Chhote Scientists
“Moving beyond textbook memorization—igniting curiosity, scientific temperament, and hands-on discovery among the students on equal opportunity basis.”
In many schools across India, science is taught through rote learning with little room for students to experiment or ask questions. For children in underserved communities, this often makes science feel distant and unapproachable.
Seva Sahayog Foundation is the execution and and expansion partner for the Chhote Scientists Project, a CSR initiative by KPIT Technologies and Jnana Prabodhini is the knowledge partner. This program bridges the gap between textbook knowledge and real-world application. Built on the core ethos of “learning-by-doing,” the program equips school-going children with simple, low-cost activity kits, enabling them to experience, question, and apply core scientific concepts.
Objectives
- To improve understanding of science concepts through enquiry-based learning.
- To provide an opportunity to every student to perform hand-on experiments for better understanding of science concepts
- To habituate students to apply knowledge from science books into day-to-day life.
Our Impact
- Previous Academic Year Footprint
- 50,000+ Students reached with hands-on science learning across partner schools.
- Current Target & Expansion Plan
hey li chya aat li ase havay part mai li barobr ahe ka te sang
This academic year, Seva Sahayog Foundation is scaling the Chhote Scientists initiative to double its impact:
| Metric | Goal / Scale |
| Student Reach Target | 200,000 Students |
| State Coverage | 5 States (Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Bihar, and Rajasthan) |
| District Coverage (MH) | 28 Districts across Maharashtra: (Pune, Jalgaon, Amravati, Satara, Buldhana, Nashik, Beed, Akola, Yavatmal, Nagpur, Wardha, Ratnagiri, Washim, Raigad, Sangli, Jalna, Solapur, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad), Nanded, Chandrapur, Bhandara, Gadchiroli, Dharashiv (Osmanabad), Palghar, Kolhapur, Ahilyanagar (Ahmednagar), Mumbai Suburban, Thane) |
| Core Focus | Observation, Questioning, Classification, Measurement, Environmental studies and Experiment Design |
Core Program Activities
- Interactive Science Sessions: Standardized classroom experiments led by trained VidnyanDoot.
- Teacher Training: In this, school teachers are trained by master trainers and then the teachers take session in respective schools.
- Pre/Post Monitoring: Pre and Post Tests for monitoring and evaluation.
- Skill-Synch Annual Skill Competitions: A platform for students to demonstrate practical experiments, and rewarding the winning students and schools.
Key Program Features (The 4S Design Philosophy)
Our curriculum aligns with National New education policy and state education standards while transforming theoretical science into interactive discovery:
- Simple: Uses every day, easily accessible items to build scientific models and conduct practical experiments.
- Scalable: Implemented through a hybrid execution model involving expert facilitators (VidnyanDoot), empowered local teachers, and corporate volunteers.
- Sustainable: Builds long-term capacity within partner schools via Train-the-Trainer (ToT) workshops.
- Shareable: Fosters collaborative learning, observation, and questioning skills across grade levels (Std 5th to 9th).
United Nations Development Programme’s
Sustainable Goals aligned withChhote Scientists
