Columns

• Learning bioreactor design using a frugal science approach

  

  A laboratory can be a great place for experiential learning. However, using set protocols and kits can deprive students of this opportunity and make them disengaged learners. In this article, Tejaswini Panchpor, an educator from Dr Vishwanath Karad’s MIT World Peace University, Pune shares a frugal science approach to provide experiential learning to students and stimulate their creativity.

  Posted on Apr 22, 2024 in Biotechnology, Microbiology, Education, Teaching & Undergraduate

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• Live checking! My experiment with formative assessment

  

  Teachers often rely on tests and exams to understand how well their students are learning the subject. However, the traditional approaches of assessment end with giving marks or grades to the students. What if teachers could do more than just give marks to students? In this article, an educator tries a different approach to assessing answer sheets and shares her experiences from it.

  Posted on Apr 15, 2024 in Teaching, Undergraduate & Education

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• Exploring new perspectives in biology with the flipped classroom approach

  

  A flipped classroom is a traditional classroom turned upside down! This means that the students listen to lectures, videos and other course materials at home, and solve problems (normally done as 'homework') or engage in discussions with their classmates and teachers in the classroom. This article explains why such a mode of learning is useful with the help of a case study from an Indian context.

  Posted on Mar 22, 2024 in Education, Teaching & Undergraduate

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• Teaching in the era of ChatGPT: A classroom story

  

  Tools based on artificial intelligence (AI), like ChatGPT, are becoming increasingly popular among students, perhaps to a fault, causing rising concerns among educators. But can these tools be useful in some ways to educators too? If so, how can they leverage them to augment their students' learning experiences? And what can they do to prevent students' over-dependence on these tools? In this article, an educator shares her explorations into these questions.

  Posted on Mar 18, 2024 in Teaching & Undergraduate

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• A scientific way to cook

  

  When someone learns to cook, they also learn some rules that are never to be broken. Are these rules backed by science? Can we test them using some simple experiments? What can undergraduate students and faculty learn from these experiments? Why are they valuable to science education? In this article, Vijeta Raghuram, the Program Manager-Education at IndiaBioscience reflects on these questions based on her experiences at a workshop.

  Posted on Feb 26, 2024 in Biochemistry, Education, Teaching & Undergraduate

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• Designing a science communication course for science and non-science majors

  

  Ananya Mukherjee, who teaches Biology, and Rukma Prince, who teaches English Literature to undergraduates at Azim Premji University, have co-created a Science Communication course for science and non-science majors, which will be offered in August 2024. In this article, they share what prompted them to create this course and the kind of educational issues that the course aims to address.

  Posted on Jan 15, 2024 in Science Communication, Teaching & Undergraduate

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• A student’s odyssey into innovative education

  

  Educators strive to make their classes more engaging for their students. In this article, a PhD student at The Maharaja Sayaji Rao University of Baroda, who dons the hat of an educator for a postgraduate neuroscience course, adds a flavour of pop culture to her pedagogy to make the class entertaining and relatable too.

  Posted on Dec 22, 2023 in Neuroscience & Teaching

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