5-Day “Islamabad Hands Science Camp” was successfully held from 25-29 July 2022. The Camp was jointly organized by ECO Science Foundation (ECOSF), Pakistan Science Club (PSC) and National Skills University (NSU). More than 100 students aged 8-16 years from Islamabad, Rawalpindi and surrounding areas attended. Four sessions comprising of maximum 30 students each were conducted daily.
Islamabad Hands-On Science , A concluding ceremony was also arranged on final day of the Camp i.e. 29 July 2022. The concluding ceremony was attended by President ECOSF Prof. Dr. Manzoor H. Soomro, Vice Chancellor of NSU Prof. Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed and other officials from ECOSF, NSU and PSC. Parents of the students were specially invited to attend final day including closing ceremony. During the concluding Ceremony, President ECOSF in his talk said that inquiry based learning is key to understand scientific concepts and enhance critical thing among the students, thus, ECOSF always supports and promotes such kind of activities so that more students can opt to be the scientists in future for sustainable development. He emphasized on learning in mother/local languages because every human naturally thinks in his/her mother tongue, thus, they can think and create big ideas easily. He also shared that he belonged to a humble family background but hard work coupled with life planning earned him the opportunity to lead premier scientific organizations
Mr. Abdul Rauf, CEO and Master Trainer of PSC also spoke during the ceremony and introduced about PSC and his solo journey, how he struggled and achieved the aim of establishing PSC in hard times. All he achieved with dedication, commitment and passion, added Mr. Rauf. He also shared details about the Camp and the activities done. students were also updated about Teenager Makers Camps which have been held annually by Children and Youth Science Center of China in collaboration with ECOSF. The students were invited to attend upcoming teenager maker camp in 2023.
The Islamabad Hands-On Science , Technical support for the Camp was provided by Mr. Abdul Rauf the CEO of PSC as master trainer along with his other three colleagues. ECOSF provided all financial, administrative and logistic support under the supervision of Mr. Ghulam Abbas, ECOSF, whereas NSU provided the venue free of cost. On the first day, the participants were briefed about the Camp and guidelines were shared to follow throughout whole week. The projects such as Wind Mill, Solar Powered Car, Water Rocket Challenge, Telescope and 15 Seconds Machine were undertaken with children during the 5-days camp. The material for making the projects were provided by the organizers. The parents were also engaged on final day to complete the challenge along with their children as a family. The feedback of the students and their parents was very encouraging. The parents and students showed their strong desire to arrange more such activities frequently. At the end of the Camp, the certificates were awarded to the participants.