A two-day Atal Tinkering Lab (ATL) Workshop on Invention and Innovation was organized at St Aloysius Gonzaga School on 19 and 20 December 2023, in collaboration with the Department of School Education & Literacy and DIET, Government of Karnataka, Mangaluru.
The workshop was formally inaugurated by the esteemed dignitaries, Principal Fr Melwyn Anil Lobo SJ, DDPI for Development Ms Rajalaxmi, District Nodal officer of Dakshina Kannada Ms Vedavathi Rao, Resource person of the workshop and Nodal in-charge of Govt. PU College, Kombetu, Puttur Ms Sindhu, ATL Teacher in-charge of St Aloysius Gonzaga School Ms Deepa Karkada and a teacher and two students from each participating school.
Ms Vedavathi emphasized the workshop's importance, stressing ATL labs' significance in schools and offering insights on enhancing its activity and accessibility for students. Ms Rajalaxmi shared a few aspects of how ATL can help in developing curiosity in learning and improving scientific skills. Principal Fr. Melwyn Anil Lobo SJ motivated the students to recognize societal challenges and devise creative solutions to address them.
The workshop was coordinated by Ms Sindhu and her team of students; Ms Karunya K P, Mr Akhil Isac Mathew, Mr Arvin Seth Dsouza, Mr Gaurav Badikana and Mr Hensal Mathias from St Joseph’s Engineering College, Mangaluru. The students who served as resource persons shared their expertise on various subjects, including distinguishing between innovation and invention, constructing virtual circuits using the Tinkercad app, and presenting group projects from the participating schools.
Participants were provided with practical, hands-on opportunities to construct circuits and implement coding for developing functional models using the Arduino software.
All the participants were awarded with a participation certificate. The workshop was coordinated by Ms Deepa Karkada assisted by Ms Shreya. As many as 19 schools in and around Dakshina Kannada including a teacher and two students from each school, participated in this workshop.
