On the occasion of 50 years celebration of Kishore Bharati organization, a two day critical reflection session (Chintan Shivir) is organized by in association with Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune on reimagining education, in the context of resolving the dilemmas and paradoxes of current education, and its role in a democratic republic. Two observations we… Read More »
Prof. Anil Sadgopal presented his series of talks at IISER Pune organized by Disha organization on the occasion of 75th anniversary of Independence Day . The first talk was delivered on 17th August, 2022 on the theme, ‘Pre-Independence Discourse: Laying the foundation for the constitutional vision of education‘ The Video of talk is available on… Read More »
The paper was written by Prof.Anil Sadgopal for presentation at 17th All India People’s Science Network Conference organized in Bhopal from 6th to 9th June, 2022. The paper was read in workshop at AIPSN conference which was participated by Kishore Bharati members Prof. Arunan and Prof. G.Nagarjuna. The paper gives a brief introduction on the… Read More »
CUBE Awards are awarded each year in the name of acclaimed scientists and personalities to the selected CUBE members who stood out in various aspects in the award categories. The list of CUBE awards for the year 2022 is as follows, DD Kosambi Award 2022 Veronica Rodrigues Award 2022 Anil Sadgopal Award 2022 SK Mahajan… Read More »
CUBE entered into its 3rd year of continuation of Home Lab movement, on this occasion an event was planned to celebrate Home Labs with presentations by Cubists of Elphinstone college, Mumbai. Several model systems like Earthworm, Hydra, Fruit Fly, Moina, Phyllanthus and so on were presented by Cubists, and it was presentated how these model… Read More »
By Abhijeet Singh, Saida Sayyed and Smiti 13th November 2021 The story of the new BPCV (Banana, Potato, Custard apple, Vinegar) media for culturing Fruitfly in home labs is very interesting!Smiti, a first-year B.Sc student from Elphinstone college, Mumbai wanted to study the life-cycle of fruitflies for which she needed to culture them in her… Read More »
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By Anil Sadgopal 17th October 2021 1972 में मित्र मंडल केंद्र रसूलिया और किशोर भारती के संयुक्त प्रयास से मध्य प्रदेश के होशंगाबाद जिले के सोलह सरकारी उत्तर-प्राथमिक (मिडिल) स्कूलों में विज्ञान शिक्षण को गतिविधि-आधारित बनाने तथा स्थानीय परिवेश से जोड़ने का प्रयोग शुरू हुआ। अगले पांच वर्षों तक दिल्ली विश्वविद्यालय के कई वरिष्ठ विज्ञान शिक्षकों और उनके शोध विद्यार्थियों की पूरी एक टीम एवं टाटा आधारभूत शोध संस्थान (टाटा इंस्टिच्यूट आफ फंडामेंटल रिसर्च), मुंबई, और इंडियन इंस्टीट्यूट ऑफ टेक्नॉलाजी, कानपुर, जैसी अन्य संस्थाओं के वैज्ञानिकों की मदद से रूढ़िगत विज्ञान शिक्षण को बदलने की एक साहसिक प्रक्रिया शुरू हुई। इस प्रक्रिया में स्कूली शिक्षकों एवं बच्चों की भागीदारी बढ़ाने के ऐतिहासिक अनुभव प्राप्त किए गए। इस अनुभव को स्वयंसेवी मंच से सरकारी शिक्षा तंत्र में हस्तक्षेप के प्रयोग के रूप में व्यापक मान्यता मिली। 1978 में इन दोनों संस्थाओं ने जिले के सभी 220 उत्तर-प्राथमिक स्कूलों में विज्ञान शिक्षण के इस नए स्वरूप के अनुसार तंत्रगत ढांचे और प्रक्रियाएं खड़ा करने का काम भी किया। इस जिला स्तरीय प्रसार के कुछ महीने पहले पांच साल के अनुभव पर एक विहंगम दृष्टि डालने वाला यह विवरण ‘होविशिका’ (होशंगाबाद विज्ञान शिक्षण कार्यक्रम) की ओर से किशोर भारती की चार-सदस्यीय टीम द्वारा दर्ज किया गया था। मध्य प्रदेश के होशंगाबाद जिले में काम कर रही मित्र मंडल केंद्र रसूलिया एवं किशोर भारती नामक दो स्वैच्छिक संस्थाओं ने विगत पांच वर्षों में जिले के सोलह ग्रामीण मिडिल स्कूलों में विज्ञान शिक्षण के क्षेत्र में पथ प्रदर्शक प्रयोग किए हैं। इन प्रयोगों में उन स्कूलों के शिक्षक और बच्चे सहभागी बने। इस पहलकदमी की आधारशिला गतिविधि-आधारित शिक्षण है। इसमें बच्चे निष्क्रिय होकर केवल व्याख्यान सुनते रहने के बजाए सक्रिय रूप से ज्ञान के सृजन में हिस्सेदारी करते हैं। लेकिन बहुत जल्द ही हमने अनुभव किया कि यदि इस शैक्षिक नवाचार को करते हुए सामाजिक-आर्थिक कारकों को ध्यान में नहीं रखा गया तो ये विचार आकर्षक मुहावरे मात्र बनकर रह जाएंगे।
By Aashutosh Mule 30th October 2021 It was a winter month of 2011. I had finished my post-graduation and was looking forward to pursue a PhD degree in neuroscience. I had heard of the Masters in Neuroscience course at the Life Science department of Sophia College. I went to meet the HOD, Dr. Medha Rajadhyaksha. “Unfortunately we do not have any current openings for PhD”, she sighed. But in the very next moment, with a gleam in her eyes she suggested me of a neuroscience project taking place elsewhere for which I might take interest. She took the name of Dr. M.C. Arunan and shared me his contact.I was amazed that all I had to do was tell him I was interested to know of his project in my first call, and this person started talking to me with such great enthusiasm, giving me so many different examples of how cognition could be studied in animals, almost as if he knew me since quite a time. He told me of how sparrows hop and never walk unlike crows and how this differing degree of freedom of movement could have a correlation with the complexity of their brains. Drawn by this enthusiasm of the mentor, I went to meet him to know more of the project. The collaborative model of learning called CUBE was just taking shape then. I cleared the interview and was recruited on the project at Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education. In my project work, an important practice that Dr. Arunan carried out was to ask me to go to the blackboard and explain the work I was doing. He never gave direct answers, but through intensive discussions helped me arrive at them. But I failed to notice it then. Three months into my tenure, I was required to train a batch of 12 young undergraduate students on various projects involving simple model organisms. It was once when I saw Arunan’s disappointed face on seeing me instruct the students, that I, for the first time, understood that what he sought. He always wanted knowledge to be constructed through discussions and not be instructed.Four years later I joined as an Assistant Professor at the Biotechnology department of Elphinstone college. I used to take lot of efforts at simplifying concepts so that most students understand my teaching. I was doing good. Students used to understand my lectures well (or so I believed), and soon started looking forward to my lectures. I had gained some popularity as a favourite teacher among the students. In the Diwali vacations, I got to know of the CUBE winter workshop and thought that this would be a good opportunity to expose my students to research activities. So, I encouraged them to participate for the workshop. I used to be there along with the students to see how they find it. The students very excitedly participated in many different projects. Like it was with me four years ago, I saw my students go to the board to describe their project and participate in a discussion. On one given day, the discussion brought up the topic of estimating volumes of liquids while preparing culture media. The moment I realised that this topic has been taken up, I leaned forward with confidence. Just a month ago, as a prelude to one of my practicals with these students, I had very nicey explained to them about making unit conversions. I remembered it as one of my best lectures at college. My confidence that, if not for anything else, my students would certainly be able to answer these questions, was shattered within minutes, as I saw my students fumble miserably with the concepts taught to them in the best of my lectures. And then they learned the same concepts, but this time not by being instructed by their favourite teacher, but rather by constructing the knowledge themselves through a two-way discussion. Four years ago, I did have a taste of this constructive way of learning when I was working under Dr. Arunan for the CUBE project. But inspite of knowing that constructive learning is better than the instructive mode, I simply followed the instructive approach when I took up to teaching myself. After all, we all are products of the same old system of instructive learning. We all have spent hours learning through powerpoint presentations or diagrams on the blackboard. The instructive way of learning is so ingrained that when we ourselves take up teaching, we find better organization in such structured mode of teaching. But as I sat that day among my students during an active causerie at the CUBE workshop, I realized how unstructured but facilitated discussions are way more effective than any instruction we do with the aids of presentations.I realized how effective CUBE is as a model of learning, not when I was a student myself, but when I turned a teacher.
By Aashutosh Mule 2nd September 2021 Professor Anil Sadgopal, known for revolutionising the education sector in Madhya Pradesh, was on Friday felicitated with the Homi Bhabha Award in Science and Education 2018.The award is presented every alternate year by the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research for exemplary contribution in the field of science education. Friday’s award was presented by Professor K. Subramaniam, director of the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, for Prof. Sadgopal’s lifelong contribution to the systematic rethinking of science education in India, including impactful experiments and teachings at the grassroots level.Prof. Sadgopal designed and organised a rural education programme through Kishore Bharati in Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh. In collaboration with Friends Rural Centre Rasulia, he initiated the Hoshangabad Science Teaching Programme (HSTP), which was a historic intervention in the government school system of Madhya Pradesh.Prof. Sadgopal dedicated the award to his team. “The entire effort is invariably a team effort even if the award is given to an individual. It wouldn’t have been able to conceive HSTP without them,” he said.The HSTP sought to reconstruct education’s status-quoist discourse over three decades. It introduced an experiment-based and inquiry-oriented teaching of science in 16 middle schools of Hoshangabad. Students learned science by either conducting experiments or going out on field trips. Over three decades, the government of Madhya Pradesh also accepted the programme and backed it with financial grants. Prof. Sadgopal spoke at length about Hoshangabad Vigyan in government schools with anecdotes, which delighted the audience.Speaking about the first time he met the District Educational Officer of Hoshangabad, he said, “I didn’t even know the meaning of Bachelor of Education, which made everyone very angry. After that I learnt a lot and today I know everything about the Indian education system. I actively intervene to change the curricula of schools and universities,” he said.In 2002, under the State government’s orders, HSTP was closed as the government was no longer able to fund the programme. Even after its closure, however, HSTP continued to revolutionise science education in India.“Prof. Sadgopal and HSTP remain a beacon of light in our field. In our recent programme, Vigyan Pratibha, we were designing experiments with electricity. We consulted the Bal Vaigyanik workbooks of students from HSTP and the experiments were very well structured even though they are almost half-a-century old,” Prof. Subramaniam said.