Ideas of and Attitudes towards Projects and Changing Practices: Voices of Four Teachers

The paper reports a study of the project practices of four Indian middle school teachers, elicited through semi-structured interviews of individual teachers. The teachers also responded to a proposal to modify four aspects of existing project practices, viz. subject integration, assessment, group work, and management of resources. The aspects were derived to be significant from the recommendations of the Indian National Curriculum Framework (2005), and based on research literature on project-based learning (PBL). The study found that teachers largely used projects as motivating exercises before teaching, or an activity for applying what was learnt. Hence, they associated fluid meanings to projects, like tasks given as home assignments, gathering information, or a scrap-book activity. Teachers felt too burdened with work for conducting projects within school hours, and sought systemic changes before the researchers\u27 proposal for changing practices could be implemented

Re-structuring in-service teacher professional development: focusing on pedagogical content knowledge

Thinking about re-structuring in-service teacher professional development (TPD) is not new in either the Indian or the global context. The vision of setting India’s destiny in her classroom articulated in the National Commission of Education Report 1964-66 (NCERT, 1968) shows the nation’s expectations from the classroom. To make the expectation a reality, there have been several efforts made at multiple levels. One area of concern that strongly emerges is improving the state of teachers’ professional development both at pre-service and in-service stage (NCTE, 2009). There is no doubt that the lack of adequate logistic and human resources negatively impact the quality and effectiveness of the In-service teacher training. However, I claim that this is only one version of the story

Exploring alternative conceptions of force

Force is a fundamental concept in Newtonian mechanics that teachers and teacher educators are expected to understand well. However, even when teachers and teacher educators are familiar with Newton’s laws of motion and gravitation, they continue to hold several misconceptions about force. This article presents a series of experiments that explore and challenge these alternative conceptions

Interview with Saurav Shome

Saurav Shome works in an Azim Premji School at Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand. In this interview, he shares his experiences and insights on a life in science

Stepping outside the classroom: An opportunity for rich learning

Taking students outside the classroom is often considered to be an additional activity or an extravagance for teachers or students or both. Additionally, instead of taking the centre stage in knowledge construction, these are treated as inert extensions of content taught in the classroom

Dopamine Regulates Mobilization of Mesenchymal Stem Cells during Wound Angiogenesis

Angiogenesis is an important step in the complex biological and molecular events leading to successful healing of dermal wounds. Among the different cellular effectors of wound angiogenesis, the role of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is of current interest due to their transdifferentiation and proangiogenic potentials. Skin is richly innervated by sympathetic nerves which secrete dopamine (DA) and we have recently shown that concentration of DA present in synaptic cleft can significantly inhibit wound tissue neovascularization. As recent reports indicate that MSCs by mobilizing into wound bed play an important role in promoting wound angiogenesis, we therefore investigated the effect of DA on the migration of MSCs in wound tissues. DA acted through its D2 receptors present in the MSCs to inhibit their mobilization to the wound beds by suppressing Akt phosphorylation and actin polymerization. In contrast, this inhibitory effect of DA was reversed after treatment with specific DA D2 receptor antagonist. Increased mobilization of MSCs was demonstrated in the wound site following blockade of DA D2 receptor mediated actions, and this in turn was associated with significantly more angiogenesis in wound tissues. This study is of translational value and indicates use of DA D2 receptor antagonists to stimulate mobilization of these stem cells for faster regeneration of damaged tissues

Dopamine Regulates Angiogenesis in Normal Dermal Wound Tissues

Cutaneous wound healing is a normal physiological process and comprises different phases. Among these phases, angiogenesis or new blood vessel formation in wound tissue plays an important role. Skin is richly supplied by sympathetic nerves and evidences indicate the significant role of the sympathetic nervous system in cutaneous wound healing. Dopamine (DA) is an important catecholamine neurotransmitter released by the sympathetic nerve endings and recent studies have demonstrated the potent anti-angiogenic action of DA, which is mediated through its D2 DA receptors. We therefore postulate that this endogenous catecholamine neurotransmitter may have a role in the neovascularization of dermal wound tissues and subsequently in the process of wound healing. In the present study, the therapeutic efficacy of D2 DA receptor antagonist has been investigated for faster wound healing in a murine model of full thickness dermal wound. Our results indicate that treatment with specific D2 DA receptor antagonist significantly expedites the process of full thickness normal dermal wound healing in mice by inducing angiogenesis in wound tissues. The underlined mechanisms have been attributed to the up-regulation of homeobox transcription factor HoxD3 and its target α5β1 integrin, which play a pivotal role in wound angiogenesis. Since D2 DA receptor antagonists are already in clinical use for other disorders, these results have significant translational value from the bench to the bedside for efficient wound management along with other conventional treatment modalities

Interview with Saurav Shome

Saurav Shome works in an Azim Premji School at Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand. In this interview, he shares his experiences and insights on a life in science

Re-structuring in-service teacher professional development: focusing on pedagogical content knowledge

Thinking about re-structuring in-service teacher professional development (TPD) is not new in either the Indian or the global context. The vision of setting India’s destiny in her classroom articulated in the National Commission of Education Report 1964-66 (NCERT, 1968) shows the nation’s expectations from the classroom. To make the expectation a reality, there have been several efforts made at multiple levels. One area of concern that strongly emerges is improving the state of teachers’ professional development both at pre-service and in-service stage (NCTE, 2009). There is no doubt that the lack of adequate logistic and human resources negatively impact the quality and effectiveness of the In-service teacher training. However, I claim that this is only one version of the story

Reinforcing Science Learning | An Experiential Programme

In this article, I am going to outline a programme we initiated to reinforce science learning and make it not only more accessible to our students but also make them aware of the process of science and scientific methodologies. The content of this article is primarily derived from my learning while working at the Azim Premji School, Uttarkashi