I am interested in professional training and curricular development issues pertaining to teaching science in rural schools. The vast internet resource base, the rich collection of teaching materials that have been developed in various nations for science education and the access to rural schools that is provided by various Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are the main reasons why I feel that it is the right time to insure that rural teachers and children have access to high quality school education.
In 2003, in collaboration with Professor Vinod K. Gaur of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics and the Centre for Mathematical Modelling and Computer Simulations (CMMACS) in Bangalore, India, I organized a workshop titled Peer Reviewed Online K-12 (10+2) Science Education (PROKSE). The workshop was held at the National Earthquake Engineering Research Centre, NEERI, in Nagpur, Maharashtra, India and was attended by scholars from India and the US. The Indo-US Science and Technology Forum had supported our venture at that time.
A report on the workshop can be found by clicking here - PROKSE Report.
In 2005, I organized a small workshop on August 23, 2005 in New Delhi to chart out available materials and gaps to be filled. My co-organizers are Professor Anita Rampal of Delhi University and Dr. Vinod Raina of Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti (BGVS).
In August, 2005 I gave a presentation on the importance of middle school education in rural areas in developing nations at the International Conference on Physics Education 2005 in New Delhi, India. The paper that records the gist of the presentation made can be found below.
I have been involved with Mutimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (http://www.merlot.org) for several years now. I am an Associate Editor for Merlot Physics. With our editor Professor Bruce Mason and my Merlot editorial board colleagues, I have been involved in studying digital collections in depth. Here are two papers that have emerged from our work.
in Proceedings of the IXth European Workshop on Multimedia in Teaching and Learning,
Karl-Franzen Universitaet, Graz, Austria, 9-11 September, 2004
in Proceedings of the Xth European Workshop on Multimedia in Teaching and Learning,
Freie Universitaet, Berlin, Germany, 5-7 October, 2005
in Proceedings of the XIth European Workshop on Multimedia in Teaching and Learning,
University of Szeged, Hungary, 20-22 September, 2006