Strengthening Technical Skills of School Children using Single Board Computers

Interest of school students in science subjects, nowadays, is reducing leading to their having poor technical skills, presumably due to lack of motivation, training, insufficient infrastructure in schools, resistance to adopting new technologies and high cost of training etc. So a study has been conducted to find ways to improve technical skills as well as arouse interest in science and technical subjects in school students. Survey conducted indicated that the interest in science subjects can be aroused by giving them hands-on experience with project based teaching. In this connection it is seen that pocket-sized, single board computers which have flooded the market in the last one decade could be very effectively used at the school level for giving hands-on experience to students. Project based teaching always attracts students, arouse interest in them to learn basic science subjects thus attaining technical skills which are required for making them practical hands. So in this paper, capabilities of various single board computers have been studied and suitable projects, are suggested which school children can undertake easily to promote creativity, inculcate technological skills and arouse interest in science and technical subjects in them.