The department of biotechnology at the St Joseph's College of Arts and Science recently completed ten years. As part of the celebrations, the students along with the staff put up a series of artistic interpretations of scientific discoveries that have contributed to the evolution of biotechnology as a discipline.
Called 'Men, Milestones and Machines', each one of the events was made and presented by the students and these were done very creatively. One of the first events was a dramatic presentation of 'Gregor, the Genetics Genius', which explained the narrative behind Gregor Mendel's work that underlies the science of genetics, through nursery rhymes, action songs and ramp walks.
The genetics story was followed by a mime, 'The Insulin Brigade', which painted the path-breaking tale of how insulin was discovered. Pooja, a student, says that her favourite part of the fest was the dance, 'Twists and Turns'.
"The dance presentation was very interesting as it interpreted Watson and Crick's double helix structure of DNA through a fusion of various dance forms. I feel the fest had a very practical approach to it and it was a nice way of allowing students of other streams to understand science differently," she adds.
All performances saw the enthusiastic participation of the students and the curious, yet wholehearted support of the audience. Something unique was put up by the department every day for one week. One such was the mini musical called 'Mullis Multiplication Machine'. The musical saw singing pea plants, barking dogs and dancing nucleotides explaining the discovery of PCR (polymerase chain reaction).
Susan Mary Philip, the assistant professor at the biotechnology department, says that this was an interesting way of making science fun.
"This was the first time we tried something like this and we got an amazing response. We really wanted to make the tenth year celebration of the department a grand affair and it really was unique. As for including scientific theories into cultural programmes, the students loved that and I know they will never forget these concepts now," she adds.
Agrees Nupur, a student, who was part of a puppet show 'Hello Dolly'. The show shed light upon how the cloning from an adult cell was first done. All the students got together and created the puppets and even the colour sets.
Nupur, who was part of the play, handling one of the puppets says, "The entire fest has been such a good learning and enjoyable experience. Having done this puppet show for the first time in my life, I can now safely say that I don't think I will ever forget the story of cloning."
Called 'Men, Milestones and Machines', each one of the events was made and presented by the students and these were done very creatively. One of the first events was a dramatic presentation of 'Gregor, the Genetics Genius', which explained the narrative behind Gregor Mendel's work that underlies the science of genetics, through nursery rhymes, action songs and ramp walks.
The genetics story was followed by a mime, 'The Insulin Brigade', which painted the path-breaking tale of how insulin was discovered. Pooja, a student, says that her favourite part of the fest was the dance, 'Twists and Turns'.
"The dance presentation was very interesting as it interpreted Watson and Crick's double helix structure of DNA through a fusion of various dance forms. I feel the fest had a very practical approach to it and it was a nice way of allowing students of other streams to understand science differently," she adds.
All performances saw the enthusiastic participation of the students and the curious, yet wholehearted support of the audience. Something unique was put up by the department every day for one week. One such was the mini musical called 'Mullis Multiplication Machine'. The musical saw singing pea plants, barking dogs and dancing nucleotides explaining the discovery of PCR (polymerase chain reaction).
Susan Mary Philip, the assistant professor at the biotechnology department, says that this was an interesting way of making science fun.
"This was the first time we tried something like this and we got an amazing response. We really wanted to make the tenth year celebration of the department a grand affair and it really was unique. As for including scientific theories into cultural programmes, the students loved that and I know they will never forget these concepts now," she adds.
Agrees Nupur, a student, who was part of a puppet show 'Hello Dolly'. The show shed light upon how the cloning from an adult cell was first done. All the students got together and created the puppets and even the colour sets.
Nupur, who was part of the play, handling one of the puppets says, "The entire fest has been such a good learning and enjoyable experience. Having done this puppet show for the first time in my life, I can now safely say that I don't think I will ever forget the story of cloning."