Sandeep Dutt, founder of the Learning Forward India Foundation, has been a long time partner of Slooh. Sandeep works out of a "book cafe" in Dehradun, India and has dedicated his career to “transforming schools and spreading the joy of learning.” Part of this process includes providing access to Slooh in the schools he works with.
"Slooh isn't a product. A telescope is a product, a curriculum textbook is a product...Slooh is an experience."
Listen to the full conversation or read through the highlights below…
Slooh:
I want to hear about your experience with Slooh and how the schools that you've partnered with have responded to and used Slooh.
Sandeep:
I think the first thing which Slooh makes us do is to think. And whenever we introduce Slooh in a school, whether it's a rural school or urban school, we realize that it adds to our mission of critical thinking. So the children get to question- how do we exist? Where do we exist? Why do we exist? And that's the first thing that happens. These questions are good for children. For children who are introverted, I find that Slooh really makes them "go to the stars". I have two classic examples where Slooh helped children find a passion and a new meaning altogether.
Slooh:
I agree. I think it's so important to get that big picture perspective, especially because if you're struggling with something small or internal, you can say, "Okay, let me step back and look at the universe and learn about it." And there's a kind of comfort that can be found there.
Sandeep:
Yeah, yeah, 100%. Slooh opens your mind. Slooh really isn't just a product, like a telescope is or a curriculum textbook is, Slooh is an experience. What Slooh really gives these children- it gives them connection. After connection, it gives them communication. Third, it helps them collaborate. And then that's when they are able create. So connect, communicate, collaborate, create. If you don't connect, you can't communicate. If you can't communicate, you can't collaborate. If you can't collaborate, you can't create. So that's easy. And that's what Slooh makes you do, which is the engine of a classroom. Any form of teaching online or offline cannot happen till you connect, communicate, collaborate, and create.
Slooh:
Yeah, I agree, that is a great way of breaking it down. So why do you think a platform like Slooh is so important for the future of STEM education for students?
Sandeep:
The challenge for teachers today is that they have been through the industrial age of learning where what the book says is what they have told, but they have not seen the world. So, the first thing Slooh has done is give teachers a macro picture that the world's infinite. That's the first thing it does. So it makes them look further beyond just being earthlings or beings. And that's precisely why it interests the teachers. There is much more than Slooh. It's not just Slooh. Slooh's got chemistry, it's got physics, it's got the environment.
It's just about linked to everything. It's not just mathematics, physics, and chemistry. It's even liberal arts. So, it includes even liberal arts. I mean, if I'm an artist, I would love Slooh, by the way. The images, the drawings, the diagrams, the magnificence of galaxies. It's an artist's dream.
Slooh:
Something for everyone.
Sandeep:
So from a teacher's point of view, it gives visualization. Second, it gives thought. Third, it gives the basics of science. If you look at that and if you look at what the book gives you, which is dead, here's something alive. So I often give an example that if you need to go to a biology lab, you need to go to a chemistry lab, you need to go to a physics lab to understand the subjects. That's what you need to do to understand astronomy and space. That's why Slooh is very useful. It's a lab. It's a lab for astronomy. It's a global astronomy lab.
Slooh:
And the great thing is most people don't have access to labs and all that equipment, but Slooh grants universal access to an Astronomy lab.
Sandeep:
And it's affordable. It's affordable because labs are very expensive otherwise. To set up a lab in India also would cost a phenomenal amount to a school. And if I was to set up a telescope and astronomy lab, it would be unaffordable. I mean, astronomy would become a science of the unaffordable elite. This is why Slooh is so needed.
Slooh:
So my last question was, what are you hoping to see in your future use of Slooh now that it's become really part of the curriculum in the schools you work with?
Sandeep:
Yeah, I think Slooh will be the answer to what I call sustainable development in the world. Today we are talking of ESR, we were talking of sustainable growth. Even the companies and corporations have to do some sustainability work. In understanding sustainability and understanding what Earth is, I think Slooh has a larger macro picture than just being a classroom tool. That's where I see Slooh. It'll be useful for policymakers and used for scientists, researchers, and space scientists. It will just be useful for everyone beyond that.
Slooh:
I completely agree. That's all of my questions for you. It was so great to chat with you and hear about the Learning Forward India Foundation. It’s really great.
Sandeep:
Great. You can just search schooleducation.com. That's the foundation website. Go to the website, and then from the website, you will get our entire book of offerings, what we do, and who we are.
God bless you.
Slooh:
Amazing! So nice speaking with you....
Thank you to Sandeep for making time to speak with us and for his continued devotion to both Slooh and to improving education on a global scale.
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