Axiom helps students rediscover science

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, INDIA: In an effort aimed at helping students rediscover science and redefine their approach towards learning and understanding it, Axiom Education, a leader in the education solutions scenario in the country, has kicked off the country’s first-ever paperless competition for school kids.

The education technology company has kicked off its first ‘City level Iken ScientificA 2008 competition’ for 1000 city finalists in the Kerala capital.

Iken ScientificA is first-of-its-kind national science and technology competition organized for school students from class 5th to 8th across 1,200 schools in 21 cities of India, a company official said.

Comprising three rounds, such as the school level, the city level and the national finals, the Iken ScientificA competition aims at breaking away from the traditional methods of learning by incorporating hands-on, games based and design based approach to exploring science, he said.

The winners at the end of three rounds will be crowned as ‘Student Icon of India 2008’ from each class and will be awarded prizes worth Rs 50 lakh at various levels. Iken ScientificA is an endeavor to make learners aware of a non-chaotic approach to learning and create a culture of self-learning in students, he added.

Elaborating on the initiative, Rohit Jain, managing director, Axiom Education, said, “We believe that each student has the ability to excel in life. However, it is important for the parents to unleash the untapped talent of the child.”

He said this is where Axiom’s assessment through the Enterprising Index mechanism will help encapsulate the relative strengths and weaknesses of the child, guiding parents and students alike.

“Axiom aims at leading the wave of change in our society, by developing education systems that go beyond the class rooms and make learning engaging, interactive and fun, in short, a way of life.”

The City-level Iken ScientificA 2008 competition is divided into two parts - iChoose and iExplore. iChoose is a 1.5 hour Audio-Visual test with 30 practical knowledge based questions and the performance is assessed on the basis of correctness as well as promptness of the student responses.

The iChoose round was conducted with the help of technology wherein students recorded their responses on the spot through an individual response system called Ken RS. With KenRS technology, results were declared on the spot and 1500 short listed students were selected for iExplore round.

iExplore is a challenging round, and is based on three different activities such as GameOn (Logic based Board Games), TalkOn (Presentation Skills) and HandsOn (hands-on activities).

Through iExplore nine students have been selected from Thiruvananthapuram to represent their schools at the National Finals of Iken ScientificA, to be conducted in Mumbai in January 2009 in which 160 national finalists will participate.

The company also launched its website- www.iken.in where students can participate online in the competition from across India besides gaining access to a whole lot of educational films, games, animations, examination preparation tools and lot more, the official added.