Pune: One-Day Teachers’ Training Workshop on STEM tinkering Education Conducted at Kalpakghar, Pimpri Chinchwad Science Park

Pimpri, 26th September 2025: Kalpakghar organised a hands-on training workshop for 108 teachers from PCMC schools at Pimpri Chinchwad Science Park on Thursday. The workshop aimed to strengthen teachers’ capacity in STEM-based, activity-oriented teaching, in alignment with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

Objectives
●  To enable teachers to use STEM hands-on activities in classroom teaching.
●  To provide teachers with hands-on resources for innovative pedagogy.
●  To develop a STEM hands-on programme for schools across Maharashtra.
●  To introduce opportunities for school students in basic sciences.

Workshop Highlights

Hands-on Activities: Activity-based teaching methods were demonstrated by the Kalpakghar team. Teachers explored nearly 30–40 content focused activities, including hands-on approach to earth-moon model, Sound with different pipes, newspaper caps for geometrical shapes, mathematical puzzles, brain cap, leaf cube along with STEM Tinkering Activities – gear mechanics and other tinkering lab resources from Kalpakghar.

Make & Take Approach: Teachers received activity materials to carry back, enabling immediate use in classrooms.

STEM 60 Points Challenge – An innovative initiative to encourage teachers in planning STEM interventions for schools. Teachers will earn points by engaging in different STEM activities, and those who achieve 60 points by the next National Science Day will be awarded a STEM Tinkering Box from Kalpakghar.

The workshop concluded with certificate distribution and a group photo with all participants.

Key Messages from Dignitaries

“This will help our teachers create low-cost models to be used as effective teaching aids in classrooms.” – Ms. Sangeeta Bangar, Education Officer, Primary/Secondary Edu. Dept., PCMC

“Good teachers always play an important role in shaping students’ lives.” – Mr. Ashok Rupner, Senior Technical Officer, Science Activity Centre, IISER Pune

“We have many low-cost, activity-based STEM tinkering projects aligned with the school curriculum. These initiatives will help PCMC school students engage in project-based learning in their current environment. Kalpakghar is always open for PCMC teachers and students to participate in national STEM competitions and hackathons, helping them take their ideas to the next level.” – Ankish Tirpude, Coordinator, Kalpakghar & Technical Officer, IISER Pune.

The workshop was also graced by Dr. Shraddha Khamparia, CEO, Pimpri Chinchwad Science Park, N. T. Kasar, Education Officer, Pimpri Chinchwad Science Park and Sunil Pote, Education Officer, Pimpri Chinchwad Science Park.