ATAL TINKERING LAB Operation Manual and handbook

ATAL TINKERING LAB

Operation Manual

our Guide to Building Young Innovators

The Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) was set up in NITI Aayog for transforming

the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem in the country. A key

initiative of AIM is establishing a network of Atal Tinkering Laboratories

(ATL) with the objective of creating scientific temper as well as cultivating

the spirit of curiosity and creativity among young minds.

ATL provides an enabling environment for students to innovate through

a do-it-yourself approach. The Labs will be equipped with sophisticated

machines and instruments such as 3D Printers and Microcontrollers for

honing the technical and innovation related skills of students. They will

help to bring theoretical concepts to life and inculcate a range of skills

including those pertaining to design, computational thinking and physical

computing. Due to the practical orientation of this approach, students will

learn to “make” which, in turn, can lead to the development of real-world

applications and new enterprises.

We envisage ATLs to be incubators that can help to shape a generation

of citizens who are well versed with the benefits, challenges and

consequences of technology use. We are also confident that initiatives

such as these will transform conventional teaching methods in India by

facilitating the all-round development of young minds and giving them the

space to put their ideas into practice.

Background

With a vision to cultivate one million child innovators in India, Atal Innovation Mission by NITI Aayog and Government of India,

envisaged a novel program – establishment of Atal Tinkering Laboratories (ATLs) in schools across the country. The Government

of India aims to create an eco-system in the country that promotes the development and use of technology to find feasible

solutions to problems. Taking the Prime Minister of India’s vision to enable children to innovate and do things on their own in

India and to move India forward, more than 13 thousand schools have applied for ATLs.

The objective of this program is to foster curiosity, creativity and imagination in young minds; and to inculcate skills such as

design mind set, computational thinking, adaptive learning, physical computing etc. This is in sync with the global scenario where

Future Work Skills are increasingly being considered as an important skill set for creating new avenues, providing solutions to

global problems and leading the global economy towards the Fourth Industrial Revolution*.

To keep up the momentum of our growing economy, it is imperative to provide opportunities and facilities to our youth and

empower them with these core futuristic skills - namely complex problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, people management,

teamwork, emotional intelligence, judgment and decision-making, service orientation, negotiation and cognitive flexibility. And

for this, training children when they are young is ideal, owing to their high levels of curiosity. Children are natural tinkerers and

have a unique approach to problems. Atal Tinkering Laboratories (ATLs) have been conceptualized towards this very direction

– to imbibe futuristic skill sets among youngsters by providing them with access to multiple technologies and enabling them to

build/make new solutions to solve challenges they see in their communities.

CVPRASAD