“Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much”, said Helen Keller. Strengthening the Indian community of undergraduate biology educators and bringing their voices to the fore is one of the missions of IndiaBioscience. As the curtains fall on another year of our efforts towards this goal, here is a recap of our activities for educators in 2022.
Our Education column covered stories of educators who are epitomes of mentorship
and strive hard to deepen the conceptual knowledge of their students through creative approaches, like memes, analogies
and poetry. Giving conceptual clarity to students also means filling up loopholes in their understanding. We covered stories that capture some of the common misconceptions in biology and how educators can address them in their classrooms.
Current educational and scientific policies aim at empowering students to develop solutions for problems of today and tomorrow. In line with this vision, our latest article talks about a free, online, interactive textbook that emphasises more on developing scientific competencies in students than just explaining concepts, and offers case studies from the Indian context. Another article describes how to help students learn concepts better by exposing them to real-life scientific problems.
The COVID-19 pandemic pushed educators and students to adopt online and digital educational tools and platforms. Despite the slew of challenges they come with – like the need for high-speed internet or the lack of interpersonal interactions – these tools have the potential to revolutionise education and are here to stay. We organised a webinar early this year to give our audience a perspective of digital education through the lens of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. We also published an article about the role Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) could play, even beyond the pandemic.
Research at the undergraduate level has been one of the focus areas of IndiaBioscience over the last several years. This year, we highlighted two important aspects of doing research – aspects often missed or under-explored in undergraduate biology curricula. We published an article that underscores things to consider while framing a research hypothesis. We also organised a webinar to explore the ethical aspects of carrying out research with examples from the Indian context.
Furthermore, we organised an in-person event at NMKRV College for Women, Bengaluru to build awareness among undergraduate students and educators about the exciting problems that scientists in the city are trying to solve. The event featured talks in the areas of biochemistry, neurobiology, genetic engineering, microbial ecology and sustainability, and saw enthusiastic participation from the audience, which comprised >250 students and educators.
In addition to all of the above, we continued to curate useful educational resources from across the web and advertised several jobs, grants, and events from across the country for educators and their students.
So, what did you think of our activities this year? We would love to hear from you! Help us retrospect, learn and step into the new year with renewed confidence and energy by sharing your feedback. Have an idea for an article, a resource, an event, a workshop, a webinar, or a podcast on any aspect of undergraduate biology education in India? Share them too! You can reach us at education@indiabioscience.org. You can also connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, and listen to our podcasts on your favourite podcast apps. Stay tuned for more exciting activities in 2023.
