NASA funds videos that focus on scientific innovations at Indian historical sites

NASA is funding a programme that is producing a series of videos featuring famous institutions and archaeological sites in India, along with lesson plans in Hindi, to aid in teaching the language internationally in the context of science and technology.

The said programme funded by NASA is called STARTALK, which considers it a priority for national security to expand the teaching and learning of Hindi, Chinese, Arabic and other world languages. And for the said purpose, the programme made a grant of US $90000 to the director of the project, Ved Chaudhury.
The videos that are being created focus on scientific innovations at various sites like the Hawa Mahal and Amer Fort Palace in Jaipur, Chand Bawri step well, UNESCO Heritage Site Qutub Minar, rust-resistant Iron Pillar of Delhi, and the headquarters of Jaipur Foot, a prosthetic that is provided free to improvised amputees in 80 countries around the world.
The said programme is further supplemented by the funding received from Chaudhury’s New Jersey-based foundation, Educator’s Society for Heritage of India. The programme is administered by the National Foreign Language Centre at the University of Maryland.
Referring to this development, the principal investigator of the programme mentioned that context is crucial to learning new languages. Elaborating on this, he added that each video has been designed for learners, which employs a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) perspective to intriguing and incredibly rich context to create learning experiences that can push learners to pursue an advanced level of Hindi.