Do. Think. Learn.
AMMACHI Labs has created the 2nd Foundation, a new education initiative for teaching 21st-century skills to school children and young adults in rural India.
If the first foundation of education is provided by the school and community in the basic literacies and values, the 2nd Foundation fortifies these with the 21st century skills. We put equal emphasis on teaching essential life and social problem solving skills alongside advanced technical skills like programming, robotics and hardware prototyping. This unique mix ensures that the youth build up resilience to face all eventualities that an unpredictable future brings.
To strengthen the economic fiber and contribute to social stability of the nation by empowering India’s masses in a sustainable, cost-effective and scalable way by providing innovative technological solutions and resources for physical, vocational and social skill development.
We address human sorrow and hardship with empathy, let our research and experience guide our judgment, and compassion guide our decisions. We put our minds to work for causes that are guided by our hearts. Although our group is diverse in disciplines and research methods, we stand unified in our philosophies, and in our commitment to society through a Problem Driven Iterative Approach. We conduct research, and design and implement technologies, for the purpose of solving social problems leading to inclusive development of under-served communities.
Combining Technology With Social/Emotional Learning
The 2nd Foundation workshops reimagine education holistically and combine high technology with social and emotional learning. The workshops are taught in schools and rural areas across India and are delivered by young graduates who have been trained as trainers by AMMACHI Labs, fostering a peer-to-peer learning environment that is conducive to learning.
The technical workshops and social/emotional learning workshops are woven together to create a unified platform for deeper and more integrated learning.
Technical Workshops
In our maker skills workshop, students learn hand-on skills in the use of tools allowing them to participate in actual fabrication activities typically afforded only to trained professionals. The desire to make design and prototyping more integral to the school education experience is what inspires the Maker Workshop.
The Robotics Workshop is designed to provide an introduction to physical computing and interactive art. Using laptops, tablets and a custom designed robotics kit, participants will complete a variety of tasks by making, tinkering, engineering, assembling & programming. The team-based workshop allows participants to work in groups to grasp the relationship between software and hardware and showcase their creative abilities by creating interactive robotic art structures.
The Computational Thinking workshop serves as an introduction to computational concepts & practices using MIT Scratch and the Haathi Mera Saathi computational thinking game built by engineers at Ammachi Labs, the latter existing as an immersive virtual environment, combining the power of visual block-based scripting with the appeal and versatility of modern multi-player games. The course software allows for multiple learning pathways allowing students to explore storytelling, game development, art and architecture, allowing them to remix and critique each other’s public “code artifacts” mimicking real world programming practices. The students are put on a pathway to move from visual programming into textual programming using the Python language. The course is aligned with ACM-CSTA’s Computer Science standards along with the NSTA’s Next Generation Science Standards.
Social/Emotional Learning Workshops
In order to encourage the next generation into becoming responsible citizens, it is important that they attain self-efficacy and self-esteem, being sensitive to their own emotional and physical needs. We engage the students in topics ranging from health, sanitation, hygiene to self confidence, team building, creative self-expression and peer to peer learning. Our approach to SEL is through an activity based learning strategy where the students script and act in theater performances, create documentaries and take part in debates & discussions with their peers. The SEL workshop sets the foundation for the Social Problem Solving skills as only a confident and self-aware person can begin to transform their community.
In order to encourage the next generation into becoming responsible citizens, it is important that they attain self-efficacy and self-esteem, being sensitive to their own emotional and physical needs. We engage the students in topics ranging from health, sanitation, hygiene to self confidence, team building, creative self-expression and peer to peer learning. Our approach to SEL is through an activity based learning strategy where the students script and act in theater performances, create documentaries and take part in debates & discussions with their peers. The SEL workshop sets the foundation for the Social Problem Solving skills as only a confident and self-aware person can begin to transform their community.