Kainaat Kids: An effort to awaken interest in astronomy among Pakistani children

Pakistani children have a lot of interest in astronomy, but there is no information in the curriculum and practical education in schools. 'Kainaat Kids' is a unique effort to impart astronomy knowledge to children through videos, animations, and graphics.

What makes you interested in astronomy?

Dr. Salman Hameed is well-known in Pakistan and South Asia for explaining the most complex astronomical observations in the Urdu language in easy-to-understand videos. Despite being out of the country for a long time, Dr. Salman Hameed is trying to popularize astronomy education in Pakistan through his organization "Kainaat Studios".

When children's educational activities were limited during the coronavirus epidemic, this organization started a video series in Urdu called "Kainaat Kids", which aims to spread authentic astronomical knowledge among children. The Kainaat Kids team has an exclusive discussion with Deutsche Welle about their project.

Kainaat Kids projects

What is the purpose of the Universe Kids video series?

Speaking to Deutsche Welle, Dr. Salman Hameed said that very few people associated with the Pakistani education system consider the question of how to develop an understanding of the universe in children. revolves, leaving no margin for thinking, exploring, and questioning galaxies, black holes, planets, asteroids, and other astronomical entities.”

➤Dr. Salman Hameed holds the Charles Taylor Chair and Professor of Integrated Science and Humanities at Hampshire College in Massachusetts, United States.

➤Dr. Salman says that Kainaat Kids is an attempt to popularize astronomy education among Pakistani children, for which the Urdu language was chosen so that children can easily learn about astronomical observations in a common language with animations, graphics, and cartoons. can understand

➤Dr. Salman Hameed also writes astronomy articles in Guardian, NPR, Dawn newspaper, and many scientific magazines.

➤According to Roshan Bukhari, host, and producer of Kainaat Kids Videos, famous astronomer Carl Sagan once said, “When you fall in love, you want to tell the world about it.” Kainaat Kids Team Science Communication has the same passion for

➤The greatest feature of this team is that it includes people from three continents, living in four different time zones, and working day and night to spread the passion and love of astronomy among Pakistani children through their education and professional activities. are trying The team has so far released ten videos containing easy-to-understand educational content.

What is the process of producing videos for children?

Roshan Bukhari told Deutsche Welle that while making the videos on astronomical observations and factors, it is taken into account that their audience is primary and middle school children. The first challenge faced by his team in the preparation of each episode is script writing, for which complex scientific information is written in simple-to-understand Urdu.

process of producing videos for children

According to Roshan, the topics of the ten episodes presented so far were taken from the National Science Curriculum. After choosing the topic, it takes about a month to prepare the video. Lahore-based animator Maria Khan brings scripts to life with hand-drawn sketches, drawings, and her own creativity.

He says that the James Webb Space Telescope's exploration of galaxies in the universe, Saturn's moons, Earth's rotation, the star Polaris, and other cosmological lessons have contributed greatly to the hard work of Maria and video editor Shehryar Sheikh.

How much did these videos help children understand astronomy?

Abdul Hai is associated with an organization called "Teach for Pakistan". He says that he has been a fan of Dr. Salman Hameed's astronomical videos for a long time. He makes a special arrangement to show Kainaat Kids videos to children in government schools under his organization. Abdul Hai says that with the help of these videos, teachers are engaging the children in other similar activities apart from easily answering their curious questions.

Mahim Maqsood is a biochemistry student at Middle East Technical University Ankara and part of the Kainaat Kids team. She says that Pakistani people have very little knowledge about astronomical factors. People believe more in pseudo (fake) science and superstitions. These videos are becoming increasingly popular not only among children but also among adults as they provide correct information in the Urdu language in a very simple manner.

Lala Rukh is the host of Kainaat Kids Videos and has been supporting their production from the UK after the coronavirus outbreak. She says that she has been trying to promote science in Pakistan for a long time but her knowledge about astronomy was less.

Kainaat Kids Videos

She has been learning herself while working on each video of this series. The video series has received great feedback from children and parents as well, “She hopes that this sincere effort by her team in the national language will instill confidence and a sense of involvement in science among children. She will play an important role.

Future planning

Dr. Salman Hameed told Deutsche Welle that Kainaat Kids is not just a video channel but some of its episodes will also be kept at Dawood Foundation Magnifi Science Center in Karachi. Kainaat Studio and MCS are committed to fostering a passion for astronomy among children and adults visiting the center through collaborative astronomical models. These exhibition models will be opened to the public in the next few months.