,” took place at the Navodaya Leadership Institute in Amritsar, under the Ministry of Education, Government of India. This workshop, overseen by Padma Shri Prof. H. C. Verma, a former Professor at IIT Kanpur, aimed to create a platform for educators from the northern region of India to share knowledge, explore innovative teaching methodologies, and enhance their experimental skills.

Before organizing this workshop, KMV Physics teachers underwent a six-day residential training by Prof. H. C. Verma in Kanpur. As a result, they gained valuable expertise and knowledge, which they gladly shared as mentors during the workshop. Their main focus was on promoting experiential teaching methodologies in classroom settings.

On the first day of the workshop, Dr. Neetu Verma, the Associate Professor of the PG Department of Physics, presented various innovative and research practices that KMV implements. She enlightened the participants about the best practices imparted to students through various government grants, such as DBT Star Status, FIST, Curie, and Centre of Excellence, among others. Dr. Verma also shared KMV’s significant achievements in national and international competitions like Toycathon, Smart India Hackathon, Innovesta, and Ideathon, organized by the Ministry of Innovation Cell, Government of India. The attendees were inspired to see videos of students designing new experiments to facilitate their physics learning and sharing their ideas with the masses. They were also impressed to learn about the students’ involvement in Ph.D. programs and the research infrastructure generated through project grants.

On the other  days, Dr. Neetu Verma, accompanied by her team of students, including undergraduates, research scholars, and technical staff, passionately demonstrated various famous physics concepts. The demonstrations covered a wide range of topics, including Bernoulli’s principle, wave motion, expanding space, Lenz’s law, Coanda effect, Pascal’s law, Archimedes’ principle, circular motion, magnetic forces, optics, electricity, and magnetism. Each demonstration was skillfully executed, leaving the participants, especially the Jawahar Navodaya Physics teachers, fascinated and motivated to incorporate similar activities in their classrooms to spark interest and curiosity among their students.

Prof H. C Verma has conducted pre-test and discussions for the participants by which they were able to update their subject’s knowledge in an interesting ways. Experimental workshops on Optics, Mechanics and Electricity Magnetism conducted by Prof H C Verma has longlasting impact on all the participants. KMV Physics students and faculty members felt privileged and grateful to share the stage with renowned physicist Prof. H. C. Verma during the four-day workshop. They valued the expertise and invaluable insights they gained from him. Additionally, the faculty extended their gratitude to Dr. Atima Sharma Dwivedi, the institute administrator, for providing a platform for their professional growth and development.

Overall, the four-day experiential learning sessions were highly interactive and engaging, leaving a lasting impact on the participants and encouraging them to adopt innovative teaching methodologies in their classrooms, ultimately benefiting their students’ learning experiences.