Learning Science the Fun Way (Home Visit 5)

PGP Roll No.: PGP-16-102

PGP Student Name: Ishaan Akshay Srivastav
Sitara Roll No.: 729
Sitara Name: Priyankakumari Sureshkumar Mahato
Date of the Visit: 10.10.2016
Visit Start Time: 6.30 PM
Visit End Time: 8.45 PM
Family Members Present during the visit Aunt (Mami)

A Visit after a long time:

There were no Abhyudaya Visits scheduled since a long time and hence, Priyanka and I were meeting
after a long time. Even without the visits, we were in touch over the phone as we discussed many
things like Homi Bhabha question papers, elocution competitions and complex science problems. On
asking her over the phone as to how her Homi Bhabha exam had been, Priyanka replied that her exam
had gone well and she was expecting to score well. She sounded confident and felt that she had given
her best shot. At the start of the visit, we built on this topic of conversation. Also, the visit was carried
out on Monday as Priyanka had her first school exam on Monday morning and hence, wasn’t available
on the weekend as she had to prepare loads for the exam. I started the visit by asking her how she
had been and how was everything at home and with her family.

Learning Science the Fun Way:

As part of the mentoring plan, Priyanka and I had decided that we will be working strongly on science
in the month of September since Priyanka was scheduled to give her Homi Bhabha exam on the 02 nd
of October. Since adequate number of Abhyudaya visits did not take place in the month of September,
I decided to go ahead with the back-up plan of watching science videos about different scientific
phenomena that Priyanka was interested in. I had carefully researched the topics Priyanka was
interested in, before going for the visit and had downloaded videos from YouTube for the same. The
topics I had shortlisted were the Big Bang, The Solar System and Amazing facts about Earth, since
Priyanka shows a lot of interest in Astronomy. We saw each of the videos and then discussed them in
depth. I also asked Priyanka if she had any questions and cleared them to the best of my abilities. I
asked Priyanka if she liked the experience and she whole heartedly agreed that it was a fun way to
lean about new things.

Understanding Buying Patterns and Retail Landscapes:

After looking at the videos, I also discussed with Priyanka about the buying habits of her household.
She informed me that expensive things like jewellery and clothes are mostly bought only around Diwali
every year whereas regularly used items such as grains, pulses and other consumables are purchased
on a monthly basis. Credit is no longer offered by the shopkeepers as there have been issues in the
past when the customers have not paid the due amounts. Priyanka’s Uncle (Mama) and Aunt (Mami)
both make the buying decisions in the family for all kinds of products and the Andheri Market is a
popular place where they prefer to shop, especially when they are looking for discounted prices. Since
the household is located near the link road in Andheri West, all kinds of shops are available in the
neighbourhood.

Planning the Future Visits:

Now that September was behind us, Priyanka and I decided that we shall start working on learning MS
Word and MS Powerpoint, which was discussed in the mentoring plan as the scheduled activity for
the month of October. We decided that during every visit, Priyanka will practice either MS word, MS
Powerpoint, or both, on my laptop to gain sufficient practice as well as confidence.