Madam Curious
A YouTube channel to help kids develop a scientific mindset.
Ever wondered why water pours out of a jug faster as you tilt it
more, or why you see "smoke" coming out of a cold freezer when you
open the door?
Great scientists throughout history have done the same kind of thing!
They have looked at the everyday stuff, asked "why?" and tried to figure
it out - and their discoveries have changed the world. That's the spirit
we're channeling at Madam Curious.
Our delightful slice-of-life short films show scientific concepts unfold
as curious children go about their daily lives and interact with their
surroundings. Through these relatable stories, we aim to inspire and
teach children to explore their surroundings and reason about them, and
so build their critical thinking and problem solving skills.
How It Works
Our videos aren't like typical science lessons. They're more like
mini-movies - stories that show kids encountering everyday stuff and
getting curious. We follow them as they observe, question and reason,
uncovering the underlying science behind the things they see and do
every day. It's a fun and engaging way to spark curiosity and inspire
a love of learning.
In the description of each video is a link to a follow-up chat with Madam
Curious, our friendly "teacher-bot". With a little humour and playfulness,
she guides the children through a series of questions. The chats are designed
to deepen their conceptual understanding, while getting them to practice
and improve their critical thinking and problem solving skills.
Who It's For
Madam Curious is ideal for children in grades 5 to 8, who
understand simple Hindi and optionally English.
It is completely free of cost, and we encourage teachers and
parents to use it as they wish while teaching their kids. We only
ask you not to re-distribute our content without our consent. If you
have any use-cases or ideas for Madam Curious, we would love you
hear them! Please write to us at hi@madamcurious.com.
The videos, available on our YouTube channel, are organized into playlists. Playlists are numbered to show the
sequence in which they should be watched, because later ones build
on earlier ones. In the same way, the videos within a playlist are
also numbered.
- Our videos are in simple conversational Hindi (with technical terms in English), as is spoken in a large number of homes in North India.
- At the end of each video, the follow-up chat with Madam Curious, our teacher-bot, can be done either in Hindi or in English.
Our Web App
While our videos are all available on YouTube, the chats with Madam
Curious take place in our web app - madamcurious.fly.dev.
In fact, the app brings together all the videos and chats into one place. Learners can create an account (for free), browse through our
entire content library and track their progress as they watch, chat
and learn.
Creators
An education system that often rewards rote learning goes against a
strong understanding of concepts, and inhibits the development of
critical thinking & problem solving skills.
This is really unfortunate, because these very qualities will be necessary
for today's children looking for fulfilling careers in the years to
come.
We are a passionate team of people who want to help nurture and build thinking
and problem solving skills, early enough that they become ingrained forever.
Madam Curious the result of building, rebuilding and refining our learning
content and its delivery mechanism based on a lot of feedback from educators
and early users.
Saumya V Kanoria
Cornell University, U of Illinois Urbana Champaign, computer scientist, entrepreneur
Vivek Dadu
IIIT - Allahabad, ex-Microsoft, teacher by passion
S K Amarnath
Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, NIT - Karnataka, computer scientist, software architect