Abstract:
The conventional teaching method is mostly as a one-way communication
be-tween instructor and students, where students go through rote learning and
then appear for written exam. Based on their performance in written exam they are
graded and judged. This type of system inculcates exam oriented learning approach
than to actual knowledge gain. This is a major issue in the present era where students
are fed up with exam oriented approach. So there is immense need to bring innovation
in teaching methods. Also, along with education, among the students, there
is need of growing social awareness specially towards weaker section of society. In
order to impart effective learning experiential and collaborative learning has been
incorporated in solar energy related courses by the authors at BITS Pilani. During
these courses, the students fabricated do-it-yourself type solar cookers and tested
the performance of these cookers in normal conditions. In order to have feel of the
usage of the fabricated cookers the students were asked to cook some food items
using those cookers. After successful completion of these activities, with the help
of a NGO students helped the authors to conduct cheap solar cooker workshop for
villagewomen at a village near the institute. During theworkshop the students helped
the village women to fabricate cheap solar cookers. All the activities fabrication,
testing and involvement in the workshop was the part of evaluative components for
the courses. It was overall a very successful experiential and collaborative learning
experiment with social angle involved in it.