Description

"Blossoming Smiles with Science Fun - 2020" is an initiative by IEEE WIE Student Branch Affinity Group of University of Moratuwa, held for several years by far, as a welfare event for underprivileged children. This year, the event was rewritten with a new perspective in which the Affinity Group collaborated with the IEEE Student Branch University of Moratuwa to hold a Science fun event for a group of underprivileged children learning at the MJF Charitable Foundation, Katubedda, Moratuwa, on 9th January 2020 from 3.00pm to 5.00pm. The intention of the event was to create interest in the STEM fields among pre-university students. Apart from that, providing an opportunity for interested University students to volunteer and share their knowledge as teachers was also a significant outcome of the event. The group of children ranging from grades 1 - 11 was first categorized in to two groups as "Primary" (grade 5 and below) and "Upper-School" (grade 6 and above). Afterwards, the Primary group was given lessons on the Solar system, plants, and the ocean in a fun and interactive way where the lessons also involved activities that sparked the children's creativity. The Upper-school category learned introductory electronics where they learned what electricity is and how it works, by considering a river as an example. Afterwards, they worked on lighting several patterns of LED bulbs, and also were given the opportunity to observe ready-made mini projects done using Arduino to improve their interest on Electronics.