http://www.ias.ac.in/resonance/August2009/p818-819.pdf

DST-Stanford Biodesign fellowships

http://biodesign.stanford.edu/bdn/india/

It is possible to be an inventor while in college

http://students.egfi-k12.org/student-inventors-manu-sharma/

Dr Suprio Das’s low cost inventions

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Kolkata/Citizen-scientist/Article1-828939.aspx

A report on National Workshop for Undergraduate Biology Teachers

11-14 January 2012, Pune.

http://www.indiabioscience.org/node/493

An organization that works for R & D by conducting competitions

http://www.xprize.org/

Interactive courseware

http://www.prism-magazine.org/jan12/tt_01.cfm

Crisis in technical education

http://www.scribd.com/doc/85938990/Crisis-in-Technical-Education

Employability issues

http://www.theprofessor.in/blog/teachers/what-is-this-chasm-between-jobs-and-curriculum/

Students, school children or grown-ups, are like the little Prince always demanding things beyond our reach. We, the teachers, need the ingenuity and presence of mind.

In this issue, as a guest editor, I would like to put forth a few words on freedom.  In particular, I’ll share a few thoughts about our responsibility in school-level education even though we do not directly teach there.

This 7 letter magic word (like the 7 pious notes of music) is most of the time mistaken. Freedom means a framework – a polyhedral – one within which there is a vast multi-dimensional space of unexplored mineral resources; the boundary, which is apparently abstract and needs some effort to visualize, is as important as the space within; a teacher ought to understand this idea and should be able to communicate this to the students. Freedom is a responsibility, not just a right.

At NIT Trichy, every year, we admit students who are among the top 10% of their peers in the country. However, to my disappointment, I do not see, more than a handful, anyone who has good understanding of the fundamentals like Newton’s laws. It is the same syllabus, typically CBSE, and the same books, typically NCERT publications; but still, only those handful are trained to read in-between lines; which means that there are only handful committed teachers. It turns out that the teachers are not properly exposed. Let us realize that our teaching at higher levels becomes unproductive if the raw material is not properly delivered to us; it becomes imperative that we participate actively in the outreach programmes and contribute to strengthening the foundations. Though our chief editor Dr. Uma Garimella might disagree with me, I’ll always have a hearty laugh looking at the advertisements of coaching classes for IIT-JEE for children in class IV.

What do we do when our children ask us for something to play? We are too eager to give everything readymade to our children, and very quickly we are frustrated that their excitement vanishes too soon, aren’t we?; on the other hand, give them instructions to make their own paper boats, their creativity blossoms.

We have a tendency to have the polyhedral meshed inside so that children would safely climb up; it is high time we realize that there are two potential disadvantages in this approach. First, the children might actually get lost in the maze; they mistake the mesh, that too in only one plane, for the entire space. Secondly, they are prevented from exploring the nooks and corners, which we the mesh-layers could not reach, of the polyhedral; this sets in repetition and leads to the monotony and listlessness in the young minds.

In essence, let us guard the freedom space zealously, possibly inflate it further with our experiences and commitment, and allow the children to gleefully explore the wonderland. A thorough understanding of the fundamentals, beyond familiarity, is as important as the alphabet and the arithmetic; otherwise, thanks to Lewis Carroll, children end up in ambition, distraction, uglification, and derision.

I thank Dr. Uma for giving me this opportunity to share my thoughts with all of you in this issue. I am also thankful to my friend Ms. Vineetha Sreepada, for readily accepting to share her views too, as the faculty of the month.

Dr Ramakalyan Ayyagari, Head, Dept of ICE, NIT-Trichy

I was with a principal of a college when a person from Titan Industries was speaking about hiring fresh graduate engineers. He specifically asked for Mechanical Engineers who had confidence and communication skills with career goals (oh aren’t we fed up these C words?) Since he asked for mechanical,  we thought he was going to put them in production. But no, he had other ideas. He wanted them for their shops and not shop floor. Why Mechanical? They will stay. hmm

In another incident, I met a young executive who gave me a test drive of a new car. I asked him if he was from MBA or Automobile Engineering. Neither. He said, MCA. I am sure his first choice may have been an IT job…but that’s besides the point.

More and more, I feel that by putting our youth in college, we are only delaying their on-the-job learning. Since in any case, what is taught (if any), is not used in the jobs that are there in the market.  Perhaps, this is how the western culture evolved, where people start working, and they pick up a degree that will be useful to them much later in life.

So when we go to students and tell them to use learning strategies and work on projects, and they turn back and ask us to show jobs in those areas, we may not have an answer. (And here I am talking of the average engineering student in an average college. The premier institutes is a different game altogether. or I am not aware of the game at least!)

So what is all this about engineering curriculum and wanting to give technical skills? For one thing, by calling it engineering degrees, we have only brought ourselves agony. Because, there is a certain expectation from such graduates – which MOST of them lack – neither a natural inclination/aptitude, nor acquired in the program.  No amount of industry/institute meetings is going to change that as long as students don’t know what to learn from that curriculum. No amount of adding/deleting courses is going to help anyone. Any number of ‘guest lectures’ to bridge the gap is not going to enlighten anyone.

But then I think deeper and I see some light. This curriculum is only a test bed to learn ‘thinking’. Stop believing that anything from the curriculum is going to be directly or indirectly useful in any job (save a very small percentage …or a large percentage if someone wants to teach..but I will come to that in a moment)

All the jobs require the employee to have enthusiasm and to have reading comprehension (we did that in school, remember?) which will put them on the path to learning what is required in that job. After some training, when they start working, they need an ability to conceptualise a problem and look for a solution. This may mean searching on the internet (with the right keywords), finding a real expert and asking the right question, or sometimes just looking at some data and doing some analysis. She should also have interpersonal skills and speaking/writing skills.

In some jobs, some fundamental concepts that were studied may come in handy. But if we go back to the car sales executive and watch salesman – even if they sound a little extreme examples – all they need is to understand the product, deal with customer questions and be pleasant. As they go along, with open ears and eyes,  they should learn more about the product and the customer and get better.  When jobs are more ‘technical’, the domain may change (from car and watch to may be banks, markets, platforms, and even rockets), but the principle remains the same. This applies equally well to the growing number of freshers who want to be entrepreneurs in any segment, those who want to make films, those who want to be in sports, those who want to go for higher education abroad et cetera.

And when I look at the curriculum in this angle, it is all the more important to teach it in such a way that these basic skills are developed. Unfortunately, universities and colleges are missing this point and their assessment system is checking the mastery of the content of the curriculum and not the spirit.  And so are the students – who are always aligned to the exams. And so are the teachers, who have to complete the syllabus and get results.

When we learn a language, we learn simple words and sentences, we build a small vocabulary and the rules of grammar. But the real learning is when we use the basic rules and apply in new situations and go from text book examples to usage and communicating in our life. Nobody ever thinks that he is going to use those ‘artificial’ example sentences of the text books in life. Then why physics? why electronics? is there any job in the world where people are given some material and asked to reproduce the same after a few weeks? But, that’s what we are preparing them for.

So if students are also told that they are learning these subjects to ‘think’ in a certain way, to use some basic principles for problem solving, to be able to read and comprehend new information and to use it as a basis for higher level thinking like application and analysis, to be able to build things with their hands and heads, and to be enthusiastic about new things..then may be their attitude towards learning will be more open and their expectations from the college and from the placements will be realistic, if they don’t get these ‘employability’ skills.

For this teachers and students need to use well written books, spend more time in working in the labs – not just setting up experiments and noting down fabricated observations, but inquiring about the experiments,  spend some time in the society and see what is needed by the people and by the jobs. They should indulge in discussions and collaborations, searching and collating – using technology as a tool. They should also learn to spend some time with themselves to understand what is important and what is not.

And when things are learnt like this,  the youngster who graduates from the college will be more prepared to take on any job.

And a teaching job too requires all these. Most often, people who are not suitable for any other job end up in teaching. And they seem to be getting way with it. All because there are compliance issues and the count of teachers is one part of it. In fact, I would say, more care should be taken in selecting teachers than anyone else.  Because the future of our kids and youth is in their hands. And now, more than ever before, the future of India is in their hands since more than 50% of the population is under the age of 25!

In order to avoid tension and fear, here is a list of tips compiled from my experience and other sources. Since most of you have finished the classes, I will not include in this list the tips for learning in classrooms, but only how you can achieve the best result during your preparation time.

1. How to read?

Reading must be done at an appropriate pace to be effective. And you should be interested at that point of time. If you do not have a goal for reading or a set time, you will end up holding the book for hours and not achieving anything at the end of it.

There are different purposes for reading:

1. Understanding the content
2. Reviewing content that was already understood, to remember important points
3. Browsing to see if you want to skip this content – for example, it is too difficult and you need help, or you feel it is not important for the examination.

In each case, begin by reading two to three pages and checking the time it takes. For example, if you read three pages in fifteen minutes and thoroughly understand the content, your speed is five minutes per page. Your reviewing speed may be one minute per page. Now check how many pages you need to read for your exam or conversely, check how much time you have on hand. Set a goal of number of pages for the available time and stick to it. For example, you will complete reading twelve pages in an hour.

2. How to remember?

The following are crucial steps in remembering information for the purpose of an exam

1. Understand the content
2. Identify what you want to remember – if you prefer use highlighter pens to mark these portions
3. Read those important points three times
4. Test yourself on problems or applications on these topics
5. Condense and rewrite the main points in your own words
6. Use acronyms to recall – for example think of a rhyme or word that will make you recall the material

3. How to get the most from your time?

Use available small packets of time – don’t wait for that ideal time. Very often, as students we want to start at some time like 6.00 AM or 8:00 PM. When we look at the clock and find it is 6:05 or 8:10, we tell ourselves, we will start at 6:15 or 8:30! And this goes on until you find that you have very little time to finish your goal. Then you postpone to another time of the day – for example, at 9:05 PM you feel, “anyway even if I start now, I can’t reach my target since I have to sleep at 10:00PM, so let me set an alarm for tomorrow morning and study when I am fresh” and this goes on and on.

If you use the technique explained in the first point above, you can study effectively even if you have fifteen minutes at a stretch. Just set the goal as only three pages. You don’t have to read 100 pages at a stretch. In fact, you can’t!

4. Never study when you are feeling tired or depressed or angry

Your state of mind is very important for learning to happen effectively. If you are under any kind of stress, your eyes will read, but your mind will not absorb any of the content.

5.  When and where to study – choose your style

Every person has a preferred time and place of study. For example, some prefer nights and others early morning. Some like to be alone, others prefer group study. Observe what kind of method works best for you. Do not get carried away by what everyone is doing. Choose your own way.

6. Group discussions or study - if you like group study, then let it not be unplanned. There can be many ways of effectively studying in groups:

1. Plan out who will prepare which portions of the syllabus and then get together and explain to each other.
2. Everyone studies some material on his own and in a group you solve difficult problems.
3. Someone is good at some subject, and he/she explains that to everyone.
4. Remember, that by explaining to each other your learning and recall will be better. Do not think it is a waste of time.

7. How to make a schedule that you can follow?

Many students write plans for their preparation, but never stick to it. Some tips to improve implementation of a plan:

1. List out all the portion that needs to be studied.
2. Analyse and arrange lessons in order of their importance.
3. Plan the important ones first in the schedule.
4. Make a realistic plan, ensuring you have time for relaxation or recreation.
5. It is not possible to concentrate for long periods of time on a single subject. Either change the subjects or make a mix of reading, writing, solving problems, answering model papers etc so that you don’t get bored.
6. Review your plan everyday and see the gaps between actual and planned. Put * marks on topics that have been finished. Appreciate yourself for achieving that. This will give you confidence to move forward.
7. Replan after you understand why certain things have not happened according to your plan.

8. Don’t forget your health

1. Eat nutritious food at regular intervals instead of having one heavy meal. You will either feel sleepy or end up getting acidity.
2. Take a walk or do any other exercise to keep you fit
3. Take ample rest – each person’s needs are different. Some may feel rested with 5hrs sleep and others may need 8hrs. Find out what is your need. A ‘powernap’ in the afternoon is likely to make you feel energetic later in the night. But this should not be for more than 30 minutes.

9. Respect brain fade

It is human to forget what we have read. It does not mean you are not intelligent. Accept this and review again and again in order to remember. There are ways in which you can reinforce learning without getting bored.

1. Convert material from one form to another: Make charts or pictures of what you understand from the portion you have studied. Or if the portion has graphs or charts, write your own tables or text. Concept maps, flow charts etc are good tools to summarise your learning.
2. Use different colored to highlight what you feel is important on every reading. When you highlight something 2-3 times in different colors, its color will be different and it will stand out for your final reading.

10.  Visualise your success every day

Every night before going to sleep, visualize yourself succeeding in the exam. Feel the emotions you will have on such a success. Hear people congratulating you on the success. Imagine you are watching all this on a TV channel with the remote in your hand. If you get any other kind of negative pictures – just switch the channel where you are successful. Make it a brightly colored scene. Repeat this before you get out of bed every morning.

11.  On the exam day

Have a light breakfast or lunch (depending on your time of exam). Don’t eat something that may upset your stomach.

1. Carry everything that is needed – hall ticket, pencils/pens, instruments (make sure you know the rules of what can be carried. You may waste time in looking for someone to keep your mobile or some expensive thing)
2. Carry pens which you are used to.
3. Reach the hall well before time (if it is an unfamiliar place, it is better to make an extra trip before the exam day)
4. If it is hot, carry a small bottle of water. Make sure you don’t drink so much that you have to run to the toilet.

12.  At the exam

1. Read the question paper thoroughly
2. Plan the sequence in which you will answer – starting from questions you are confident about and are quick to answer
3. Allot time for each answer.
4. Write each answer with main points and sub points neatly bulleted.
5. Answer to the point, looking at the question again, for more clarity.
6. Write neatly and legibly. A good looking paper makes the evaluator feel good and is likely to create a positive impression even if no extra marks are allotted to neatness.
7. Wherever possible, use diagrams, charts etc and label them properly and accurately
8. Review your answer and move onto the next

13.  Don’ts

1. Don’t ever copy – whatever be the compulsion. Even showing to another person is not correct. If you really care for him/her you would have helped in preparation. Ask yourself this question: Do I want to be in an aeroplane whose pilot has passed his exam by copying? Do I want to be treated by a doctor who has copied in his exams? Then why me? You will have the answer.
2. Don’t overwrite or scribble.
3. Don’t make spelling and grammatical mistakes.
4. Don’t get distracted by other conversations or activities in the exam hall
5. Don’t fear – having prepared well, there is no reason for fear.

Follow these tips and you will pass in flying colors!! Whoever said thirteen was an unlucky number? Not me.

My daughter and I were having dinner at an Udupi restaurant on a Saturday night, and due to the crowd, the waiter seated a young couple with a three-year old son at our table. The boy started looking at the menu card and spelling out all the items. I-D-L-Y, S-A-M-B-A-R etc. He didn’t have to be prompted and he wasn’t doing this to show off! The moment he saw a book it was his natural instinct to read from it. As an aside: It seems when they went to a friend’s house for dinner, he asked for the ‘book’ to order!

I contrasted this scene with the one I used to have every Sunday, a few years ago atSainikpuri. Two children in 4th and 6th standards, and who have scored good grades and double promotions in their school, struggle to identify alphabets or understand words, while they can reel off answers from memory or even write them down. These two were the sincere students who came for my Sunday School which I ran for more than a year.

The parents of these children are not educated but are very keen on their children’s education. They pay fees and admit their children in reasonably good schools, but teachers can’t pay attention to every single child in school and private tutors aren’t doing any better.

Initially when I looked at their school books I was shocked that these children couldn’t read individual alphabets quickly and didn’t understand the words in the sentences. For example, they said “Kashmir is in the north of India” but didn’t understand the meaning of any word in it. They had division in mathematics but didn’t know even subtraction. They were literally at nursery level but studying in higher classes. And they were completely relying on some pattern matching technique combined with teachers giving “important” questions to pass their exams (with flying colors). They wouldn’t know the answers if the questions were changed in any way. As a college teacher, I know adult students still in that state.

Frustrated at the state of affairs, I had gone to a school named “Ananda Bharathi”. Started in 1989 by Late Mrs. Janaki Iyer, it runs with the support of volunteers and few employees. Ananda Bharathi conducts nonformal classes in Secunderabad for young domestic workers who live in a nearby slum. There are about 30 students between 5 and 16 years of age.

The goals differ from one student to another–those who have dropped out of school fairly recently are encouraged to give board exams privately; others acquire basic literacy in English, Telugu and Hindi. The curriculum for all the students includes knowledge about the environment, health and hygiene, and crafts. The school starts in the afternoon, when these youngsters have finished their work. And it goes on till 5PM.

One of the teachers there told me not to try correcting the education which the children were receiving in school in the four hours I spend on Sundays. Instead, involve them in educational games that would motivate them to study. This was an important lesson I learnt and used – I now make them draw, solve Sudoku puzzles, play word building games, identify words in letter grids, find differences in pictures etc. They enjoy the learning and their concentration and behaviour has changed over a period of time.

As education becomes more accessible (which is very good) we have students coming from diverse backgrounds, many of them first generation ‘schoolers’ in the family. These children have no support during their homework or anyone to check their school work. So their foundation is not properly laid. With the examination and assessment system as it is, they move on to higher classes. And they struggle more and more.

Centre for Learning, near Army dairy at Secunderabad is another effort to help children acquire academic skills, a zest for learning and self-confidence. CFL is recognized  in equipping socially and economically under-privileged children to join the mainstream as equal and active members

Acharya devo bhava meant to look up to your teacher as God. But for these children, we teachers have to become the parents who would have sincerely cared for their education with no strings attached.

How can we help students weak in English? posted by Abdul Basith

1. If this is a small group of students who are not interested in learning, first try to find out what interests them. Talk about those topics or discuss what they like and why? Develop a personal rapport with them so that then they are willing to listen to you.

2. Put them on some on-line English courses with which they can improve their language. You can see a list of courses here

http://www.theprofessor.in/blog/open-education/english-courses/

3. Make a small group or what we call as buddy system. One friend who is good at studies is teamed up with one weak student (or a few) and they should be asked to talk and communicate in English only. Any subject related discussions can also be made by these groups.

Watch this video (in part I and II) to see what they can do.

21^st December 2011 has etched an unforgettable memory in my mind. I was at Tiruchirapalli on a mission to expedite supplies of Boilers at BHEL’s works for Power plant of IOCL’s ongoing Paradip Refinery Project. BHEL has outsourced non-pressure parts of these boilers to certain vendors nearby Trichy. ‘ORBIT’ is among such outsourced vendors, who is making Pins & Clamps of these boilers for our project. We decided to visit ORBIT also for review and expediting balance supplies.

When we reached ORBIT works, we were greeted by their President Mr. P.R. Pandi,   who himself is a blind person. To my utter surprise, the whole ORBIT workshop is run by blind persons. Though I was aware of certain special schools and institutions for blind persons but never heard about any manufacturing industry run completely by such persons. What I saw next inside the workshop is quite difficult to believe.

I had never witnessed such well coordinated and coherent working by blind persons. People were segregating the raw material, feeding the raw material on cutting, shearing and punching machines with the help of their fellow blind friends, collecting the final products and bagging them after quality checks. The whole manufacturing process was efficiently done and finished product was meeting the quality standards.  I was lost in deep admiration seeing their untiring efforts for making vital parts for my project and emotionally touched. Their interpersonal understanding and collective effort was exemplary and far better as compared to normal workers engaged in other industrial units. Below photos depict it completely but silently…

People were working with no ego and communication was being made not with vital sensory organs like eyes, but with their hearts. I was thrilled and compelled to think that dedicated and sincere working by these special people is a great example towards values of humanity which defies all laws of Project management. Calm and peace prevail here in their coordinated rhythm of working against any feeling of industrial acrimony.

What came next was even more surprising. A physically handicapped welder was doing welding on the job and was assisted by a blind helper. We saw his blind helper almost running and going to store room next door to fetch the electrodes quickly. When enquired how he could do such job with much ease, my fellow companion from BHEL, Mr. Jai Ram told me that every worker working here is fully conversant with the layout of workshop and does the job with calculated steps – concepts of time and motion study, well grasped by them by heart. I was overwhelmed by their indomitable spirit, everlasting zeal and working in perfect harmony.

At the end, ORBIT president Mr. Pandi requested me ‘Sir, if you come across any blind person, please direct him to me, we will make him our team member here’.       I controlled my emotions, advised them to maintain timelines and quickly moved out with mixed feelings, thinking and admiring effort and passion of ORBIT in this endeavour and with firm conviction that Paradip Refinery Project will soon be a realised dream.

Arvind Kumar, Chief Project Manager-PDRP

Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.,Refineries Head Quarters, New Delhi

Mobile: 9582262166, Email: kumarar@iocl.co.in

PS:I would like to thank IOCL Management & BHEL team for giving me an opportunity to have such wonderful experience with a noble cause during project expediting at BHEL,Trichy.