Two pieces of plain paper were laid on the desk in front of each student. These simple tools were to become the means by which Teacher Vich explained to the children the physical laws governing air pressure.

Dismissing chalk and blackboard and the thought of writing complicated scientific theories to tax the students' memories, Teacher Vich raised the curiosity of the pupils and encouraged them to come up with the answers for themselves.

"If you hold the two pieces of paper vertically and blow air in between, what happens? Do the pieces come closer together or do they separate?" he asked.

Many students responded instantly: "They come closer together."

The answer was correct but to experience it for a fact, Teacher Vich let all the students carry out their own experiments. All of them found the two pieces of paper really did come closer together after blowing through them, but what, they wondered, was the reason behind this?

One schoolboy came to the front of the class and gave the answer. "Because the air pressure between the gap between the paper decreases, making them move closer together," he said.

Teacher Vich went on to explain this in more detail. "When we blow through the gap between the two pieces of paper, the air pressure inside the gap and outside is not equal. While the pressure inside the gap reduces, the pressure outside increases and this makes the two pieces move closer together," he said.

He said by learning the rules of pressure from a real experiment students would have a greater understanding of the scientific method behind the phenomenon. "This knowledge helped them understand when we explained why the sky train station does not allow passengers to stand in front of the yellow line," he said.

The lesson by Teacher Vich started off the Science Ministry's new Science Caravan project, which aims to spread scientific knowledge to school children and communities nationwide, to improve their understanding of science.

Under the concept of science on the move, Pravich said the project would develop a mobile science classroom, which would travel around the nation, allowing students and children in the local communities to conduct real experiments, learning about science through the "learning by doing" concept. The mobile classroom also aims to impart scientific knowledge through fun activities.

Apart from learning the rules of air pressure, students at Chitralada School also enjoyed making their own paper aeroplanes with the objective of seeing who could make their plane fly the longest.

Pravich said this not only teaches the children how to build a paper aeroplane, but more importantly, through such activities they will gradually understand the aerodynamics necessary to make a plane fly longer.

Soon, paper aeroplanes were flying around the room. Even though some landed within a few seconds, students tried to make their planes fly a little bit longer, changing the shape of the aeroplanes and adjusting various elements to make them flow through the air better.

Pravich said apart from Chitralada School, the ministry also conducted a pilot test of the mobile science classroom at the Demonstration School at Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University.

"These were our first two pilot sites for the soft launch of the Science  Caravan project. We hope this project will encourage children to become more interested in science while increasing science knowledge in the country," he said.

He added the mobile classroom would visit schools nationwide.

The National Science Museum, hosting the project, is responsible for the development of science courses to suit students in each area.

The ministry this year received Bt40 million to run the Science Caravan project. It has also allocated part of the project budget to build a mobile car, which will become a science-learning centre for each community. "Equipped with tool kits for experiments and educational tools, the mobile car will roam around the nation and allow children in each community to join in the activities," Pravich said.

The development of mobile science classrooms and mobile cars are now under way. However, the ministry hopes the Science Caravan project will officially start within the next few months.

Pongpen Sutharoj

The Nation