From boardroom to classroom

Lexicon school first to conduct guest lectures by businessmen to introduce students to subjects like solar energy, hydraulics

Lexicon school first to conduct guest lectures by businessmen to introduce students to subjects like solar energy, hydraulics

For 12-year-old Taha Ezzi comprehending what is solar energy was no mean task. This, until he was introduced to the subject at his schoolu00a0-- Lexicon International School, Wagholi. It was here he came to know how solar energy could be substituted for electricity in a way that would be beneficial to the environment. For the first time he learnt how energy is procured directly from the sun and stored in a solar panel that runs on batteries. "If such panels are used widely, we can save a lot of electricity," said Ezzi.

Guests lectures
In order to give a first hand experience to its students on complex and technical subjects like hydraulics, solar energy, instrumentation, electricity and even Value Added Tax (VAT), the Lexicon school have come up with a novel idea, where entrepreneurs and business professionals are being called to deliver lectures, discuss and talk on such subjects to students of higher grades.u00a0

The subjects though not integrated in the curriculum are being introduced for the first time with an aim to arouse the curiosity of students and give them the opportunity to delve into these subjects and devise their own ideas and extrapolate it. "We introduce them to subjects like hydraulics, VAT, environmental science, electrical energy and explain their functioning," said Clarie A, a businessman who delivers lecture once every month. "Through slideshows and presentations, we describe how hydraulics is applied in JCB machines or in car brakes, how to calculate pressure and how electricity is generated. They get a ringside experience."

Field trips
As the subjects are complex in nature, the school management conducts field trips to get students connected to it and sets up scenarios to make them think. "The problem in our education system is application of subjects. Students don't know how to implement what they learn in day-to-day life. Lectures on such technical subjects instill the process of thinking in them, while their knowledge gradually grows," said a lecturer. The school will soon introduce a programme called Innovative Week where lectures on such particular subjects will be conducted throughout the year on a regular basis.

u00a0"We will repeat the same subjects every year and evaluate every month whatever they learn as it cannot be completed in just one or two sessions," said Monisha Sharma, director of the school. "Students show interest and feel confident as it's something new for them. Some students start analysing after observing things and ask meaningful questions and that is what is important."