Low-cost Interventions Can Compound into Meaningful Impact

At 2 pm on a school day, we walked into a large room filled with uniformed children.

- Adhirath Sethi

Indolent eyes greeted us as we explained that we were conducting a workshop on hands-on education. The crown jewel of our repertoire was a box of paper airplanes. Although their curiosity was piqued by the paper models, the 13-year-olds portioned their enthusiasm rather parsimoniously. We ended the afternoon unsure whether there was any value in hands-on learning. It was 1999 and with the advent of cable TV, Hollywood films, and imported toys, perhaps these private city-school kids needed more to rouse their excitement.