Jugaad (Innovation) Lab for Disadvantaged Girls

The Jugaad Lab works with the aim to create a free, innovative, and creative space for young girls from low-income families. To present science and technology through the lens of everyday, in an informal way. Throughout last year, i.e. 2017, the Jugaad Lab organised numerous activities and sessions which focused on teaching all our participants the basics of engineering and electronics – e.g. building solar lamps and ovens, trolley for their bags, etc. The girls from Level 2, as a part of their early engineer’s coding classes, have learned how to build games using Scratch and in their electronics classes have learned how the different parallel and series connections help in electrifying our houses. Through such activities, we aim to provide them with a chance to experience the application of what they learned in their regular classes.

As a part of an activity this time, they unanimously decided to curate something which will help them carry everyday heavy items. They decided to build wooden trolleys to drag their heavy school bags, which are usually heavier than themselves. And, to walk a few miles every day with that load on their shoulders was something they wanted to get rid off. Thus, the Jugaad Lab team along with Utkarsh- a consultant from the maker's movement, designed and conducted a two-day workshop. Here the girls built  a wheeler to roll their load away, exactly to the height and width of their bags. A glimpse of which you can see below.

As a part of our annual exhibition, we showcased all the projects built by our participants during their engagement with Jugaad lab, in the span of last 9 months. Completing a full circle starting from when the team ran a mobilization drive, wherein, we convinced parents to send their children to the lab, and finally, ending with the showcase. The parents saw what their girls had learned and made with us, which was only possible due to the parent’s cooperation. Response from the community members was overwhelming this time, more than 100 people turned up to see what the girls had to present. This event has always been the source of confidence a boost for the girls as it excites them to present, what they have created in front of their friends and families.

December was the most intense. Our team’s focus was on the curriculum and wrapping up the year with revision classes for those who missed out because of some personal reason. Following this, we organized this cycles final event– the Felicitation ceremony. Participants of both the levels were excited and anxious to know who will make it to the next level of the learning journey. The team was happy to see the turnout of the parents for this particular event. Almost all the mothers of our participants attended the ceremony and even spoke a few words on how they felt about our space and the changes they have seen in their girls since they’ve been a part of this program. 

One of the mothers shares her experience –

“My child used to be very quiet and shy. But in the past few months there has been a visible change in her self-confidence. She speaks what she thinks and has even started traveling (to the Lab) on her own.”

Also, the participants took this opportunity to share their experience of being in The Jugaad Lab both to parents and the team. The general feeling among the participants has been positive. A few shared experiences were that their fearfulness of electricity and using heavy tools has been somewhat uplifted. The reason stated by all was that they got opportunity to physically use the tools. By using these they created articles for their daily use of which they are very proud of.

Out of the enrolled 23 regular participants in level one 13 girls graduated to Level two this year. This was decided on the basis of their attendance, i.e. if < 50% then pass. The current Level two batch will soon be completing their course and graduating to the next level.

This year the experience of the team and the participants was new and exciting. As we were working with a new set of participants, the issues and even the solutions were new. The team tried some new methods of conducting the classrooms keeping in mind different learning abilities of each individual which we acquired from a workshop team attended. And this definitely helped to build a stronger connection with each participant, with each passing day we understand their needs better. With your generous support Jugaad Lab has completed two years of its pilot project and truly, all of this was only possible when people like you commit and contribute to a cause like this!

Links:

• The Jugaad Innovation Lab for Girls

Summer vacation is over but not the fun at Jugaad Lab. Right after the break got over, the team planned a visit to the Nehru Planetarium for our Level - 1 participants. Nehru Planetarium was built with the primary aim to promote astronomy education ‘conscious of the fact that an understanding of the spirit and method of science was crucial for children to become responsible citizens’. It was a thrilling experience for the participants to watch a movie on Solar System in the planetarium; most of them were simply amazed to see and learn about the different celestial bodies on the ceiling. Later they walked around the museum where they read and saw some interesting new things which they weren’t aware of.

With this, we resumed our regular classes following the curriculum curated by our team. A variety of topics were covered ranging from light and reflection, angles to understand the functioning of a clock to actually making one for themselves. This project making activity brings a lot of fun and joy of creativity which ensures steady attendance of participants, as the practical aspect always attracts them to be regular and not miss out on classes. Along with that, there has been a constant demand for revision classes by those who have missed out due to various reasons. Soon, they are going to make a rocket, understanding the concept of pressure, force.

This brought us to the month of September, the month of half-yearly exams, which are so dreadful but not anymore! The culture of peer learning and questioning the questions has made learning fun and engaging. It was delightful to see that not only the team members but the participants were also helping each other during the exams. On top of this, both Level-1 and Level-2 came together in this effort, which definitely made the environment in Jugaad Lab more collective and supportive.

With the wrap of exams, we resumed our Coding and Electronics classes with Level-2, which are facilitated by the facilitators from Early Engineers. The participants in the Coding classes have learned some new games on Scratch. Few of them have even learned to build some games using the internet and this has opened gates to some exciting new avenues for them. Alongside, the participants in the Electronics class are learning about different electronic devices and components used in day-to-day life using breadboards. The concepts vary from use of basic LED to a capacitor and transistor. They thoroughly enjoy learning and building new things, which is explicit on their faces and the level of excitement they come with for these classes.

Complementing this learning curve is our Global Doctor's Anatomy course under LUV (Level Up Village). Level-2 girls have recently started exploring a new field of human anatomy through our partnership with Level Up Village. They learned about the human heart and blood circulatory system where they also counted their heartbeats to check how fast it can be. They also learned about different cardiovascular diseases, how they affect the heart and measures of prevention. In addition to this, they also reflected on their food habits and how these habits affect their heart; a few of them resolved to add some green vegetables in their diet. They also got to know about their skeletal system for the first time. Most interesting part of this process was when they actually touched different bones of their body to testify whether they really have all those bones shown in the diagram. They were a bit surprised to know that some insects who seem to have bone are actually exoskeleton (those who don’t have bones). They were fascinated to hear about such insects and also watched videos showing dissection of a sheep heart and grasshopper to learn more about their bodies and systems and how they are different from the human body.

In the month of October, we organized a two-day Hackathon workshop on Renewable Energy for both Level-1 and Level-2, which was facilitated by Utkarsh, a consultant, who is from maker’s movement himself. He was ecstatic to design and conduct this workshop. He went over the concepts of electricity and energy with the girls and also discussed on how some of the products can be hacked for multiple uses, which in turn saves the energy. Overall 24 girls participated in this workshop where they made solar lamps and solar ovens, using carpentry and power tools. It is yet again exhilarating to see their zeal and commitment to learning something new, which can help them to understand and act upon global warming problems later. They even did an experiment with their solar oven by placing it in the sunlight and kept their tiffins to see if it really worked or not. And yes it did! This was a boost to their confidence to keep going on.

These activities not only help the girls to become more confident and aware of their surroundings but also pushes them to think outside the box, which is why they keep coming up with different ideas and suggestions on what they want to learn/make next. For example, some of them recently came up with the idea of making a vacuum cleaner to clean the mess they create after every carpentry session and building a small fire alarm for Jugaad Lab.

This enthusiasm pushes us further to work hard to make Jugaad Lab a better place, which satisfies and caters to the thirst of knowledge in each participant associated with us. We hope to continue with our innovative ideas of learning so this journey never stops for our participants. And yes! It can never be made possible without your constant support and contribution.